SHEEP. Ill 



wool the more valuable it is, being so much the better adapted 

 to produce imitation Alpaccas and Mohair braids. 



There are consumed in England, in the manufacture of 

 Alpacca dresses, about two million pounds of wool obtained from 

 that animal ; while in the city of New York alone there are 

 more goods sold under that name than the whole amount could 

 produce. Not one yard in a hundred sold by tliat name is made 

 from the wool of the animal whose name they bear, but are 

 made from the wool of the breeds of sheep which we recom- 

 mend to the farmers of this society. 



Before the war we were large importers of Mohair braids ; 

 now tlie energy of our manufacturers bids fair to drive the 

 imported article entirely from the market. It must be remem- 

 bered that these are made from coarse wool, and in order to 

 obtain a supply we have to carry gold to Canada to fill the 

 purses of the Canadian farmers, when a large portion of it 

 ought to find its way mto the pockets of the farmers of Worces- 

 ter County. And unless the efforts of our manufacturers are 

 sustained by the active co-operation of the farmers, we fear they 

 will have to abandon the enterprise, and leave the field once 

 more open to the united energies of the British manufacturer 

 and farmer. 



It will be in vain that we plead as an excuse that soil and 

 climate are not favorable for the production of such sheep. 

 What advantage has Canada, in either soil or climate, over this 

 county ? We know of none, and yet Canada succeeds. The 

 British farmer, upon high-priced lands, succeeds because he has 

 a market for mutton and lambs, and he makes every effort to 

 supply that market. And in his eifort to supply it with good 

 mutton he furnishes the best of wool. This is produced from 

 the hoggets and wethers, when well fed. The object of the 

 English farmer is to get these ready for the butcher at as early 

 an age as possible, and as the best of food produces this result, 

 so also tlie best feed produces the most and best of wool. 



The farmers of Worcester County, and almost every other 

 location in Massachusetts, have as good a market for mutton as 

 the English farmer has, and can raise as good wool as they 

 choose. It is not the pastures which are deficient, as some 

 maintain, which causes the farmer to fail in the treatment of 

 this class of sheep, but it is the want of proper care and feed in 



