408 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



the even, healthy, rapid development of the young animal, 

 is the great thing to be striven for in sheep feeding, as in 

 every other department of feeding which is to fit animals 

 for human food. This holds good in both the vegetable 

 and animal world. It is the tender, juicy, crisp radish and 

 asparagus that tempt the appetite, and these must be grown 

 rapidly to reach this degree of excellence. It is also the 

 tender, juicy, high-flavored meat that fills our desires for 

 that food ; and this, like the vegetable, must be grown or 

 matured rapidly. This matter of early maturity is of the 

 highest consideration in any system of profitable meat pro- 

 duction. 



We must consider the present stage of sheep-feeding 

 when conducted for the production of mutton, as in a 

 transition state the feeders simply endeavoring to graft 

 upon the old system of wool-raising, a better system of fat- 

 tening. But we wish to discuss a system of sheep hus- 

 bandry adapted to our older States, which shall be complete 

 and harmonious in all its parts, and conducted as a regular 

 business from year to year ; the flock being bred and handled 

 by the farmer through all its stages, until the carcass goes 

 to the butcher and the wool to the manufacturer. It should 

 be carried on as systematically as the best dairying, every 

 part of the business being carefully considered. 



SELECTION OF SHEEP FOR BREEDING. 



The plan of our work does not include a discussion of 

 the philosophy of breeding, but it is necessary to consider 

 the style of sheep to feed for a particular purpose. As we 

 endeavored to show, the wool alone does not afford an ade- 

 quate object for feeding sheep in States where land has 

 any considerable value, and it therefore follows that a system 

 of sheep husbandry adapted to the older States must deal 

 with sheep fitted for the production of mutton that mutton 

 must be the first consideration and wool the second. 



