404 APPENDIX. 



same time. I prefer ridge land for pasture ; an acre of our land 

 will pasture from 4 to 10 sheep. An hundred will consume from 

 10 to 15 tons of hay, if fed nothing else. 



LETTER FROM CHARLES COLT, OF GE>'ESEO, JTEW YORK. 



Dear Sir, — Your esteemed favor was duly received, and I 

 hasten to comply with the request therein contained. I have not 

 that experience to give you, which you will be able to obtain 

 from many of your correspondents, but such information as I am 

 possessed of will be cheerfully rendered. 



Four years ago, I commenced my present flock of sheep by 

 purchasing of S. C. Scoville, of Litchfield county, Connecticut, 

 twenty-five yearling ewes and one yearling buck. This is all I 

 know concerning their pedigree ; I, however, believe them to be 

 full-blooded Saxons. My flock at present numbers two hundred 

 and fifty-six. Wishing to increase it as fast as possible, I have 

 ne\er as yet been able to cull my flock. I have always sold my 

 buck lambs in the fall after they were one year old. 



The average weight of wool per head the present season was 

 2 lbs. 14 ounces. I am fully persuaded that by pursuing the 

 course I have marked out for m3'self, I can realize at least 3 lbs. 

 per head, of as fine quality of wool as I now get. I tag my 

 ewes in the fall and all my sheep in the spring, before turning 

 them out to pasture, chpping about i a pound from each sheep. 



At shearing I do not put into the fleece any tags, or any of the 

 wool that falls upon the floor during the process of clipping. My 

 practice is to wash in a clean running stream, if possible, soon 

 after a hard shower. I then turn my sheep into a hard turf pas- 

 ture, shearing from six to ten days thereafter, as the weather will 

 permit. There has been much complaint made on accoimt of the 

 impossibility of shearing Saxons without the fleeces breaking. This 

 is owing to the want of proper benches for shearing. I use 

 benches about four feet long, two being connected by a piece of 

 tow cloth, about one yard wide and four feet long. The fleece 

 falling upon the cloth is kept clean, and is prevented from break- 

 ing. 



I protect my sheep during winter, and here insert a ground 

 plan of my barn and sheds. 



[Mr. Colt's plan is meritorious, but of necessity is omitted.] 



My feeding fixtures are racks of different kinds. The best 

 kind is upon the following plan : — The bottom is a two inch oak 

 plank a toot wide and sixteen feet long, legs four and a half feet 

 long, crossed and halved together, and the bottom plank framed 

 into them, twenty inches from the ground, by a two inch round 

 tenon. The rack is filled with inch rounds, three inches apart. 

 The top pieces and legs are made of oak scantling, four by two 



