PPENUlJt '409 



blood Saxons, I raised 126 lamjbs from 127 ewes. They' com- 

 mence dropping about the first of April, and I wean theftAy the 

 first of September. When my flock was mostly Saxons, it shear- 

 ed 2i lbs. per head, and a mixture of Merino has increased it to 

 2} "lbs. I wash them in brisk running water, at the mill tail, and 

 shear from 7 to 10 days after. I have lost 5 per cent, yearly, from 

 disease, age, and accident. The only disease from which they 

 have suffered has been tie rot ; in two instances within 25 years, 

 I have lost 20 per cent, from this cause. Sometimes, too, they 

 have suffered from worm in the head. As yet I am ignorant 

 of any cure for these complaints. I feed both in boxes and in 

 racks. 



[The former are like cut No. 1, and, as near as comprehended, 

 the latter conform to No. 2. See plate — racks.] 



Within 8 or 10 years past, I have several times sold the princi- 

 pal part of my flock, always reserving, howeVer, some of the very 

 best, from which I might reproduce another flock of superior ex- 

 cellence. At the present time I have only a small number of pure- 

 blood Saxons, the principal part consisting of the aforementioned 

 mixtures. As the result of my own observarion and experience 

 with reg;ard to the health and thrift of a flock, I may state that, in 

 this section of country, at least, more disease is induced by scanty 

 and bad keeping, than from any other cause whatever. 



LETTER FROM MARK R. COCKRILL, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE. 



Dear Sir, — ^Your favor duly reached me, and I am much 

 pleased to give you any iViformation my experience has taught 

 me upon the important subject of wool-growing. You ask many 

 questions which I will endeavor to answer in part, in my plain 

 way of writing. I have about a thousand head of fine sheep, and 

 from 400 to 500 long-wooled or mutton sheep. My Saxon sheep 

 were imported in 1824 or '26, I cannot say which, and I find as 

 yet no falling off in quantity or quahty of their fleeces ; on the 

 contrary, I believe a httle improvement on both points and a lit- 

 tle more yolk, when well provided for, which you know does not 

 abound much in the Saxon breed. In addition, the fleeces are a 

 little more compact than formerly^-hence more weight, and, from 

 our mild climate, the staple has become longer. In Tennessee 

 we do not fodder more than 80 or 100 days, and from the little 

 snow, our sheep pasture upon the grain fields, which soon grow 

 again, and thus we are provided with an excellent substitute for 

 roots. But both may' be made use of to good advantage, as all 

 very well know that succulent food for sheep the year round, the 

 better they thrive. I assert it to be, a fact that the cottoft region 

 [ aiii not? in (Mr. Cockrill dates from Madison county, Mississippi, 

 where a part of his sheep are kept), in about latitude 32 degrees 

 35 



