TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 159 



SECTION XXIII. 



Homefolding of Siieep recommended. 



1 HE subjoined paper, addressed to the Editor of iht Agricul- 

 tural Magazine, seems deserving attention on this island ;* where 

 the little regard paid to sheep is obvious to every observer. In 

 general no care whatever is taken of them, and they are suffered 

 to wander every where, like wild animals, to the great annoyance 

 of the industrious, whose crops are often destroyed by their 

 depredations. The laws which enjoin the tending of flocks are 

 never heeded : nor do the proprietors appear to be sensible of the 

 real value, and importance of those animals, nor of the great 

 improvement they are susceptible, when treated with due care 

 and attention. 



The plan proposed by Old Suffolk might be introduced here, 

 at a very small expense, and with few deviations: for instance, 

 instead of the fold being made along the side of a barn, any 

 stone fence wall, having a northern aspect, is equally well suited 

 to the purpose. The covering of the fold might be of furze, or 

 coar,«e grass, and the nightly provender for the sheep, instead of 

 hay or turnips, might be at first (until straw is more generally 

 introduced here) the refuse of potatoe crops. Even a small allow- 

 ance, placed within a dry, warm, and well sheltered retreat, 

 during the rainy seasons particularly, would very soon tempt 

 these naturally tame, quiet, and inoffensive animals, habitually 

 to seek for their homely dwelling and food, after a very little 

 * Dated 23d October, 1811, and signed " Old Suffolk." 



