ESSEX SOCIETY. 77 



mate? " The great subject of shelter," says Ex-Gov. Everett, 

 "has not been enough considered. Whenever you cut dov^rn 

 a large piece of woodland, you change the climate of the tract 

 of land v^hich was shielded by it. When you clothe the sum- 

 mit of a hill with a thriving plantation, you make a milder 

 climate for the slope. In short, if any one doubts the extent 

 to which climate consists in shelter, let him remark the differ- 

 ence between the north and south side of a high compact wall, 

 when the snow is going ofl" in the spring ; you wdll have a little 

 glacier on the north side of the wall, and dandelions in blossom 

 on the other." 



Shelter for Sheep, during five months of the year, will give 

 the climate they need, even here. But the sheds should be 

 impervious to rain. A tight roof is far more necessary than 

 enclosed sides. A cold rain kills more sheep and lambs than 

 any degree of dry cold.* Almost the whole expense of shed- 

 ding should be laid out in the roof. The sides indeed should 

 be such that the sheep may be kept in, but except on the 

 north and east sides, the work should be such as will admit 

 the sun freely. 



Sheep need to leave the sheds and yards occasionally for 

 browsing and grazing, but after winter really sets in, this 

 should be done seldom. When the ground is bare, they will 

 find enough to keep them picking without satisfying them, 

 and yet enough to take away the appetite for hay. Such feed 

 as the sheep find at large, proves laxative to them, and accord- 

 ingly useful occasionally, but if followed, produces a diarrhoea 

 which is stopped with difficulty. 



Mutton — a Substitute for Beef 



It is remarkable, that while in England, mutton is the dish 

 on all fashionable tables, in our country, there is a general 

 abhorrence of everything sheepish. American gentlemen, how- 

 ever, having once tasted the article as it is served up in Lon- 

 don, rarely fail to order a saddle of it by the next steamer, after 

 leaving for home themselves. I have seen recent mention of a 

 quarter of an English Leicester, weighing sixty-five pounds, 



* Even in the climate of Ohio, " thousands of sheep died for want of protection 

 from cold rains in the early part of Winter." See the Wool-Grower, published at 

 Buffalo. 



