INFLUENCE OF SOILS. 125 



the fact that on such lands as have this excessive quantity 

 of potash, and the least of lime, sheep are subject to these 

 various diseases of the nervous system mentioned above, 

 and that the quality of the fleece will suffer with the health 

 of the animal. 



Potash in excess is disastrous to all kinds of domestic 

 animals. It causes a similar disease in pigs to the preva- 

 lent one in sheep, the symptoms of which most noticeable 

 are loss of power of the nervous system, with inability to 

 use the hind limbs. And we cannot neglect this fact when 

 considering this great influence of the soil on the character 

 of the growths of it, by which animals feeding on these 

 products of these lauds are affected. Wool contains a large 

 quantity of sulphur, and such plants as turnips, rape, clover, 

 tares, cabbage and alfalfa, in all of which there is a large 

 proportion of this indispensable element of the fleece, are 

 well known to be of the greatest value to the shepherd. 



It is equally a fact that those localities in which the best 

 sheep are reared, such as Vermont, Western New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, and generally where limestone prevails, 

 have been the homes of the finest of the flocks. This is espe- 

 cially the fact in England and Scotland; and equally that 

 the old red sandstone, intermingled with a fossiliferous 

 limestone, have been the homes in which the finest flocks 

 of our best sheep have been reared. 



The Southdown has its home on the chalk lands of Cen- 

 tral England where the downs, lying on this lime formation, 

 produce the sweetest and most healthful pasture grasses, 

 short, but dense, and of the highest nutritive value. The best 

 of the Yorkshire wools, and the best mutton sheep of that 

 county, are grown on a magnesiau limestone soil. The Lin- 

 coln yields its lustrious fleeces on a similar geological forma- 

 tion, formed by the disintegration of the same kind of rocks, 

 but covered with a fertile soil in which the herbage con- 

 tains all the necessary elements for the nutriment of this 

 fine breed. The mixed lime and sandstone soils of the ad- 

 joining County of Nottingham produce equally good wools; 

 and the Lincolns transferred thither maintain their original 

 excellence. The chalk soil of Kent feeds the Romney Marsh 

 sheep. The Cheviot excels on its same named hills of which 

 the soil is trap and granite with an ample proportion of lime, 



