Essay on Sheep, 1 39 



Virginia farmer, who puts in one hundred acres 

 of wheat, cannot estimate the ploughing, har- 

 rowing, seed, and liarvesting, at less than five 

 dollars and hfty cents per acre; his returns, if I 

 rightly remember the information I received 

 from our departed hero, Washington, will fall 

 short of seven bushels to tlie acre; thrashincy and 

 carrying to market will amount to about fifty 

 cents more; so that upon a capital of five hun- 

 dred dollars he seldom receives two hundred, 

 taking wheat at its average price for the ten 

 years last past. This falls greatly short of the 

 profit upon the amount of two Merino rams 

 put to one hundred ewes, if the lambs were sold 

 at the rate I mention; but putting the lambs 

 out of the question, and supposing the profit 

 to be made only upon the fleeces, then a far- 

 mer who had a fine flock of sixty ewes, averag- 

 ing three and a half pounds of wool, worth 

 thirty-seven and a half cents, that is, one dollar 

 thirty-one and a quarter cents each, (the lambs 

 paying the expense of keeping,) would, by put- 

 ting the same ewes to Merino rams of the im- 

 proved breed, gain a stock of lambs which 

 would the first year give him fleeces weighing 

 four pounds, worth seventy-five cents the pound, 

 and a ready market: thus he would gain upon 

 -sixty ewes half the price of his raai the first 



