43 



an acre of that plain land, for the purpose of feeding to sheep, 

 without threshing. 



We regret that those who exhibited their sheep did not give 

 us a more particular account of their mode of keeping them, 

 and of the income of their flocks. 



We would not close this report without calling the attention 

 of farmers to the effect of sheep upon farms. We are satisfied 

 that if they are permitted to roam over the farm in early- 

 spring, they do a great injury to the young grass. We have 

 sometimes thought that the manure in winter was not so valua- 

 ble as that made from the same food given to cows, because- 

 sheep should be kept out in the air more than cows, and this 

 exposes it to waste ; as to the pasture some say they injure it 

 by biting too close. We have begun the experiment in trying 

 to reclaim, by sheep, about twenty acres of rough, rocky, 

 bushy pasture. I have noticed that they do not eat the huckle- 

 berry bush ; but are fond of the berries when they begin to 

 ripen. The blue-berry bush they eat much ; the sweet-fern 

 they do not eat except very early in spring ; the butter-cup 

 they like, the indigo-weed at some seasons they will eat ; 

 briars, when young, they eat ; the barberry bush, where they 

 can reach, they kill in a short time. 



How long it will take to make a very decisive improvement 

 in such a pasture as this, I can not tell at present ; we begun 

 with the expectation that it would require five years of close 

 feeding to effect a very permanent change. 



WM. R. PUTNAM, 



T. C. THURLOW, 



OTIS BAILEY, \ Committee. 



PAUL D. PATCH, 



N. W. MOODY. 



