and Extension of the Merino Breed of Sheep. 4 1 3 



drink, with the addition of from 6 to 8lb, per 100 ewes, of meal of Icidney beans, 

 peas, rye, or barley. The wethers and barren ewes are fed with peas haulm and 

 wheat straw, in proportions similar to those above specified. They have never any 

 hay, and are daily supplied with 5 or 61b. of oil-cake per lOO, when the snow pre- 

 vents their feeding on the young wheat or rye, 



The ewes yean from the middle of March to the middle of April. They are 

 then, every morning and afternoon, taken from their lambs to the pastures. The 

 lambs, therefore, suck them only at mid-day and at night; and, at the latter 

 time, have some lattermath given them. When the weather permits, they go to their 

 own appropriate pastures. In this method they are found to succeed better than 

 when they constantly accompany their dams. In summer M. Finck sends them 

 to the fallows, grass-lands, clover, &c. 



He does not think salt necessary for sheep ; and only gives them a small quantity 

 of it in the evening, when he observes them licking the saline efflorescences, which 

 appear on the walls. After this allowance, he debars them from all drink, and from 

 moist pastures, the following d-iy. 



Most of the farmers in Prussia allow their sheep to go out during tlie day,, 

 though the ground is covered with snow. They give them reeds, principally the 

 arundo angustifolia, whether green or dried; which, in the winter, they find to be a 

 very oeconomical and wholesome food. 



The winter in Silesia continues from October till the end of April. The Comte 

 de Magnis, by having almost entirely discarded fallows, has been able to raise, on 

 land far from naturally productive, such a quantity of clover, lucerne, potatoes, 

 and other artificial food, as is sufficient to supply his large flocks during this in- 

 clement season. The following is the order of his culture: first year, oats; second, 

 potatoes ; third, oats or barley, with mixed seeds of clover, lucerne, tall oat grass, 

 meadow soft grass, burnet iron wait, and burnet ; fourth year, two cuttings of hay 

 from the above plants; fifth, and following years, according to the pinduce, the 

 same fields in pasture. After mowing, he calculates the exacc quantiiy of his 

 winter food, and the proportion in which each should be distributed to his flock ; 

 of which the sale sheep, the rams, the nursing ewes, the shearlings and lambs, aie 

 kept in separate clas.ses. Accordingly, in each division of his sheep-houses he 

 fixes up tables, on which are specified the quantity and quality of each sort oi' 

 food, and the hour at which it is to be given. 



