406 APPENDIX. 



I put my bucks about the 1st of December. Yearlings with 

 25 ewes, older ones with about 40. 1 make it a practice not to 

 put a ewe until she is two years old past. In this way a larger 

 and hardier race of sheep are produced. I have generally been 

 very' successful in the raising of lambs ; coming as they do about 

 the" first of May, few die. Nine-tenths I think would be a fair 

 estimate of theper centage of lambs I raise. Coming late in the 

 season, they generally drop in the field. 



It is difficult to say how many Saxons can be supported on an 

 acre of land during the year, depending as it does on the quality 

 of the soil, the manner in which the land is stocked, the care 

 taken of the sheep, and various other circumstances. I stock my 

 lands with one bushel of timothy seed to every 8 acres in the fall, 

 and with the like quantity of clover, on the same ground, in the 

 spring. Herd grass pasture is peferable for sheep, but clover is 

 best to plough under for wheat. During the summer past I kept 

 250 sheep on 36 acres of pasture ground ; 10 acres of meadow 

 would \neld sufficient hay to support them through the winter. 

 This would seem to indicate that about five sheep can be kept 

 the year round upon an acre of my land. 



Good improved farms in this section are worth $35 per acre. 



The diseases most prevalent are the foot-rot, the scab, and the 

 grub in the head, but never having had any diseases in my flock, I 

 can give no opinion as to the best mode of treating them. Since 

 I commenced my present flock, 1 have lost but three sheep. 



LETTER FROM C. N. BEMENT, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK. 



Dear Sir. — Your favor came duly to hand, and in compliance 

 with your request offer you the following rephes to your queries : — 



In regard to the management of sheep, I fear I cannot render 

 you such information as you may wish, as I have never kept an 

 exact account of the food consumed by them, neither can I impart 

 much information on the subject of feeding sheep for slaughtering. 



You are aware, I presume, that my little flock consists of the 

 South Down variety, which are so highly esteemed in England 

 and beginning to be appreciated in this country for the quality of 

 their flesh, hardihood, and great aptitude to take on fat. 



The stock from which my flock originated, was imported by 

 Sidney Hawes, in 1823, of whom I obtained them, consisting of 

 36 ewes, 2 bucks, and 10 two-year old wethers. The ewes, in 

 consequence of the carelessness of the person who had them in 

 charge, the winter and spring previous to my purchase, lost near- 

 ly all the lambs ; and at the time they came into my possession, 

 which was in July, they were most all afflicted with foot-rot. 

 This I soon cured by paring the hoofs and washing with a prepa- 

 ration of blue vitriol, spirits of turpentine, and vinegar. Some of 



