SHEEP AS IMPROVERS OF CROP YIELDS 23 



too wet to admit of grazing them without injury. In an 

 experiment conducted at the Minnesota station the author 

 succeeded in grazing i6 sheep, of which lo were lambs, 

 during nearly all the period of grazing from spring until 

 the late autumn on one acre of land, without giving them 

 any additional food. The acre was divided into four equal 

 parts and crops were grown in succession on each of 

 these. The sheep were moved from one to the other divi- 

 sion as occasion called for such removal and the crops 

 were grown in succession. As soon as one crop was 

 grazed down, another was sown. The crops consisted 

 mainly of winter rye, mixed grains, dwarf Essex rape, 

 sorghum, small growing corn, and cabbage. The experi- 

 ment made it very clear that in humid areas a very large 

 number of sheep could be maintained on a relatively small 

 area of land, and with much benefit to the land, viewed 

 from the standpoints of weed eradication and fertilization. 

 Sheep as destroyers of brush — Sheep when properly 

 managed may render substantial aid in destroying brush 

 on lands from which it is desired to clear away the same. 

 Their value for such uses, however, has probably been 

 overestimated. For destroying brush, they are not nearly 

 the equal of goats. Nevertheless, they may be turned to 

 excellent account in destroying the sprouts that spring 

 up around the roots of trees in pastures from which the 

 forest has been recently cut away. They will also clean 

 out such growths of shrub and brush as are wont to 

 spring up after the forest has been cut away, as, for in- 

 stance, sassafras of the South and the raspberry of the 

 North. Mowing down the briers where sheep graze will 

 materially hasten their extermination. Some breeds of 

 sheep have higher adaptation for such a use than others. 

 In this respect the Merinos probably stand first, because 

 of the natural inheritance from ancestors which have been 

 accustomed to graze over wide areas on which grew a 

 varied flora, and because it is more admissible to keep 



