Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. 461 



at well as the precise increase of weight of good flesh which they have acquired, 

 should be accurately and faithfully stated. 



Upon the whole, notwithstanding all the theoretical reasonings on the subject, 

 it appears to me that experience is rather in favour of the smaller breeds of neat 

 cattle and sheep. This was the general result of the experiments made by the late 

 Duke of Bedford, and related by his direction in the 23d and 26th volumes of Mr. 

 Young's Annals of Agriculture. The same thing occurred in the experiments 

 recorded in the Bath Agricultural Society's Memoirs by Mr. Billingsley and Mr. 

 Davis.* From a communication made to me by the latter gentleman, I find, that 

 while the Cotswold sheep increased in weight i, the Leicester and Dorset -!-, and the 

 Wilts less than -f, the Ryeland, during the same time, and on the same land, gained -f. 



It is true that all these experiments have been, in some respect or other, de- 

 fective ; but, in the lOth volume of the Bath Society's Memoirs, there is an account 

 of the comparative experience of several years on an entire farm, between the 

 Wilts and South Down breeds; which, as it is the gross result of the whole 

 produce on a great scale, decides the question for ever between those breeds, under 

 similar management. The same extent of land, in the occupation of William 

 Dyke, Esq. of Syrencot, which used annually to support from 320 to 360 ewes, 

 and about 300 lambs, of the Wiltshire breed, afterwards fed of the South Down 

 460 breeding ewes and 430 lambs, each of which sold from two to three shillings 

 more than the Wiltshire ; and raised the annual return from £"450. to £^724. to^. 

 Besides which, from 12 to 15 tons of hay were withdrawn from the South Downs, 

 during the season of 1803, and expended elsewhere. 



At the same time that a small sheep becomes fit for food from a proportionably 

 smaller quantity of keep than a large one, the joints, into which he is divided, are 

 better accommodated to the use of common families. In this respect, however, there 

 is certainly a minimum in point of convenience, which I should consider as lyino- 

 between 14 and 18 lb. a quarter. To this size wethers of the Merino-Ryeland 

 breed are easily brought. It is well known that a great deal of the success, in this 

 respect, depends on the constant administration of a sufficient quantity of proper 

 food during the whole life, not only of the animal himself, but of several preceding 

 generations. From actual experiment I find that my shearling rams, in the same 

 fitatc of flesh, have gained from 10 to 12 lb. each in weight, during the last three 



• Volume vii. Page 352, and viii. 371. 



