252 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



sheep keeping can be purchased for $10 per acre or less. Another 

 excellent locality is found upon the eastern shores of Long Island. 

 Here, good lands, suitable for sheep farms, may be purchased for 

 $5 to $10 per acre. 



The sheep suitable for these localities, arc, the Southdown and 

 its crosses upon our common sheep ; the English Dorset sheep ; 

 the Colswold and its crosses, and the English Romney Marsh 

 sheep. The last two of these varieties should be chosen for the 

 richer meadow lands, and the first two for the lighter uplands. 

 Either of these breeds is suitable for the production of market 

 lambs, but the first three are to be preferred in the order named. 



THE VALLEY AND BOTTOM LANDS. 



These lands comprise the whole of those arable lands of the entire 

 region in question, which are so prolific under ordinarily good 

 cultivation of crops of grass, grain, clover, and roots. The rich 

 vallies which have become renowned for their fertility, as the 

 Mohawk and the Genessee vallies in New York; those of the 

 Delaware and Susquehanna in Pennsylvania ; the Shenandoah in 

 Virginia, the Miami in Ohio ; also the uplands of the blue-grass 

 region of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri, with the rich 

 fields of the prairie States east of the Mississippi, as well as of 

 the formerly wooded regions of Michigan, Wisconsin, Canada, 

 and New England, all these offer a favorable field for the produc- 

 tion of sheep valuable for both wool and mutton. 



This district, occupied by three-fourths of the whole population 

 of the United States and Canada, and possessed of a rich soil, is 

 wonderfully diversified as to surface and agricultural capacity, is 

 well watered, and blessed with a healthful climate. Thousands ot 

 vallies watered with clear streams and springs, and separated from 

 each other by dry rolling table-lands, densely populated in com- 

 parison with the rest of our territory, are occupied by the most 

 industrious, intelligent, and enterprising farmers in the world, and 

 are covered with their homesteads and cultivated fields. No soil 

 in the world is more prolific in fodder and root crops, and no- 

 where else can sheep be raised and kept with more profit than 

 here. The shepherd who loves to see flocks dotting the landscape, 

 as he passes through this immense territory, is surprised at th 

 comparatively small number of sheep. 



Here and there may be found considerable flocks, and in some 

 few counties only, the production of mutton and wool is of con- 

 siderable importance. The following table, which shows thoso 

 Counties in the States mentioned which possess over 100,000 sheef 



