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


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 occasioncd 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 arc
now entering upon the business. A new spir-
it has been awakened upon the subject. :.
Sheep have been improved in size and pro-
ductiveness, us much as, and perhaps more,
than cattle Fifty years ago a quarter of nut,
ton, in England, that weighed fifteen or TWEEN
ty pounds, was thought large. Now, a quar-
ter of. mutton is frequently seen weighing fif-
ty or sixty pounds One weighing sixty
pounds was recently exhibited in Boston mar
ket. If there is a demand for mutton, sheep
raising must be profitable. He had no doubt
that there would be demand for all the good
mutton that might be raised. He spoke of
the effect of keeping sheep in reclaimng pas
lures. He knew tract of land in Plymouth
County, that was formerly so covered with
briars and rose bushes, that it was almost i'm
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 3. 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.-
lie has been to Albany, and seen the long
woolcd sheep. They do best, as he is infor-
med, in small focks. He wishes to keep a
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 land is very rocky they require moro
Large sheep require more He has conclud-
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-meal
and oats, all they will eat In March they
will shear them, and send them to market in
the cars alive They will weigh from $50 to
Ito pounds, live weight, and bring from five
and half to seven cents per pound. In
Walpole, New Hampshire, they are feeding
1000 this winter. The farmer may fat two
sets in the fall and winter. The manure
from sheep is better than that from cows
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 20th of November. or
till they are "snowcd up" and about $l.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 wator, 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 twenty-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
III GuIS SeCJlOh WOulu keep Only SHldli
Rocks, the long-wooled sheep might be the
most profitable here. The Cotswolds and
South Downs would yield from five to six
unds 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 Vcr-
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 q Grecian facade,
with one wing Gothic aud the other Saracenie
a Chinese pagoda at one corner, an Italian
campanile at the other; and the pine apple
dome of {, 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 a mixture of brick, granite, porcelain, tiles,
clap-boards, marble, adobes, and porphyry.-
But mans life and works, alas too often
fail to realize the expectations of his friends.
--~@S--
Mn. THEopHILUS PoPP, of PoppviIle,
Popp county, faheying himself to be very pop
ular with his lady love, "popped the ques-
ton to her under. the poplar tree, when she
referred him to her poppy, who, when asked