SHEEP. 199 



Our farmers are doubtless honest in their endeavors to rid 

 their Merino fleeces of their yolk and grease by a careful wash- 

 ing of their sheep in cold water ; but the yolk and grease of 

 Merino wool do not readily start in cold water. That an enor- 

 mous weight of fleece has in many instances been taken from 

 Merino sheep nojie who are acquainted with the facts will deny. 

 Instances of eighteen pounds to the fleece are by no means rare, 

 if we are to credit the published reports of the yield of some 

 small choice flocks ; and if this wool can be sold at one-fourth 

 more price than can be obtained for the common grades, then, 

 at first view, this is the breed to which our farmers should turn 

 their attention. But there are drawbacks to rearing this breed 

 of sheep which must be taken into the account. As a breed, 

 their young are very tender, and it is only with the greatest 

 care and pains that they can be reared ; and the dams yielding 

 but a very small quantity of milk at first, for the sustenance of 

 their young, renders it still more difficult. A former delegate 

 of this society was in the habit of keeping watch over his flocks 

 almost constantly, day and night, during the time they were 

 dropping their lambs, and as soon as a lamb was born taking 

 it from the mother and nursing it by a fire, kept in his barn 

 for the purpose, and feeding it upon warm milk, and in this 

 way succeeded in rearing most of his lambs. We think if those 

 lambs had been exposed to the keen winds and pitiless storms 

 to which we have seen young and tender lambs exposed, but 

 few of them would have survived. 



Of the Southdowns we can only say that they are generally 

 hardy, yet their fleeces, so far as we have seen, are not propor- 

 tionate to their bodies ; and being truly a mutton sheep, they 

 have not, with us, shown those points of excellence for which 

 this breed is so justly celebrated in more favorable localities. 

 They have never, so far as we have observed, shown the large 

 saddle, such as may be seen gracing the stalls in Faneuil Hall 

 Market. 



With reference to the long-woolled sheep, we have found the 

 Cotswold to be an excellent breed, standing the rigors of our 

 climate remarkably well, and yielding a large fleece of good 

 clear wool, coarse in texture and strong in fibre. The lambs 

 of this breed are easily reared. It is true we have seen but 

 few of the pure blood, as nearly all we have known of them 



