1863.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
Care of Sheep and Lambs. 
Something more than high prices for wool 
and mutton is needed to make sheep-raising prof- 
itable. They must be well cared for, particular- 
ly at the lambing season now at hand. If the 
ewes have been judiciously fed, 
neither stinted nor pampered, 
the labors of the keeper will 
be greatly lightened. The lambs 
will come into the world, vigor- 
ous and active, requiring little 
more than the care afforded by 
the ewe. A few points will al- 
ways need attention. Experi- 
ence is the best teacher, but 
many have their first flock of 
ewes to manage this Spring, 
which have been bought under 
the stimulus of the great rise in 
value, and to such, the follow- 
ing practical suggestions will 
be timely. From the first, pains 
should be taken to render the 
flock tractable. A few handfuls 
of oats or corn scattered among 
them on each visit, will make 
the master always welcome. In 
this way a flock may soon learn 
to be led to any desired place. 
Pregnant ewes and their prog- 
eny are often injured by their 
efforts to escape when being 
driven to or from an enclosure. 
If the weather be clear and 
mild, it is preferable to have 
/ambs dropped in the pasture. 
The field for their accommoda- 
tion should be dry, and free 
from ditches or sunken spots, 
where a heavy ewe might be 
"cast." But during cold nights 
and in rainy weather, shelter is esseutial. A 
few hours exposure at such times may destroy 
many new born lambs. Make the shed for ewes 
roomy, and allow plenty of ventilation. Where 
the flock is large, the shed should be divided 
into temporary pens to accommodate not more 
than twenty or thirty head. In the moviug about 
and confusion of a larger number, the young 
mother may be crowded away from her offspring, 
and the lamb be unable to suckle. Keep the 
pens clean, but do not use too much litter, which 
might entangle the new comers and prevent 
their rising. See that all filth is removed from 
about the udders of the ewes : it is also advisa- 
ble to clip away any thick growth of wool 
which might impede the lamb in nursing. The 
first great point to gain is that the young should 
early get a good supply of food from the dam. 
It needs this both for nourishment, and for the 
medicinal effect which the first drawn milk has 
on the digestive organs. There should be no 
haste to interfere with the process of parturition. 
Several hours may sometimes elapse before it is 
completed, but unless the ewe shows signs of 
extreme prostration, nature will generally afford 
relief. If mechanical assistance be found neces- 
seary, let it be of the gentlest character, and only 
jn conjunction with the efforts of the animal. 
If a ewe refuse to own her lamb, confine them 
together apart from the flock, and frequently 
give the lamb an opportunity to suckle by hold- 
ing the ewe. She will usually acknowledge her 
parentage after a few such trials. A good ewe 
whose lambs have died should be furnished with 
one from a twin pair. She will allow its ap- 
proaches more readily if the skin of her own 
offspring be sewed around the body of the 
stranger. If no lamb be given her, the milk 
should be drawn from her bag once or twice at 
least, to prevent danger of inflammation. 
Where young lambs are found astray without 
a natural protector in the flock, if no foster 
- " ^m,- 
mother can be provided, they may be given to 
the children to bring up as cossets. Feed them 
with warm fresh cow's milk. They will readily 
learn to drink it by giving them a quill with a 
strip of clcth tied around it to suck through at 
first. Sheep reared in this way at the house are 
likely to have extra care, and they usually bring 
an extra price in market, besides giving much 
pleasure to the young members of the family 
while rearing them. Abundant nourishment 
should be provided for lambs in the flock, by 
giving good pastures to the ewes. If grass be 
short, a daily small allowance of oats or corn 
will pay both in the lambs and the fleece. ^ 
For the American Agricultitrist. 
How To Obtain a Good Stock of Sheep. 
The best variety of sheep for profit will de- 
pend upon the location and circumstances of the 
breeder. Those contiguous to a good market 
will doubtless rightly prefer the Cotswold, Lei- 
cester, Downs, or some other of the mutton 
sheep. For those who make the fleece the 
primary object, my preferences are iu favor of 
the Spanish Merino. But to obtain these of un- 
disputed purity of blood requires an expendi- 
ture which very few are able to meet. The 
writer inspected a pen of bucks and one of 
ewes at the State Fair of Ohio, last Fall, the 
property of George Campbell Esq., of Vermont. 
His buck was held at $3000, and the ewes at 
$100 per head. These were undoubtedly pure 
bred Spanish sheep. Those having the means 
and willing to pay such prices, will save much 
time by commencing a flock exclusively with 
high-bred animals. Toothers whose pockets 
admonish frugality, I would suggest the follow- 
ing method. Make a judicious selection of 
ewes from such as can be found in almost every 
neighborhood at moderate prices. Then pro- 
cure a stout, well built, oily, and heavy fleeced 
Spanish buck. If the ewes are 
light fleeced, and have dry wool, 
this defect must be counterbal- 
anced by using a buck posses- 
sing the opposite extreme. Even 
the first cross from a buck of 
this description produces an ex- 
cellent sheep both for wool and 
the shambles. It is true, the wool 
will lack evenness over the body, 
but it will be essentially thick- 
ened, it is made to extend over 
the belly, the fleece is increased 
in weight, the sheep is rendered 
more compact, stocky, and near- 
er the ground, and the improve- 
ment is marked. The flock- 
master has now found the key 
which opens the door, and he is 
invited onward in the highway 
of future success. When ewes 
of this cross mature, another 
buck must be procured, as with 
intelligent flock-masters close 
in-and-in breeding is inadmis- 
sible. If practicable, let this 
second buck be the superior ot 
his predecessor in all good 
points ; and at the same time re- 
ject all ewes which inherit any 
serious defect. The flock-mas- 
ter must bear in mind that to 
grade up a flock by this method 
to a high standard of excellence, 
is a work of time; and patience 
must have its perfect work. But 
good bucks must be obtained, and this will nec- 
essarily involve some expense. Fancy bucks 
and fancy prices are for fancy breeders and ple- 
thoric pockets ; let them exclusively enjoy them. 
I know that good bucks can be had at from $.50 
to $100, and prices within this range should be 
satisfactory to both seller and buyer. But will 
this system of grading up a flock from mongrel, 
ewes produce a flock of pure blooded Merino 
sheep ? There may be incompatibility in varie- 
ties arising from physiological differences, which 
time and amalgamation could hardly neutralize 
and overcome, but iu skillful hands, every suc- 
ceeding cross encourages the hope that a sheep 
possessing all the points of a superior animal 
will be attained. This point I think is fully il- 
lustrated and realized by the improvements 
which have beeu accomplished in our own coun- 
try, by discriminating breeders during the last 30 
or 40 years. Our present American Merinos are 
in every respect superior animals to those im- 
ported from Spain by Col. Humphreys and Con- 
sul Jarvis, and it is equally obvious the excel- 
lences of our present improved stock are due 
to the Spanish blood, and we must look to this 
as the base or starting point of all future im- 
provement. But in grading up a flock of sheep 
a few cardinal points must ever be kept in mind. 
'Like begets like.' If the parents approximate 
perfection in any one point, the offspring will 
generally inherit that good point, but if the pa- 
rents are both defective in the same point, the 
offspring is likely to be more so than either ot 
its parents. The confluence of two muddy riv- 
ulets will vitiate still more the purity of the 
stream. The whole secret of grading up a 
