1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



197 



which they should purchase. •We would have no 

 premiums. Let the trial be to ascertain which is 

 the best machine, and let the farmers assembled 

 be the judge of that fact, after having witnessed 

 the trial, unbiassed by the report of committees 

 or judges, who may be swayed by one considera- 

 tion or another in favor of a machine which is not 

 in reality the best. 



In a trial like this, the choice of a large major- 

 ity of those witnessing it would be quite likely to 

 settle upon a few machines, and this judgment 

 would be of great value to the purchaser, as the 

 fact would be reported to every part of the land. 



The trial should take place on the line of some 

 railroad, and not far from it. Perhags Western 

 New York would be as convenient a locality as 

 could be selected, — near Albany, or beyond, on 

 the line of the New York Central Railroad. Shall 

 it be done ? 



For the New. England Farmer. 

 SHEEP HUSBANDRY— Wo. 2. 



When we ask the question, "Why has sheep- 

 raising fallen off to such an extent in this State ?" 

 we always receive the ready-made answer, "That 

 it does not pay." But when we ask why it does 

 not pay, we do not always receive so ready an an- 

 swer ; but we are frequently told that wool does 

 not bring a price sufficiently remunerative. Yet 

 it is a fact that wool, for a number of years, has 

 averaged a higher price in this country than in 

 England, while the American farmer does not, on 

 the average, pay more purchase money for his 

 land, than the English farmer does annual rent for 

 his, and he makes raising sheep one of the most 

 profitable branches of agriculture. 



That it has not paid we do not donbt, and one 

 cause we noticed in our last, and showed that that 

 cause was removed. 



Another very important cause is the want of 

 that careful attention which can only ensure suc- 

 cess in any business. 



In too many instances, the farmer, after ob- 

 taining a good flock of sheep, has almost left it to 

 itself ; he has not taken the pains to keep up his 

 breed that he takes with his other cattle. 



If he has fed them well, and cared for them in 

 a proper manner, yet he has sold his lambs year 

 after year, and continued to breed from his old 

 ewes ; he has kept his old buck, or others raised 

 from his old flock, and that, too, from degenerated 

 ewes, which practice would, in a few years, not 

 only deteriorate the quality of the wool, but would 

 also reduce the quantity. It would also reduce 

 the size of the lambs, and seriously affect their 

 fattening qualities, and would also reduce the size 

 of his sheep, and this w T ould manifest itself soon- 

 est and most seriously in the best breeds. 



We may expatiate much on the different breeds, 

 we may grow eloquent in favor of this, that or the 

 other one, but unless proper attention is paid to 

 those principles which produce and perpetnate 

 good breeds, we talk and write in vain. 



Much has been said and written on in-and-in 

 breeds ; but when this is successfully practiced it 

 is with the very best progeny of the best parents 

 on both sides. This, to be successful, must be 



conducted on scientific principles, and none but 

 the skillful should ever attempt it. On the other 

 hand, among our every-day farmers, and with 

 sheep particularly, where the flock is drained of 

 all its vigor by the constant sale of lambs, it is 

 a prolific source of evil ; and when we hear per- 

 sons advocating in-and-in breeding, we always 

 feel like saying, "Please state its limitations," pre- 

 serve your best lambs, both male and female, and 

 breed from no others. 



We noticed a lamb last fall whose fleece re- 

 sembled hair ; it was bought from a fiock whose 

 owner has sold his lambs from year to year, keep- 

 ing only such as the butcher would not buy, and 

 breeding in-and-in. This man could not afford to 

 preserve a good lamb, or buy a good buck. The 

 form of this lamb was in perfect keeping with its 

 fleece, its back sharp instead of broad, its ribs flat 

 and its neck long. 



All our different breeds of sheep have their or- 

 igin from one source — the wild, hairy animal, still 

 found upon the mountains of Asia Minor, Bar- 

 bary, Greece, &c, which when brought under the 

 fostering care of man, the rank, hairy fibres grad- 

 ually disappear, while the soft wool around the 

 roots, which is scarcely perceptible at first, be- 

 comes singularly developed. The male undergoes 

 this change more rapidly than the female, and al- 

 ways continues to possess far more power in mod- 

 ifying the fleece of the offspring than the female 

 parent. Always bear in mind, however, that the 

 age and vigor of the parents will do much to 

 modify the general law. By paying strict atten- 

 tion to this general principle, changing and cross- 

 ing of rams, we have obtained such a variety of 

 breeds, and have so far advanced from the parent 

 stock, that the relationship appears almost oblit- 

 erated. But though there appears such a wide 

 difference between our best domestic breeds and 

 their wild origin, yet there is always a tendency 

 upon the part of the fleece of the domesticated 

 animal to return to that of the wild animal. This 

 is most rapid in the ewe. She will not be neg- 

 lected by man, if she is, her fleece will suffer, and 

 under the very best of care fleece of both the male 

 and female deteriorates every year. It is finest, 

 strongest and heaviest the first year, and it continues 

 to become lighter and coarser every year, and the 

 more lambs the ewe has the faster the fleece deteri- 

 orates, consequently it will be found that it is not 

 the ewe that produces most lambs in a year that is 

 eventually the most profitable. 



We have in our possession two fleeces, one 

 black and the other white — their staples measure 

 about twelve inches — the greater portion of both 

 is hair, and when drawn out very much resembles 

 the hair from a cow's tail. We showed this a 

 short time ago to an eminent stock breeder, and 

 he asked if was from Africa? Judge of his sur- 

 prise when told it was raised in Massachusetts ! 



The -first manifestation we have of deterioration 

 in the fleece is the increase in the long hairy part 

 that grows upon the hind leg. In young, well- 

 bred sheepj this is scarcely perceptible. In the 

 old, degenerate sheep, it extends to the body, and 

 the top of the staple is full of coarse hairs, with a 

 white hair in the bottom called a kemp. When 

 sheep are thus far run out, it is about as easy to 

 produce a good flock from the wild species as 

 from them. The wild ones would have health and 

 vigor on their side, which the domesticated would 



