260 
Canadian Agriculture. 
The number of sheep in Manitoba on July 1, 1884, was 
reported as 3617, distributed amongst the Merino, Leicester, 
Cotswold, and Southdown breeds. The number, though small, 
is proportional to the local consumption and to the demand for 
wool. It is a lack of market facilities which causes sheep- 
raising to be in such a backward condition. The corre- 
spondents of the Board of Agriculture axe unanimous in their 
opinion that sheep-farming could be made to pav, and it is 
claimed that the extensive pastures of good grass, the rich drv 
soil and dry air, the temperate summer climate, and the absence 
of rain or sleet storms in the winter, would all favour the 
breeding and maintenance of ovine stock. Assuming that the 
prairies in their wild state are capable of maintaining three 
sheep per acre, and an equal or larger number after seeding 
with cultivated grasses, a great prospect is opened up for the 
near future, and an extension of sheep-farming would carry 
with it the advancement of agriculture, involving the best 
means of cultivation for raising large quantities of cheap roots 
and green crops. One drawback is suggested by the difficulty 
of keeping sheep fenced in and confined to their respective 
farms, as wire fencing, the kind most generally in use, is very 
detrimental to the wool. But appropriate branding of the 
fleeces and the use of sheep-dogs would go a long way to 
remove this difficulty, which certainly looks less formidable 
than that of the winter management of the flocks, for, with a 
foot or more of snow on the ground, housing of some kind 
would appear to be necessary. 
On Julv 1, 1884, the number of pigs in Manitoba was re- 
turned as 32,701, arranged under the heads of Berkshire, 
Suffolk, Yorkshire, Chester, and Poland China, The number 
of thoroughbreds is rather limited as yet. Every farmer, as far 
as possible, keeps enough pigs for his own use, but in several 
districts very little pork is raised beyond the requirements of 
home consumption. As railway and market facilities increase, 
pig-breeding will no doubt become more prevalent, and it is 
even hoped to make Winnipeg such a centre of the pork industry 
as Chicago, a thousand miles to the south-east, has become. 
Poultry is very generally kept in Manitoba, and with every 
success. Fowls are, as might be expected, the most numerous, 
and are in many instances kept in very large flocks : turkeys, 
geese, and ducks are also profitably maintained. Special means 
are necessary for housing in the winter, either underground 
houses or cattle-sheds being used, and no losses are reported 
from the severe winter weather. Minks, foxes, weasels, and 
skunks often attack and sometimes destroy large numbers of 
fowls. The cheapness of bird food in the Province and the 
demand for eggs are other inducements to poultry raising. 
