APPENDIX. 393 



by immersing them, about ten days or a fortnight after shearing 

 the ewes, in weak tohacco water. Sheep are sometimes subject 

 to be blown or bloated, which I believe to be a kind of colic. 

 The remedy is two great spoonfuls of castor oil mixed with a 

 tea-spoonful of pulverized rhubarb, to which add two or three 

 great spoonfuls of hot water to make it more fluid; open the 

 mouth and put dovni a spoonful at, a time as fast as they can 

 swallow it. It never fails to cure them if giyen before the sheep 

 has fallen. About half as much more is reqtiired for a stout 

 buck, and half the quantity for a lamb. If pulverized rhubarb is 

 not at hand, ground ginger will do, but it is not so certain. 



I believe I have now answered all your questions, and shall 

 leave you at liberty -to make what use you please of this letter, 

 or that some time since published in the Cultivator, which I the 

 more readily do, as it afibrds me great pleasure to aid, in any 

 way, the advancement of this very important branch of Ameri- 

 can agriculture. 



LETTER PROM WM. BROWNLEE, OF WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA 



Dear Sir, — ^I received your letter informing me of your inten 

 tion of publishing a work on Sheep Husbandry, and desiring my 

 views on the subject. I have been engaged in that business for 

 nearly thirty years, and have at this time a flock numbering 

 about three thousand and five hundred, one half of which is in 

 this county, and the remainder in Lee County, Iowa. I com- 

 menced my flock with the full-blooded Merinos, and after some 

 time crossed them with the long-wooled Saxons, which I received 

 from Dutchess County, N. York. My flock at present is chiefly 

 Saxon-blood, and average about three lbs. to the fleece of clean 

 washed wool. I give the preference to the Saxonies, as their 

 wool is rather the softest, and free of yolk or eke. The length of 

 time we feed our sheep, and the amount of hay they consume, I 

 cannot well decide, as it greatly depends on the winter, and the 

 quantity of winter pasture that we may have ; but generally we 

 have to feed more or less about five months, in wMch time the 

 sheep eat from six to eight tons of hay to the hundred ; but I be- 

 lieve in a close winter, and without much winter pasture, that 

 number vsdll require ten tons. I prefer good clover hay to any 

 other, as they will improve upon it more than other descriptions. 

 I feed but little grain until towards spring, and then make use of 

 oats and com, which I think equally good. But if there are any 

 dousy or poor sheep, I feed them some grain through the whole 

 of the winter. , It has not been my practice to fieed any roots, 

 although I think them very good. 



I have been in the habit of housing my sheep in the winter. 

 The dimensions of my shelters are about sixty or seventy feet in 



