SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 161 



taste it. It is not so marked in lamb as in mutton, but 

 enough so to warrant dressing the lamb in as short a time as 

 possible. 



Mr. B. W. Potter of Worcester. I have considerable 

 land on my farm that needs reclaiming, and I had thought of 

 saying something about the reclamation of land, but so many 

 have wished to speak upon that subject that I have not found 

 an opportunity. I desire to say a word or two in reference 

 to the essay that has been read, inasmuch as 1 have had a 

 little experience in sheep culture, and if I had heard this 

 interesting and instructive address before I began my experi- 

 ments perhaps I should have come out better ; but I want to 

 call your attention to one thing which he has not mentioned. 

 He says that one of the troubles connected with sheep cul- 

 ture is dogs, but there is another trouble in this part of the 

 State which I think is a more important matter than the dog 

 question, and that is the inability to keep sheep anywhere 

 where they ought to be in the pastures. A few years ago I 

 found that my pasture was growing up to brush and 

 brambles, and I thought I would see if I could not devise 

 some way to make it better ; and, after reading up on the 

 matter, I came to the conclusion that the way to do it 

 was to go into sheep husbandry. I thought if I got twenty- 

 five or thirty sheep and put them in the pasture I could 

 reclaim it. I read everything I could find on the subject, 

 and I thought I could put twenty-five or thirty sheep 

 into that pasture and keep them there without diminishing 

 the number of cows that I had there, and I also persuaded 

 myself that I could sell early lambs, and that every part of 

 the sheep would work up into something of value ; that the 

 mutton would sell, the pelts would sell, and there would 

 be a great deal of profit in it. So I arranged my stable for 

 sheep, and there being nothing but a stone wall around 

 the pasture, I got barbed wire and put a strand over the 

 wall, and bought twenty-five or thirty sheep, — Cotswolds, 

 and some Southdowns ; and I went so far as to speak to 

 Secretary Uussell about one of his high-bred rams. I got 

 those sheep and put them in my pasture, and I remember the 

 satisfaction I felt when I went out on a hill where I could 



