1869. 



NEW ENGLAKD FARJ^IER. 



475 



from market is of little account, will ere long 

 be clearly proved to all, and it will be seen 

 that it is an important consideration to be 

 located near great markets of consumption 

 and exportation, even though the soil does not 

 possess the virgin fertility of prairie land. 

 Lawrence, Mass., Auq., 18G9. N. s. t. 



For the NeiD England Farmer, 

 FINE AND COAKSE "WOOL. 



At the earnest request of a number of far- 

 mers who have written to me making inquiries 

 in relition to the proper method of breeding 

 and feeding, of buying and selling, both sheep 

 and wool, — in short, my whole experience for 

 the last thirty } ears in this branch of farm 

 stock, I have concluded, with your consent, to 

 reply through the columns of your paper. 



In the spring of 1834, I bought the firm on 

 which I now live, and stocked it wth Merino 

 f^heep, expecting to pay for it from the pro- 

 ceeds of the dock. I spared no pains in im- 

 proving my flock until my fum was fully 

 stocked with a most beautiful tlock of large, 

 line young sheep at a cost of about three dol- 

 lars per head. My first clip of wool sold read- 

 ily at sixty-five cents per pound and my lambs 

 were worth a dollar and seventy-five cents each. 



Had these prices continued, raising wool 

 and lambs would have been, for those times, 

 a fair business. About this time South Caro 

 lina doubled her fist and shaking it in Uncle 

 Sam's face declared that unless he would hoist 

 his gates to foreign importations his kingdom 

 should speedily come to an end. So the Gov- 

 ernment adopted the Clay compromise. Un- 

 der this compromise the price of fine wool 

 from this same Hock of sheep, went down from 

 sixty-five to twenty-nine cents a pound. 



After a loss of five years' time (and the 

 most important five years cf my life) I found 

 myself obliged to stop raising fine wool. 1 

 sold nearly ny whole tlock except enough for 

 an experiment in crossing with long wools. I 

 then bought a very superior Cotswold buck 

 lamb and a very nice pair of Cotswold year- 

 ling ewee, and this cross was the commence- 

 ment of ray breeding Cotswold sheep. Cross- 

 ing the Cotswolds on the Merinos has been at- 

 tended with very fine results. I occasionally 

 added to my number of pure bloods, until I 

 had a flock of twenty or thirty. I sold the 

 products of one of the first two sheep I bought 

 for fifty dollars for one year, besides the fleece, 

 and the descendants from them have been as 

 good as I have ever raised. I have often sold 

 the income of a single Cotswold sheep for 

 more clear money than I have ever realized 

 from a cow. 



In regard to their propensities for rambling, 

 I can say truly that there is no breed of sheep 

 more quiet or orderly, if kept as they should 

 be. It is impossible that they should be oth- 

 erwise r, what headway would sheep weigh- 



ing one hundred to two hundred and fifty 

 make in jumping over a tail fence? A sheep 

 of this breed weighing two hundred pounds 

 would sooner starve than jump over a four rail 

 fence. 



In a recent tour to Vermont I noticed that 

 the pastures on some of the farms were liter- 

 ally black with Merino sheep, and the all-im- 

 portant question with the farmer is, what shall 

 we do with them ? To raise fine wool at the 

 present prices does not pay. "We are < is- 

 gusted with keeping fine wooled sheep." I 

 am often asked how will it do to cross them 

 with long wools ; and here again I can only 

 give my own experience and observation. 



We will suppose a farm of four hundred 

 acres fully stocked with fine theep and those 

 not of very 1 irge size. If the weight of the 

 whole flock was in half the number of sheep 

 it would be easy to decide. I should say by 

 all means breed them to full blood Cotswold 

 bucks ; send the buck lambs to the butcher 

 and keep the ewe for breeding purposes. 

 Give them the best possible chance at feed, 

 both summer and winter, and the lambs by the 

 middle of August should weigh fifty to sixty 

 pounds and sell in the market for eight cents 

 a pound which would be about four dollars or 

 $4.50 per head, which, added to the price 

 of the fleece, would make a fair income from 

 a sheep. Suppose the fleece to weigh five 

 pounds, aad to sell at forty-four cents per 

 pound, the fleece would then bring two dollars 

 and twenty cents. Add to this the price of 

 the lamb, at four dollars, and we have an in- 

 come of six dollars and twenty cents as the 

 income of a sheep. 



But with a farm fully stocked with sheep wa 

 cannot obtain this result, so it will become 

 necessary to reduce the flock one-half, or 

 more than one-half would be better. But how 

 is this reduction to be made without loss ? I 

 answer that, if the first cost of the flock was 

 more than their present value, it cannot be 

 done ; but there is the choice of losing now 

 or of keeping on increasing the flock and 

 making a greater loss hereafter. But the loss 

 in numbers should be made up by an increase 

 in the size of the remainder of the (lock. 

 Raising market lambs in connection with the 

 raising of fine wool is a paying business. 

 But the sheep of Vermont, as a general rule, 

 are too large in numbers and too small in size. 

 A single cross with the Cotswo'ds of large 

 growth will very much increase their weiglit 

 and produce a sheep well adapted to raising 

 wool and market lambs. 



But all at once, while the breeders of fine- 

 wooled sheep are making arrangements to 

 change their flocks somewhat to meet a de- 

 mand for long wool, the merchants of Boston 

 send a petition to Congress for the re-estab- 

 lishment of the Canadian reciprocity treaty. 

 Farmers should oppose this measm-e, as they 

 are perfectly able to supply our manufacturers 



