On Sheep, 



The second objection appears equally as questionable to 

 me as the first. I have never ascertained the exact com- 

 parative quantity of herbage that sheep will destroy, but 

 if I might be allowed to use the quantity of fodder that- 

 will support them in winter as a criterion to judge by, 

 I should conclude it to be in the proportion of nine to 

 one with black cattle, for I found nine sheep, w^hich I 

 confined in an enclosure last winter, to eat no more than 

 one cow would consume. 



The last objection is beyond a doubt a formidable 

 one, and requires the farmers utmost vigilance to guard 

 against : — for a whole flock to be destroyed in one night, 

 by a single dog, is not very uncommon. Guided by an 

 instinct which cannot fail to excite admiration, he pros- 

 trates the terrified animal, and opens the jugular blood 

 vessels, whence he sucks the vital fluid, till the spring of 

 life is nearly exhausted, then leaves it, frequently with 

 some slight remains of animality, and proceeds to feed 

 liis sanguinary appetite with the blood of the rest of the 

 flock, which fall in succession, victims to his ferocity. 



When the animals thus worried are found still living, 

 people are apt to imagine that those parts of the carcase 

 which have escaped the teeth of the dog remain unin- 

 jured, but this idea is erroneous. The meat has an ex- 

 tremely disagreeable taste, or smell, or both, which it 

 would be not easy to describe, and perhaps equally as 

 diflicult to account for. 



It is said if sheep are confined in a field in the night 

 with black cattle, the cattle wdll protect them, but I 

 have alw^ays thought it hazardous to make the experi- 

 ment. — ^The plan which I have hitherto follow^ed with 

 success has been, to confine them in a yard contiguous 



