MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 313 



in animal husbandry in conducting the sheep work had something 

 like six wethers and numerous pictures with which to demonstrate 

 the different sexes of and the various breeds of sheep. It seems 

 to the writer that the work of agricultural students and instructors 

 as sheep judges at our livestock expositions has received more criti- 

 cism from breeders than those in any other class of livestock, and 

 largely because the equipment and time allowed for the work at 

 the colleges were not sufficient to make the men as proficient in 

 sheep judging as in the other classes of livestock. Today I believe 

 students receive much better instruction in sheep and sheep judg- 

 ing than formerly. On account of larger means our colleges are 

 able to place more and better specimen sheep before their students. 

 The instructors are learning each year, and literature is gradually 

 though slowly appearing, which gives the student an opportunity 

 to get information aside from the lectures of the instructor. It is 

 our hope that in the future instructors in sheep will have in them 

 a feeling of preparedness for presenting the work. It is also to be 

 hoped that the future will bring us an abundance of sound, whole- 

 some and usable literature which can effectively supplement the 

 work of the instructor. We believe these things will come to pass 

 because our agricultural literature is rapidly accumulating and our 

 agricultural people are awakening to the need of thorough instruc- 

 tion in whatever the work may be. 



"We are pleased to note that a few of our experiment stations 

 have^ given sheep husbandry a larger place than the importance of 

 the industry according to statistics would seem to justify. After 

 all, we cannot get at the exact importance of an industry with no 

 other guide than the valuation set upon it by statistics. We owe 

 much to the very few stations that have made valuable contribu- 

 tions in sheep experimentation to agricultural literature. Through 

 them sheep investigation has secured a foothold in general experi- 

 mental work and henceforward I think it will receive the consid- 

 eration it merits from nearly all of our experiment stations. As 

 already stated, today our agricultural colleges and experiment sta- 

 tions have larger means than formerly and they have secured the 

 confidence of the people so that they are more nearly free to pur- 

 sue chosen lines of investigation. The exceedingly high price for 

 sheep during the past few years has caused the question of sheep 

 feeding to appeal strongly to the farmers and there is therefore 

 a strong call for experimental work in sheep to which I think our 

 experiment stations will respond with thorough scientific effort. 

 Just now experiments are being conducted very largely upon the 

 methods of feeding and the testing of various^ feeds available for 

 fattening sheep and lambs. These are questions upon which in- 

 formation is desired and our stations, for the present, can probably 

 do more good in taking up these practical questions than in any 



