334 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



having two crops of lambs to send to market, the first in De 

 cember, the second late in the spring. In this case, the ewe 

 and the lamb are both well fed and nourished with much care, 

 as indeed can well be afforded. He stated to me a fact which 

 deserves notice. He has frequently crossed his Dorset ewes 

 with a Hampshire buck ; and in this case, the female progeny 

 loses the property of breeding twice a year. I leave the philoso 

 phy of this to the physiologists ; but the experience of this 

 farmer established the fact. A sheep which will give two lambs 

 a year for the market, and her own fleece, is a profitable animal. 

 The lambs sent to market at Christmas, in a place like London, 

 where persons are always to be found able and willing to pay 

 an exorbitant price for luxuries, can always be sold to advantage. 



(2.) Cheviot and Highland Sheep. The next breeds of 

 sheep which are commonly seen in the Smithfield market, and 

 are bred extensively in their proper districts, are the Highland and 

 the Cheviot sheep, the former at the north, and the latter at the 

 south, of Scotland. Both of these kinds of sheep are of moderate 

 size, and of good shape, weighing, when dressed, from twelve 

 pounds to sixteen pounds, and upAvards, per quarter. Their 

 wool, especially that of the Highland sheep, is of very inferior 

 quality, being worth less than half the price of common wool. 

 The Cheviots are excellent mothers ; and both of these kinds 

 of sheep show a remarkable thriftiness, when brought from the 

 north to the rich pastures and turnip fields of the south. Their 

 mutton, of the best quality, always commands a high price in 



extensively, for his stock, of whom I have spoken. This gives him a great amount 

 of food and manure. Besides this, he has the best arrangement for keeping his 

 manure which I have seen in the country. A long shed, open at the sides half 

 way down, with a floor sunk about two feet in the ground, and the whole walled 

 in at the sides with a brick wall, rising about three feet above ground, with a 

 tight bottom, inclined so that all the drainings of the heap run into a well in the 

 corner, formed the receptacle for his manure. The manure was regularly brought 

 into it from the stables and cow-houses. Thus his manure was effectually pro 

 tected from the sun and rain, and was accessible, either for deposit or removal. 

 A pump was placed in the well ; and as it became full, from the drainings of the 

 heap, the liquid was pumped up, and by a movable trough spread over the heap. 

 It is an important point to secure a manure heap from the drenching rain, as other 

 wise the liquid running from it becomes greatly diluted, and in such case appears 

 to lose much of its efficacy. 



