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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



COAKSE T& FI KE-WO OLED SHEEP. 



Editors ■Genkske Farmer: — Tn your July num- 

 ber, page 208, Z. B. S., of Fairfield, Oliio, (wliat 

 objection can gentlemen have to using their names?) 

 in writing under the head of "Fine vs. Coarse- 

 Wooled Sheep," says: "I have kept both kinds, 

 and, as far as my experience goes, am greatly in 

 favor of the fine-wooled, provided they are of the 

 right kind. I kept througli the winter, one year 

 ago, thirty-one sheep of the French and Spanish 

 cross," * * * "which sheared me 6 lbs. 11 oz. 

 per head (on an average) of clean washed wool, 

 that sold for 40 cts. per lb., while coarse wool sold 

 for from 25 to 30 cts. My sheep were provided 

 with (what I consider indispensable) good shelter, 

 racks under cover, and fed with corn, oats, and 

 wheat bran, in equal parts, half a bushel per day, 

 and watered regularly. Now, if any one can show 

 a greater profit from the same number of coarse- 

 wooled sheep, I hope they will give us their expe- 

 rience." 



I do not know if the Cotswold would come under 

 the class of coarse- wooled, for theirs is the wool 

 rauslin-de-lain is made of; but I am familiar with 

 the other breeds, (tine and others,) from breeding 

 and otherwise, and am a breeder of Cotswold sheep, 

 and import always the winners of the high prizes 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, to 

 insure having the best. I will not draw a com- 

 parison between the pure-bred Cotswold and his 

 tine-wool, (though Z. B. S. instances his pure-bred,) 

 because pure-bred Cotswolds are too scarce and 

 costly for slaughter — and the only fair way to cal- 

 culate the profit for farming purposes, is for mutton 

 and wool, — but will give the advantage to the fine 

 by only calculating the part-bred Cotswold. I have 

 never sold the Cotswold wool under 30 or over 40 

 cts. per lb., and that is fially as high as any fine 

 wool will sell here. I consider the wool pays for 

 the keep. I credit it with no more ; and the Cots- 

 wold wool will, on the same keep, give at least as 

 much money to the fleece as the fine wool. Z. B. S. 

 claims 6 lbs. 11 oz. Allow 7 lbs., which, at 40 cts., 

 gives $2.80. Now, if I could make no more than 

 $2.80 per head for the whole year's keep, and feed- 

 ing half a bushel per day, in the winter, of corn, 

 oats, and bran mixed, to thirty-one sheep, besides 

 hay, I certainly would not raise them for profit. 



I always have some part-bred ewes to raise mot- 

 tons from, and sell the lambs from such, the fall of 

 the year they are one year old, not one for less 

 than $10 each to the butcher, and have sometimes 

 sold them for $25 to $35 each. I have been offered 

 $50 each for the two-year-olds, and have been 

 offered $100 each to keep a lot to three years old, 

 and feed them. A gentleman bought of me three 

 wether lambs (two of them twins) to raise and feed 

 for a Philadelphia butcher, who gave him $250 for 

 the three. One of them weighed 234 lbs., and the 

 other two 204 and 192 lbs. net;* and the butcher 



• This Is nearly 40 cts. per lb. for the mutton. Butchers will 

 K'lnetinies pay exorbitant prices for prize cattle and sheep, to 

 exhibit to their customers. But in instituting a comparison be- 

 tween the relative advantages of keeping different breeds of 

 sheep, it is hardly allowable to take such unusual prices aa the 

 bails of calculation, or even to allude to them as an argument in 

 favor of a particular breed. Our correspondent, too, leaves out 

 of the qneslion the fact that such largo sheep as the Cotswolds 

 «iU counme uore food than smaller breeds. u>8. 



was so pleased with their turn out, that he pre- 

 sented the gentleman with a silver pitcher addi- 

 tional, worth $25. The thorough-bred in England 

 have been brought to 430 lbs. gross, 320 lbs. net. 

 Gentlemen in my county who have only the part- 

 breds, never sell their muttons under $8 each 

 (except a few for $0) the summer and fall they are 

 one year old from grass, never having fed grain at 

 all at any time ; and this is of every year's occur- 

 rence. Butchers come here from Wa.shington City, 

 Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York — from 100 

 to 800 miles. The farmer never drives them one 

 mile ; and rarely, if ever, is there one mutton i0 

 this county as old as two years. This is one of tht 

 profitable advantages of this breed of sheep. The} 

 sell higher — much higher — at one year old than 

 other breeds at four; and a man need never b(i 

 overstocked — the butcher is always ready for any 

 surplrs. They are almost always muttons, it being 

 their peculiar trait to take on fat. 



Now let Z. B. S. make his own calculation as to 

 the profits of the breeds for farming purposes, i. e., 

 for mutton and wool, not for breeding purposes, 

 and see the difference. He made his thirty-one 

 sheep at $2.80 each — $86.80. Mine would have 

 brought in lambs alone, independent of the wool, 

 $310, (ray wool brought at least as much money to 

 the fleece as his,) allowing my ewes brought only 

 one lamb each, as did his ; but it has been proved 

 in a court of record, that " twenty Cotswold ewes 

 brought and raised, in one season, sixty Iambs ; " 

 and an agricultural society has had it proved, to its 

 satisfaction, that " eleven Cotswold ewes brought 

 twenty-eight living lambs. Five of the eleven 

 brought sixteen lambs — one of the five brought 

 four, and the other four brought three lambs each." 

 Both so unusual as to be remarkable. 



My sheep have a common straw shelter, that 

 they may go in and out at pleasure. If snow is on 

 the ground, I have a rack under the shelter, for 

 hay. Occasionally, while snow is on the ground, 

 I give them a little offal and salt. Water is in the 

 field. I rarely give them offal or grain of any kind. 

 What would they not be, if I were to give them, 

 as Z. B. S. does his, " corn, oats, and wheat bran, 

 in equal parts, half a bushel per day" ? 



In the experiments of Z. B. S. with long-wools, 

 could he have had "the right kind" of long-wools, 

 pr long-wools of pure blood, or long-wools at all ? 



JOSIAH WM. WAKE. 

 Berryvtile, Clarke Co., Ya.., Jtihy, 1S59. 



To CURE Scab among Sheep. — Take four pound' 

 tobacco — best natural leaf ; extract the juice. On» 

 pound corrosive sublimate, half-pound sal ammo 

 niac, one pound sulphate zinc, half-pound arsenir 

 one pound red precipitate, three quarts spirits tur 

 pentine. Dissolve the precipitate, arsenic, and coi 

 rosive sublimate in the turpentine ; the balance di.'. 

 solve in soft water. Procure five barrels of sol' 

 water. First add the solution in water; stir am 

 mix well ; then add the solution of turpentine, add 

 ing the amben The whole should be about 90"^' 

 Fahrenheit. Dip the sheep in the liquid; wash 

 and rub well until thoroughly saturated to the skin. 

 Keep the sheep under shelter, if done in cold, damp 

 weather. This will effect a permanent cure in a 

 short time. — Edward Kiuley, Salem, Iowa. 



