162 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



overlook this pasture and thought to myself, " It will not 

 be long before those bushes and brambles will disappear, 

 and in the place thereof will be growing sweet and nu- 

 tritious grasses." I thought it would be a profitable 

 operation. I believed I was going to " kill two birds with 

 one stone," — that I was going to renovate my pasture and 

 make a little money at the same time. It went along a little 

 while, when the dogs came and killed one or two of the 

 sheep and frightened the rest so much that I soon found they 

 were in the habit of running over at least two towns. It 

 was impossible to keep them anywhere. They did not show 

 any inclination to stay in the pasture. As there were a hun- 

 dred acres of corn in the neighborhood, I went to work and 

 put another strand of barbed wire around the pasture, and 

 thought that would surely keep them there, but they had got 

 into the habit of jumping, and their long wool protected 

 them so that they did not seem to feel the barbs, and in a 

 little while the wire on the top of that fence looked like an 

 out-door wool-carding machine. They were so troublesome 

 that the second year I put them into the Worcester market ; 

 and, for aught I know, they are still jumping somewhere else 

 in the universe in some other form of existence. But, not- 

 withstanding that, I sold the lambs and the wool — having 

 good luck in selling the wool — for enough to get me out of 

 the scrape without any particular loss except the expense of 

 the fence. I think they improved my pasture very much, 

 notwithstanding they did not stay there more than half the 

 time. I thought, when I got rid of them, I would get a less 

 unruly breed of sheep, and probably they would stay there, 

 and I should not have any trouble ; but I have had such 

 peaceable and quiet times since, I have not done it. I think, 

 when I try it again, I shall go down to Framingham for quiet 

 sheep that will stay in the pasture. But any ordinary farmer 

 up here, who has nothing but a stone wall around his pas- 

 ture, if he undertakes to keep sheep, will find that he has 

 got into trouble, unless he has succeeded in getting a quiet 

 breed of sheep. 



Then there is another thing to which the essayist has 

 alluded which I desire to emphasize a little, and that is the 

 value of sheep manure. I think it is the best of all kinds 



