The daily gazette., 1875-02-15
Sheep HstsbassdsU In Delaware.

Tue pen ol w ~. lean, 1sSq,, we Muu IL
late number of the L. g. EconemSsf.
1t is worthy of the attention VI our
farmers
DEAR SIR I'm a previous commp-
( nication to your paper | stated that
from my own knowledge, and from in
foi nation gotfrom my neighbors, that
sheep husbandry would pay in our
section of the country much better
than any other branch of agricultural
pursuits carried on in our locality.
In that instance / gave the account
only of those persons whe were in
the habit of buying Western ewes in
| the summer and fall seasons and keep
ing them until the following summer,
and then, after raising their lambs,
| feeding them off for the butcher. |
| think, in the communication referred
to, | showed to any unpretudiced
mind that that method of sheep hus-
bandry would pay. Now | will give
you an example of an English sheep
husbandman who came to this c0un-
try about four or five years since, and
brought with him some Thirty odd
Thousand dollars in gold, also wife,
and dozen or more fine, healthy
children; and II some of that croaking
fraternity styling themselves /" TIE
| Nat tbpal Association of Woolcn Man-
Iufat trror, and Wool Growers would
just 'tal'e 4 trip TO the Diamond state
and o,> 1T his sheep and farm, and
ask ham n few questions in reference
to the profitableness of sheep hus
bandry, and listen TO his replies to
their questions, they would come to
the conclusion that sheep husbmdry
could be carried on pretitably in this
country withOutprotection and would
also conclude that they themselves
were a set Of great fools-or other
wise they thonght the rest of the peo-
ple were--and that they, under the
circumstances, could make tho people
believe just what they pleased. Now
let me give you my friends (William
Homewood, ESD, experience in sheep
husbandry IN Delaware. He has a
farm of some three hundred acres,
purchased at the rate of about ninety
dollars per acre, upon one field of
(which, when he bought it three years
since, he could not keep one sheep per
acre without giving feed from other
portions of his farm and the first
season the sheep which he kept in that
field netted him at the rate of seven
dollars per acre the first year, and
without a single cent of money spent
for fertilizers or any other manuring,
except the keeping of his sheep upon
it. That field now keeps two sheep
to the acre, or one hundred sheep on
that field Of fifty acres. Therefore, il
when that field would not keep fifty
sheep it netted seven dollars per acre
it Is easily to be seen what profit he il
getting now, not to say anything about
the increased value of his land.
But while this field is paying him Sc
well with so small an outlay, the bal
ance of his farm requires an immense
I amount of labor and does not yield any
thing like the amount of profit. II,
has now upon his farm some two hun
dred sheep of the finest quality Of WOO
for combing purposes. He says 1t pay
him best to raise his own stock, anC
for which purpose he has travelled owe
our country and Canada in search OF
tho finest bucks that he can get fol
breeding from and improving the stock
His wethers at year old for slaughter
, ing will bring him ten dollars each
while he has a supply Of bucks fo
, sale for improving the sheep OF oul
country.
He says his present flock will aver
age six to seven pounds of wool lwash
ed) per sheep, which at the presan
l price, say from sixty to sixty fiv
. cents is easily calculated His lamb
will sell readily, when ready for sale
4 at six dollars each. He says he intend
to still further improve his field bycon
: tinuing to pasture it, and eventual
expects TO farm for wheat, corn, oats
. &c, but small portion of his land
yet from that small, portion he expect
a greater amount than he now gets, ,th
balance to be in grass for pasturin
= sheep. He asserts that by proper a
= tention to the stock raised from he
i getting a much harder race of sheer
He tells me that he has about fift
Western sheep, bought in the fall, an
which at the present time requii
housing, while his home raised shee
are out in the fields at all times, bot
might and day He tells me that j
made his money at sheep raising
Kent, England, on land for which Il
paid e3 sterling rent, and sold his wo'
/, clean washed at an average of twent
pepce per pound, or about two-thirt
THE price of such woods in Our couIttr
NC at the present time and that was doI
H' in country where there was no pr
,e- lection for the wool growers. Al
se yet the small territory iof Eng land wi
ccaa her high priced land, can raise asmu,
% wool and at the present time has
many sheep as all the United Btatt
land can make inoney at ii and seN
in competition With tho eheapest Pf
vi ducts OF the worldah If .tlsis ysSaE n
~ so'itfbuld not be sd11b4aAhalsRhg gil
: [markeis, tor they ara ,epep. aud free
all tEa gDoi producers # the worldI
Wl't nc example set ny my frie
Homl wood, all our farmers are ms
IN ing inquiry into the business, and 9
= now making an effort through our !
legislature for protection, but not dgai
foreign ao00l qrOaoers, but in the shape
est a good law to protect our sheep fro
go en- destruction by dogs.
'N1 A MANUFACTURER AND FARMER