LIVE STOCK. 345 



giving Swedes to ewes in milk, when their lambs were young, 

 as he found that it made the milk of the ewes too rich for the 

 digestion of the lambs. He therefore aimed to have some white 

 turnips in reserve for the ewes at lambing time. I put this down 

 as the result of his observation, without any other confirmation 

 of the fact. 



Experiments were reported to me, on a farm which I visited, 

 from which it would appear that feeding sheep for fatting in a 

 dry shed, upon a raised floor, and where they were protected 

 from the weather, was attended, on a strict comparison with 

 those fed in an open field, with a great saving of food, and a 

 large increase of weight. Other experiments of a similar kind 

 have not resulted so satisfactorily, as fully to establish this point. 

 The subject deserves further trials . In all attempts to fatten 

 animals, a principal object should be to make them comfortable. 

 Sheep will bear, without apparent suffering, almost any degree 

 of cold ; but they often suffer from wet, and especially from a 

 wet lodging. Where a shed open at one side, to which they 

 may resort at their pleasure, is connected with a dry fold yard, 

 the best arrangement seems to be attained. Difference in climate 

 is to be considered. In England, the winter is temperate, and 

 generally wet ; in the United States, it is dry and cold. In 

 some experiments reported, it would appear that sheep do better 

 when the turnips are given to them unwashed, than when given 

 in a perfectly clean state. I have seen some human lambs, un 

 washed and uncombed, the very examples of vigorous growth, 

 of muscular energy, and of ruddy health if you could get at the 

 true color of their cheeks. I have not been accustomed, how 

 ever, to attribute their remarkable healthiness to the dirt in 

 which they lived. The above statement, in respect to sheep, 

 may possibly be true, or it may be a mere excuse to one s con 

 science, for not an uncommon reluctance to pains-taking and 

 labor. 



Of one point I hope my American readers will not lose sight ; 

 and that is, that the extraordinary fatness and thrift of the Eng 

 lish sheep is not acquired without an abundance of succulent 

 food, and with this their fattening goes on as well in winter as 



* I have referred several times to the use of oil cake, in fattening both sheep 

 and neat-stock. Perhaps I shall have no better opportunity of saying, that a 



