SHEEP. 997 



for the rich limestone pastures of Bourbon County, would be the 

 dictate of a sound business system, notwithstanding wool is so 

 much more readily transported than mutton. 



The feeding of animals for the shambles requires a higher 

 and more artificial system of management than the growing of 

 wool ; hence the former class of sheep need to be kept in smaller 

 flocks, that they may be more closely watched and more care- 

 fully handled. The English breeds are wholly unfit for unfenced 

 ranges ; they scatter and make herding extremely difficult. la 

 fenced enclosures there is a natural limit to the number that 

 should be kept together, which is determined by the capacity 

 of the pasture, whatever the breed. Cotswolds and Leicesters 

 desire to be spread out separate and quiet; Merinos keep in 

 bands, but travel; hence they would tread down and waste the 

 rich pasturage suitable for the heavy feeders. All breeds alike 

 are impatient of close housing, and it is difficult to say whether 

 one is injured more by it than another. 



Referring to climate once more, I may say that the Merino 

 will endure a sudden removal across many degrees of latitude 

 better than the English sheep, though all sheep, like the human 

 race, do best when emigrating on climatic parallels. The En- 

 glish breeds bear transportation to a cold climate better than a 

 hot one. They do well when carried from England to the rig- 

 orous winter of Canada, but when brought suddenly to the 

 sweltering summer of the Ohio Valley they wilt and perish 

 under the dry heat. The Merino, like the Andalusian cow of 

 Texas, has some of the old wildness and sun-fever of Spain in 

 its blood yet, and is not so good a nurser or milker as the gentle 

 large-uddered Cotswold. It can take care of itself better than 

 the latter, endures hardship better, but does not take so good 

 care of its young. 



British sheep husbandry is based upon rape and turnips, 

 what might be called open-air soiling with a system of movable 

 hurdles, depositing the invaluable sheep manure directly where 

 it is wanted, covering an acre or half acre at a time. Their 

 moist climate and mild winters enable them to produce from 

 these vegetables an enormous quantity of herbage, rendering 



