408 APPENDIX. 



manufactured into flannel, which I have sold at 50 to 58 cents ^er 

 yard. 



South Down sheep, according to my experience, are hetter 

 adapted for those farmers living near market, where carcase as 

 well as wool is an object. They are also well adapted to cross 

 with our native sheep, imparting to them abetter qualit}'- of mut- 

 ton, as well as wool, stronger constitution, and greater aptitude to 

 fatten. Butchers will pay from 75 cents to -Si. 00 per head for 

 early lambs of this cross, and the mutton will alwaj^s sell more 

 readily, and command the highest price in market, for, as the 

 butchers term it, they always " die well." 



There is another good quality of the South Do\ati : they have 

 not a roaming disposition, but are (]uiet and orderly, seldom leav- 

 ing their pasture, even when the fence is partly down ; whereas, 

 the native sheep can hardly be restrained when the fences are up — 

 in fact, I have had some long-legged sheep, that would clear, at 

 one leap, a six rail fence. After nine years experience, I have 

 found the South Down sheep as they have been represented, a 

 tough, hardy race, def3dng the severest storms. 



LETTER FROM SAMUEL WHITMAJf, OF WEST HARTFORD, CONN. 



Dear Sir, — My flock at present consists of 275, some of which 

 are superfine full- blood Saxons, raised from sheep which I pur- 

 chased at auction, at Brighton, Mass., and imported by George 

 and Thomas Searle, of Boston, in the years 1824, '25, '26, and '28. 

 In 1826, I bought a buck without homs, which I think laid the 

 foundation for all the wool in this region, which may be said to be 

 absolutely superfine. A majority of my present flock are Saxony 

 and Merino mixed, \vith a few half-blood South Downs, and a few 

 mixed blood Leicesters for experiment. I have come to the con- 

 clusion that the Saxon, after it has attained its growth, is as hardy 

 a sheep as any with which I have been acquainted. Our country 

 in general, I think well adapted to sheep. Our land, however, I 

 think too valuable for sheep husbandry, being worth about 50 dol- 

 lars per acre. Such of our land as is devoted to sheep pastures 

 are those in which clover abounds. In winter I feed under cover 

 entirely ; my shelters are in my bani under hay-lofts. I allow 

 from 50 to 100 sheep to herd together in winter. I do not think 

 water indispensable for sheep when they can get plenty of clean 

 snow ; but think they do better where thev have access to water. 

 I have seldom made use of grain ; when I have, it has been for 

 that class of sheep which I have thought needed better keeping 

 than barely hay, whether old or young. White beans are excel- 

 lent ; sometimes I have made use of oil meal, and in quantity it 

 has been from half to one gill per head daily. I generally suc- 

 ceed in raising 95 per cent, of my lambs ; in my first stock of half- 



