86 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



dition. A moderate daily feed of oats or peas, placed in the 

 depository racks, would keep them strong, in good plight for 

 the lambing season, and increase their weight of wool. 



"Ruta-bagas, Irish potatoes, etc., make a good substitute for 

 grain, as an extra feed for grown sheep. I prefer the ruta- 

 baga to the potato in equivalents of nutriment. I do not con- 

 sider either of them, or any other root, as good for lambs and 

 yearlings as an equivalent in grain. Sheep may be tauglit to 

 eat nearly all the cultivated roots ; this is done by withholding 

 salt from them, and then feeding the chopped root a few times 

 rubbed with just sufficient salt to induce them to eat the root 

 to obtain it, but not enough to satisfy their appetite for salt 

 before they have acquired a taste for the roots. 



" If there is one rule which may be considered more impera- 

 tive than any other in sheep husbandry, it is that the utmost 

 regularity be preserved in feeding. First, there should be reg- 

 ularity as to the times of feeding. However abundantly pro- 

 vided for, when a flock are foddered sometimes at one hour 

 and sometimes at another sometimes three times a day and 

 sometimes twice some days grain and some days none they 

 can not ~be made to thrive. They will do far better on inferior 

 keep, if fed with strict regularity. In a climate where they 

 require hay three times a day, the best times for feeding are 

 about sunrise in the morning, at noon, and an hour fief ore dark 

 at night. Unlike cattle and horses, sheep do not eat well in 

 the dark, and therefore they should have time to consume their 

 food before night sets in. Noon is the common time for feed- 

 ing grain or roots, and is the best time if but two fodderings of 

 hay be given. If the sheep receive hay three times, it is not a 

 matter of much consequence with which feeding the grain is 

 given, only that the practice be uniform. 



"It is also highly essential that there be regularity preserved 

 in the amount fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true, 

 depend much upon the weather. The keener the cold, the 

 more sheep will eat. In the South, much would also depend 

 upon the amount of grass obtained. In many places a light, 



