SECRETARY'S REPORT. Ill 



hardy as tlic old-fasliioncd Cotswolds or South Downs. I have 

 never had any trouble with thcni in regard to cold weather, or 

 changes of climate ; indeed, they prefer an open, cool, airy 

 situation to any other, and nothing is more destructive to their 

 health than tight ill-ventilated stables. My present experience 

 warrants me in saying that one-half the ewes will have twins ; 

 they are capital nurses and milkers ; I have not had for the 

 past seven years a single case of neglect on the part of the dam, 

 nor have I lost a single lamb from lack of constitution. Year- 

 ling ewes will weigh in store condition from 125 lbs. to 175 

 lbs. ; fat' wethers at three years old, from 175 lbs. to 250 lbs. 

 My heaviest breeding ewe last winter weighed 211 lbs. My 

 flock of store sheep and breeding ewes usually shear from five 

 to seven pounds. My ram fleeces sometimes weigh ten pounds 

 unwashed, and will sell in this condition for twenty-five cents 

 per pound. I never feed my store sheep and lambs with grain, 

 hut give them early cut hay, and occasionally a few roots." 

 These sheep were first imported by Mr. Charles Reybold, of 

 Delaware, in 184G. 



BLACK FACED HEATH BREED. 



A few sheep of this breed, have been imported the past year 

 by Sanford Howard, Esq., for Isaac Stickney, of Boston. As 

 Mr. Howard is one of the best judges of stock in the State, 

 it is presumed that these are good specimens. It is a 

 very peculiar breed, inhabiting the barren and heathy hills 

 extending all over Scotland, and the North of England, and 

 is the most hardy of all the British sheep. They are not of large 

 size, four year old wethers averaging only about fifteen pounds 

 to the quarter ; both sexes have horns ; their faces and legs are 

 black, limbs lengthy, and muscular, and the form robust ; their 

 wool is coarse and averages about three pounds to the fleece ; 

 their mutton is highly esteemed. An important property of 

 this breed is its adaptability to a country of heaths and scanty 

 herbage, in which respect it excels all others ; it is this property 

 as well as its hardiness that has rendered it so suitable to the 

 heathy mountains where it is acclimated, and where it finds 

 subsistence beyond the ordinary range of other sheep. The 

 ewes are hardy nurses, and are able to bring up their young 

 when they themselves have been exposed to great privations. 



