236 ox THE COMPAEATIYE ADVANTAGES OF GEAZING 



Hi<:>hland glens and hills amonnts to, but it may very safely be 

 called many thousands of acres ; and I would remark that the 

 making right use of this strong and freely growing grass, 

 deserves more consideration than it has yet received. In the 

 beginning of summer it is soft and juicy, and cattle eat it 

 greedily. If it be regularly cropped by them, some finer grasses 

 grow among it which aftbrd good feeding for sheep ; but these 

 will not touch the sprot itself after it is two or three inches 

 long, and by the month of July, or probably the middle of June, 

 it becomes so strong that even black cattle are indifferent to it, 

 and very frequently it is seen covering large patches on various 

 parts of the farm, untouched by any animal ; while in winter, it 

 slirivels and gathers into close tufts, which, during the following 

 spring and early summer, cover the new crop so as to protect it 

 effectually from both sheep and cattle. If labour were as 

 abundant and cheap in the Highlands as it was some thirty 

 years ago, it would be good management to cut over the sirrots 

 with the scythe, and prepare it for winter fodder, But as this 

 is, in the present day, attended with serious expense, it will be 

 wise to keep down the sprots as much as possible by grazing 

 cattle on it during the summer months. 



Several of my correspondents have pointed out to me that, on 

 the very best sheep pastures, there are knolls and shelves which 

 the sheep select specially for night quarters. These soon become 

 so enriched by their manure as to produce rank grass which 

 they will not touch ; but cattle greedily devour this grass, which 

 is highly nutritious to them. There, also, cattle in numbers, 

 larger or smaller as the circumstances may be, ought to graze 

 along with the sheep. 



The natural woods of the Highlands have in a great measure 

 disappeared — having been cut down for manufacturing purposes 

 — and many a glen, at one time well sheltered and greatly 

 adorned by birch and ash and hazel, is now left bare; but various 

 copses or rather patches of brushwood are to be seen here and 

 there. Sheep are very fond of visiting these, to pick up the 

 tufts of grass which, owing to the protection and warmth aftorded 

 by the brushwood, spring up earlier than on any open ground. 

 The brushwood tears their wool so much, " breaking the fleece " 

 as it is called, that there is no profit in allowing them to frequent 

 the copses except during snowstorms. But cattle enjoy the 

 early grass as well as the sheep. They avail themselves more 

 fully of the shelter afforded by the wood, and their coat is not in 

 any way affected injuriously by the closest and most tangled 

 bushes. Consequently, here is another instance where cattle 

 should mingle with the sheep in grazing. 



On looking back at the foregoing statements before bringing 

 the paper to a close, it must be admitted that there is not 



