20 SHEEP. 



past years, than that of Sheep Husbandry ; in many cases almost fabu- 

 lous prices being paid for choice animals. We do not intend to enter 

 into a discussion of the merits of the different breeds, leaving that for 

 abler hands, but simply to look at the subject as it stands connected 

 with this locality, and notice some of the causes of its decline. 



Since the commencement of the present century a great change has 

 taken place in the business of the country. At that time manufactur- 

 ing and mechanical business was in its infancy ; agriculture was the 

 leading pursuit ; there was comparatively but little money in circula- 

 tion ; no home markets where the farmer could sell his produce, he was 

 obliged to rely upon the resources of his farm not only for the provis- 

 ion for the support of himself and family, but also for the articles from 

 which their clothing and many other things were made. Hence every 

 farm, however small, would have its patch of flax and its flock of sheep, 

 and, as the summer wore away, there was hurrying to get the woo I 

 carded and spun, the cloth woven and dressed, in season for the chil- 

 dren's clothes for winter schools — the boys with their cow-hide boots 

 and stout suit of clothes, the girls with their thick calf-skin shoes and 

 warm woolen dresses, and long, checked aprons, all made from the pro- 

 ducts of their father's farm. Then in the spring time the lambs could 

 be seen skipping and frolicking and the bleating of sheep heard upon 

 every hillside and in every valley, while now the sight of a sheep or 

 lamb is about as much an object of curiosity to the younger children as 

 the lions and monkeys in a travelling menagerie ; and your Committee 

 found upon receiving their books with eight premiums offered on sheep, 

 including twenty-eight animals, but three entered, only two of which 

 made their appearance. 



The large increase of manufacturing and mechanical business in the 

 eastern part of Massachusetts, and the rapid growth of population in 

 consequence, has made it for the interest of the farmer of this section to 

 produce those articles which cannot be transported a great distance, 

 hence the making of milk has become the leading object, with raising 

 of vegetables, the small fruits, and hay ; while the facilities given to 

 transportation by the power of steam are such that he cannot compete 

 in the raising of wool with the farmer of the western prairies or Califor- 

 nia, or of the foreign countries of South America and Australia, where 

 sheep are kept in flocks of thousands, on government lands, procuring 

 their subsistence from the pasture the year round, being shorn of their 

 fleeces twice a year. 



Another cause of the decline is the cost of fencing, most of tlie fence 

 in this vicinity being stone wall. 



Now, a stone wall is about as much a barrier against sheep as a 

 picket fence would be to dam a stream of water, unless made after the 

 Irishman's model — which was post and rails at the bottom, with stone 

 wall on top. A brush or wooden fence of some kind being best, makes 

 it too expensive here, while in the northern part of New England, 

 where wood and timber are plenty, it is the best and cheapest they 

 can make. 



One other cause of the decline is the danger of damage by dogs, 



