Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-11-03
MISCELLANY.
Facts about Sheep.

Simon Brown, editor of the New England
Farmer, stated the following interesting facts
at a meeting of tho Concord Farmers club
lie remarked that he was familiar with the
care of sheep in his youth. He had been OBJ
ligod to sit up night after night, in cold
weather, to take care of lambs, because they
were dropped too early. The first broadcloth
he ever wore was made from the wool of sheep
which he had assisted to raise. Sheep rails
ing was formerly profitable, but it had been
discontinued among us, chiefly on account of
the losses occasioned by dogs. He had been
informed that in the adjoining county of Es-
sex there were only 500 sheep, but there
were $500 dogs A good many persons are
now entering upon the business y new spir-
1T has been awakened upon the subject
Sheep have been improved in size and pro-
ductivcness, as much as, and perhaps more,
than cattle. Fifty years ago quarter of NUT
ton, in England, that weighed fifteen or TWEEN
ty pounds, was thought large. Now, quar-
ter of mutton is frequently seen weighing fif-
ty or sixty pounds One weighing sixty
pounds was recently exhibited in Boston mar
kct. If thorc is demand for mutton, sheep
raising must be profitable. lie had no doubt
that there wou'l be demand for all the good
mutton that might be raised. He spoke of
the effect of keeping sheep in rcclaimng pas
lures He knew a tract of land in Plymouth
County, that was formerly so covered with
brlars and rose bushes, that it was almost inn
possible to walk through it, He saw it last
fall and twas beautiful green pasture, with
smooth surface, and not bush or brier up
on it. 1t had been reclaimed by the use of
sheep alone
The following additional statements were
made by James B. Elliott, of Kecnc, New
Hampshire:
He is engaged in sheep husbandry, and has
been for five years. His sheep had become
breachy. When this is the case, the best way
is to change the entire flock He had recent
ly been looking among the sheep in Vermont,
and had purchased hundred, at the average
price of five dollars. He expects they will
yield from five to six pounds of wool each.-
He has been to Albany, and seen the long
wooded sheep. They do best, as he is infor-
med, in small focks. He wishes to keep
pretty large flock; has one pasture that will
carry 800, and another that will carry $50 to
200. Sheep require about one acre each.-
If lapd is very rocky they require more
Large sheep require more. He has concud-
ed to keep fine woolcd sheep. Many of the
farmers on the Connecticut are now feeding
all the corn they can raise to their sheep
They buy weathers, and put them up about
the lst of December, and give them cob
will shear them, and send them to market in
170 pounds, live weight, and bring from five
Walpole, New Hampshire, they arc feeding
1000 this winter. The farmer may fat two
sets in the fall and winter. The manure
from chnnr &c hnftor fboc fbof fron,
From twenty-one sheep he made ten loads
of the best manure he ever saw. Leaves, or
some proper absorbent, should be placed upon
the bottom of the yard, and litter used as re-
quired This manure is excellent to mix
with muck. 1t costs about forty cents, in
New Hampshire, to pasture sheep from the
10th of April till the Goth of November. or
till they are "snowcd up" and about $1.10
In the winter. A sheep requires about two
pounds of hay daily. He feeds with hay
twice day, and once with roots. Sheep re-
quire plenty Of fresh air, and running water.
Some keep them without water, but it is not
50 we'll Sheep will destroy almost every kind
of bushes, except pines and alders. Some
sheep are easily kept within ordinary fences
Others will learn to jump over almost every
fence. He related an anecdote of one man
who had kept flock of sheep twcnty-nine
years, and never knew but one to get off out
of the pasture. Mr.. e. thought small NUT
ton quite as good as large, but that as most
farmers in this section would keep only small
hocks, the long-wooed sheep might be the
most profitable here. The Cotswods and
South Downs would yield from five to six
pounds of wool. This wool, although it does
not fetch quite as much as fine wool, is in de-
mand for certain kinds of manufacture. He
said that man of his acquaintance in Vor-
mont realizes 81 900 per year from 200 sheep.
BAYARD TAYLOR tells the story of building
his house very richly. He says when he was
considering what sort of house he should build.
The community I found had settled the
matter long before me. Tho house was to
contain something Of every style Of architec-
ture which had seen in my wanderings over
tho world. There was to be Grecian facade,
with one wing Gothic and the other Saracenic
Chinese pagoda at one corner, an Italian
campanile at the other; and the pine apple
dome Of a Hindoo temple between the chin
neys The doors would be copied from West
minister Abbey, the windows from the Mosque
of Omar, the ceilings from the Alhambra, and
the staircases from the Mormon Temple at
Salt Lake. The material, of course, was to
be mixture of brick, granite, porcelain, tiles,
clap-boards, marble, adobes, and porp iyry.-
Bat mans life and works, alas too often
fail to realize the expectations of his friends.
MR. THEopHrLus PoPp, of PoppviIfe,