Essay on Sheep, 75 



you have only put twelve dollars to a more ad- 

 vantageous interest than any other stock would 

 have afforded. Any farmer then who can raise 

 the money, either by borrowing or parting with 

 some of his other stock at even something less 

 than its value, to procure such a ram, must stand 

 greatly in his own light if he hesitate about 

 making the purchase, because the returns are 

 great and certain. Suppose his original stock 

 yielded him thirty-six pounds, from which 

 must be deducted the keeping, which will ab- 

 sorb the whole, his new stock being one-fourth 

 breed, will, in the increase and fineness of the 

 wool, add at least thirty dollars more to it. Thus, 

 for twelve dollars expended, he receives in 

 eighteen months, when his lambs come to be 

 shorn, thirty-three additional dollars, and two 

 fleeces from his ram, worth nine dollars more, 

 and this all clear profit beyond the keeping of 

 his sheep, which the old fleeces would but just 

 have paid. Is there any farmer so blind to his 

 interest as to breed any longer the common 

 sheep of the country, when his flock may so 

 easily and so reasonably be renovated ? But he 

 should not stop here: the clear profit upon his 

 flock after the first year, and the price of his 

 ram, which he should then sell, will enable 

 him to purchase a three-fourth blood ram, say 



