248 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



It is the nature of the soil as to texture, and the presence or 

 absence of lime and phosphoric acid, rather than climate, that 

 determines suitability or otherwise for breeding. Nature 

 provides against the latter by the character of the fleece; but 

 if the food is deficient in phosphates, and if the ground is 

 constantly damp and cold, it stands to reason that the young 

 animals must suffer. There was a time, years ago, when the 

 demand for feeding sheep ruled low, and when it was often 

 more profitable to buy than to breed. Such times may recur 

 again, for it is not easy to adjust demand and supply. At 

 present breeding under favourable circumstances is a profit- 

 able business, and those who sell out lambs in the fall at from 

 30s. to 45s. probably realise more into pocket, regarding the 

 largely increased numbers that can be bred, than those who 

 make out their stock fat, even if they succeed in making of 

 wool and carcass from 70s. to 80s. Sheep stock are highly 

 profitable in themselves, and indispensable for the proper 

 cultivation of the land. Much of the surface that was once in 

 rolling downs is at considerable elevation, and far removed from 

 the homestead. A good crop of turnips starts the rotation, and 

 sheep with their golden hoofs do the rest. To them must be 

 attributed the bulky crops of waving corn, which may well 

 astonish the stranger, seeing that they are grown on soil often 

 only a few inches thick. Nay, so rich does land become under 

 sheep farming that it is often necessary, in order to obtain 

 quality of corn, to remove the excess of richness by a crop, like 

 oats, that loves fatness, after which only can prime malting 

 barley be grown. 



We will suppose the soil suitable for breeding to be princi- 

 pally arable, for it is an undoubted fact that light limestone 

 soils grow more sheep food under the plough than if in grass, 

 besides giving us very excellent crops of corn. The choice of 

 breed will be decided by local circumstances, and of course the 

 quantity of head that can be kept in a healthy state will 

 depend upon the nature of the land and the capacity of the 

 animal. 



There is no doubt that in animals of equal cultivation the con- 

 sumption of food bears pretty close relation to live weight and 

 increase; so that in reality it does not much matter whether 



