468 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXIX. 



square, or capable of conveniently containing about 250 sheep. The north, 

 east, and west walls are 9i I'eet high, surrounding a shed seven feet wide 

 within, the roof of which leans to a wall only 3^ feet high, with large open- 

 ings for the entrance of the sheep. The southern wall is only four feet 

 high, being left open lo the sun, and has a gate wide enough to admit a 

 cart. In the centre a few short solid walls are built and planked over length- 

 wise for the support of a rick of hay, the sheep being sheltered underneath. 

 There are also walls projecting diagonally from the corners, of the same 

 height as those of the outer part ; thus affording shelter for horned cattle ; 

 or, if necessary, allowing the addition of a roof for the enlargement of the 

 fold. There are small racks all around the shed, and openings in the wall 

 for the free admission of air. " These racks should, however, be invariably 

 arranged so as for the sheep to put their heads down to eat, instead of up ; 

 as the latter method tills the fleece with the seeds of the hay*." With re- 

 spect to the inclination of the roof doicnwards from the outer wall, an 

 objection has been not unjustly made, that it ^ thus causes the droppings of 

 the eaves to fall within the court ; whereas it ought to incline upwards., in 

 order to preserve the inner court as dry as possible; but this would allow 

 the rain to be blown under at least one side of the pent-house, and the 

 shelter from wind would be less complete : the two modes, therefore, have a 

 choice of difficulties. 



Sheep-cotes of this kind may be constructed at very trifling expense ; for 

 the walls may be raised with mud and straw, in the manner of pizef, or 

 with rough posts filled in with furze, and the shed thatched, while 

 the racks can be made without the aid of a carpenter. Indeed, one 

 made, probably in this manner, though 60 feet long by 13 wide, and 

 capable of containing twelve scores of sheep under its roof, is stated to have 

 only cost 121.% The floor, however, should be laid with either limestone- 

 gravel, flint, or rubble, and beaten hard, so as to render it dry. They are 

 unquestionably of essential service in lambing time, and may, in very wet 

 weather, be found occasionally useful as substitutes for the open fold ; but, 

 in all other respects, we think the system of cotting, in a climate like this, 

 objeclionable. Nature has provided the sheep with a fleece, which guards 

 them against the effects of cold and rain ; for, even in the bleak mountains 

 of the north of Scotland, they thrive without any other shelter than the 

 stells, which are in some few cases formed for their security against the 

 destructive results of a snow-storm, and they live wholly abroad in the 

 Orkney and Shetland Isles. The breeders in Saxony, indeed, house their 

 Merinos during winter, under the idea tliat breeds which came originally 

 from Spain require more tende,: care than those of their native species ; and 

 the system was once followed with such success on the Ryeland stock, that 

 wool, so produced, bore three-pence a pound more than that which was 

 exposed to the inclemency of the weather. 



The practice is said to have been introduced into Herefordshire by the 

 Flemings, about the ye:vr 1660 ; but the fineness of the wool of that breed 

 was celebrated at a much earlier period by Camden, under the title of 



* Webb Hall, on tbe bist means of improviiif^ the British fleece. Papers of tlie 

 Bath Society of At;nculture, vol. xv. p. 117, 



t For the mode of prepuiin<^ the e.irth for the constniction of these walls, see the 

 account given in tiie Appemlix of the first vohniie of Comnnuiications to the Board of 

 Ayiiculture, and the Anuals of Agriculture, vol. xxxix.. No. '217. Walls of this kind 

 erected at AYoburn, cost only 17jd. per yard. — Bedfordsliire Report,, p. 23, 



X rannefb IMag., vol.xv. p. 2S6, 



