Mr. Wasson said the law passed by the last Legislature for the taxation of dogs failed of effect simply because the enforcement of the law was left to the discretion of the towns. Some put it in force while others did not.

Dr. Weston believed we should ask for a tax of two dollars upon each dog.

Mr. Jaquith thought we should be apt to overdo the matter if we asked too much of the Legislature in this matter; thought we should recommend a tax of one dollar each on dogs-not leaving it with the towns-and that the money so raised should constitute a fund for the payment of the losses caused by the ravages of dogs to sheep.

Mr. Goodale said it was not the province of the Board to dictate laws; but he believed the Board should demand, in behalf of the farmers of the State, protection to sheep husbandry against dogs, and leave it to the Legislature to make such a law as was required. Mr. Anderson thought the resolves should be amended by asking for a tax of one dollar instead of two, as the resolves asked for. The object of the tax was designed to remove a special hindrance to sheep husbandry, and not as a tax upon the dog as a revenue based upon the value of the animal.

Mr. Bigelow agreed with the remarks of Mr. Goodale, and made a few remarks in favor thereof, drawn from his own experience; believed the best means of getting rid of the dogs was to kill them.

The resolves were referred to a Committee, who subsequently reported for the adoption of the Board the following resolution :

Resolved, That in the opinion of the Board of Agriculture, the important interests of sheep husbandry demand of the Legislature the enactment of a law which shall impose a tax on all the dogs kept in the State, sufficiently large to afford adequate protection; and that the imposition of this tax should not be left to the discretion of the several cities and towns, but should be imperative. The resolution was adopted, and the Secretary was instructed to lay the same before the Legislative Committee on Agriculture.

It may not be improper here to say that, as usual, no action was taken by the Legislature in this matter. One reason, and perhaps the most potent one, undoubtedly is because the leading politicians of the party dominant at any time are unwilling to incur the ridicule which may attach, however unjustly, to a so called dog law,

and which the opposition would use to their disadvantage. When the voters understand this, and will take care of the ridicule, they can have protection to sheep husbandry as easily as anything else they ask for.

At an informal meeting, the subject of sheep husbandry was discussed, and some of the statements are given below.

Mr. Haines desired information regarding a disease with which lambs are affected in Aroostook County, but which he had never known elsewhere. They have swelled necks when they are born, and usually die in about a week. (Scrofula?) From some of them he had cut out bunches half as large as an egg. In some cases one-fourth of the sheep died.

Best Time to Shear Sheep.

Dr. Weston said the farmers in Penobscot County were beginning to shear their sheep in April, and thought the plan had much to recommend it.

Mr. Bigelow. Never shears his sheep until warm weather, if it is not until July. Washes before shearing. The wool would not be so clean by washing in April as it would to wash in June. Had never sheared earlier than the 15th of June. Keeps the Spanish Merino, and when selecting a buck pays particular attention to the form and build of the animal, regarding it as equal in importance to the quality of the wool. Invariably feeds his sheep upon the snow in cool weather. In moderate weather in winter prefers to have them in an open yard, rather than crowded together in an unventilated place. Feeds often, giving just what they will eat. Can winter six sheep upon the hay that would keep a cow. A mixture of grasses is preferred for sheep.

Hon. Mr. Hitchborn, in response to a call from the Chair, made some interesting remarks regarding the importance of sheep husbandry to our State; referred to the vast amount of money sent out for foreign wool, and which should be kept at home; and also of the great interests of agriculture as the leading pursuit of the people of Maine.

Mr. Haymer said that in Hancock County the subject of woolgrowing was gaining in interest among the farmers. They have come to the conclusion that it is better to shear early-from the first to the middle of April-and as a reason, the sheep are at that season generally housed and protected from the cold rains of May.

Mr. Wasson. The practice of shearing early is gaining favor with our farmers. Some shear as early as March. He sheared

last year in April, but took a less number of pounds of wool from the same sheep than he did years before. Thought lambs should come early as early as February-could put them in market by the first of July, and thereby saves an immense amount of hay. If lambs have eaten poison laurel, he gives the white of an egg and lard, which almost invariably proves an antidote-but if it does not, gives pennyroyal tea made pretty strong. Would not have sheep washed before shearing.

