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XIX. — The Management of Sheep Stock on Heavy and Light Land. 

 By John Coleman. 



Peize Essay. 



This Is certainly a most important subject at a moment when, 

 from the low price of corn, it is evident that the English farmer 

 must increase his live-stock, and look for profit rather from 

 this source than from his grain. This country, with its humid 

 climate and great variety of soils, seems peculiarly adapted for 

 the growth of wool and mutton — the meat best suited to the taste 

 of the English people, and less subject to foreign competition 

 than beef — while the prospects of our trade encourage us to 

 anticipate high prices in meat of all kinds. It is, therefore, of 

 the highest importance for every one of us to examiiie into, and 

 compare his own management with that of others, so as to ascer- 

 tain whether he is pushing this part of his business to the utmost, 

 whether his practice is scientific and economical, and whether 

 he is making the most of the opportunities at command ; or, to 

 enter more into details, he must see that he breeds the sheep 

 which are best suited to the climate and soil, that the food and 

 treatment they receive are calculated to bring the highest return, 

 and that as many are kept as is consistent with profit. We have 

 only to look around us to feel satisfied that there is great variety 

 of practice even under very similar conditions, and that there 

 frequently exists a lamentable ignorance of those natural laws 

 which cannot be outraged with impunity. 



In discussing this subject I propose to treat first of the manage- 

 ment of sheep on light soils, because these may be considered 

 their natural habitat ; and as many points to be described will 

 apply equally to sheep on heavy or light soils, I shall not repeat 

 such matter when speaking of the second part of the subject. 



Kind of Sheep. 



This is a question so dependent upon local circumstances, that 

 it cannot be decided without reference to special localities. 

 Generally speaking the native sheep of a district have points 

 of adaptation, the result of acclimatizing influences, that render 

 them more suitable, when improved by care and judgment (and 

 sometimes when crossed), than any totally different race would 

 prove ; hence we find in all the great sheep districts a tolerably 

 distinct type of sheep, and these are only blended together in 

 what may be called border counties. However imperfect such 

 flocks may appear, considered simply as specimens of sheep, 

 they possess qualifications which render them of infinite value 



VOL. I. — S. S. K 



