to bloat. The sheep should be thoroughly well filled up before being turned on to the clover, alfalfa or rape, being given chance to graze upon some especially succulent bit of grass, and perhaps fed a little grain before going upon the dangerous forage, the aim being to take away the edge of appetite so that they will not overeat when turned upon it. They should be turned in at about 10 o'clock in the morning at a time when being already filled with food and the sun become warm they would naturally prefer to go to the shade and rest rather than to graze any more at all. Then when they are once turned in they should have before them a receptacle containing salt and air slacked lime mixed, to which they may have access at all times, and they should never thereafter be turned out again night or day, rain or shine, while it is desired that they should run upon that pasture. To turn them in and out again allowing them to become hungry before having turned them back is almost a certain method of bringing trouble and loss, whereas, when they remain continually upon the dangerous forage they so frequently eat of it that they do not at any one time gorge themselves to repletion. Treated in this manner the writer has had remarkable success in depasturing alfalfa with sheep, some years having lost none at all and in other years from two to four per cent. only, but the survivors have been such fine specimens, as a result of the good and safe pasturage, that they much more than compensated for the death of a few. It is wise, however, in pasturing alfalfa with sheep, never to put upon the pasture a sufficient number to graze it down close, seeing that this invites two troubles, the destruction of the alfalfa and danger to the flock, causing the necessity of removing them for a time and placing them back after it has made a quick recovery and is composed of a mass of tender and easily fermentable stems and leaves.

THE ANGORA GOAT.

While not strictly belonging among a classification of breeds of sheep, it is felt wise here to say a few words concerning the Angora goat, which has lately claimed considerable attention among graziers having brushy pastures in our older states. Wonderful claims have been made for the Angora goat in point of profitableness, is having been emphasized that they will thrive with the least of care and upon brush alone, making of scrubby wood lots verdant pastures of rich green grass and returning in their fleeces and flesh great profit to their shepherds. The Angora is honestly deserving of great esteem and it is unnecessary to exaggerate its capabilities. It is not true that the Angora thrives upon brush alone, although it does from choice consume great quantities of leaves and sprouts, and will eat a very larger per cent. of such material than will sheep. It is, therefore, well fitted. to be placed in companionship with sheep in especially brushy pastures. The Angora is not like the common goat, nor is it quite so hardy as the sheep, and is subject to precisely the same troubles and diseases that sheep are. It is more delicate when a kid than the sheep is when a lamb, and requires rather more skill in its treatment. One seldom succeeds in getting an increase of 100 per cent. with goats, whereas, an increase of 150 per cent. with the sheep is not unusual. The treatment of

goats should be quite similar to that given sheep as to dipping and keeping them free from both external and internal parasites. They especially need a shelter to which they can flee when storms approach, and this shelter should be kept dry and clean within. In summer time they will subsist well upon brush and a little grass. In winter they need attention and feeding of sound hay or corn. fodder with chance to roam the brush lands again where they will do quite a little execution upon the smaller twigs. Their kids should not be born until the advent of grass in spring and there should be a yard provided with a style over which the mature goats may climb, and which the kids cannot pass, seeing that the defective instinct of the goat causes her to forget where she left her offspring, and thus, unless prevented, many kids will be lost. There are many Angoras in the United States of quite inferior quality of mohair, although there is one compensating advantage, that being, that the more admixture of common scrub goat, the greater the hardiness and ability to care for themselves. With good shepherding, however, there is no need to grow scrub goats, and even though the females may be somewhat inferior, the use of a high class sire will rapidly effect improvement in the quality of the fleeces. Angora Goats and sheep live quite peaceably in company and will not mix by interbreeding. There is probably no place for the Angora upon the arable farm, having no surplus of brush to subdue, but there are unquestionably millions of acres of mountain lands in Pennsylvania and adjoining states that might well support flocks of Angoras with good profit.

BUILDINGS.

