EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 339 



£in island known as Dyer's Island, wMch comprises some 900 acres, 

 and is a part of the town of Harrington, Washington County, and is 

 located one and a quarter miles from the steamboat wharf in Millbridge. 

 A large portion of this island is covered with a forest of mixed growth 

 of birch and fir. When the purchase of this island was made Mr. 

 Wentworth also purchased all the sheep, some 200 in number, raised 

 on the island; indeed, sheep had been kept on this island for a period 

 of fifteen years without any artificial food or protection, grazing in 

 the fine pasture in summer and in winter subsisting on the kelp 

 and sea-moss, found in great abundance on the shores, which is very 

 nutritious and of which the sheep are very fond. In April, previous 

 to purchasing the island in June, Mr. Wentworth made a careful 

 inspection of the sheep upon it and found them in much better con- 

 dition than his own flock at home, which had been cared for and fed 

 with early-cut hay, and the wethers were then good mutton. On visit- 

 ing the island in January the sheep were found in good condition. 



There are many islands on the Maine coast that have sheep ; some of 

 them carry sheep that their owners never see, except to catch and 

 shear. They do not increase as rapidly as they do on the mainland on 

 a well-regulated farm, but generally they are free from the worry of 

 dogs. Upon this point Mr. Boardman says: "The advantages of this 

 system of sheep husbandry is apparent in the absence of loss and in- 

 jury from dogs, which, in the older counties of the State, is one of the 

 great hindrances to profitable sheep husbandry." And again : 



Another consideration is in tlie fine quality of tlie mutton, whicli, devoid of the 

 strong flavor sometimes present in mutton, always commands a high price in market 

 when its fine character is known. With the hundreds of islands on the Maine coast 

 favorably situated for this husiness, sea-island sheep farming is likely to assume 

 great importance in the future agricultural economy of Maine. 



The greater part of the area of Maine is stiU covered by the virgin 

 forest, and yet there is already needed, on the cleared parts, the reno- 

 vating virtue of the sheep. The areas of the sea-coast counties are 

 natural sheep ranges, and mutton sheep thrive well there. Yet but few 

 are raised and the fertility of the land is decreasing. This has long 

 been noted, and there are those who believe that the mutton sheep is 

 to be the agricultural savior of Maine. As early as 1875 Samuel Was- 

 son, of East Surry, contributed a paper to the State board of agricul- 

 ture, in which he said: 



The characteristic features of its surface form, the quality of its soils, the kinds of 

 vegetation, its pure waters and bracing air, are each a special witness to testify that 

 our future farming prosperity is dependent upon the development of a mutton-grow- 

 ing industry. Between sheep and soils there is a reciprocating action; the soils feed 

 the sheep, and the sheep enrich the soils. In the palmy days of our agriculture 

 every farmer had his flock of sheep. Thirty years ago there were, on an average, 

 17 sheep to each farmer ; thirty years later, less than 7. In 1840 there were half as 

 many sheep as improved acres ; in 1870, one-fourth as many, or but 1 sheep to every 

 eight acres; whereas, in England, there are as many sheep as acres. The same pro- 



