No. 216,] 247 



This article would be too lengthy if I were to give a full detail 

 ■of my flock of sheep and their annual care; suffice it to say, that 

 to be prepared for wintering, we lay in a proper stock of the finer 

 grasses, cut in good season, and cured in the cock, in a greenish ten- 

 der state. We have stationary boxes prepared under cover, and 

 movable ones in the yards sufficient for feeding all the flocks in 

 winter; we economise in shed room by constructing them with two 

 stories or apartments for feeding under the same roof, allowing one 

 flock to be fed in the story above the other; the flock below suffer 

 no inconvenience from the urine above, when the floor between them 

 is well littered at the commencement of winter; each flock can be 

 shut in to protect them from storms, or for other convenient purposes. 



The best kind ' of feeding boxes that I have seen, are constructed 



of plank of about one foot in width, upon the upper edge of this 



plank, one and one fourth inch holes are bored eight inches from 



centre to centre, rounds or standards about 18 inches long are set in 



each hole, these are secured at the top by entering a cap from one 



to tv/o inches thick, and four inches wide; when constructed in this 



manner, sheep never jump into them, nor can the stronger and more 



resolute crowd out the weaker. 



% 



One foddering of the poorest hay is selected each week, and brined 

 by dissolving a pint and a half of salt in two gallons of water, and 

 sprinkled upon the hay sufficient for a flock of sixty; this they de- 

 vour greedily, and may be fed in the fairest days. 



In summer we cast the salt before them on the ground, every 

 week, which is preferable to keeping a supply before them, it is all 

 times in troughs; without some attention every week, they become 

 less tractable and more timid, forgetting the voice of the shepherd. 

 In winter we teed our main flocks only twice each day, those that 

 are hearty do as well when fed about one hour after sunrise, and at 

 three o'clock in the afternoon. 



There is great saving in time and hay, to feed them in boxes or 

 racks sheltered from storms, and the cold; the extra growth of the 

 fleece, and the saving of time and hay including other advantages, 

 by shelter will pay for the sheds in two years; a shed 18 by 26 feet 

 with 13 foot ports, will make room for two flocks of sixty in each 

 including the space occupied for the feeding boxes. These sheds 

 should be lighted and ventilated by slide windows upon each side. 



