MAY. 279 



urge gentlemen on enclosed farms, to make some 

 experiments on this great question, in order to 

 ascertain the loss they sustain in the number of 

 sheep they keep, by adhering to the practice of 

 folding; of the benefit Of which, for corn, there is 

 no doubt ; but the price paid for that benefit ought 

 to be better understood than I find it. Vague ideas 

 have been long the guide of numbers : it is high 

 time that on such essential points, positive experi- 

 ment should alone be attended to." 



CLOSE FEEDING. 



In the distribution of sheep there is another 

 point which demands attention, which is the be- 

 nefit of close feeding. Here I shall insert a minute 

 which \v;;^ mnde on a year's feeding with attention. 



<: The in \t circumstance I would wish to note, 

 is that of close feeding. In the preceding trials 

 there was not, through the 30 weeks, scarcely a 

 bent to be seen ; the pasturage was constantly shorn 

 to the ground ; and in that state it was remarkable 

 to see how constantly, and even rapidly, it sprung, 

 during the continuance of a drought that was de- 

 structive of all produce in fields on the same farm, 

 suffered to run to bent, for hay or other vjews. 

 The comparison was the most decisive that can be 

 imagined,* I had many fields, better than any here 

 registered, that yielded so contemptible a produce 

 of hay, as to be scarcely worth mowing; and I was 

 amazed to see in some of them how poor the rouen 

 or after-grass was, so that both united, or the 



T 4 entire 



