SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE .SOUTH. 



203 



It seems to me that this structure 



Fig. 45. 



on pins thrust through these holes, can be raised or lowered, at pleasure. It 



is occasionally lowered as the fodder gets lower in the barrack, so that 



rain or snow shall not drive under it. 



would be remarkably well adapted 



to the storing and feeding out of un- 



threshed peas, which, as has been 



remarked in a former Letter, are so 



advantageously raised at the South, 



and constitute so admirable a feed 



for sheep. 



On all large sheep-farms con- 

 venience requires that there be one 

 barn of considerable size, to con- 

 tain the shearing-floor, and the ne- 

 cessary conveniences about it for 

 yarding the sheep, &c. This should 

 also, for economy, be a hay-barn, 

 (where hay is used,) and from its 

 necessary size (for the shearing- 

 floor), it should hold hay for 400 sheep. 



BARRACK. 



It may be constructed in the 



corner of four fields, so that four hundred sheep can be fed from it, with- 

 out making improperly sized flocks. At this barn it would be expedient 

 to make the best shelters, and to bring together all the breeding-ewes on 

 the farm, if their number did not exceed 400. Thus the shepherd would 

 be saved much travel at all times, and particularly at the lambing-time, 

 and each flock would be under his almost constant supervision. 



I offer the following ground-plan of a barn with fixtures, &c., as one 

 which I think will be found well adapted to the purpose above specified. 

 The upper is the north part of the plan. 



fig. 46. 



The dotted lines a, a, a, a, are the fences dividing four fields, which would 

 corner at the south-east corner of the barn. The barn is surrounded by double 

 lines, and the sheds by double lines on the backs and ends the dots in 

 front of them, representing the crotched posts supporting their front- The 

 single black lines round the yards, represent tight board fences, which 

 screen the four yards b, c, d, e, from every wind. There are two pumps and 

 troughs at k, k, which accommodate the whole four fields, if a want of 

 springs or streams in them render these necessary. The sheds are so ai> 



3D 



