64 ON SHEEP, 



wethers in another, and the ewes in three. I fed principally 

 with hay, but always used some ruta bagas, English turnips, 

 and a little corn or oats. Those that I hired kept, were fed 

 with good hay and potatoes. 1 gave hay three times a day — • 

 usually dropping it on clean snow a few rods from the sheds, 

 or barn. If sheep feed from a rack, they wear the wool from 

 their neck, and fill their fleeces with the hay seed ; if hay is 

 given under sheds or in the yard, they tread itjn the dirt, and 

 waste it. 



Open sheds are sufficient protection for flocks in winter. 

 Confined air, and crowding in close quarters, are each highly 

 injurious. In spring, I always had my sheep lagged before 

 turning to pasture. By this practice, wool is saved, the fleece 

 is kept clean, and the sheep in a more thriving* condition. 

 After washing thoroughly in running water, I let them run 

 seven or eight days before shearing, that the wool might be- 

 come a little softened with oil. Manufacturers like it better 

 in that condition, and it weighs more. A flock of four or five 

 hundred half blood Merinos usually averaged three pounds of 

 clear wool to the clip — sometimes a little more. A flock of 

 wethers only, average about five pounds each. Prices of wool, 

 of that quality, ranged from forty to fifty cents; I have sold 

 some of the finest Saxony at seventy-five cents per pound. 

 Wethers I sold at three years of age to drovers — price, two 

 dollars each. They are seldom fit to sell at three years, and 

 after three years, they shear less wool. P^armers allow that 

 seven or eight sheep require an amount of food equal to one 

 cow. t kept ten cows, and the labor attending their keeping, 

 was, every year, equal to that required by five hundred sheep. 



Cows there, yield richer milk, and a much greater quanti- 

 ty, than here. Many large dairies are kept in that county, 

 and with some profit ; but the profits of wool-growing were 

 much greater. I have not time now, to give illustrations of 

 this. Hay was worth there eight to ten dollars per ton. 



In regard to sheep husbandry in this county, lean only give 

 an opinion ; let it pass for what it is worth. 



I do not think that loool-groivmg can be generally profitable 



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