Money  Returns  from  Sheep 
As  I  am  in  tin*  dairy  business,  T  am  quite  interested 
in  article  on  sheep  by  W.  W.  Reynolds,  Ohio,  on  page 
Mis.  I  would  like  Mr.  Reynolds  to  give  me  some  in¬ 
formation,  how  to  raise,  breed,  and  in  general,  make 
money  with  sheep  as  he  says  we  should.  T  have  a  farm 
of  71)  acres,  up  on  a  hill,  with  good  Spring  water  all 
over.  Fields  are  slon.v  and  of  course  high  and  dry,  and 
as  1  see  ideal  for  sheep,  hut  I  have  no  knowledge  of 
sheep  raising,  so  I  need  all  the  information  I  can  get. 
New  Jersey,  K.  OH  C. 
HANGING  CONDITIONS. — When  T  sent  “Sheep 
vs.  Dairying”  to  Title  It.  N.-Y.  I  knew  it.  would 
strike  a  tender  chord.  It  seemed  such  an  easy  task, 
with  all  the  arguments  on  my  side,  to  say  something 
that  would  alleviate  sonic  of  the  dairy  slavery  with 
reader  with  70  acres  of  hill  laud  desires  to  know 
"how  to  raise,  breed  and  make  money  with  sheep,” 
and  the  other  questions,  with  these,  can  he  partly 
covered  in  a  general  way.  In  this  specific  case  I  do 
not  know  this  70  acres.  If  it  is  fair  land,  if  one-lialf 
of  it.  will  grow  a  sod  of  permanent  grass  when  fer¬ 
tilized  or  manured,  if  the  other  half  will  grow  a  few 
acres  of  corn  or  oats  and  the  balance  clover.  Alfalfa 
or  any  legume,  it  will  carry  50  ewes  and  (heir  get. 
EXPENSES  AND  RETURNS.— The  wool  of  all 
these,  when  the  lambs  are  sold  fat  at. about  a  year 
old.  should  net  the  land  $500.  The  cost  of  growing 
this  little  grain  and  harvesting  the  Winter  feed  is 
not  counted  in  this,  but  the  ewes  should  bring  the 
labor,  may  seem  small  when  compared  with  milk 
checks,  and  an  expert  dairyman  might  show  more 
after  counting  labor  and  purchased  feed,  but  he 
would  not  have  the  peaceable  time  with  cows  that 
he  could  have  with  sheep,  and  he  would  find  one  sale 
of  wool  and  another  of  lambs  more  satisfactory  than 
dealing  with  the  many  who  put  a  linger  in  his  milk. 
STARTING  A  FLOCK.— This  gives  a  long  dis¬ 
tance  answer  to  the  money  part  of  the  query,  and 
the  raising  and  breeding  part  is  easy.  It  is  like  the 
directions  for  cooking  a  possum — “first  catch  it.” 
Get  some  sheep  and  begin.  There  is  nothing  intri¬ 
cate  about  the  keeping  of  sheep.  Let  them  have 
pasture  iu  the  Summer  months  and  give  them  hay, 
Yon.  I, XXV. 
2,  10  Hi. 
TTTLY 
NEW 
YORK 
the  present  status  of  labor,  and  the  sales  of  the  pro¬ 
duct  under  restrictions  and  trade  conditions.  It  has 
brought  several  inquiries  which  are  harder  to  got  to 
than  the  simple  discussion  of  the  benefit  of  sheep  for 
>  form  comfort  and  a  reduction  of  the  “two  blades” 
in  dairying.  There  may  he  some  philanthropic  read¬ 
ers  who  think  the  city  poor  may  suffer,  but  I  know 
no  reason  why  a  man  iu  tin*  country  should  think 
it  his  duly  to  lose  money  for  the  sake  of  the  “bad 
lands"  in  any  city.  Under  present  conditions  there 
are  three  dairy  cows  in  the  East  where  there  should 
be  two,  and  but  one  sheep  in  the  country  where  there 
should  be  live. 
QUESTIONS  INVOLVED. — As  to  the  queries,  a 
owner  $10  a  year  each  from  the  proceed.'  of  the 
place.  ( )ur  Delaines,  of  fair  breeding,  brought  us 
$11.26  last  year  and  SIM.  16  this  one.  and  have  an- 
olher  sel  of  lambs  for  next  Spring’s  disposal.  The 
above  estimate  of  the  proceeds  from  70  acres  is 
moderate.  Our  Him  ewes  and  OS  lambs  are  now  on 
M0  acres  of  hill  pasture.  The  ewes  will  stay  there 
until  snow  falls,  and  t lie  lambs  will  la*  weaned  dur¬ 
ing  last  of  August  and  go  to  new  pasture.  This  30 
acres  has  ea fried  about  this  number  for  five  years, 
but  had  other  kinds  of  sheep  on  it  for  10  previous, 
and  now  it.  goes  into  Winter  with  a  mat  on  a  good 
share  of  it. 
SIIEEl*  VS.  MILK. — My  estimate  of  $500,  less  the 
fodder  and  a  little  grain  during  Winter,  and  when 
cays  are  nice  and  snow  not  deep,  let  them  range  over 
old  fields.  Advice  to  purchase  sheep  now  is  ill- 
timed.  I  believe  sheep  are  at  the  crest,  which  is  a 
bad  Lime  for  investment  in  anything.  As  I  said  in  a 
former  talk,  "The  interest  in  sheep  now  should  at¬ 
tract  the  attention  of  some  dairy  toilers,’’  and  a 
change  would  be  healthy  for  the  men  who  quit  the 
milk  business,  and  for  the  ones  who  continue  it. 
BUYING  SHEET. — It  1,  myself,  was  out  of  sheep 
now  1  would  wait  unless  a  few  ewes  could  be  picked 
up  easily,  and  my  advice  would  be  to  have  the  mat¬ 
ter  in  prospective  and  think  of  it  in  view  of  a 
change.  1  began  35  years  ago,  knowing  as  little  of 
The  Farm  Animal  Trainers  Starting  Out  on  “  Dress  Parade.”  Fig.  381 
