Ch. XXXIX.] ox FOLDING. 405 



The long-vvoolled breeds are also bad travellers, and suffer severely by being 

 exposed to the least exertion : the ])!an is therefore seldom adopted with 

 regard to them, or upon tlie soils on which they are usually bred ; nor is 

 it generally followed respecting sheep which are in the course of being 

 fattened. It has, however, been proved by the evidence of many intelli- 

 gent men, who were examined before the committees of the Houses of 

 Lords and Commons upon wool and agriculture, that, without folding, they 

 could not profitably carry on the arable portion of their down-land farms. 

 The question has, indeed, we think, been fairly put by the late Mr. Bil- 

 lingsby, in this manner: " In a rich fertile country, where the quantity of 

 arable land is small, and in mere subserviency to the grazing system, where 

 dung is plenty, and can be put in the corn-land at a small expense, and 

 where each sheep is highly fed, it is not to be wondered that the folding 

 system should be held in derision and contempt; but I will be bold enough 

 to repeat, that in a poor, exposed, and extensive corn-farm, the soil of 

 which is light and stony, it is the sine qua tion of good husbandry. Let 

 me ask its opponents whether the downs of Wilts and Dorset would wave 

 with luxuriant corn if folding were abolished ? No. The farmer would 

 plough and sow to little purpose, were his fallows to remain unlrod with the 

 feet, and unmanured by the dung and perspiration of these useful animals. 

 Besides, in the hot summer months, nothing is so grateful to the flock itself 

 as fresh ploughed ground ; and slieep will, of their own accord, retire to it 

 when their hunger is satisfied" *. 



When fed on artificial grasses, it has also been found that taking the 

 sheep off their feed to lodge in the night is of great use as preventing them 

 from what the sliepherds call " stenching their food ;" while, if driven off 

 immediately after feeding, without being suffered to lie down, they neither 

 waste nor soil it. By keeping them in the fold during the autumn, until 

 the hoar-frost and heavy dews are gone off, disease is likewise materially 

 prevented. Nor should we forget that, in our present improved state of 

 husbandry, instead of the grass being sacrificed to the arable land, vast 

 numbers of sheep are more supported upon the arable than upon grass- 

 land. The plan should, however, be confined to store-flocks, and to 

 those hardy short-woolled species which can bear fatigue. 



The fold is formed either with wooden or iron hurdles, or, in some cases, 

 with nets attached to spikes which are fixed into the ground ; but the more 

 usual practice is to employ hurdles formed of wattles of about 7A long by 

 3 feet high, which are bound together by rods, and daily removed by the 

 shepherd, when the flock is turned out. On the hills of Surrey the hur- 

 dles run from seven to nine feet in length ; but they are staked at the ave- 

 rage distance of seven feet and a half, and three or four sheep are usually 

 allotted to a hurdlef. Forty of them, if set in a square form, will therefore 

 nearly cover an acre within eight days. The inclosure is changed daily ; 

 but it is only necessary to move three sides of the fold, leaving that one 

 standing which was the outside one the day before. It should be pitched 

 according to the quantity of manure intended to be laid on, and its size 

 should be proportioned to the number of the sheep to be confined in it. It 

 should, however, not be larger than will give them convenient room to lie 

 down ; for, if more space be allowed, they will huddle together in a 

 corner, and not drop their dung equally on the ground, which is the great 

 object of their being thus penned. 



* Survey of Somersetshire, 3icl edition, note, p. 14G. 

 ■{■ Suriey Report, p. 532. 

 VOL. ir. 2 H 



