154 ESSAY ON SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



LAND IMPROVES BY BEING STOCKED WITH SHEEP. 



Even the winter manure of sheep, is richer than that of any 

 animal, hogs and poultry excepted; and in summer it becomes 

 much more so, in effect, by reason of the manner in which it 

 is deposited. The excrements of the cow and horse, lose most 

 of their fertilizing properties in the pasture, by their exposure 

 to the sun and wind. The manure of sheep is deposited in 

 rounded pellets, which are concealed from the sun by the grass 

 and weeds, and it easily combines with the soil, while that of 

 the cow is about useless, unless spread by hand, a thing rarely 

 done in pastures. The instincts of the shoep, also lead it to 

 seek the highest elevations, in warm weather, for night quar- 

 ters, — the consequence of which is, that the dry and barren 

 spots become highly fertilized. 



But it is the lighter kinds of soil that receive most advan- 

 tage from the manure of sheep. I insert a ievr extracts from 

 a report by a committee of the House of Lords, on the sub- 

 ject of the wool trade, in J 828, for which 1 am indebted to 

 Randall's excellent treatise on sheep husbandry in the South. 

 In answer to the committee's inquiries, the following informa- 

 tion was obtained : 



"Mr. John Ellman, Jr., Sussex. I do not consider it possible 

 for the light lands upon the Downs to be kept in cultivation, 

 without flocks. 1 could not keep the farm I now hold, with- 

 out sheep. On the South Downs the wool must be grown, 

 let the price be what it will." 



" Mr. Francis Hale, Alrringham, Suffolk. The description 

 of land I occupy, could not be kept in cultivation, without 

 sheep." 



" Mr. Henry King, Chilmark, Wiltshire. The size of my 

 farm is 4,000 acres. I clip annually, about 6,500 South Down 

 sheep. Such lands as I occupy, camiot be kept in cultivation 

 without the aid of sheep." 



" Lord Napier. If we had not sheep upon our lands, (the 

 highlands of Scotland.) they would become the habitation of 

 foxes and snipes and return to waste." 



"C. C. Weston, Esq. It is utterly impossible that the Down 

 districts can be cultivated to advantage without sheep. We 



