WOOL growers' association. 389 



We thought the grub was in our sheep, and we used tar; would pour pine tar in 

 a trough to the depth of three or four inches, then take salt and sprinkle over this ; 

 it would sink down in the tar and make the tar salty. The sheep had free access to 

 this all ihe time. We think this is a good thing, but use it only in the summer time. 



Dr. Conkle. My habit of using tar is to bore an inch and a half hole, three 

 inches de*^p, in a log and fill it with tar and salt. The sheep would get enough to ' 

 keep the fly off. 



Mr. Quick. We have sheds where the sheep can go all the time and have access 

 to it. You will find some sheep there all the time. 



Mr. Dungan. Dr. Conkle, what injury would occur from the use of tar if the 

 sheep would eat more than the system required? 



Dr. Conkle. No injur/ ; but some would get on the wool and make them look 

 unsightly. 



Mr. Ndson. I have given my experience in sheep raising before, and what I 

 might say now would be a repetition of that. I keep a small flock of sheep— say 

 about two hundred — and keep them in three separate and distinct lots, and am not 

 discouraged in the business. I told you, last summer, that I crossed my Cotswold 

 ewes with Merino bucks. This I have done, and had good success. 1 have had 

 more success with that cross than anything else during the last twenty years. I 

 have always used a pure breed buck, as I do with all male animals. I have not 

 been sheltering my sheep, with the exception of my buck lambs and aged bucks. 

 My lambs are now half blood Merino, and are lively, notwithstanding this bad 

 weather. They are playing, no doubt, such a day as this. I have, also, one lot 

 that I am going to put ofT as mutton sheep. I grade closely, and turn ofT annually 

 as they are in condition for mutton. I sold my wool last year for 21 cents per 

 pound. It was a low price, but I am satisfied. They average eight and a half 

 pounds to the fleece. I remember, in England, some forty years ago, when rentals, 

 even then, were much higher than they are anywhere in this country to day, wool 

 was then worth about 16 shillings per stone (which is fourteen pounds in weight), 

 or, in our money, 23f cents per pound. The English farmer C(mld do well at that. 

 W'e should not talk of being discouraged about sheep raising. I have always bred 

 crosses, and I want some one to tell me what should be my next cross, my ewes be- 

 ing Cotswold and the buck Merino. I have thought of taking the Shrojishire. 

 There is a discouraged feeling in our part of the State in regard to sheep raising. 

 They complain that the depression is caused by the tarifi". I am sorry that some in 

 our country do not know what tariff-means. I can make money off of sheep. The 

 wool comes in a nice time, when money is needed, and is very convenient. I want 

 to breed the best of sheep for mutton and heavy fleece. I can keep fifty sheep as 

 well as twenty-five, but not one hundred. The selection is half the battle in sheep 

 raising. 



Mr. Dungan. W^hat do you feed your sheep? 



Mr. Nelson. I change my fee 1. The only grain I feed is corn, but do not give 

 that entirely until about this time of the year. I let them run in the stalk field 

 and on blue grass, and eat anything they can get. It is good to change sheep 

 around, but I have obviated this by letting them have free range of all my pas- 

 ture land— if it is 400 acres, so much the better. 



