168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



or that of their families. They sympathize with the dog 

 against the sheep. LaAV is not made to prevent crime; 

 we can only make laws to punish, and the fear of punish- 

 ment must act as a preventive. All we can do in this case 

 is to have a law that will pay a man the damages that he 

 suffers in his sheep husbandry. We have such a law at the 

 present time. It is a good law, and it is very easy of appli- 

 cation. I have used it practically. I have had my sheep 

 killed to an extent that would perhaps foot up more than 

 $400 in two years' time, and I could have got six or seven 

 hundred dollars if I had asked for the full measure of the 

 law as applied to my flock, but I asked merely the pre- 

 cise value of the sheep that were killed and found on the 

 ground ; and I assure any man who wishes to keep sheep, 

 that although I cannot guarantee him against the distress of 

 having his flock injured by dogs, I can guarantee that the 

 money damage will be fully paid back to him. 



Mr. West of South Hadley. There is one thing that the 

 farmers who have lost sheep cannot convince the County 

 Commissioners of, and that is, that they are entitled to com- 

 pensation, not only for the sheep killed, but for the worry 

 caused to the other sheep. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. The selectmen are bound to employ an 

 expert, and if they bring on somebody who is not an expert 

 you can compel them to get one. 



Mr. Houghton of Sutton. We have three flocks of sheep 

 in our town, and their owners expect every year to lose more 

 or less by dogs. One man told me that his dogs could not 

 be made to touch a sheep. He took them up there, and they 

 killed a sheep before my eyes. 



Major Alvoed. I am a believer in keeping a few sheep 

 on every farm. The first thing I asked of the farm com- 

 mittee when I went to the college this fall was that they would 

 get a few sheep ; and we have a small flock, which I think 

 can be made profitable and sometimes instructive. I do not 

 believe they are going to be materially injured by dogs 

 while under our charge. If we turn sheep out where we do 

 not expect to see them more than once a month, we may 

 very naturally expect a few losses ; but for the past five 

 years I have handled from one to three hundred sheep, and 



