432 APPENDIX. 



ported by Peck & Atwater, New Haven. A part of them were 

 the Negretti and a part Montarco. I let them run together till 

 IS'23. I then procuied the use of a buck for three seasons, bred 

 by Daniel Bacon from his Escurial buck. The average weight 

 of the fleeces of the stock from this buck was four pounds, and 

 the wool brought me ten cents a pound more than the original 

 stock. In 1828 I purchased a buck that was raised by Daniel 

 Bacon. From that time down to the present, 1 have kept that 

 blood pure ; this flock is now a cross of three sorts of Spanish 

 sheep, and perfectly clear from native or Saxony blood. My 

 farm is not a healthy farm for sheep, and of course they are a lit- 

 tle under size. They are a full, round, handsome-bodied sheep, 

 with shortish legs and a very round neck. They have very 

 heavy fleeces for their size. Their wool is a long staple, a great 

 deal of crimp, and very compact at the outer end. They have 

 generally wool about their face and on their legs down to their 

 feet. After taking great pains to wash them, the average weight 

 of their fleeces this season was three pounds and a half, and there 

 are veiyfew flocks of Saxony sheep any finer. Mr. Samuel Law- 

 rence, of Lowell, who has had this wool for four seasons past, has 

 given his opinion that there is no Merino wool that compares with 

 it. This improvement has been made by a cross of the different 

 breeds. I am decidedly of the opinion that there is no full-blood 

 animal equal to a cross ; the reason I give is, that there is no per- 

 fect animal on the face of this earth : where an animal is imper- 

 fect, you can never remedy the defect by the use of an animal 

 that has the same defect." 



I have for the last ten years kept from four to six hundred 

 sheep, but they were not all of the breed of which I have given 

 the pedigree. My last clip from my pure bloods averaged just 3i 

 lbs. per head, exclusive of tag-wool. I raise from 90 to 95 lambs 

 to the 100 ewes. My lambs are dropped in the month of March, 

 and of course during that time the ewes are protected. My best 

 buck went to 160 ewes the present season, and was fed high du- 

 ring service ; 50 ewes are enough for one buck, if he is pennitted 

 to run altogether with them. My sheep generally are fed in the 

 open field in the winter season, having sheds, however, to run 

 under when it suits them. My practice is to confine them to 

 hay mostly, except my ewes, before and during their yeaning, 

 when they are grained. I feed grain also to my feeble sheep. I 

 think a change of food very conducive to the health of a flock, 

 and I conform to this opinion as far as possible. In regard to other 

 particulars of management, I probably differ so little from the 

 practice of many other wool-growers, that it is needless, perhaps, 

 to enter into further details. My attention is not confined to rais- 

 ing of sheep, but for years past have bred many cattle and 

 horses ; the former is of the Devon blood. 



