570 Imjyroved Value of Scotch Sheep. 



close as to be prejudicial to the crop. The advantage, therefore, 

 of large sets remains practically unimpaired. 



Sixthly. JVeight for weight cut sets produce, as nearly as 

 possible, the same weight per acre as whole potatoes ; but for 

 the reasons given above, the weight of the sets should not be 

 reduced by subdivision. 



Sevejithly. Smaller sets give a larger produce in proportion to 

 their weight than the larger sets. 



Eighthly. When the intervals between the sets in the rows are 

 diminished to less than a foot, the produce of each individual set 

 is proportionately diminished. Though this is not necessarily 

 accompanied by a diminution of the weight of the crop, no in- 

 crease in the produce of each individual set is caused by placing 

 the sets at intervals wider than a foot. 



Ninthly. With reference to the relative produce of different 

 varieties, a Late Red sort takes the precedence throughout the 

 experiments ; and of the several varieties of Fluke, " Spencer's 

 King of Flukes " and " The Queen of Flukes " are much more 

 prolific than the ordinary variety. 



XVII. — On the improved value of Scotch Sheep. By G. Mueeat. 



The facilities now offered by railways and steamboats for the 

 transport of Scotch sheep from their native grazings to southern 

 farms — thus saving a journey which often lasted several weeks, 

 to the injury of their health and condition — gives to the English 

 farmer an increased interest in this kind of stock. The keen 

 demand which has of late existed for sheep of all kinds, has also 

 sent us further a-field in search of supplies : some notes, therefoie, 

 on the recent range of prices, and the efforts made to improve 

 these mountain breeds, may be acceptable in an English journal. 



The respective merits of the Black-faced Stock on the most 

 exposed and barren grazings, unfit to winter young sheep ; or, 

 again, of the Cheviot on their range of conical hills, with here 

 and there a sheltered dell, adjacent to rich cultivated lands, need 

 not be enlarged upon, but the results of efforts to improve these 

 native races are not so well known. 



In the rainy climate of the far north the short and finer 

 staple of the Cheviot wool is not so well suited to defend the 

 skin of the animal from wet as the long, shaggy fleece of the 

 Black-face, besides the Cheviots are more liable to be attacked 

 with rot than the Black-faces, even when both are grazed on the 

 same grazings, in consequence of their preferring the low boggy 

 parts for the sake of shelter, whilst the Black-faces invariably 

 prefer the dry bare heights for their beds ; yet even here the use 



