Management of Sheep and Cattle. 285 
duce of Hungary, exported in spite of the heavy duty it pays on 
leaving the Austrian dominions, 
It is about fourteen years since the first Spanish sheep were 
introduced upon the Hunyadi estates, from Moravia, where Ba- 
ron Geisler had been many years employed in improving the 
breed. Since that time the Graf has exercised unwearied assi- 
duity in crossing and recrossing, and introducing new and more 
perfect Merinos. By keeping the most accurate registers of the 
pedigree of each sheep, he has been enabled to proceed, with a 
degree of mathematical precision, in the regular and progressive 
improvement of his whole stock. Out of the seventeen thousand 
sheep composing his flock, there is not one whose whole family 
he cannot trace by reference to his books; and he regulates his 
yearly sales by these registers. He considers the purity of blood 
the first requisite towards perfection in the fleece ; but he is well 
aware that little ean be done, unless the sheep be kept in health 
and condition. For this purpose, he has adopted a system of 
folding, which, as far as I can judge, is almost perfect ; and the 
whole is conducted with so much accuracy, that I contemplated 
it with pleasure and astonishment. 
At each of the head-quarters (if I may so term them) of his 
sheep, well-built sheds are constructed, having brick pillars at 
certain distances, which leave about half the side open, and thus 
admit a free circulation of air during summer, and afford easy 
means of excluding the cold in winter. The height of the sheds 
ss about seven fect to the springing of the roof; and they are 
divided by little racks, into sueh spaces as are necessary for the 
division amongst the flocks. Racks are also arranged round the 
whole, so that all the sheep can conveniently feed at them. The 
floor is covered with straw, and the upper layer being continually 
renewed, a dry and warm bedding is obtained. 
In these houses the sheep are kept almost constantly during 
winter, that is, from November till April, and are then fed three 
times a-day upon dry food. They are watered twice a-day, 
from a well close at hand. Even during summer, the sheep are 
driven under cover every evening, and they are conducted home 
in the day-time when it rains, or when the heat is oppressive. 
They always lamb in the house; the ewe being placed, upon 
this occasion, in a little pen by herself, where she remains un- 
molested. These pens are about three feet long by two feet 
wide, and are formed by means of hurdles. It is owing to this 
care that they nevey lose a jamb. But, to give a more perfect 
and connected idea of the minute order and extreme care taken 
in this establishment, and to gratify those who are really inter- 
ested in the subject, | am induced to insert, at the end of the 
present chapter, the regulations made by Graf Hunyadi. They 
came 
