SHEEP. 95 



quantity of minute snails that he swallows with the 

 stunted stems of the down pasture. 



Mutton fed along the sea, especially above the sea 

 is certainly superior to any other ; the salt incrusta- 

 tion from the driving spray may aid this quality. It 

 tends, anyhow, to keep them sound. Salt marshes 

 are a place of safety. Some have been of opinion 

 that a sheep cannot be fattened twice — perhaps not 

 with impunity. It may suffer from its constitution 

 being trifled with. Fattened, however, it can be 

 undoubtedly a second time ; as, for instance, when 

 finally put up for the butcher, having been reduced 

 temporarily for breeding purposes, after exhibition in 

 an obese state. 



The wool of wethers is best, and more abundant 

 than that of the ewe and ram ; that on the neck and 

 top of the back is superior to the growth along the 

 thighs, belly, tail, &c. ; that torn from dead or 

 diseased sheep is worst of all ; in fact, fetches just 

 half-price. In some countries, the Orkneys for in- 

 stance, they used to pluck the live animal ; this 

 painful barbarity has of late, I believe, been super- 

 seded by the shears. 



The sheep has a golden foot, the Dutch say. A 

 flock of one hundred, in one summer, will fertilise 

 eight acres for six years. To do this thoroughly 

 they should have vetches, corn, or cake carried to 

 them ; the field being fed off regularly, patch by 

 patch. 



Much good is done by their feeding even on what 

 springs under them. The internal mysterious pro- 

 cess of digestion (of the merit of which Bakewell 



