156 [Assembly 



The ewe is capable of breeding when seventeen or eighteen 

 months old. After they have been twice sheared, I think they are 

 more developed and would make better breeders. At eighteen 

 months old, the ram may be employed to cover from 30 to 40 ewes, 

 and the following season from 60 to 70. The young lambs should 

 be brought forth about the middle or third week in March. When 

 the lambing season arrives, the shepherd should pay constant atten- 

 tion to the ewes, and tender them immediate assistance if their labor 

 is protracted, which is evinced by a decline of strength. After lamb- 

 ing, they should have a generous diet, such as carrots, turnips, pota- 

 toes, &c., if grass cannot be obtained, in sheltered situations, other- 

 wise they will not be able to supply their young w'ith milk, and the 

 consequence will be a miserable, stunted, sickly lamb. At two weeks 

 old, the males ought to be castrated, if they are perfectly healthy. 

 At three months old, on high pastures, they may be weaned; on low 

 pastures, at five months old, which in either case will allow the dam 

 sufficient time to become fat, or fit for the ram. The lambs when 

 weaned must be placed in rich pastures, that they may not feel the 

 loss of the milk; towards fall they will require roots, and an abun- 

 dance of sweet hay. If your sheep are in high condition, they may 

 be sheared early in June; if lean, later. They should be washed 7 

 or 8 days previous to shearing, to free the wool from impurities. 

 Large sheep, of rapid growth, will not afford so fine mutton as 

 smaller sheep that have taken a long time to reach maturity: for 

 example, the Leicester are less valuable than the South Down. In 

 fact, sheep should not be killed until they are four and a half years 

 old, when the meat becomes very dark, rich, and of fine flavor. 

 Sheep that range over mountainous districts, and feed upon wild, 

 short herbage, possess a flavor infinitely superior to those fed upon 

 rich low land pastures, which are unfavorable for the production of 

 delicious mutton, inasmuch as it becomes coarse-grained, excessively 

 fat and rank in taste. 



The manure of sheep is rich, dry, and contains about 20 per cent, 

 of animal and vegetable substances, 13 per cent, of saline matter, 

 and 67 per cent, of water. It ferments very readily when heaped up 

 in the yard. I would prefer to depasture sheep for the benefit of 

 the soil, for the reason that they spread their manure very evenly 

 over the field, and tread it in, where it decomposes slowly, giving off 

 ammonia and other enriching volatile products, which are absorbed 

 by ofrowing plants. It is peculiarly adapted to wheat, producing a 

 grain abounding in gluten, admirable for the manufacture of bread, 

 starch and vermicelli, but unfit for seed. 



