The following table shows the number, quantity, and valuation of sheep and wool exported from the United States within the last thirtythree years:

According to the census of 1840, there were in the United States 19,311,374 sheep; of 1850, 21,723,220, one year old or older. The present number of sheep in the Union, exclusive of lambs, may be estimated at 23,000,000, which, at $2 each, would amount to $46,000,000.

CONDENSED CORRESPONDENCE.

Statement of T. L. HART, of West Cornwall, Litchfield county, Connecticut.

I bought my farm in 1835, and stocked it with sheep, and with fair prospects of success. My first clip of wool sold for 65 cents per pound, and the fleeces averaged over three pounds each. This, together with the price of the lambs, which was $1 75, afforded a fair remuneration. My sheep cost me $3 per head, and I spared no pains in improving my flock, by selling off the poorest and buying better, until I had added about 25 per cent. to their value. At that time, between this place and Poughkeepsie, a distance of forty miles, there were many more thousands of sheep than at present.

About this period Congress began to reduce the tariff, and then the price of wool began to recede from year to year, until I sold my last clip, from a part of the same flock, at 29 cents per poundwool of better quality than the first clip, which sold for 65 cents. As wool could not be sold for money, except at a ruinous sacrifice, I disposed of my flock for 75 cents to $1 per head-some of the same sheep that cost me $3 each-a ruinous sacrifice, both on my flock and on wool. I have since turned my attention in part to rearing improved sheep, for breeding purposes. I have selected the Cotswold, which I think the best, both for supplying the market with mutton and coarser grades of cloth. My success has thus far

exceeded my expectations. The demand for this kind of sheep has been such, that they sell for very remunerating prices in various parts of the county. From present appearances, the demand is likely to increase on the supply, the finer grades of sheep having gone out of this part of the country. The markets depend mainly upon the coarser grades of sheep for a supply. I have this year exhibited at the Litchfield Agricultural Society a Cotswold sheep and her three lambs, (all at one birth,) the weight of which, at six months old, was 312 pounds, or 104 pounds each. They were brought up by the same dam, without extra feed. Last year the same sheep produced two lambs, which, at the same age, weighed 126 pounds each. The usual weight of my lambs at that age is from 80 to 120 pounds.

Since raising coarse sheep, I have never failed of producing more lambs than I have sheep-say thirty-five lambs to thirty sheep. My wool this year sold for 34 cents per pound. The weight of fleece varies according to keeping, from four to ten pounds a fleece. It is sufficient in a large flock to keep them well enough to make their fleeces weigh over seven pounds each.

Statement of ANTHONY M. HIGGINS, of Wilmington, New Castle county, Delaware.

Not less than 15,000 head of sheep have been purchased by our farmers this season from the West, at prices ranging from $2 50 to $6 a head. The wethers are designed for feeding during the winter; the ewes for their lambs the summer after. Fat sheep, through the winter, rule from $4 50 to $8 each. Ewes are deemed by many the most profitable, as the lambs readily bring from $3 to $3 25 each. Wool is worth $150 per fleece. The manure and advance on a ewe's own carcass will contribute considerably towards defraying the expense of her keeping. It is estimated that one acre of clover will keep five ewes and their lambs.

Mr. Reybold, of Delaware City, says in a note to me: "We have imported regularly every two years two rams and six or more ewes of the Cotswold or New Oxfordshire stock, and I now have some eighty very superior full-blooded ewes. We find universally that a cross with our common Western sheep, which are generally half or quarter blooded Merinos, will add 100 per cent. both to wool and carcass. The wool generally commands about the same price as halfblooded Merino wool.

"I have found the average yield from the progeny of my imported sheep to be, for bucks and wethers from 15 to 18 pounds, and for ewes 10 to 12 pounds, to the fleece of well-washed wool.

"My full-blooded bucks, at one year old, command from $50 to $100 each, according to quality; the ewes from $25 to $40 each. I have found no difficulty in disposing of my sheep, as fast as they become ready for the market, at the above-named prices. The cost of rearing I believe to be about the same as that of our common breed. The value of the stock at maturity, for mutton, must greatly depend upon the condition of the animals when put into market. I had a small lot

of wethers in February last weighing, when dressed, as follows: 269, 213, 203, 201, 181, and 160 pounds each. I have another lot now on hand, which, by February next, will make quite as good, if not a better average than the above."

Statement of EDWIN WINSHIP, of Winship's Mills, Clinton county,

Indiana.

The breeding of sheep is receiving increased attention with us every year. Many of our farmers think it more profitable than raising corn. Quite a number of them keep flocks sufficiently large to produce wool for family use. The wool is generally sold to the agents of the manufacturing establishments in the Eastern States.

Wool-growing would be more profitable if sheep could be protected from the ravages of dogs; but these animals are so plenty, and so mischievous, that it is difficult to obtain indemnity for their ravages, and some have almost abandoned the business from this cause.

Statement of MICAJAH BURNETT, of the United Society of Shakers, Pleasant Hill, Mercer county, Kentucky.

In this vicinity sheep are not raised in very great numbers, though they do well and are considered profitable, every farmer having his flock. This society has tried most of the improved breeds, and is now making trial of the French Merinos, which promise to do well, on account of their thick and heavy fleeces, &c. A cross from the Merino or Saxony on the Cotswold or Bakewell, produces a sheep with fine long wool, excellent for worsted. Average weight of fleece of Saxons, from 2 to 3 pounds; of Spanish Merinos, from 3 to 4 pounds. Other large and coarse-wooled sheep yield heavier fleeces.

Price of wool, from 35 to 40 cents per pound; but little difference made in price between coarse and fine. The nuinber of lambs raised per annum is nearly equal to the number of ewes. Cost of keeping per head per annum, from 50 to 75 cents each.

