212 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



tion, beauty of form, and combined value of wool and mutton, 

 rank with the best in Europe or America. Their mutton indeed 

 lias a reputation tliat commands for it a higher price than that 

 of any other breed." In England their meat usually averages 

 about twenty pounds per quarter. They are remarkably prolific 

 and easily reared. They prosper upon light pastures, and 

 winter well with ordinary keeping. In their habits they are 

 domestic, docile and qiiiet. They yield an average fleece of 

 six to seven pounds. Probably this breed is better adapted ^to 

 our rugged climate and hard soil than any other. But the par- 

 ticular breed which any one should select, must obviously 

 depend upon circumstances, and the particular object he has in 

 view in keeping them. The value of mutton, the price of wool, 

 the convenience of the market and the value of the land must 

 be taken into the account. The merinos and small breeds will 

 thrive well on a broken, rocky soil, wdiere scarcely any other 

 stock will obtain a living. 



The Leicesters and Cotswold require ricli and fertile pastures. 

 Lands in the immediate vicinity of a market are usually con- 

 sidered too valuable for the production of wool, at least it may 

 be raised with more profit on cheaper lands, and more remote 

 from market, while the production of mutton is more success- 

 fully carried on upon good soils with ready access to market. 



The facilities of transportation are now so great, that wool 

 may be brought to market, even from distant parts of the 

 country, at the cost of a trifling addition to the value of the 

 pound. Hence it is obvious that wool-growing may be carried 

 on more profitably where lands are cheaper than they are in 

 most parts of this county. The keeping of sheep, then, merely 

 for the wool, will not probably be resorted to by the farmers of 

 Middlesex. 



But it is believed that by combining the advantages of wool- 

 growing and mutton-raising, the keeping of sheep may be again 

 rendered profitable, and that the keeping of the large breeds 

 chiefly for their mutton will be found good husbandry. 



Major James S. Grennell, of Greenfield, in his report upon 

 the stock exhibition in that place in 1859, remarks, that " The 

 larger breeds will produce more lambs, and by good keeping, 

 both their quantity of wool is increased, and their tendency to 

 breed, and their capacity to bring up their lambs. Such sheep 



