1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



125 



worsted goods, and the demand for it is rapidly 

 increasing. 



They are much larger than the fine wooled va- 

 rieties, are hardy and prolific, and make excellent 

 mutton, not unfrequently weighing from 40 to 50 

 pounds per quarter. 



The South Downs, a middle wooled breed, have 

 also been introduced within a few j-ears, and "for 

 hardiness of constitution, beauty of form, and 

 combined value of wool and mutton, rank with 

 the best in Europe or America. Their mutton 

 indeed has a reputation that commands for it a 

 higher price than that of any other breed." In 

 England their meat usually averages about twenty 

 pounds per quarter. They are remarkably pro- 

 lific, and easily reared. They prosper upon light 

 pastures, and winter well with ordinary keeping. 

 In their habits they are domestic, docile and quiet. 

 They yield an average fleece of six to seven 

 pounds. Probably this breed is better adapted 

 to our rugged climate and hard soil than any oth- 

 er. But the particular breed which any one 

 should select, must obviously depend upon cir- 

 cumstances, and the particular object he has in 

 view in keeping them. The value of mutton, the 

 price of wool, the convenience of the market and 

 the value of the land must be taken into the ac- 

 count. The merinos and small breeds will thrive 

 well on a broken rocky soil where scarcely any 

 other stock will obtain a living. 



The Leicesters and Cotswold require rich and 

 fertile pastures. Lands in the immediate vicinity 

 of a market are usually considered too valuable 

 for the production of wool, at least it may be 

 raised with more profit on cheaper lands, and 

 more remote from market, while the production 

 of mutton is more successfully carried on upon 

 good soils with ready access to market. 



The facilities of transportation are now so great, 

 that wool may be brought to market, even from 

 distant parts of the country, at the cost of a tri- 

 fling addition to the value of the pound. Hence 

 it is obvious that wool-growing maybe carried on 

 more profitably where lands are cheaper than they 

 are in most parts of this county. The keeping 

 of sheep then merely for the wool, will not prob- 

 ably be resorted to by the farmers of Middlesex. 



But it is believed that by combining the advan- 

 tages of wool-growing and mutton-raising, the 

 keeping of sheep may be again rendered profita- 

 ble, and that the keeping of the large breeds 

 chiefly for their mutton will be found good hus- 

 bandry. 



The Hon. James S. Grennell, of Greenfield, in 

 his report upon the stock exhibition in that place 

 in 1859, remarks that "the larger breeds will pro- 

 duce more lambs, and by good keeping, both their 

 quantity of wool is increased, and their tendency 

 to breed, and their capacity to bring up their 

 lambs. Such sheep will bring up an average of 

 15 lambs to 10 sheep. Large early lambs, well 

 started, and allowed a pint of meal daily for the 

 last two months, will readily find a market here 

 in May and June at $5 per head. The care and 

 trouble of such a flock bears no proportion to 

 that attendant on a flock of fine wooled sheep. 

 The larger breeds are not only more prolific, but 

 hardier, and on account of their size, less liable 

 to be worried by dogs, less liable to disease, not 

 so apt to ramble, and bringing quicker returns, 

 are more profitable to small farmers. The mid- 



dle wools, when six years old are capable of be- 

 ing made into superb mutton from their aptitude 

 to take on fat, and carcasses averaging 110 to 

 120 pounds, at 10 cents per pound, and a dollar 

 for the pelt, making $12 or $13, show a hand- 

 some profit on the cost of raising and fattening. 

 Of the various breeds, probably the South Downs 

 are at present the greatest favorites," 



The committee of the Plymouth County Agri- 

 cultural Society, on sheep, say, "We would re- 

 commend for every farmer, however limited his 

 number of acres, to keep a few sheep." A writer 

 in the Country Gentleman, the last year, says, "I 

 bought three ewes, two years ago this spring. 

 Two of them had four ewe lambs, and last year, 

 six of them had eight ewe lambs, making in all 

 15 ewes. I paid $14 for the first purchase, and 

 the wool has about paid the keep, and I have just 

 received $75 for the flock." 



The above remarks are as applicable to the far- 

 mers in Middlesex as to those in any other coun- 

 ty in the State. 



But the keeping of sheep is profitable not only 

 from the product of wool and mutton, but from 

 the tendency which their keeping has to improve 

 and enrich the land for all Agricultural purposes. 

 There is no manure dropped by animals upon the 

 land so fertilizing as that of sheep, and uone so 

 evenly distributed, or which suffers so little from 

 waste. A distinguished German writer has cal- 

 culated that the droppings of a thousand sheep 

 during a single night, would manure an acre suf- 

 ficiently for any crop. By using a portable fence 

 and moving it from time to time, a farmer might 

 manure a distant field with sheep, at less expense 

 than that of carting and spreading manure. By 

 a little pains, a large quantity of excellent manure 

 may be made in the winter, from a flock of sheep. 

 Another and a stronger reason remains why the 

 farmers of Middlesex should return to sheep hus- 

 bandry. 



Many of our pasture lands exhibit a broken and 

 rocky surface but little amenable to the plow. 

 Other portions are sandy plains, and lie at a dis- 

 tance from the homes of their owners. Since the 

 discontinuance of sheep culture, these pastures 

 have been severely cropped by neat stock, and 

 have now become nearly worthless. Many of 

 them are covered with bushes and briars, or with 

 mosses and worthless grasses. Experience shows 

 that sheep walks instead of becoming exhausted, 

 uniformly grow better and more productive, and 

 that one of the most effectual means of destroy- 

 ing the bushes and mosses, and bringing back 

 the white clover and sweet grasses to an exhaust- 

 ed pasture, is to turn upon it a flock of sheep. 

 A gentleman writing from Plymouth county in 

 1859 remarks, "Some of the finest examples are 

 afforded here of the effects of feeding sheep upon 

 pastures that have become exhausted of nutritious 

 grasses, and grown to bushes, briars, brakes and 

 moss. I have seen pastures to-day that had be- 

 come almost worthless, but now green and smil- 

 ing as a lawn, with every inch among the rocks 

 covered with the richest pasture grasses, and not 

 a blackberry vine, wild rose bush, mullein or oth- 

 er useless plant in sight. The sward does not 

 seem bound and compact, but loose and porous, 

 and filled with the most healthy and vigorous 

 roots. The sheep grazing upon these pastures 

 aflford ample evidence of the richness and luxuri- 



