SHEEP AS IMPROVERS OF CROP YIELDS 31 



for the change include the following : First, the loss from 

 dogs has driven many farmers out of the industry. With 

 increase in population dogs have proportionately in- 

 creased, and the losses resulting, therefore, have more 

 than kept pace with increase in the number of the dogs, 

 since vagrant dogs in growing villages are more numer- 

 ous than when the population was less dense, and these 

 are often ill fed. Second, many farms, especially those 

 on western prairies, are not fenced and until they are, in 

 part at least, sheep cannot be kept upon them. Third, 

 the transfer of the manufacture of wool from the looms of 

 the farm to those of the woolen mills has very much less- 

 ened the necessity for keeping the sheep on the farm. 



The number of sheep that may thus be kept on the 

 farm with profit for the uses specified will, of course, 

 vary with the conditions. It would seem correct to say 

 that usually the flock should not be less than, say 20 

 breeding ewes on each 160 acres. That number should 

 keep weeds well in check in by-places, and should furnish 

 all the mutton, and more probably, than would be wanted 

 on the farm. If the number on the average farm were 

 introduced into the farms of the United States and Can- 

 ada, the result would be a virtual revolutionizing of the 

 sheep industry in both countries. 



Sheep and fresh meat on the farm No kind of live 

 stock kept on the farm is so well adapted to furnish the 

 household with fresh meat as sheep, unless it be poultry. 

 This is owing to the light weight relatively of the carcass. 

 Unless, in the warmest months, a lamb may be kept fresh 

 until consumed, and with an ice-house on the farm, it 

 may be kept fresh in any weather. 



The mutton which such sheep furnish is a delicacy. 

 The variety of the plants on which the sheep feed is such 

 as to furnish excellent flavor in the meat. The succu- 

 lence makes it tender and juicy. The abundance of the 

 grazing makes it well covered. No kind of meat can be 

 furnished that is superior to mutton thus grown. It is a 



