Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-01-15
THE SHEEP BREEDERS.
THEIR TENTH ANNUAL MEETING
HELD AT MlDDLEBURY.
The Report of the Committee shows
Lack of Enthusiasm-The Needs of
the Association List of Oniccrs
Elected.

The tenth annual meeting OF the Yer
mont Merino Sheep breeders association
was held at Mddleburv, yesterday. Ow-
ing to the bad roads the attendance was
not so large as usual The president of
the association, Hon. Samuel James of
Weybridge, called the meeting to order at
1l30 O'Clock, and the next business in or
der was the presentation of the secretary's
report. Mr.. Albert Chapman of Middle
bury, the secretary, made the report which
was as follows
TIE sECRETARY's REPORT.
During the past year 80 new members
have been added to the rolls of the asso-
citation, IS members have been suspended
by the committee on pedigrees, and IA
have. withdrawn, leaving the present
number l225. There have been IS new APP
plications to have llOcks recorded. OF
those awaiting examination ut the begin
ming OF the year, nearly 100 have been ac-
cepted by the secretary or the committee
on pedigrecs number have been reject
ed, leaving II small number of the old APP
plicatiOns undecided, but much smaller
number of the latter than for Il number of
years.
The evidence accumulates that Il large
number of our members pay little or no
heed to the rule requiring them to keep
systematic record OF their hocks and very
little to other rules requiring them to re-
port sales within ten days and correct
mistakes with reasonable promptness
when requested from the Office. over
1000 letters have been written and mailed
from the Office during the past year and
it is safe to say that one-half of the letters
and more than an equal proportion of the
postage would have been saved if all the
members had kept systematic records and
made their reports carefully and promptly
I.IS N-t4stt In ron ~ ROT III
of the lambs OF l33 members made in 1881,
1852, 1883 were not recorded for the want
OF proper corrections. OF these only a
few more than une-half have been cor
rected and recorded, leaving nearly 60
that have not corrected their returns for
those years. To these are now to be add
ed the returns of l2i made during 1884
that have not been corrected, although all
have been requested to do so. This Swells
the number up to larger proportions than
last year and indicates that the evil is
growing. some of the members who pay
no heed to requests to correct their re-
turns when they make ii sale from the
lambs of those years seem to think they
should have been recorded somehow,
whether they were correctly reported or
not
Over 200 members have not returned
their lambs for 1850.
The report of the auditors will show
that the expenses during the past year
nave pcVll StcdteI lHdll lHe lecelplS by
about $500, which raises the question
of whether it was wise to remit
the collection of the membership
lee Ill year III when the ASSOCIATION
was preparing TO puollsh volume.
ihere ''u oe no quesIion ABOUT
s sile nect99ItS Vi coitctlhS ~ membership
fee for he coming year if the 3rd volume
is to be printed and published. so long
as Ihe association mas corrected only these
Hollars H' me sixteen que from members
ior lhe iaNl eiSht years IL VIII hardly be
l'sL ~ c"nsiuel II puSl''ensonle TO colleci
IL inns year, especlally us members VIII
PfopaplN N0le WIN great Immunity to
NV themselves e"cll copy OF me thlrd
Nolullc a. soon Us ISSUED, Il DOCK mat Will
cost thr 'tNaocla'ion us ihtch as the mem
peloniP ice anu NJ worth lhlrIhslcally
lnuch more
Ihe iilaH'scIlpl OF me lhlru volume Is
SO nearly cotilpledcu llil' the work Is ready
10 20 70 press ne l0ckS NOT yet lully
iilplc,c" o'tH ne lc"uH us last aS those
illiS prepared are printed, pToNldcd mem
DelS iH'NH 'He IHioINlat'pH ana cprftc'
Cloti9 nv .''' y, O"'lPc't I,1;''ph oI thcill
without Hct''ISAS ueiay' All would nave
oeeH c"iIihele,' ny tulN ''Iilc hau the IN
iolIlaloII ,tl'i coTFccI IOI9 as asked Tor
oeeH lulH.Nhe. ptoEPHN'
desire 10 can iilIeHtloh TO the great mn
porlance "l members shearlnE thelr best
sheep III Such accordance with rule - as
VIII increase lne RECORDS OF lhc heaNy
shearlnE sheep to be recorded under that
RUE Oihtr States ana Associations are
uollS an tne! can 10 eAcel us IN such re-
coruS an" IL we 90 not take the trouble To
make the otSt record we can under the
rules proNldeu ny inns association, we must
expect 10 lose me prestige we have enjoy
ed OF having the largest number OF heavy
shearlhE aheep.
Ahoth ef important matter Is TO save
from lhe coming cllp OF wool some OF the
best heeces 10 make up eXhlpltS or WOOL II
we should he called upon TO DO so-not the
nghtest ana hnest, put some OF the
heaviest lieeceS llilt are Oh Sood length, OF
staple ana OF good quality. These lleeces
Shouiu not ne tleu up win tWine, put saved
loosely IN broad nat boxes and Kept free
from art anu uuSl. IL Is also important
from tna n..t n,,i.t of nur fIaaraS 70 evhihit
III giass Jas the same as those exhibited
bo,- f,,,, f'r,h tn Sno',iI
al ,,,,,, -, b, ,,,o.o,,,.I l., ,,a,,,,ii 49,,