APPENDIX. 393 



by Immersing tliem, about ten days or a fortnight after shearing 

 the ewes, in weak tobacco water. Sheep are sometimes subject 

 to be blown or bloated, which I believe to be a kind of colic. 

 The remedy is two great spoonfuls of castor oil mixed with a 

 tea-spoonful of pulverized rhubarb, to which add two or three 

 great spoonfuls of hot water to make it more fluid; open the 

 mouth and put do\\Ti a spoonful at a time as fast as they can 

 swallow it. It never fails to cure them if given before the sheep 

 has fallen. About half as much more is required for a stout 

 buck, and half the quantity for a lamb. If pulverized rhubarb is 

 not at hand, ground ginger will do, but it is not so certain. 



I believe I have now answered all your questions, and shall 

 leave you at liberty to make what use you please of this letter, 

 or that some time since published in the Cultivator, which I the 

 more readily do, as it aflbrds me great pleasure to aid, in any 

 way, the advancement of this very important branch of Ameri- 

 can airriculture. 



LETTER FROM WM. EROWNLEE, OF WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA. 



Dear Sir, — I received your letter informing me of your inten- 

 tion of publishing a work on Sheep Husbandry, and desiring my 

 \'iews on the subject. I have been engaged in that business for 

 nearly thirty j-ears, and have at this time a flock numbering 

 about three thousand and five hundred, one half of which is in 

 this county, and the remainder in Lee County, Iowa. I com- 

 menced my flock Av-ith the full-blooded Merinos, and after some 

 time crossed them with the long-wooled Saxons, which I received 

 from Dutchess County, N. York. My flock at present is chiefly 

 Saxon-blood, and average about three lbs. to the fleece of clean 

 washed wool. I give the preference to the Saxonies, as their 

 wool is rather the softest, and free of yolk or eke. The length of 

 time we feed our sheep, and the amount of hay they consume, I 

 cannot well decide, as it greatly depends on the winter, and the 

 quantity of winter pasture that we may have ; but generally we 

 have to feed more or less about five months, in which time the 

 sheep eat from six to eight tons of hay to the hundred ; but I be- 

 lieve in a close winter, and without much Avinter pasture, that 

 number will require ten tons. I prefer good clover hay to any 

 other, as they vAW improve upon it more than other descriptions. 

 I feed but little grain until towards spring, and then make use of 

 oats and com, which I think equally good. But if there are any 

 dousy or poor shr^p, I feed them some grain through the whole 

 of the winter. It has not been my practice to feed any roots, 

 although I think them very good. 



I have been in the habit of housing my sheep in the winter. 

 The dimensions of my shelters are about sixty or seventy feet in 



