iGl On the Management of S/jeep. May 



and {lender ftrufture of the butterfly, is as well calculated to ftand 

 tlic frofts and feverlties of winter, as the hardy Moor Cock, be- 

 caufe they are boih to be feen on our mountains in the fummer 

 months. The difparity is not fo great in the one cafe, as in the o- 

 ther, but fliil there is a great difference. 



I come now to make a few obfervations on the nature and 

 management of fhort (heep. The conftitution of fheep in ge- 

 ne al is congenial to, or rather formed from the qualities of 

 the fo Is on w..rch they feed. If the foil be graffy and foft, with 

 little proportion of coarfe meat intermixed, it produces a Ibeep 

 confiderably large, but of a foft un eildy conilitution, efpecially 

 at an advanced age. If the foil be heathy, and dry with little ta- 

 th}' pailure, the ftock will be fmall and hardy ; the hogs perhaps 

 liable to ih^ ficknefs. Hence it is evident, that the ftoremafter 

 ou~ht to be as complete a judge of the foil, as of the properties of 

 the animal he intends to Itock it with. He fliould firft confider 

 \,vhether it Is beft adapted for feeding, or breeding ; or whether it 

 be offucha nature as will warrant him to make the article of 

 -wool, a dillin£l confide ration ; for wool as certainly partakes of 

 the quality of the foil, as water receives a tincture from the land 

 through which it flows. Wool Staplers, however, make little 

 diflerence in the general price of fliort wool; and therefore 1 think 

 the ameliorating this article, not worth the farmer's diilinct con- 

 fKleration, efpecially as he mull forego advantages more import- 

 ant. His attention, then, is direfted between breeding and feeding. 

 Some farms indeed will anfwer both plans indifferently, but they 

 will excell in neither; and, though it is practicable to raife a 

 flock, f .fliciently ftrong to ftruggle with the feverlties of win- 

 ter, upon a farm of any of thefe defcriptions, yet one for breeding 

 has always the advantage, in point of healthinefs ; fichiefs among 

 the hogs excepted. If a farmer then purfue this plan, indepen- 

 dent of every other confideration, he will raife his flock to the 

 greatcft degree of llrength, beauty, healthinefs, and vigour, to 

 ■which the fpecies is capable of being carried ; while, at the fame 

 time, he will augment the quantity of his wool, (though it 

 may become worfe in quality,) the pile being thicker, longer, and 

 confequently heavier. 



The lambs from which a flock is to be raifed, fliould have the 

 fallowing qualities: They fliould be ftrong and well made, the 

 face black, but not of a jet black, as tlils is apt to throw the off"- 

 fpring into fpots ; but when it is faintly intermixed with a dark 

 white, it may be confldered as the true forefl breed. Faces that 

 are clean white, or of a dun colour, are -by all means to be a- 

 voided ; the former being allied either to the Cheviot breed, or 



to 



