426 APPENDIX. 



with rutabaga or other roots, except to a small extent, with pota- 

 toes. I am not so systematic and careful in feeding grain as to 

 make it worth while to go into details. This winter I am feeding 

 two flocks of 100 each with hay at morning and evening, and five 

 half pints each of still-slops at noon. The slops cost me 17^ cents 

 for 100 gallons, and the expense of hauling them from the distille- 

 ry, distant about 60 rods. The sheep are thriving under this treat- 

 ment, but T am not clear that it is more economical than feeding 

 grain. I feed out much less grain now than I did in former years, 

 when my sheep were exposed to the weather A\'ithout shelter, and 

 the sheep do much better now without it than they did with it. 



[Mr. Kirby's racks are of the box kind.] In wet weather it is 

 of great advantage to be able to fodder under shelter. I have 

 abandoned the practice of salting my hay, except when compelled, 

 by stress of weather, to house it before it is thoroughly cured. 

 My sheep are salted about once a week the year round, and in- 

 stead of giving them tar as recommended by some persons, I oc- 

 casionally strew the yards with pine boughs, which they are 

 fond of. 



I regard the fall management of iambs one of the most im- 

 portant branches of sheep husbandry. Having paid for my ex- 

 perience on this point as well as that of winter shelter, I can 

 speak with confidence. They should be separated from their 

 dams about the first of September, and with a few old sheep, that 

 require nursing, turned to the best pasture. Care should be 

 taken that they are not stinted till removed to winter quarters, 

 when they should have a small allowance of grain or oil-meal, 

 in addition to a plentiful supply of good hay. As soon as the 

 pasture begins to fail the ration of grain should be supplied. By 

 neglecting to provide suitable pasture for a lot of upwards of 

 100 very superior lambs one season, I lost the greater part of 

 them the ensuing winter. My utmost efforts, after I discovered 

 the error, were of no avail. I gave them a comfortable shed, 

 plenty of litter, good hay, a regular allowance of meal, and free 

 access to water ; but they never recovered, and the greater part 

 died before spring. 



My bucks and ewes are put together about the first of Decem- 

 ber. The flock which I keep at my home barn, under my own 

 eye, and from which I raise bucks for the supply of my own, 

 and many of my neighbors' flocks, is managed in this way. The 

 ewes in lots of 20 to 35 are placed in separate pens, and a select 

 buck is turned into each pen, %vhere they are kept together 15 or 

 20 days. The ewes in each pen are marked with a letter in tar 

 and lampblack, to indicate what buck they were served by. At 

 shearing time, the best buck lambs are selected, and receive a 

 mark to denote their origin. 



In my judgment, water is as essential to sheep as it is to any 

 other animal. They will go through the winter on snow instead 

 of water, and so would a man or a horse, if compelled by neces- 



