APPENDIX. 425 



led descent from the importations of Gen. Humphreys and others. 

 I also, at the same time, purchased of S.W. Jewett, of Vermont, 

 one of the Merino bucks exhibited by him. He is a fine animal, 

 of fair pretensions to purity of blood, as set forth in the certificates 

 recently published by H. S. Randall. In addition to these, I pro- 

 cured, m October last, two bucks and ax ewes from Vermont. • 1 

 intended to get them from Consul Jarvis' well-known flock, but 

 they came from his neighborhood, with a warranty of purity of 

 blood ; but the warrant is not so reliable as if signed by Mr. Jar- 

 vis, who is well understood to have p^f e Merinos; 



You have asked me to describe my flock ; I have done so fully, 

 • and you can judge of its character. I will now say something of 

 its treatment. Commencing the business of farming with more 

 zeal than experience, I fell into the comm6n error, that sheep re- 

 quire no shelter in winter. The consequence was, that from this 

 cause, and perhaps allowing too great numbfts to herd together, 1 

 lost many every winter .for several years. From exposure to the 

 weather they became diseased, discharged mucus from the nos- 

 trils, and numbers perished miserably. The" survivors came 

 through the winter greatly emaciated — ewes, from want of nour- 

 ishment for their lambs, would abandon them as soon as dropped, 

 and many 'of them perished also. 



I soon became conscious of the improvidence, as well as cruelty, 

 of exposing these valuable animals to the pelting storms of our 

 severe winters, and set about providing shelter for them. I con- 

 tented myself at first with sheds open, or nearly so, at the sides, 

 which turned the rain and descending snow, but left the sheep ex- 

 posed to the cutting winds that prevail so frequently in the winter, 

 months. I continued to improve upon these structures, till now 

 my sheds are carefully enclosed on aU sides, with an opening near 

 each end, for free ingress and egress, and made comfortable by 

 frequent litterings of straw. 



Instead of the severe losses I used to sustain, I now have the 

 satisfaction of wintering my sheep with very little loss at all, and 

 that confined to the old and infirm. I am as well, persuaded of 

 the importance of providing shelter for sheep, in this rigorous cli- 

 mate, from the storms of winter, as of any other ascertained fact. 

 Its necessity is indicated, as well by the instinct which invariably 

 leads them in bad weather to seek the shelter of fences, thickets, 

 or the lee of bams, as by the fatal eflfects of exposure. The ad- 

 vantages of this sort of protection may be summed up in the pres- 

 ervation of health, consumption of less food, better fleeces, and 

 more lambs. 



My sheep are usually divided into lots of about 100 each for 

 winter quarters, though sometimes as many as 150 are allowed 

 to run together ; but the smaller the divisions the better. They 

 are fgd on hay, corn-stalks, straw, peas, oats, com, oil-meal or 

 shorts, according to circumstances. Sometimes portions of them 

 rough it through the v/intet on hay alone. I hive never fed them 



36* 



