Essay on Sheep, 87 



in order to get at the young sprouts, will keep 

 them up till the pastures are fit for them. A still 

 better practice is to put in a very early crop of 

 rye, giving the ground a double quantity of 

 seed; and perhaps too if the seeds of turneps, 

 kale, and winter cabbage were sown with it, they 

 might, if the winter was favourable, add to the 

 quantity of food. The ewes and lambs turned 

 upon this would thrive exceedingly, and if your 

 pastures consisted of rye grass, orchard grass, 

 clover, parsley, and burnet, which come for- 

 ward early in the season, they might be taken 

 from the rye before they had done it the least 

 injury; their feet and tails more than compen- 

 sating the mischief done by their teeth. The 

 summer feeding of sheep must of course be re- 

 gulated by the nature of the owner's ground; 

 if, however, it is in his power to make a selec- 

 tion, let him choose grounds with a sweet 

 herbage of white clover, spear-grass, or blue- 

 grass; let the pasture possess both water and 

 shade; and as sheep prefer short grass, and have 

 no objection to feeding after horses, though 

 they dislike what other sheep have lain or 

 breathed upon, it will be economy to put 

 horses on the same pasture; horned cattle are 

 not good, because ruminating animals dislike 

 the food that is tainted with the breath or tread 



