Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1870 [PAGE 421]

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fifty dollars better off if I had heard Judge Lawrence about the bloat three months ago. I have also found the lambs weak from the ewes eating corn. 1 stack my grain in the field, and have tried to make the manure in the field, but the sheep won't stay out there. But I scatter straw in the yard in the morning, and they pick up a good deal; and will pack down and make manure of a good deal in this way. With one feed of hay a day they do well. I thought I would get a larger class of sheep, and crossed with Leicester or Ootswold. I got large, fine looking lambs, now two crops of them. But I found this year that it does not work welL The yearlings decline in a flock of 300 or 400. I think they can't be kept in large flocks. I lost 25 out of 130 lambs. The grades do not shear as heavy as the three-quarters Spanish Merinos* Yearlings, sheared five and a-half pounds instead of six and ahalf. A friend of mine has succeeded well in breeding Southdowns upon Merinos, and then upon Leicesters. CAETOON, the younger—1 think habit has a good deal to do with a sheep's wanting water. If they have been watered, they want water. So sheep not regularly yarded or housed do not come up well. ALVEBSOK—Sheep need water in winter the most They do not drink in summer except when the weather is dry. The discussion finished, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted, after speeches of congratulation and kindly ex* pressions of good will from Messrs. Galusha, Teeples, Moss, Law* rence, Miller, and others, and the convention adjourned sine die i

Resolved, That we regard the holding of free courses of lectures and dis* cussions in various sections, under the auspices of our" Industrial University, as important adjuncts to the usefulness of that institution, and most valuable sources of information for the agriculturists and horticulturists of the State, and trust that the success of the experiment maybe such as to warrant their adoption as a permanent feature of the institution* Resolved, That we, as practical farmers, are deeply interested in the agrp cultural development of the State of Illinois, and education of the people in the science of agriculture, and most cordially indorse the general manage* ment of the Illinois Industrial University, and pledge to it our cordial and earnest support, believing that the University is a necessity for the promotion and prosperity of industry in our State, and should be sustained by all good citizens.