406 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



waste in feeding sheep. Let us suppose the six ewe sheep 

 will carry off in growing bone and muscle, or in supplying 

 the waste of bone and muscle, as much as in growing the 

 fleece ; and besides this, let us suppose that these six ewes 

 raise five lambs, of 40 Ibs. live weight each. This 200 Ibs. 

 live weight of fat lambs would contain of dry matter 87.4 

 Ibs., containing 3.9 Ibs. of nitrogen and 5.9 Ibs. of mineral 

 matter. This would give an aggregate of 7.2 Ibs. of min- 

 eral matter, and 7.7 Ibs. of nitrogen, as the waste from six 

 ewes and their five lambs, which is less than one-third of 

 the waste of mineral matter and nitrogen from the milk of 

 a cow. The six ewes and five lambs will consume more 

 food than a cow ; but all that is stored up and carried off is 

 less than one-third as much as in the milk. This, then, 

 explains the Spanish proverb, "the sheep's foot is golden"; 

 that it brings improvement, and not depletion of the soil. 

 This double income from the fleece and the lambs may 

 be certainly respectable without counting high figures. 

 The fleeces, at a moderate average price, would bring $13.50, 

 and the lambs, at a low figure, $20, or $33.50 as the income 

 of the six ewes. 



EARLY MATURITY. 



When the production of lambs, mutton, and wool is 

 carried on under a regular system, and the breeding ewes 

 are reared by an experienced breeder, whether they be of a 

 fixed type such as the Southdown, Shropshire Down, 

 Cotswold, Leicester, etc., or a cross of one of these upon 

 grade Merinos, or a mixture of common blood the breeder 

 knows that the best care and feeding for a few generations 

 will greatly influence their early maturity, and consequently 

 the profit to be derived from them. There is probably no 

 animal more plastic in the hands of a skillful feeder than 

 the sheep. By the cross of a thoroughbred male upon 

 selected common ewes, and the best of feeding, even the 

 first generation will show a decided change in the period of 



