WINTER MANAGEMENT. 213 



its habits than the eastern ; and the Southern hemisphere 

 than the Northern, for the reason, that in the former situa- 

 tions the temperature is milder and more equable. Degrees 

 of latitude, in reference to temperature, correspond in the 

 ratio of elevation or declination on mountains ; and thus it 

 is that at an altitude on the Cordilleras, under the equator, 

 of from 3,500 to 7,000 feet, sheep propagate scarcely with- 

 out care during the entire year, while at the base, the heat 

 is so excessive they perish. On elevated points, the south- 

 ern side is very much warmer than the northern, as will be 

 seen on the Alps at identical degrees of height, the north 

 aspect presenting the Glacier, and the southern the vine- 

 yard yielding a perfect fruit. 



From the foregoing premises, somewhat incoherently sta- 

 ted for the sake of brevity, as also in consideration of the 

 subject having been heretofore partially treated, the reader 

 will readily deduce, that the temperature of the Eastern and 

 Middle States is not so well suited to the nature of the sheep, 

 as in sections where the climate is more temperate. It will 

 therefore appear, in order to counteract the injurious effects 

 of exposure to the rigors of Northern winters, that shelters 

 are indispensably necessary ; which leads, without further 

 preliminary remarks, to th'e subject of 



PROTECTION. 



There is nothing appertaining to sheep economy, in the 

 Northern States, more generally neglected than the provision 

 of ample and warm accommodations for shelter, and from no 

 other cause does such large losses annually accrue. It is 

 rigidly practised in all climates corresponding to our own, 

 in Prussia, and throughout all Germany, as well as in Scot- 

 land and the northern parts of England ; and every sheep 

 historian earnestly recommends it. Mr. Youatt frequently 

 alludes to it as a very necessary point of good management, 

 and the Mountain Shepherd's Manual (a Scotch publication) 

 speaks thus : — " Shelter is the first thing to be attended to 

 in the management of sheep. While every good shepherd 

 is decidedly hostile to their being confined, or to their being 

 forced into shelter, whether they wish it or not, it cannot be 

 too strongly recommended to all sheep farmers, to put the 

 means of avoiding the severity of stormy weather within the 

 reach of their flocks at all times." The remarks of Mr. 



