No. 4.] SHEEP RAISING. 143 



ewes should be obtained. In the great west, some years 

 ago, when wool growing was increasing by leaps and bounds, 

 the large enhancement in the number of sheep was possible 

 through the purchase of the scrubby Mexican ewes at low 

 prices, and the crossing upon them of Merino rams. If ewes 

 for New England were to be purchased in the Brighton 

 market, the danger would be of obtaining animals which had 

 been rejected by farmers because they were impotent, or 

 would not breed. Ewes of this description often come to 

 Buffalo and other centres in lots of two or three from 

 numerous points in Ohio, Indiana, Canada and other sheep 

 sections, and are made up into carload lots. Many ewe 

 lambs come to Brighton in carload lots, but are generally in 

 such good condition that they would lose flesh if put out 

 upon farms, and possibly their cost would even be too great 

 to use for that purpose. The best way in which to increase 

 the number of sheep in New England would be to induce 

 the farmers to buy the ewe lambs of their neighbors, and 

 to discourage the sale of ewe lambs for a series of years. 

 Just now carloads of sheep could be bought throughout the 

 west at very moderate prices, owing to the disappointment 

 which has occurred during the past seven or eight months in 

 the condition of the wool market ; but in selecting ewes for 

 New England in those sections, great care would need to be 

 taken that they should be young and thrifty. 



One of the necessities of successful sheep husbandry in 

 New England would be the profitable disposal of the old ewes 

 after they were no longer thrifty as breeders. West of the 

 Mississippi River the large flocks of sheep develop some 

 specialists in various kinds of sheep husbandry ; for 

 instance, I have met men in the west who made a specialty 

 of buying broken-mouthed ewes, — that is, ewes which, 

 either from age or accident, had lost their teeth, so that they 

 were no longer able to pick up a living upon the range ; 

 and these feeders made a specialty of buying them and tak- 

 ing them up into Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, where 

 they fattened them upon grain and put them into the market 

 at a profit. 



In the far west the range men formerly often kept their 

 ewes until they died of old age, the theory being that 



