30 



l)rices than the butcher. The average mind can scarcely comprehend 

 the modesty and generosity which leads a man to claim only a per- 

 centage of his loss, when there are hundreds of dollars of public 

 money collected from dog owners, waiting to pay him in full. 



In many years experience in keeping sheep I have never suffered 

 any loss or to the best of my knowledge, any damage from the 

 attacks of dogs. A more natural reason appears to be that while it 

 is conceded that large flocks can be more profitably kept on the wide 

 and fertile ranges of the West, farmers hesitate to incur the expense 

 and trouble of fencing and providing winter accommodations for a 

 small flock. Of the expedience of this each will judge for himself, 

 but I am satisfied that in the next twenty years the number of sheep 

 kept in New England will be sensibh' increased, to the substantial 

 benefit of the land as well as the material profit of the farming 

 community. 



