t '63 1 



be in little danger of fuffering for want of food in 

 tvinter ftorms, as fnow is rarely feen to lie there for 

 two or three days together during the feafon. Thefe 

 i^ands are alfo of fiich various dimenfions, that they 

 may be found from kfs than one acre to more 

 than a thoufand, or even ten thoufand acres in ex- 

 tent} and they are all fo thoroughly fenced, that 

 unlcfs a flieep were to fly through the air, or fwim 

 over a large arm of the fea, any particular breed 

 t^iat may be placed there would not run the fmallefl 

 rifk of being contaminated. 



Thefe are advantages which France can never 

 hope to poflefs, and they give to Britain a decided 

 fuperiorky above rival nations in this important 

 branch of rural oeconomics: for here, without 

 trouble or expence, fhould we be able to obtain 

 even no more than one male and one female of a p^r^ 

 ticular breed, we cap rear them with a certainty that 

 the breed fliall not be adulterated until it fhall have 

 increafed fo much as to admit of fending off colo- 

 nies fufficiently numerous not to be eafily debafed. 

 Here alfo the parent (lock could be preferved for 

 ages, and improved ; from whence the colonies could 

 be fupplied with unadulterated rams, and frefh drafts 

 of ewes, to keep up the breed, which without this 

 precaution woyld, in more expofed fituations, 

 greatly degenerate. We have it thus in our power, 

 M 2 without 



