34 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I916. 



the hay at the barn, aggregated $477, or about $5 each. They 

 were also fed some cull apples and the turnips that were 

 grown on an acre and a half of land. 



The seed for crops is for two years, and the labor includes 

 the planting of the 1915 as well as the cost of the 1914 crops. 



Disease and Parasites. The cost for dips is out of all 

 proportion to what it will be in succeeding years. The sheep 

 as received had a good many ticks and two dippings were 

 necessary. They were cleaned up so thoroughly that careful 

 examination failed to show a single tick this fall. During the 

 year there were the usual parasitic troubles, but they were 

 successfully handled without loss. 



Labor. No labor is charged against the sheep except for 

 time actually put in necessary care of the flocks, the pastures 

 and the crops for the sheep. The farmer who does not keep 

 a labor account has little notion of the large amount of time 

 that is used in "chores." On both of the Station farms daily 

 records and weekly reports are made of the time of all em- 

 ployees. From these records it is possible to tell exactly whai 

 each person was doing at any hour of any day. Most of the 

 labor is for work of investigation in which labor cost cannot 

 be taken into account. The sheep problem is the only one on 

 farm management that has been undertaken. The study of the 

 records on this experiment discloses, as it doubtless would on 

 any other similar study, that labor is a very large item of 

 expense. The labor cost for the year was about $2 a sheep. 



Losses. There were two deaths that autopsies did not satis- 

 factorily explain. There was little loss of lambs at lambing 

 time. Not all of the ewes proved to be with lamb and the^e 

 have been sold for meat. 



RECEIPTS AND INVENTORY. 



Sales. The wool, sheep and lambs sold were probably as 

 well marketed as the average farmer could expect. No at- 

 tempt to market in any unusual way was attempted as that 

 would have been contrary to the plan of the experiment. 



Manure. The plant food in the feed consumed was worth at 

 usual fertilizer values in the neighborhood of $200. It may 

 he that the farm superintendent underestimated the value of 



