APPENDIX. 417 



relate to our agricultural pursuits. I have been long convinced, 

 that to follow implicitly any foreign system of agriculture, \vill, 

 and has already, led us into many fatal errors. 



My experience has been considerable with almost all of the 

 different breeds of sheep which have been common among us ; 

 and more especially for the last ten or twelve years my attention 

 has been given, in a great degree, to a flock of English, or long- 

 "wooled sheep. During this time I have imported several on my 

 own account, and have bought quite a number of others that were 

 imported, and have spared no pains nor expense to establish a 

 sample flock of English mutton sheep, fit or suitable to propagate 

 their species, or turn over to the shambles. 



You propose a number of questions, relative to the habits 

 and qualities of my flock as a distinct breed — viz., the Lincoln- 

 shire. I have, as is well known, written several articles in re- 

 spect to them, as published in the Albany Cultivator and Amer- 

 ican Agriculturist, of recent dates. This, I think, supersedes the 

 necessity of repeating what I have already said about them, only 

 further to say, however, that taking the Lincolnshire sheep such 

 as I have bred, of this species of sheep, I have never yet had 

 any, in all respects, their equal. They have a compact, well- 

 formed carcase, and covered with a thick, long, and fine-stapled 

 fleece of wool, including the belly, neck, and legs. No sheep will 

 prove as hardy in our Northern climate, as those well covered wdth 

 wool ; and by the same rule, vice versa, in the Southern. The 

 fleece is the protection from heat as well as cold, and more than 

 anything else, in ray opinion, secures the good and hardy constitu- 

 tion of the sheep. The Lincolns are good feeders, and from 

 close observation I have noticed, that they would consume much 

 that other sheep would pass over and leave. They are quiet, 

 and easy of restraint, and excellent nurses ; but at the same time 

 have more agility and spirit of countenance, than any other of the 

 long-wooled breeds with which I am acquainted. 



My flock of Lincolns have usually given me from 5 to 6i lbs. 

 of wool per head, on the average, and many individuals from 8 

 to 10 lbs., clean washed, and free from all tags, &c. In years 

 gone by, I have sold much of my wool at 37 cents per lb., and the 

 last clip brought 30 cents per lb. This kind of wool is now be- 

 ginning to be much sought for, and in quick demand for purposes 

 of worsted fabrics, &c. And now that machinery is being put 

 into operation for the manufacture of our long wools, these sheep, 

 and others of the like class, must be the most profitable to culti- 

 vate for the fleece alone, aside from their great value for mutton. 

 I have sold numbers of my wethers in the New York market, ac- 

 cording to age, &c., from 10 to 20 dollars per head. My lot this 

 winter, marketed about the 1st of February, brought me 12 

 dollars per head, on the average. Two of this lot was sold at 

 15 dollars each, and the weight of the carcases dressed, was 150 

 and 133 lbs. These wethers were two years old past. I fed 