Mr. Dill. Usually washes sheep about the 10th of May; shears about the middle of June. He read the following statement from Franklin County:

The flock of Mr. J. M. Bass of East Wilton consisted last year of fifty-one ewes, two bucks, and one wether-total, fifty-four. His flock sheared 551 pounds 14 ounces of unwashed wool; raised two lambs, (lost one,) had twenty yearlings and thirty-three old ewes, and six had no lambs. Deducting one-fourth for unwashed wool, and the amount will stand thus :

Receipts.

5547 lbs. wool at 80 cents (20 per ct. out), 60 cents,

$332 92

Mr. Leach. Within a year or two the farmers in Lincoln County have formed the practice of shearing sheep as early as April, and he had not known a sheep to die from the practice. For himself, he was fully convinced the plan was a good one.

Mr. Bigelow. It is not uncommon to have ewes shear eight pounds each in our section. He believed the Merinos to be the hardiest sheep raised in Maine. They are younger at eight years old than most other breeds are at six.

Rev. Mr. Ellis of Aroostook County gave some account of sheep husbandry in Aroostook County, and the improvements that have been made upon the coarse-wooled breeds in that section. He could not see the humanity or advantage of shearing sheep in April.

Mr. Jaquith. Does not wash his sheep until after the May rains are over, as a general thing, but if he does, he does not shear until after that time.

Mr. Rogers agreed with the remarks of the gentleman from Aroostook, and believed it to be a barbarous practice to shear sheep in April. It was his custom to shear about the middle of May. Had rather not have lambs come until sheep get out to pasture. Believed ten sheep could be kept as cheap as one cow.

In some further remarks made by Mr. Haymer concerning the keeping of sheep upon the outer islands along the coast of the State, he stated that although the plan had many advantages, it also possessed two serious difficulties. One was that on those islands where there was a ledge and bar covered by the tide, but exposed at ebb water, the sheep were apt to go out on the bar and get washed off by the tide; and the other was the depredations of thieves.

Dr. Weston, from the Business Committee, reported the following as a partial list of topics for discussion at the regular meetings the Committees being appointed by the Chair:

1. "What effect would the increase of manufactures have upon agriculture?" Messrs. Weston, Pratt and Bigelow.

2. "What action should the Board of Agriculture advise in respect to an Agricultural College?" Messrs. Goodale, Weston and Chamberlain.

3. "By what methods might the usefulness of Agricultural Societies be increased?" Messrs. Chamberlain, Jaquith and Waterman.

4. "What has been the most profitable branch of husbandry the past year?" Messrs. Rogers, Haines and Lee.

5. "What is the relative value of meadow hay for feeding stock, in comparison with English grasses?" Messrs. Anderson, Haines and Bachelder.

6. "Ought the Geological Survey of the State to be resumed and completed?" Messrs. Anderson, Lee and Jaquith.

It having been customary for the members to investigate some

subjects during the interim, and to report thereon at the meeting of the Board, the following papers which had been thus prepared were read:

Mr. Chamberlain submitted the following paper

ON IMPROVED AGRICULTURE.

"Improved agriculture" is the embodiment of an idea for which we all have labored these many years-the topic on which we are supposed to think intently and should act vigorously. It is suggestive of a review of all we know of man's history, and our knowledge of the physical laws and conditions attendant on the race in the present.

Man, grouped in nationalities, exhibits growth, culmination and decline. National wealth and power means agriculture, social organization, intelligence, enterprise, commerce. Nations, civilizations, epochs and eras, move in cycles; each round of ages but a repetition on a variable scale. The principal civilizations of antiquity-Assyria, Egypt, Etruria, Greece and Rome, may have been separated by great gulfs of barbarism. Monumental evidence of a grandly-developed system of pre-historic civilization exists, not only from Britain to India, but also on this continent, from Canada to Peru. We are the heirs of long-buried generations, whose mighty labors and heroic deeds are left in monumental records. Judging by these, their minds must have been great, and their purposes grand.

The earth-works of America, the Cyclopean remains in Southern Europe, and later, the time-enduring pyramids of Egypt, are public works, that, for the resources at command, transcend anything that later ages have accomplished.

Not the least of monumental evidence of past civilization, is the stupendous remains of former systems of irrigation. The Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Etrurians, Indians, Chinese, and thousands of years later, the Saracens in Spain, constructed beautiful systems of irrigation, that contributed on a vast scale, to the agricultural capabilities of densely peopled countries, through long ages.

On this continent, in ancient Peru, the Spaniards found the most costly works for irrigating lands. Canals and aqueducts crossed the low lands in all directions, spreading over the country in a vast