ing, by having such an amount of clothing, causing them to pant and sweat, to their great discomfort; and after shearing, in the great change caused by having such an amount of clothing all at once removed, and allowing the hot rays of the summer sun to strike the bare skin. The sheep that is shorn the latter part of May or first of June will, if examined five or six days subsequently, be found to have a blistered back, a condition which is very injurious to the wool glands, and if repeated times enough, these glands would probably cease to secrete entirely, like the hair glands on the shoulder of a horse that has been blistered till hair no longer grows. This blistering, through the influence of the sun's rays, cannot be very enjoyable to our pets, if we may judge from our own experience when the bony fingers of poverty have tattered our shirt sleeves, or laid open a slit in the back near the shoulder on a hot summer's day. Under such circumstances we have been so afflicted in a few hours that we could scarcely raise our hand to our head. The practice of our best flock owners seems to be tending toward early shearing, and thus give time for the shearing to start a little before the scorching heat comes on. If I were to follow an ideal, I would shear in March or by the first of April, and put on one or two blankets, and then as the warm weather came on, remove one after another, as a person removes his overcoat, then his coat, as the weather becomes warm, and finally his vest. But as this is impracticable we may approximate to the ideal by shearing, say the first of May, when there would be but little danger of blistering, and then protect them from cold by stabling nights and during the storms for eight or ten days, after which the changes of temperature would not injure them. I have one flock of sheep, the ancestors of which I purchased of Mr. Bunnell, of Kirtland, Ohio, a little over thirty-three years ago. Much of the time since the purchase they have had very good care. Another portion, that is during their early frontier life, they had to rough it like most other stock. Notwithstanding the fact that they have had to try the leeward side of the haystack for shelter and the marsh hay for forage, they still clip just about twice the number of pounds per head, if my memory serves me correctly, as the purchased progenitors; and I think, under favorable circumstances, their fleece might have been doubled in half the time. And now, from my small experience, which has been spread out over a large amount of territory, I am satisfied that the quality of not only the present flock, but of their increase three or four years hence, will depend very much on their keep between now and then. For instance, the well bred sheep that is now rearing her choice lambs, and shearing say ten pounds of wool, if left to take the fall rains, with no other food than the frost-bitten grass, till the snow covers it from her reach, and in spring with fleece on to swelter in the heat till about the first of June, and then with hide all soft and soaked by reason of perspiration, as if to make it tender and soft to give greater effect to the scorching, blistering rays of the sun, on removing the fleece will, after three or four years of such neglect, not only shear very much less herself, perhaps not more than four or five pounds, but her lambs after this will be found to be very much inferior to those produced while she was shearing her ten pounds. And this is in harmony with the law of heredity, that individuality as well as blood is pumped into the veins of offspring. But do you ask, has not the sheep the same individuality when she sheared only four or five pounds, as when she sheared the ten? I answer, no. It is an acquired individuality, as we say of a person after losing his health and constitution, he is not the man he used to be. Now let us change the conditions of this hypothesis, and instead of treating this sheep as described, we give her very extra care for three or four years, and thus raise the weight of her fleece from ten pounds to fourteen or fifteen pounds. Then will her stock, if we still keep up the secretions of the wool glands, be decidedly in advance of what it was before the experiment commenced. Though the mile stones in this upward grade may not be as far apart as on the downward, still they may be set and thus mark the progress. But see here, this is only half of an experiment. In order to complete the other half, we must take the male and give him a similar treatment. First, then, develop the secretions of the wool glands or other desirable quality by care and feeding, then fix it in progeny by breeding. This is the grand interpreting thought which pervades the broken story of the success and the failure of different flocks, when translated into a coherency. All our best flocks have now a certain degree of fixedness of characteristics, but even this can not stand against a radical and entire change in the food and surroundings which produces it. Here then is the grand key that unlocks the portals of improvement. Through the genial influ ences that have surrounded our flocks, and at our control, the quality of our best have been advancing ever since they landed upon our shores. The Spanish importations of ewes have increased in carcass from forty or fifty pounds to seventy-five and one hundred, and