CHAPTER II. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF EWES UP TO LAMBING. 



OWEVEE great are our present facilities for rearing 

 stock, natural conditions, especially as regards soil, 

 will define breeding from non-breeding land. We 

 may lay down as a general rule (from wbich excep- 

 tions will occur) that light soils, and especially where these are 

 derived from limestone strata, as the chalk, the oolite, <fcc., are 

 the most suitable for breeding. Sandy or gravelly land is also 

 healthy, but the natural food, probably from the insufficiency of 

 lime, is less suitable for young stock, and care must be exer- 

 cised to keep up the fertility by a sufficient addition of such 

 elements as are deficient. Strong land, though growing under 

 good management the best of food, is not, even when thoroughly 

 drained, suitable for a breeding tann. There is always a risk 

 of loss from disease, especially from attacks of the fluke. We 

 do not mean to say that breeding sheep cannot be kept on 

 strong land — for, as we hope to show, very profitable results 

 may be obtained — but such land is most suitable for a fugitive 

 flock. The ewes must be bought in each fall, and sold out with 

 their produce during the ensuing summer. It is to the dry 

 healthy limestone soils — which under the head of wolds and 

 downs are largely distributed throughout the country — that we 

 must look as the nurseries for sheep stock ; and it is a question 

 whether, considering the active demand that exists at the pre- 

 sent day for sheep for wintering, the practice of the Hampshire 

 and Wiltshire farmers as to selling their lambs might not with 

 advantage be more generally followed, as it would allow of a 

 heavier stock of ewes being kept, and thus our sheep might be 

 increased. 



