45 



awarded to Mr. Samuel Moody, Jr., of West Newbury, for his 

 buck lamb. 



BENJ. P. WARE, for the Committee. 



[The following communication was received from the Chairman 

 appointed on the Committee on Fine Wooled Sheep, he 

 being unable to attend the Exhibition.] 



Danvers, Sept. 28, 1863. 

 Charles P. Preston, Esq., 



Dear Sir, — While the farmers of Essex County have been 

 led by inducements held out to them in the way of gratuities 

 and premiums, to compete with others in nearly all subjects re- 

 lating to their interest, they have entirely overlooked the ad- 

 vantage that would accrue to them in breeding fine wooled 

 sheep. There is no country in the world better adapted to 

 this branch of husbandly than New England, as recently 

 proved at the exhibition of sheep in Hamburg, none where 

 the herbage is so suitable to them for food, nor is there any 

 climate so favorable to their health. Why can not we, then, 

 with the advantages of having excellent soil, producing the 

 best kind of grasses, and so favorable a region, produce a wool 

 of such a degree of fineness and cheapness as to make it a 

 profitable business. We feel encouraged to know the attention 

 of the Society has been given to the Merino Sheep as well as 

 to other kinds of stock, and hope this branch of farming will 

 be more generally adopted. It is a system that will not swal- 

 low up the whole profits of an estate, but will enrich the own- 

 er, and develop the capacity of his lands for producing more 

 abundantly than before ; and when the attention of the farme]:s 

 of this county has been called in this direction (having an eligi- 

 ble location for, and a proper knowledge of the Merino Sheep,) 

 they will find that wool culture is a profitable business. 



Yours, &c., AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 



