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ewe for her first drink. The lambs, when about three weeks 

 old, are provided with a crib, to which they have access 

 through a door too small for their dams. This crib is kept 

 supplied with oats and second crop clover, of which they soon 

 learn to eat freely. The milk of the ewes is also now increased 

 by feeding roots, clover, hay, &c. When the lambs are about 

 six weeks old, their tails are docked at the joint, about one and 

 one half inches from the body. 



My sheep are shorn in May, and sometimes again in August. 

 They are not washed before shearing. After shearing they are 

 washed several times during the warm weather. Their hoofs, 

 when grown long, are pared. Fetters, bells, and other encum- 

 brances are never used. The only thing allowed is a small 

 split steel ring in the ear, with a copper label attached having 

 the number of the ewe stamped thereon. The ewes are num- 

 bered, and the number is not repeated. The bucks are named. 



In regard to the weight of my ewes and of their fleeces I 

 can make no accurate statement ; having seldom troubled myg 

 self about it. Full one year fleeces weigh about eight to ten 

 pounds unwashed, but clear and white. If the shape, qualities, 

 and disposition are right, I pay but little regard to size, unless 

 extreme. 1 want none of my ewes to weigh less than one 

 hundred or more than one hundred and fifty pounds. 



That sheep properly managed pay, there can be no doubt; 

 but as to the exact profit I will not venture a statement. The 

 improvement of the farm on which they are kept is an item of 

 no small consideration. 



Of diseases and other troubles to which sheep are liable, 

 such as scab, foot-rot, stretches, ticks, lice, and being poisoned 

 by eating " kill-lamb," with which my farm abounds, I have 

 had, I think I may say, considerable experience; yet all of • 

 these difficulties I have met and conquered, so that now they 

 cause me but little uneasiness ; being fully pursuaded that they 

 can be successfully treated if taken in season. 



Great care is taken in the selection and management of the 

 bucks ; for upon them the future character of the flock in a 



