156 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
May. 
€k <§Tl BUT. 
Protection of Stock During Winter. 
It is of vast consequence to the farmer, to decide the 
question whether stock should be sheltered during win¬ 
ter. Having been largely engaged, for many years, in 
the wool growing, business, I have no hesitation in an¬ 
swering the question affirmatively. I found it the high¬ 
est economy to have large and commodious shedding for 
all my sheep,though built in the cheapest manner; deem¬ 
ing it unwise to expend more money than was essential 
to the object in view, viz: to protect the stock and hay 
in the racks from the rain and snow. Having selected 
some place near a spring, on a dry soil, ground inclining 
sufficiently to carry off the water, and of equal impor¬ 
tance, protected by rising ground from the prevailing 
storms, I planted three rows of posts—the middle range 
on the inside; which rough frame work was covered with 
boards with little expense. The roof should have a 
pitch of about 40 to 45 degrees. Where the situation 
was exposed, I boarded up the sides to keep off the 
winds. 
With such rough structures, my success was eminent¬ 
ly gratifying, as compared with my former barbarous 
practice of . feeding my hay on the ground off the stacks. 
I have carried flocks of two thousand sheep through our 
hardest winters, with a loss of something less than three 
per cent. By getting the sheep into good order in the 
fall—taking good care of them in November and De¬ 
cember—giving them the privilege of the sheds during 
winter, and giving them plenty of good hay in the day, 
I was saved the mortification of seeing them die off like 
rotten sheep in the spring of the year. Whether the theory 
of Liebig is correct or not, viz: that the lower the degree 
of cold to which the body is exposed, the more fuel must 
be added in the form of provender to keep up the stan¬ 
dard of animal warmth; this I know, that the same 
amount of provender goes infinitely farther in keeping 
up a certain condition, when they are sheltered, than 
when exposed to the storms; and in support of Liebig's 
theory, would cite the acknowledged fact, that sheep 
will consume only about one-half the amount-of hay 
during a warm winter, as compared with a very severe 
w S’ter; also, another fact, that when sheep, by previ¬ 
ous bad management, are permitted to get very low by 
the month of March, you cannot by any skill preserve 
them when unsheltered. Give the same sheep the privi¬ 
lege of shedding, and by care, they will not only live 
but improve through spring. Is it not preposterous— 
nay, absurd, to suppose that the health of sheep is 
improved, the vital organs strengthened, and the con¬ 
stitution invigorated, by having the wool soaked in the 
cold rains of spring and winter for days in succession, 
then suddenly frozen into a mass by the cold freezing 
weather, which invariably follows the rains of this sea¬ 
son, or by having the snow which falls on their backs 
and sides, trickling down their bodies as melted by the 
animal heat. Our sheep are the creatures of art; we 
must care for them as we have made them. In a state 
of nature, they are capable of enduring the rigors of 
the seasons. * 
The analogy between man and the brutes, is the ram¬ 
part behind which those conservatives of barbarous cus¬ 
toms and habitudes try to entrench themselves. Grant 
it, for the sake of argument. Take a large mass of 
people of certain stages of society, where they have been 
exposed to hardships and exposure—how large a pro¬ 
portion fall a sacrifice to their situation, while some of 
them have strength of constitution to outlive them. Sta¬ 
tistics of our times and of the past, show that the average 
of life is now nearly double in England, to what it was 
under Henry VIII. And why? At present, they are 
better protected and fed. Take all the stages from bar¬ 
barism to the highest civilization of our own times, and 
see wh ere population increases in the largest proportion 
independent of immigration and other extraneous causes? 
I answer, where man is best sheltered and fed. 
I am inclined to treat this absurd hypothesis of <e ex¬ 
posure,” the more seriously, because we instinctively 
imbibe the impression that exposure is the parent of 
hardihood, not only as to man but to brutes—whereas 
reason and experience enlighten our sober second 
thoughts. G. E. H. Brownsville, Penn., Feb., 1853. 
Merits of Different Breeds of Sheep. 
It is a commonly admitted fact, that fine wool cannot 
he produced in New-England with profit. The income 
from fine wooled sheep consists almost exclusively in the 
fleece, and that has fallen below the actual cost of pro¬ 
duction. In tbe south and west we have a vast territo¬ 
ry, in which wool can be afforded at far less than its 
present prices. 
The cost of keeping sheep in New-England cannot 
he estimated at less than $2, while in the south and west, 
sheep are pastured during the entire year for a shilling. 
Against such odds, even the shrewdness of Yankeedom 
is impotent. We must retire and leave this field of la¬ 
bor to those who have greater natural advantages. En¬ 
ergy and skill may defer tbe time, yet it must soon come 
when this class of sheep will as certainly pass away 
from us, as population and the value of our land shall 
increase. The importation of fine wooled sheep for cul¬ 
tivation here, is misdirected enterprise and capital. 
Such animals, no matter how large and beautiful, if 
they have no recommendation but their wool, they must 
take the course of empire westward. The increase of 
population, which is driving out our flocks of fine wool¬ 
ed sheep, requires the cultivation of a race of sheep 
which, in addition to their fleece, shall furnish our po¬ 
pulation with food. In this business there is now but 
little competition, and superior mutton commands extra¬ 
vagant prices. The few who have engaged in the breed¬ 
ing of this class of sheep, are reaping a rich pecuniary 
harvest. The great majority of farmers are keeping 
sheep for one and a half dollars per head of annual in¬ 
come. All these ought to know, and so far as my hum¬ 
ble efforts can go, they shall know, the important secret 
that some of us are receiving an annual income of fifteen 
dollars per head, from sheep costing but a trifle more 
than theirs, with the exception of the first cost. 
With such views, I disposed of all my fine wooled 
sheep four year since. I had then to select a new stock. 
The qualities I wished to secure were large size , good 
constitution , early maturity , and a disposition to in¬ 
crease in flesh and fat. 
That I might be able to form an intelligent opinion 
on the merits of different kinds, I spent considerable 
time in reading, correspondence, and travel, to become 
acquainted with the best breeds in this country and in 
Europe. My impressions concerning a few of these va¬ 
rieties, may be of service to others in a similar position. 
The first which attracted my attention was the then re¬ 
cently imported 
French Merino. 
This kind of sheep had the desirable qualities of large 
size and heavy fleece, but there is in this country a pre¬ 
judice against Merino mutton, which, whether well 
founded or not, makes it impolitic to breed them for 
mutton sheep. There is one other obvious objection to 
them. On opening their fleece it appears full of a fluid 
which is in the form of small, yellowish shining globules, 
except near the surface, where it forms with dust, &c., 
a dark and hard crust. This fluid proves to be a natu¬ 
ral and constant excretion from the skin of the animal. 
Such a drain upon the constitution of any animal, 
would seem unfavorable to their rapid increase. But 
this excretion proves on analysis to he still worse than it 
appears, for it is composed largely of animal fat, which 
is the very substance we wish to retain. Another cir¬ 
cumstance is, that this excretion varies according to the 
condition of the animal, so that the more highly they 
are fed, the faster does the fat pass of through the skin. 
My conclusion was, that this sheep might be useful 
where wool was the only object, but that it was not de¬ 
sirable as a mutton sheep. 
The South Down. 
This is a beautiful and very distinct variety, and is 
