CHAPTEE XYII. 



THE ROSCOMMON SHEEP. 



By the late E. O. PEINGLE, 



Editor of Irish Farmer's Gazette, Author of "A Eeview of Irish 

 Agricultrire," &c. 



HEEP farming in Ireland is not carried on to the 

 same extent as it is in England and Scotland. 

 Thus, in the report which was issued by the Board 

 of Trade, showing the agricultural returns for the 

 United Kingdom, in 1872 England had 75*2 per cent, of sheep 

 to every 100 acres under crops, fallow, and grass ; Scotland, 

 157*4 per cent. ; and Ireland, only 27*1 per cent. ; the total 

 average for the United Kingdom being 68"8 per cent. On the 

 other hand, Ireland had 25*8 head of cattle for every 100 acres 

 as above, being 5*1 per cent, over the average for the United 

 Kingdom. The difference in the proportionate number of 

 sheep and cattle reared in Ireland, as compared with Great 

 Britain, arises in a great measure from the large number of 

 small holdings, say under fifty acres, which exist in Ireland ; 

 .and for such holdings sheep are not a suitable description of 

 live stock. In illustration of the influence exercised by the 

 prevalence of small holdings on the breeding and rearing of 

 sheep, we have only to compare the number of sheep in Ulster, 

 a province noted for its large proportion of small farms, with 

 Connaught, where wide ranges of pasture prevail. Ulster con- 

 tains 5,478,867 acres, and had 550,938 sheep, while Connaught 

 contains 4,392,043 acres, and had 1,307,799 sheep ; the pro- 

 portion in Ulster being one sheep to about 10 acres, and in 

 Connaught one sheep to 3| acres. 



