158 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ville kills every year about the same number as there are 

 sheep and lambs in all New England, — that is, about 

 550,000 every year. I presume there are not over 50,000 

 killed in all the rest of Massachusetts. These old sheep 

 used to be fed very largely in the Connecticut valley 

 in the tobacco sections. At the present time there is no 

 great number of sheep around here ; they are brought from 

 the west. 



In regard to ewe lambs, I take it that there is a large 

 number of poor farmers in New P]ngland who would like to 

 keep their ewe lambs, and who believe that if they could 

 keep them for a series of years it would pay, but they cannot 

 afford to do it, for in the fall they must turn into cash every- 

 thing that will bring cash. 



Mr. Lyman. My impression is that the decrease in the 

 number of sheep kept in Massachusetts is largely due to 

 dogs. Dogs always select the best ewe and ewe lamb when 

 after sheep. 



Hon. AVm. R. Sessions (of Springfield). I have no 

 doubt Mr. Lyman is correct in the reason for the decrease 

 in the number of sheep kept, but I think the speaker has 

 given a method by which the depredations by dogs can be 

 almost suppressed. It requires a little capital and enter- 

 prise to fence a pasture. Some years ago I had the honor 

 of submitting to this Board the cost of fencing pastures in 

 something the way he has proposed to- day.* 1 think it is 

 perfectly feasible in our towns. Most of the pastures are 

 surrounded with the trees necessary to supply the posts, 

 and the expense is simply for the wire and staples. With 

 such a fence you can keep the dogs out. I do believe it will 

 pay the farmers on the hills to attempt that very thing. It 

 is the cheapest sort of a fence that is eftectual in keeping 

 sheep. As far as danger to other animals from the wire is 

 concerned, I do not think it need be considered. On the 

 prairies in the west, where they use only barbed-wire for 

 fences, it is the practice to take the young horses to the 

 barbed-wire fence and prick their noses. They are taught 

 to respect a barbed-wire fence. If that process is not 



* " Agriculture of Massachusetts," 1891, p. 124. 



