204 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



four wheels. The construction of the interior of the box being somewhat peculiar, another 

 fig. 37, is given as a vortical section of it, where b is the hinged lid by which the graip. 

 is put into the box, whence it is at once received into the hopper d, the bottom of which 

 being open, and brought near that of the box, a small space only is left for the grain tc 

 pass into the box, the hopper forming the grain-store , a is the cover of the box raised 

 on its hinges by the rod /, acted upon by the platform ef, fig. 35 ; and, when in this po- 

 sition, the sheep put their heads below a at c, and eat the grain at d. Machines of simi- 

 lar construction to this have also been devised to serve poultry with grain at will." 



I never have thought it best in feeding or fattening any animals, or, at 

 all events, any quadrupeds, to allow them grain at will preferring stated 

 feeds ; and the same remark is applicable to fodder. If this system is de- 

 parted from in using depository racks, as heretofore recommended, it is 

 because it is rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case. A Me- 

 rino store-sheep, allowed grain ad libitum, would stand a chance to inflict 

 an injury on itself, and I cannot but believe that grain so fed would gen- 

 erally be productive of more injury than benefit. 



BARNS AND SHEDS, &c. Sheep barns and sheds, at the North, .are fre- 

 quently made very elaborate contrivances particularly on paper. But 

 expensive barns, with feeding-cellars and other arrangements for keeping 

 sheep within doors during a greater portion of the winter, would, it strikes 

 me, be entirely out of place in the South. Even in our rigorous climate 

 none but the breeders of Saxons pretend to make a regular practice or 

 feeding under cover. 



Humanity and economy both dictate, here, that sheep be provided with 

 shelters to lie under nights, and to which they can resort at will. In our 

 severe winter storms, it is sometimes necessary, or at least by far the best, 

 to feed under shelter for a day or two. It is not an uncommon circum- 

 stance in New- York and New-England, for snow to fall to the depth of 

 20 or 30 inches within 24 or 48 hours, and then to be succeeded by a 

 strong and intensely cold west or north-west wind of two or three days' 

 continuance,* which lifts the snow, blocking up the roads, and piling huge 

 drifts to the leeward of fences, barns, &c. A flock without shelter will 

 huddle closely together, turning their backs to the storm, constantly step- 

 ping and thus treading down the snow as it rises about them. Strong, close- 

 coated sheep do not seem to suffer as much from the cold, for a period, as 

 would be expected. But it is next to impossible to feed them enough or 

 half enough, under such circumstances, without an immense waste of hay 

 entirely impossible, without racks. The hay is whirled away in an in- 

 stant by the wind, and even if racks are used, the sheep leaving their hud- 

 dle where they were kept warm and even moist by the melting of the snow 

 in their wool, soon get chilled and are disposed to return to their huddle. 

 Imperfectly filled with food, the supply of animal heat is lowered, and at 

 the end of the second or third day, the feeble ones have sunk down hope 

 lessly, the yearlings and oldish ones have received a shock which nothing 

 but careful nursing will recover them from, and even the strongest have 

 Buffered an injurious loss in condition. 



Few holders of more than 40 or 50 sheep now attempt to get along 

 here without some kind of shelters. The following (fig. 38) is a very 

 common form of a Northern sheep-barn with sheds. The sheds front the 

 south, or, what is a better arrangement, one fronts the east, and the other, 

 being turned to a right angle to the direction of this, fronts the south. 1 

 have represented hole racks, as in fig. 32, running round the sheds, as, 

 although not yet in general use, they are undoubtedly the best in such sit* 



* Thoae terriblj wind-storms are of much longer continuance in many parts of New-England. 



