SHEEP. 201 



point, and let the bulk of the wool in the county be of this 

 desirable grade, and the county will be as justly celebrated for 

 the production of the most valuable wool grown, as it now is 

 for the cleanness and beauty of that which it now produces. 

 It has been claimed by some that sheep of such opposite char- 

 acters as the Cotswold and the Merino do not produce a good 

 stock when crossed ; but our observation has led us to believe 

 the contrary of this to be true, for the finest buck we have ever 

 seen in this county was from just such a cross, and we have seen 

 numerous instances where such a cross has produced excellent 

 sheep. Beyond the enhanced value of the wool we have a 

 hardy race of sheep, which stands the rigors of our climate 

 well, does well on our feed, and rears its young without trouble. 



We remarked that our farmers should be agreed upon this 

 subject. This concert of action will appear important when we 

 consider that the individual lots of wool in our county are 

 small, and when a dealer makes a price he must make it to 

 correspond with the value of the average of the wool produced, 

 and if the bulk of the wool was of the staple suitable for comb- 

 ing purposes the price would be for combing wool. If one party 

 raise fifty pounds of combing wool, and all the others raise the 

 medium grades, the dealer will hardly recognize so small a 

 quantity ; but let all our farmers turn their attention in this 

 direction, and the dealer expects to get a superior grade of 

 wool and pay a price accordingly. 



"We might offer some suggestions in relation to the care of 

 sheep ; but we leave this part of the subject, trusting that our 

 farmers have long since learned the difference in profit of prop- 

 erly caring for and feeding their sheep in winter, and letting 

 them eke out a miserable existence cropping the dead grass 

 of our old fields, and finding a shelter from the wintry blasts 

 under the lee-side of a stone wall. 



For the Committee, 



Daniel A. Cleaveland. 



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