SECRETARY'S REPORT. 161 



Mr. Perkins. — I am not prepared with any definite remarks 

 on this subject. In relation to the breeding of pure blood 

 sheep, I shall leave that mostly to those who have had greater 

 experience. It is not possible, probably, for us all to breed 

 pure blood sheep, at pure blood prices ; because those who con- 

 sume mutton must have mutton to eat, and they cannot afford 

 to pay Vermont prices for Merino sheep to put on the table. 

 They do everything up in Vermont but eat sheep. They do not 

 eat full-blooded Merino sheep, when they can sell them for from 

 $50 to <f 1,000 apiece — and the |50 ones are exceedingly scarce. 

 The prices they get for sheep there are perfectly astonishing. 

 One man was offered, lately, 1)10,500 for eighteen yearling ewes, 

 which he refused, and was afterwards offered $13,000, but held 

 them at $18,000. The sale of sheep, this fall, has exceeded 

 everything that has ever been known before. In the town of 

 Orwell, the average price put upon the sheep by the assessors 

 was $50 a head. Now, the average price here in Massachusetts 

 is put down at only about $27. Sheep, under these circum- 

 stances, are worth infinitely more, in Vermont, than real estate ; 

 and, as I have remarked, we cannot all be growers of full-blooded 

 sheep at these prices, and still supply the cities with mutton. I 

 am satisfied that a person who wants to get the greatest return 

 for his money and labor will deal in Merino sheep. I don't 

 think that an epicure can tell Merino from Southdown mutton, 

 if both are equally well kept. I keep the common, open-faced 

 Merino ewes, and I have put a coarse-woolled buck with them. 

 When wool was worth from thirty cents to sixty cents, my wool 

 brought forty-seven cents. These sheep would shear from three 

 to three and three-quarters pounds apiece, besides bringing 

 their lambs ; and these lambs, when coarse-woolled lambs were 

 bringing $3 for mutton, would bring $2.50. My opinion is, 

 that seven of these large, coarse-wooled ewes will eat about as 

 much as ten of those I have. I believe the Merinos are the best 

 to keep. They will cluster together like pigs. If a man is 

 keeping a large lot of sheep, he must have some Merinos, or he 

 will not be successful. I got an average of $3.35 for the wool 

 from my ewes this year, and $4.80 for the lambs for meat, which 

 makes about $8. There is no fictitious value in these sheep ; 

 it is the market value of wool and mutton. It is a thing that 

 we can all go into. 



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