SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 125 



If, however, they are furnished with an abundance of white 

 clover, and other succulent grasses, they do not care to taste 

 many of the four Imndred plants on which in extremity they 

 will feed. 



Tliere Jire hundreds of acres of pasture-land that can be 

 reclaimed in no other way, and it is probably true of half the 

 breadth of pasture in the State, that by sheep feeding its produc- 

 tiveness may be increased five per cent, a year, for ten years. 

 In that period a town would be able to keep as many cattle as 

 at present, and twice as many sheep as cattle. Upon this theory 

 it would be wise to engage in sheep husbandry, even though the 

 direct profit should not exceed that of other branches of agricul- 

 ture. My present impression is that Mr. Soule's plan is one 

 which offers more advantages than any other to those residing 

 in the vicinity of good markets. In England, flocks change 

 hands often. One set of farmers rear sheep to the age of one 

 or two years, and then sell to tliose who have superior facilities 

 for fattening the animals; 



It may be wise for farmers who own hill pastures that are 

 exhausted, or plain lands of inferior quality, to consider whether 

 the plan adopted by Mr. Soule may not be successfully copied, 

 and thus their lands improved, and a profit obtained, as large 

 at least, as that derived from other branches of farming. 



In my visits to various parts of Massachusetts, and to other 

 sections of the country, I have observed that the prosperous 

 farmers are those who have one leading branch to which all 

 their labors are directed, and the thriftless men are they who 

 have no leading object, no branch of industry on which they 

 rely. There can be no real success in farmings unless those 

 engaged in itfolloiv it ivith ardor and in the spirit of progress. 



It is a reasonable hope that the teachings of the schools,, 

 the colleges, and especially of the agricultural college, together 

 with family influences, will do something to render agriculture 

 more attractive to young men, and that, in the meanwhile, the 

 great body of the farmers will readily accept the contributions 

 made by mechanics, by which the business of farming can be 

 more economically pursued. 