Statement of WILLIAM UPTON, JR., of Dixmont, Penobscot county, Maine.

The rearing of these animals, for many years neglected or but little attended to, is now beginning to attract considerable attention from farmers of this vicinity, as both wool and mutton have considerably advanced in price, and have become quite an article of transport to Brighton market. They are also largely consumed in our nearer market at Bangor. Lambs six or seven months old are worth each $2, though for several years back $1 25 was about the average price for them. Cost of freight to Brighton market, 25 cents each.

An essential service has been rendered to this section by Mr. Charles Perly, of Woodstock, New Brunswick, who, several years since, imported from England into that province some large coarse-wooled sheep, said to be the pure Dishley. They are well adapted to this

region, though there is an objection to the full bloods of this importation, as their wool grows from eight to ten inches long, and parting on the back, which peculiarly exposes the animal to the vicissitudes of our cold New England storms. Some of the rams of this breed have sheared at one clip 17 pounds of clean wool. The various grades of this breed of sheep have been driven by hundreds for several years past from Aroostook county, adjoining New Brunswick, into other parts of the State, and, when crossed with our common stock, are considered very valuable for their hardiness, large quantity and superior quality of mutton, and for the heavy yield of wool they produce. The price of wool here usually varies from 25 to 40 cents per pound; but this year it is worth from 40 to 46 cents per pound.

Statement of SAMUEL JOHNSON, of Jackson, Waldo county, Maine. Sheep, in order to make them most profitable, should be wintered chiefly on corn or beans. I give each of my sheep about a gill of corn per day, or three-fifths of a bushel during the winter. This, with a trifling amount of hay or straw, will keep them in excellent condition, and there need be scarcely a kernel of corn nor a straw of fodder wasted. The average cost of keeping sheep in this way is about $1 a year, and the net profit is about 100 per cent. per annum. The average yield of wool is about four pounds to a sheep. The average price of lambs is about $2, when from three to four months old.

On the Thorndike farm, in this town, there were formerly kept large numbers of sheep, a part of which were imported from Saxony and Spain. The Saxons first deteriorated in our extremely changeable and severe climate, and even the Spanish Merinos did not flourish well. The French Merinos we have never tried. The coarser-wooled breeds are now getting into general use.

Statement of GEORGE W. DRISKO, of Jonesborough, Washington county, Maine.

The principal cost of raising sheep here is their keeping through the winter season, which cannot be reckoned higher than $1 a head. Add 50 cents for incidental expenses; the cost of keeping per head for one year is $1 50. Twenty-five Merino and Saxon bloods will shear 75 pounds of wool, worth, at present prices, $26 25. If well kept and in good condition, they will increase their flock in the ratio. of 90 per cent. Twenty-two lambs are worth in August $44. At $4 per pair, with the cost of keeping, at the end of one year twentyfive sheep will cost $87 50, while their income for the same period amounts to $70 25, realizing a profitable investment.

Sheep, in this climate, should have a place under cover, where they can pass in and out at pleasure, especially during storms at any season of the year. The refuse straw of the barn should occasionally be spread in the pen, thereby being easily converted into manure.

Statement of HORATIO N. ANDRUS, of Brandywine, Prince George county, Maryland.

In 1847, I commenced driving Spanish Merinos, mostly from Vermont, to Virginia, between which and the fall of 1852 I sold upwards of 13,000 for wool-growing purposes. Finding it a profitable business, I established a sheep farm, where I now reside, in the autumn of the following year. I have now on my place 1,000 Spanish Merinos, consisting of about 600 old ewes and 400 lambs, among which are about 20 bucks. The committee on sheep at the agricultural fair, in this county, last fall, awarded me their premium on ewes.

To show that sheep raising in this section of the Union is a profitable business, I would state that my clip in Virginia, of 1850, from 200 ewes, brought, on an average, $1 60 each fleece. They also produced 200 lambs, which sold for $2 62 each. The cost of keeping, exclusive of superintendence, was about 25 cents a head, feeding each on a gill of corn a day, and this for only ninety days. The rest of the year they took care of themselves.

From a safe calculation, I have arrived at the conclusion, that if 3,000 Spanish Merinos were allowed to multiply for ten years, selling off the old ewes, fat wethers, &c., using the proceeds for the purchase of breeding-ewes to replace those sold, the net profit arising from the sale of the wool, and the value of the whole flock, at the end of that period would amount to the enormous sum of $1,800,000!

Statement of C. F. MALLORY, of Romeo, Macomb county, Michigan.

The pure-blooded French and Spanish Merinos are the kinds most preferred, and crosses of the Bakewells, Leicestershires, and South Downs, with our common sheep. The grade of wool here is good, and yearly improving. Many of our wool-growers get their best animals from Vermont. For mutton, the Bakewells and other English sheep are preferred. The cost of raising wool is from 20 to 30 cents a pound.

Statement of J. D. YERKES, of Northville, Wayne county, Michigan.

Sheep at present are the most profitable stock kept on our farms. The high price of wool and mutton makes this branch of husbandry a very lucrative business. It is necessary that considerable judgment be exercised in selecting animals to breed from. I believe the Spanish Merinos combine more points of excellence than any other variety which has been introduced into this State. They are of medium size, possessing a strong and vigorous constitution, and carrying a fine and even fleece, very compact on the animal, which enables it to endure our changeable climate with less care and attention than the more open-wooled varieties.

Statement of WILLIAM S. MAYNARD, of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, Michigan.

-Great attention has been paid here of late to the improvement of sheep, especially to enlarge their size and increase the wool, in which