SHEEP. 217 



the product of wool and mutton is concerned, it is conceded 

 that sheep are as profitable as cows, if not more so ; and that 

 it is obtained with less labor. 



There is another consideration which ought not to be over- 

 looked. The inquiry, since sheep-keeping has been abandoned, 

 is often started, " What shall we do to improve our worn-out 

 pastures ? " WJicn sheep were universally kept, this question 

 was never asked, because sheep are ever improving the ground 

 on which they feed. It is said that in England, land is some- 

 times manured by confining sheep on a small surface at night 

 and moving their pens till the whole field is treated to a few 

 nights' lodging. Stephens says that a dressing thus given by 

 three hundred sheep is sufficient in a week for an acre of land, 

 and is worth fifteen dollars. We have other testimony to the 

 same point. We deem these suggestions worthy of serious 

 consideration. May not the universal deterioration of lands in 

 our rural towns be attributed to the fact that the keeping of 

 sheep has been abandoned for the keeping of cattle ? It is laid 

 down as a fact among the English farmers, " that the wealth 

 and success of a farmer may be pretty well calculated by the 

 amount of his sheep stock." 



We are not prepared, however, to recommend the keeping 

 of sheep to the entire exclusion of cattle. They are both 

 needed upon the farm, and while it is impracticable to keep 

 both at the same time in the same field, they should occupy the 

 same land for pasture in alternate years, that it may thus be 

 kept in a productive condition : the sheep supplying that which 

 the cattle have exhausted. 



The next inquiry that suggests itself is, " What breeds of 

 sheep are most desirable for our farmers to keep ? " The 

 answer to this must of course be. varied by circumstances. If 

 the farmer is so situated that the fine-wools are to be preferred, 

 then he will probably find nothing better suited to his purpose 

 than the Spanish merino. Matthew Smith, of Middlefield, wlio 

 has kept a flock of this breed for many years, and whose opin- 

 ion in such matters is worthy of confidence, gives a decided 

 preference to them over all others, for localities where raising 

 lambs for an early market is not practicable. He keeps the 

 same flock of ewes through successive years, but changes the 

 buck annually, which he usually obtains from the best flocks 



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