The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-06-01
farmers department.


In the end, this question OF Sheep
Husbandly must, in the nature of
things, settle itself upon this truth,
namely: The ram Which carries and
fathers the most lcool is me best. This
must be at the bottom of every other
fact, and if in any given breed of sheep
to the greatest attainable quantity of
wool we can add weight of carcass,
completeness of form and symmetry of
outline, so much the better The
beautiful will then have crowned the
useful, and each shall make the other
more attractive. But beautiful form
and symmetrical contour are only or
naments; they are not essentials; and
If to these we sacrifice the indisponsa-
bic and fundamental fact of WOOL we
shall in the end fail 1t is for this rea-
son that we receive with peculiar sat
isfaction any intimations of efforts be-
ing made to find out how much wool
our sheep do produce. To accomplish
this object we wish there could be a
public shearing in every growing
county in the country, where no means
should be left unemployed to prevent
every possibility for deception. We
are glad to see any beginnings in this
work, for by and by we trust a proper
standard of workmanship will be the
result As yet we have seen no ar
engagements which come up to our
iieas of the necessary requirements for
n public sheai.ing In any field OF
study, no experiments can be reliable
unless they are conducted with the
most careful and rigid scrutiny.
Something, but not much, can be told
by single shearing of single animal
If we really wish to learn anything
worth knowing, the experiment should
be followed up from year to year. No
prize should be offered for any sheep
until it has been shown publicly at
least two years in succession, and bet
ter if the time should be three years.
Let competitors present their animals
when their first fleece is to be taken
off, with such history of the manner
of keeping rs a society should direct.
Then have them shorn, the wool TO be
properly cleansed, and the animals all
put into the care of one man, to be by
him kept till another year comes
round, then to be shorn again, and SC
the third year. BY this time VIC
should find out beyond the possibility
of doubt which were the best ani-
mails, and premium would then mean
something. If certain class of sheep
will produce just as much and Just as
good wool, while they carry only 4C
per cent of extraneous matter in the
fleece, as another class which shall be
found to carry 60 per cent. of extrane-
Gus matter, all other things in the two
classes being equal, there can be nc
doubt which is best, and the former
class will as surely be the winner il
the long race for public favor, as thai
men shall continue to breed sheep. 1
cannot be otherwise, even if every maj
willed if. The 20 per cent. extra for
oign substance is q dead loss, anC
though the individual may contriv'
means TO conceal it, the public is sur
to discover it in time.
II ~ siiali NC ploNSu tHdt SlNel
amount of wool cannot be grown on
given carcass without q deinit
amount of extraneous matter, and tina
the increase of wool will more tina
balance the cost of producing the foi
eign substance, then the public will nc
hesitate to accept and cultivate sue
sheep.
DR.. HENRY BoYNToN,
Woodstock, VT.