148 ESSAY ON SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



the bam poor, a gill of corn a day, with common keep, 

 will bring them up by spring. That the sheep is dealt with 

 somewhat severely, I do not deny ; it is the price we must 

 pay, for the benefit of the pasture. Where the only object is 

 to destroy weeds and bushes and prepare the pasture for the 

 cow, a low priced sheep may be employed, and after the object 

 is accomplished, the sheep may be fattened or sold as store 

 sheep. But the improved appearance of the pasture is not all. 

 The sheep enriches land beyond any other animal ; its ma- 

 nure being stronger and more stimulating. 



The popular objection may be, that the close feeding neces- 

 sary for accomplishing the object, would drive the sheep over 

 common fences. This may be ; but walls can be polled, and 

 sheep fettered, a thing often necessary to be done, even 

 where the food is good. Some pastures have the Canada this- 

 tle, and sheep suffer from this exceedingly. I have known 

 them made sore with festers over the body, arising from the 

 thistle working itself through the wool, till it reaches the 

 flesh and then into the flesh. They must then lose flesh 

 from the irritation. If such pastures could be over-stocked, 

 however, with sheep, the thistle would be overcome, and ex- 

 terminated easily, and where land is rocky, it is the only way 

 in which they can be. 



SHEEP WITH COWS. 



It was the declared opinion of the late lamented Asa T. 

 Newhall, that in every pasture stocked with cows, as 

 many sheep as there are now cows may be added to the num- 

 ber of cows without detriment. The sheep bites closer, and 

 in many places where the cow cannot. Besides this, the 

 sheep will feed on the leaves of vines and bushes which the 

 cow rarely touches. Here there is an opportunity for raising 

 the stocking yarn and mitten yarn for the family without feel- 

 ing it. And no farmer who has tried the yarn of the shops, 

 chopped off by machinery, can but desire the stockings and 

 mittens for himself and his sons, made of yarn, carded, spun, 

 and knit at home, or at least by hand. 



Where but few sheep are to be kept, and those with cows, 

 it is desirable to have cossets. Lambs for this purpose may 



