PREFACE. IX 



always be attended with ultimate good; and caution 

 and knowledge of the end to be arrived at are required 

 even in the cases where the good seems most easily 

 attained. 



Another error of a different kind, but proceeding like- 

 wise from imperfect knowledge of the relative value of 

 breeds, prevails to a great extent. Breeds, in themselves 

 bad, are obstinately retained in districts fitted to sup- 

 port superior races. In every part of the kingdom, we 

 see breeds which are unworthy of being preserved, while 

 the easiest means are at the command of the farmer 

 of supplying their place by others suited to the lo- 

 cality. Thus, over the greater part of Wales, there are 

 races of wild diminutive Sheep, which, in economical 

 value, can bear no comparison with those which could be 

 supplied from other places. In Kerry, and other 

 mountainous districts stretching along the western 

 coast of Ireland, in place of such Sheep as the coun- 

 try could maintain, are to be seen assemblages of 

 animals of the size of dogs, and as wild as antelopes, 

 neither having wool fitted to the manufactures of the 

 country, nor being capable of fattening to any size. 

 Even in the heart of Yorkshire, as we shall see in the 

 sequel, a breed of Sheep is preserved, covering a con- 

 siderable tract of country, which, from its coarseness 

 of form, and inaptitude to fatten, ranks in the lowest 

 class of cultivated Sheep in England; and in every 

 part of the kingdom, we may see examples of the vast 

 public and private loss which results from unacquaint- 



