297 



The method adopted with the sheep by 

 breeders is this : the butcher picks all that 

 he likes out of the flock ; and the remain- 

 der are kept to breed from ; so that, instead 

 of improving, the breed is more likely to 

 degenerate. It is likewise usual to see 

 many rams with the ewes ; and, however 

 large a man's flock maybe, they all run 

 together. They have no shepherd ; nor 

 is there much occasion : for they are never 

 struck by the flies, if they be ever so foul 

 with dirt ; which is very extraordinary to 

 me, as there is a greater number of maggot 

 flies in the butchers' shambles, &c. there 

 than in England : nor did I see a scabbed 

 sheep during the whole time I was in Ame- 

 rica ; of which I made a particular obser- 

 vation. They are subject to the foot-rot 

 and the vertigo, the same as in England. 



As an English farmer, I have no idea 

 of the mode of treatment, or feeding of 

 sheep, adopted in Spain, to occasion the 

 superior fineness of their fleeces, nor how 



