116 MY FARM. 



of milch animals, folded or stalled at night will 

 gradually and surely diminish the fertilizing capi- 

 tal of such grazing land. It is specially noticeable 

 that the deterioration under these conditions, is 

 much more marked upon hill lands than upon level 

 meadows.* 



In the back country, such old pastures with their 

 brush and scattered stones, will feed sheep profit- 

 ably, and will grow better under the cropping. 

 But in the immediate neighborhood of towns, where 

 every barkeeper has his half dozen dogs, and every 

 Irish family their cur, and every vagabond his canine 

 associate, sheep can only be kept at a serious risk of 

 immolation for the benefit of these worthies. Proper 

 legislation might interpose a bar, indeed, to such 

 sacrifice of agricultural interests, if legislation were 

 not so largely in the hands of dog-fanciers. 



The sheep are not the only sufferers. 



Shall the hill be ploughed ? It is not an easy 

 task to lay a good furrow along a slope of forty-five 

 degrees, with its seams of old wintry torrents, its 

 occasional boulders, and its matted myrtle roots ; 

 and, if fairly accomplished, the winter's rains may 

 drive new seams from top to bottom, carrying the 

 light mould far down under walls, and into useless 



* This is perhaps more apparent than real, from the fact that 

 upon level lands the droppings are more evenly distributed. 



