234 ox THE COMPARATIVE ADVA2;TAGES OF GRAZING 



variety of plants or herbage, and we may safely infer that it 

 was not all intended for one class of animals. Variety is 

 clearly the order of nature in the animal and vegetable king- 

 doms, and if the farmer wishes to make use of all the produce 

 of the soil, he will not restrict himself to one class of animals 

 for any portion of his j^asture. 



Those who have the care of flocks ought to pay close attention 

 to the localities where early grasses and plants grow, and to the 

 succession of their qTowth and fiowerino- durins: the season. 

 Gardeners have their spring flowers, summer flowers, and 

 autumn flowers. The farmer has the same succession of plants, 

 and he will lind it his interest to observe where they are to be 

 found, and to regulate the herding of his sheep- and cattle 

 ^accordingly. 



Where the richer grasses uniformly prevail, as on the green 

 hills of Sutherland, there is no need of a mixed stock to utilise 

 the pasture ; and the splendid Cheviot sheep which these hills 

 rear, are the best proof of sheep being there in the right place. 

 But few districts are so highly favoured as Sutherlandshire, and 

 generally the farmer has to exercise much judgment as to the 

 most profitable method of turning to account the many, and 

 widely different, kinds of herbage growing on his land. 



It has been uniformly declared to me, by those whom I have 

 consulted, that sheep ought to be entirely excluded from the 

 sea shore. Various kinds of algae, or sea-ware, are highly 

 beneficial to cattle, and in the spring season both cattle and 

 sheep show a strong desire to feed upon them ; but to the latter 

 they prove very injurious, and sometimes fatal The same 

 remark is made resfardinsj the marmns of fresh-water lakes, and 

 marshes generally — sheep ought to have no access to them ; 

 water plants generally produce fluke and various other diseases, 

 and they should always be kept on dry ground. With all this, 

 however, the principal part of the farai remains still a debatable 

 land between the two competing classes. The strath is specially 

 the domicile of the cattle, and the hill that of the sheep. But, 

 during the winter season, the cattle must submit to the universal 

 intrusion of the sheep. These must be allowed the free use "of 

 the best meadow land from the beo^inninG;' of December to the 

 beginning of April and during cold backward seasons for a 

 month longer, until the first of May. That loss to the cattle, 

 both in pasture and in the quantity of hay on which they 

 depend for winter sustenance, is caused by the continuance of 

 sheep-grazing till May, is a matter of certainty ; yet the gain 

 to the sheep, in the circumstances, is greater than the loss to 

 the cattle ; for, if the ewes be driven to the hills before a good 

 spring of grass is to be found there, the lambs are sure to be 

 •weak and stunted, while both ewes and lambs run great risk of 



