80 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



and weeds, and it easily combines with the soil, while that of 

 the cow is about useless, unless spread by hand, a thing rarely 

 done in pastures. The instincts of the sheep also lead it to 

 seek the highest elevations, in warm weather, for night quar- 

 ters, — the consequence of which is, that the dry and barren 

 spots become highly fertili/ced. 



But it is the lighter kinds of soil that receive most advan- 

 tage from the manure of sheep. I insert a few extracts from 

 a report by a committee of the House of Lords, on the sub- 

 ject of the wool trade, in 1828, for which I am indebted to 

 Randall's excellent treatise on Sheep Husbandry in the South. 

 In answer to the committee's inquiries, the following informa- 

 tion was obtained : 



" Mr. John Ellman, Jr., Sussex. I do not consider it possi- 

 ble for the light lands upon the Downs to be kept in cultivation, 

 without flocks. I could not keep the farm I now hold, without 

 sheep. On the South Downs the wool must be grown, let the 

 price be what it will." 



" Mr. Francis Hale, Altringham, Suffolk. The description 

 of land 1 occupy, could not be kept in cultivation, without 

 sheep." 



" Mr. Henry King, Chilmark, Wiltshire. The size of my farm 

 is four thousand acres. I clip annually, about six thousand 

 five hundred South Down sheep. Such lands as I occupy, 

 cannot be kept in cultivation without the aid of sheep." 



" Lord Napier. If we had not sheep upon our lands, (the 

 highlands of Scotland,) they would become the habitation of 

 foxes and snipes, and return to waste." 



" C. C. Weston, Esq. It is utterly impossible that the Down 

 districts can be cultivated to advantage without sheep. We 

 never fold our Merino or other sheep ; the land is too wet." 

 P. 71. 



These facts show that sheep do enrich the land, whether it 

 be the "dank or the dry." 



Loss of Sheep by Sickness and other causes is trifling: 



It is believed that two per cent, will cover all losses by sick- 

 ness. And we have a great advantage over the south and 

 west in regard to dogs. Sportsmen hold them so indispensable 

 there, that legislators are indulgent, and pass few laws against 



