1869. 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



45 







COTSWOLD SHEEP. 



In connection with the above comfortable 

 looking group of Cotswold lambs raised by 

 Charles Corliss of Haverhill, Essex County, 

 Mass., and sold by him with his whole flock, 

 some two years ago, we published a portion of 

 a report made by Thomas Whittaker, as 

 Chairman of the Worcester County Committee 

 on Sheep. It was published in the Report of 

 the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 

 Agriculture for 18G6. After alluding to the 

 greatly increased demand for combing wools, 

 both In this country and England the commit- 

 tee say : — 



"The raising of this kind of wool involves 

 two other very important points, the produc- 

 tion of mutton and lambs, which, at the pres- 

 ent time of scarcity of live stock, are of vital 

 importance to the whole community ; and It Is 

 the combination of these three points, wool, 

 mutton and lambs, which has rendered sheep 

 husbandry so profitable to the English flirmer, 

 and has given him the exclusive privilege of 

 furnishing this class of wool for the world, and 

 the English manufacturer the exclusive privi- 

 lege of producing imitation Alpacca dresses 

 for the ladles of the world. That It can be 

 ■made equally as remunerative In this country 

 we have no doubt, as the testimony of those 



farmers who have made the trial abundantly 

 proves. 



"A member of your committee, who keeps 

 thl.3 class of sheep, says that he has received 

 the present year, for his lambs when three and 

 four months old, $G each, and the fleeces from 

 his ewes averaged him $3 each. 



"Mr. G. Calvin Rice furnishes your com- 

 mittee with the following account of the pro- 

 duce from his flock of Cotswold and Leices- 

 ters : Of seven lambs, dropped between the 

 22d of January and the 8th of February, 18G5, 

 he sold to the butcher, on the 15th of May, 

 four for $42.75 ; three he sold for stock for 

 $22 ; five which were dropped later he sold- 

 about the middle of July for $24.24— these 

 were the produce of nine ewes ; he sold 70^ 

 pounds of wool from twelve sheep, at 40 cts. 

 per pound, unwashed, $28 20; total, $118.19. 

 A pair of lambs from one ewe sold for 

 $17.72 ; the wool sold for $2.30, making a 

 total of $20 from one ewe. 



"The breeds of sheep which your commit- 

 tee would recommend for the farmers of Wor- 

 cester County to keep, and which to them 

 would be the most remunerative, and are best 

 adapted to meet the wants of the country at 

 the present time, are the Leicesters or Cots- 



