SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 197 



it is made. But it is not now the business of the writer to 

 discuss the policy of removing the finest breeds to the prai- 

 ries ; sufficient for him is it to make known the result from 

 ordinary" to high keep, and that the effect everywhere is 

 precisely the same where experiments have been made. 

 It may, however, be remarked, that the cheap uplands, not 

 easily made arable for general agricultural purposes, will 

 eventually be occupied for the cultivation of the finest wool, 

 simply because they are best suited to the object. It is on 

 these localities the Saxon and Merino can be maintained in 

 healthy store^ order, and beyond this nothing more is requi- 

 red. On the other hand, the rich valley lands will be in re- 

 quisition to fill our granaries, and large districts of the prai- 

 ries, unneeded for this purpose, will grow the medium and 

 coarser wools, of which, owing to the competition of the ex- 

 treme fine qualities of Germany and other large portions of 

 Europe, no redundancy can be produced, for very many 

 years at least, to over supply the wants of the American 

 manufacturer.* 



No other domestic animal is known to manifest that fond- 

 ness for variety of herbage equal to the sheep. 



Blacklock, after properly rebuking the English breeders 

 for not providing a greater allowance of straw or like mate- 

 rials to mix with their turnip feeding, proceeds to say — " We 

 find, from a perusal of the works of travellers, and from the 

 anatomical peculiarities of the sheep, that it is fitted for res- 

 idence in countries precipitous in surface, and scantily sup- 

 plied with herbage ; consequently, it must range over a vast 

 extent of ground for a subsistence, and its food must, owing 

 to the varied features of the country, consist, not of one or a 

 few plants, but of a most extensive mixture of herbage. Ex- 

 periment also points out that the deductions from these ob- 

 servations are correct. Sheep, in fact, consume a greater 

 number of plants than any other domestic animal. Linnaeus, 

 in examining into this subject, found, by offering fresh plants 

 to such animals, in the ordinary mode of feeding, that horses 

 ate 262 species, and refused 212 ; cattle ate 276 species, 

 and refused 218 ; while sheep took 387 species, and only 

 refused 141. We find, too, great difficulty in preventing 

 sheep from springing over the dykes and hedges that we 

 place as boundaries to their rambling habits, yet how seldom 



* For further remarks, see Sheep of the United States. 

 17* 



