CHAPTER II. 



SHEEP. 



THE most striking feature in English agriculture, as com- 

 pared to ours, consists in the number and quality of 

 its sheep. One has only to pass through any of the 

 English counties, even by railway, to discover that Eng- 

 land feeds a proportionately greater number of sheep than 

 France ; it requires only a glance at any one of these 

 animals to see that they are much larger in the average, 

 and must give a greater weight of meat than ours. The 

 truth of this must be perfectly obvious to the most super- 

 ficial observer ; and it is not only confirmed by an atten- 

 tive examination of the facts of the case, but such an 

 inquiry leads to the discovery of unexpected results. 

 That which to the mere traveller is simply a matter of 

 curiosity, becomes for the agriculturist and economist the 

 subject of investigations, which astonish even him from 

 the immensity of the results. 



The English farmer, with that instinctive calculation 

 which distinguishes the class, has not failed to observe 

 that of all animals the sheep is the easiest to feed, the 

 one which derives the greatest benefit from the food 

 which it consumes, and at the same time gives the most 

 active and rich manure for fertilising the land. His first 

 object consequently is, to keep a great many sheep. In 

 Great Britain there are immense farms which have 



