69 



cropping for two or three years, the briers and weeds, if not 

 the bushes, will be exterminated and the amount of good 

 sweet grass will be increased so that the land will be more 

 than doubled in value. It can then be given up to the cows 

 and another piece can be served in like manner. They are 

 especially beneficial to Apple orchards that cannot well be 

 cultivated. The manure they drop is the best possible fertilizer 

 for the tree, and they eat the immature fruit as fast as it drops, 

 thus preventing the increase of the worms that do so much 

 damage to the fruit. Mr. T. C. Thurlow, of West Newbury, a 

 member of our Committee, states that he has an orchard that 

 a few years ago was run down so that it produced but little 

 fruit and that of a poor quality. He stocked it with sheep 

 and it has now regained its thrifty condition and bears very 

 large crops of excellent apples. 



In Siiying good sheep, we do not mean high priced, thorough- 

 bred sheep, but such sheep as can be bought in the markets ; 

 do not buy the refuse of droves that are too poor to kill, for 

 such ones are dear at any price, but select young ones that are 

 long bodied, broad on the back and full in the breast, and well 

 covered with wool, that when the hand is placed on the back 

 it will feel soft and thick. This characteristic is not so much 

 valued for the extra amount of wool they will yield as it is for 

 denoting hardihood and thrift. Such sheep" are better feeders 

 and will pass through cold storms without injury, when thin, 

 coarse wooled ones will nearly perish. The profit of a flock 

 depends wholly upon its management. They do not require as 

 warm quarters as cattle, but in moderate weather they prefer 

 and will do better in an. open shed, if it is dry, than they will 

 in a warm, close building. Many farmers think that they will 

 live on coarse meadow hay, orts, or anything that the cattle 

 reject, but there is not any profit in such feeding, for a poor 

 sheep will bring a poor lamb and will give but little milk, and 

 the lamb cannot be fatted in season to bring the highest price. 



From the time they come to the barn until they drop their 

 lambs they should have good early cut hay or rowen without 