In England buildings are seldom erected for the use of sheep, as they spend their entire lives out of doors; in our climate, however, some housing in winter time is necessary not only for the welfare of the sheep but for the preservation of the forage as well. There is no need for an expensive class of buildings for sheep housing, although any amount of money may of course be put into them if the owner so chooses, but as much profit will be secured from very simple buildings as from those more elaborate and costly. A few simple requisites should be borne in mind. First, that the barn have a basement, by which is not meant an underground apartment, but merely a lower story about eight feet in height, preferably all open in one large room, and with the north and south sides enclosed entirely by doors, these doors so divided horizontally that the upper half raises up as the lid of a chest raises, being hinged at its upper edge, while the lower half swings as an ordinary gate swings. By use of these doors the upper half may be opened slightly to permit a little air to enter and yet keep the storm out, or in close at mosphere it may be raised clear up to permit a free sweep of air through the building, while the lower half of the door restrains the sheep, thus one side may be opened largely while the other from which the storm may be coming may be closed entirely. It must be borne in mind always that sheep will not thrive unless they have a great abundance of fresh air. The upper portion of the barn will be devoted to the storage of hay, with chutes down which it may be thrown, and at one end a silo should be constructed of suitable size

to feed the numbers kept. This silo should not be too large, seeing that the entire surface to a depth of three or four inches should be fed off every day, although the greater the height, the better the . economy. It is better not to inclose the sides of the basement with stone walls, although the end may be so enclosed, if it is desired, seeing that the entire length of both sides should be composed of doors. The racks for feeding may be very simple, consisting of low flat-bottomed troughs about 24 inches wide and as long as is convenient, with vertical slate nailed thereon and spaced 6 inches apart. In these simple racks hay and grain may be fed with satisfaction and economy, seeing that when the sheep can thrust their heads clear in between the slats, they will not draw out the hay and drop it upon the ground beneath their feet. These racks may be set in any convenient direction so as to afford division in the sheep barn. They should not be fixed in place. A drinking trough built of Portland cement and gravel, or crushed stone serves best, and it may be placed partly in the barn and partly in the yard. The yard adjoining the sheep barn should be concreted, or paved with stone or graveled with coarse gravel and kept clean and free from filth lest trouble from foot diseases may spread throughout the flock. The writer has just completed a barn intended entirely for the use of sheep, built substantially, yet of rough common lumber and unpainted at a cost of less than $700, the dimensions being 32 feet wide by 72 feet long and 36 feet to the peak of the roof. This barn is intended to be devoted to fattening lambs and the writer has found that a floor space. of about 6 feet to each lamb is sufficient, while twice that space will be sufficient for a ewe, although after lambing she will need a little more room.

A LAST WORD.

The writer has taken particular pleasure in the preparation of this little bulletin, and has sought to embody in it only the directions. and suggestions that have proved helpful in his own practice, cutting out all that seemed to him unessential, and dwelling at length upon some phases that may seem to the novice rather dreary reading. It is a forewarning of danger, however, that enables us to escape unhurt.

This thought the writer has ever tried to bear in mind. It has presented to him constantly a pleasing and hopeful picture as he has worked, to think of Pennsylvania farmers being devoted to sheep more than ever they have been, to see with the advent of the flocks that coming of a new life to the land, a ceasing of the drain of fertility upon the farm, and, instead, an increased upbuilding and indeed a new youth coming to the land, for with fertility abounding, life springs perennially from the soil and the oldest lands appear the newest where the dwellers thereon have been loving and wise. The writer observed this fact with ever growing delight in the hills of rural England, among the flocks of the southern counties, where it seemed to him all nature was younger, fresher and more beautiful than he had ever seen her before. All live stock serves to upbuild fertility, but sheep, most of all, since in pasture they better distribute their droppings, placing them especially upon the poor and higher parts of the field. Then their tiny feet do not tread the

ground into mud and trample out of existence the sod in winter time, but wherever they go the grass afterwards springs greener, sweeter and fresher than ever before. This is especially true when supplementary feeding is given. Upon the marvelous pastures of Great Britain, by feeding thereon the flocks with American "corn and cake," that is, with our maize and oil meal or oil cake, as that is the shape in which they mostly buy it, the great transAtlantic ships have taken to them the fatness of our land, leaving to us its bones, and carrying to those lands that we are wont to estimate as old, the perennial and smiling richness and fertility that should be our own.

There is another thought concerning the return of sheep to Pennsylvania farms, everywhere there is the complaint that young men desert the farms and that farm labor becomes steadily scarcer and less efficient. The writer believes that if these farms may be, by proper return to sheep husbandry, made more fertile and more profitable than they are to-day, not only will the sons of these farmers be kept at home, but labor finding more regular and better paid employment will be less inclined to wander to the smoke begrimed centers of industrial activity. It would seem to the writer that among the steadfast and patient farmers of Pennsylvania might be found a class of shepherds as ideal in character as any that can be developed in America, and to them with kindest wishes of success in their endeavor, the writer dedicates this little volume.