in fleece from four or five pounds to twelve or fourteen pounds, and some to over twenty, and the improvement in some other breeds, perhaps, has been equally as rapid. And now in the light of that success that gleams out over the history of the past, prospectively this highway of progress and improvement stretches far out into the distant future. In conclusion, then, let us in a climate where no disease has ever visited us to deplete our flocks, but where everything seems to conspire to develop the grandeur of the coming sheep, let us not only as flock owners, but as component parts of the renowned Badger State, taking for our motto, "good care, liberal feeding and skillful breeding," place our flocks upon the giddy heights of excellence. Let us never indulge in the vain illusion, that because Wisconsin has won her laurels on cheese and butter, having become the nation's victor on the former and the world's on the latter, that therefore, in the flush of our success, we may fold our hands in her already acquired glory, while there are crowns still within our reach yet to be plucked. - Mr. Smith Are not our American Merinos better than the same kind of sheep in Spain? Mr. Morley-They are. My flock of yearling ewes have averaged over ten pounds of wool for two or three years past. Mr. Smith If success is to attend us, we must keep up the principle of improvement not only in sheep growing, but in stock raising and all branches of farming. THE FARMER'S LIFE. BY J. C. CRAWFORD, OF BARABOO. If one were to judge from what the poets say of agriculture, he would conclude, I think, that the farmer's life is one of ease and comfort, and that the farmer has merely to look upon his growing crops and thrifty herds and enjoy life; but the reality is far different, and I think you will all agree with me that the life of the successful farmer is a laborious one, if not the most so of all occupations. The man who succeeds in farming is obliged not only to exercise his mind, but to put in more hours at manual labor all the year round than a man in any other business; for work with him begins at four to five o'clock in the morning, and during a large part of the year does not end until seven or eight o'clock at night. Does the farmer receive an appropriate reward for his labor? I think his compensation is much less than that of the merchant or manufacturer who is equally industrious. Agriculture is admitted by all to be the very foundation upon which the prosperity of the whole country stands. We have colleges devoted exclusively to the interests of agriculture, and a department of agriculture in our State University. Many of the most able men of the country devote their talents and time to this pursuit. It is therefore no less worthy than any other occupation or profession. The fact that there are many farmers who are poor and in debt, does not prove that they are poorly paid; but the fact that, by the most careful economy and shrewdest management, a man at ordinary farming is able to become only comfortably well off when old enough to retire from active life, proves conclusively, I think, that the farmer is poorly paid in comparison to men in other pursuits. When farmers become well enough off so that they can afford to hold their crops a year or two, if necessary, and will unite with each other for the purpose of regulating their own prices, as manufacturers, merchants and railroad men do theirs, we may look for a more equitable division of the profits of labor, when the farmer will be able to enjoy all the luxuries which wealth, secured and retained by honest and industrious efforts, will command. A man There are many things connected with farming which render it attractive. All people love liberty, and in no other occupation is a man so free as in farming. The farmer does not depend upon people's votes, nor what people think of him, for success. may belong to all of the fraternities, or to none of them, save to the great family of mankind, and it will not affect his business as a farmer in the least. I speak of this to show the independence of the farmer. To me, this is its most attractive feature. He can say what he pleases upon any subject, and if it does not happen to please somebody, it will make no difference with his busi ness. The stability of the business is one of its attractions. The man who owns a farm does not have to apply for a position yearly, and as long as he keeps his titles clear, he has no fear of a discharge until his life here ends. The temptations of the farmer are comparatively few. I knew a merchant who was candid enough to admit that men in his business were obliged to deceive in order to make money; and were we to judge from the practice of some of them, we would conclude that he was right; but that there are successful merchants who are strictly honest, proves it to be false. The articles that a farmer has to sell are such that the buyer can see for himself what he is purchasing, so that it is of no use to try to misrepresent them. If a man has a farm worth $20,000, with the buildings and stock, it is of no use for him to perjure himself and swear that he is worth but $1,500, for the assessor does not ask him what his property is worth, but what it is. It is quite different in a stock of merchandise, or in the case of a man who lives on the interest of his money. The temptations of |