18G1. 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



147 



All farmers, he thought, agreed that sheep were 

 the most profitable animals to keep on a farm, and 

 he thought they had been truly called the animal 

 with the golden hoof. The gentleman from Shel- 

 burn had said he cared little for fine wooled sheep, 

 but he thought that in some places these would 

 be decidedly the most profitable. We must look 

 to the mutton as well as the wool in raising sheep, 

 and for the former there is no question the large 

 sheep are the best, and for wool, the family of 

 Downs are more profitable than any other. It is, 

 said he, for the advantage of the manufacturer, 

 and in this branch of industry he had a large in- 

 terest, to advocate the keeping of fine wooled 

 sheep, but he considered it his duty to his fellow 

 farmers to advise the keeping of the coarse wooled 

 kind. He read a list of prices his firm were now 

 paying for wools from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New- 

 York and Vermont, saying that the lightest were 

 the highest, while the coarse returned 20 per cent, 

 more. He said he had rams weighing 300 lbs. 

 each, and he had a flock of breeding ewes the av- 

 erage weight of each of which was 180 lbs. He 

 had tried the Saxony and Merino breeds, but they 

 had eaten him out of house and home, and by mix- 

 ing these breeds he derived no benefit. He had 

 50 breeding ewes of the Oxford Down breed, and 

 he got 74 lambs from them the past season. He 

 had his lambs dropped from February to the 

 middle of March, and found this was the best time, 

 as they could then stand the weather better. He 

 commenced keeping sheep 14 years ago, and then 

 had land which was good for no farming purpose, 

 but now he kept on this same land 12 to 18 cows ; 

 besides his flock of IjO sheep, all of which were 

 doing exceedingly well, and the improvement was 

 attributable mainly to the sheep. He thought it 

 important that the land should be watched to see 

 that it is not fed too close, and he recommended 

 the giving of each sheep at night half a pound of 

 cotton oil seed, as a sheep that is fed on nothing 

 is worth nothing. He ihought that the more va- 

 rious the food, and that of good quality, the bet- 

 ter a sheep would pay, but care should be taken 

 not to let them get poor, as it would cost more 

 than they were worth to put the flesh on again, 

 and the wool would be sure to be tender. 



Amasa Walker, of North Brookneld, said 

 that a neighbor of his kept a flock of 400 sheep 

 last fall, and he had had 50 of them killed by dogs. 

 We have, said he, a good many agricultural so- 

 cieties in diflerent parts of the State, and he sug- 

 gested that they make it their business to look 

 after the dog law, and report to the Secretary of 

 the Board of Agriculture the names of those 

 towns that did not enforce the law. When he 

 was in England, he saw sheep on every farm, 

 and often heard Avondc-r expressed by farmers 

 there that they were not on every farm here ; he I 



was satisfied they were essential on every farm, as 

 they eat the grasses which no other animal will 

 eat. There were two matters which required 

 looking to, the first of which was the enforcement 

 of the dog law, and next, the keeping of sheep 

 orderly, a matter requiring little trouble Avith the 

 modern breeds. 



Charles S. Davis, of Plymouth, said he had 

 suggested to members of the Legislature an 

 amendment to the dog law, and an order had been 

 introduced having that object in view, and which 

 was referred to the Judiciary Committee, but this 

 had been reported back and referred to the Com- 

 mitte on Agriculture, a member of which had 

 told him that, instead of being amended, the law 

 ought to be repealed ; but he hoped the Legisla- 

 ture would make the law stronger and more ef- 

 fectual than it now is. More than half the farm- 

 ers in the State, said he, believe that the keeping 

 of sheep is injurious to the land, but it is a rule 

 in England that if there is vegetable matter 

 enough on the land to absorb the fertilizing 

 qualities of the sheep droppings, that keeping 

 sheep is decidedly beneficial. It is also made an 

 objection, that sheep will jump fences, and that 

 our fences are not suitable for sheep ; this is also 

 a mistake, as the new breeds of sheep will very 

 rarely jump, but will creep through holes, and to 

 keep them in the pasture, lower fences than are 

 required to restrain cattle are necessary. He said 

 it was well known that a man who keeps a dozen 

 sheep finds them the most profitable of anything 

 on his farm. He was desirous of seeing the dog 

 law so amended as to make the towns liable for 

 cattle and sheep killed by dogs, and he thought 

 this far preferable to any action agricultural so- 

 cieties could take. Ten years ago, there were 

 220,000 sheep in the State, while now there are 

 not more than 112,000; but there are 33,000 

 dogs now licensed, more than that number un- 

 licensed, anl the first year the dog law Avas in 

 operation there Avere as many killed. He thought 

 that the owners of dogs, good ones, and those 

 worth keeping, were decidedly in favor of the law. 



Mr. FisK, of Shelburn, spoke in severe terms 

 of the Selectmen in his tOAvn, because they would 

 not enforce the law, and said that the farmers 

 had been obliged to take the matter into their oAvn 

 hands. He considered that Avith them the Cots- 

 wold breed of sheep were the best to keep. He 

 had five for Avhich he paid $100, and they had 

 paid for themselves the first year he had them. 

 They were tame and kind, and Avould remain 

 Avherever they Avere placed. 



Mr. AVallis, of Bolton, said he was one of 

 the Selectmen of his town, and thought the dog 

 law was now all that was required ; the trouble 

 Avas not in the law, but in the execution of it. 

 He related the case of a farmer in Bolton who 



