MANAGING A FLOCK. 441 



ENGLISH SHEEP-FEEDING. 



Sheep husbandry has become so important an element of 

 our agriculture, that the American shepherd should make 

 a careful study of the methods of feeding adopted in other 

 countries where this branch of husbandry is successfully 

 carried on. In growing mutton and wool together, Eng- 

 land has been pre-eminently successful, and her method of 

 feeding must be well considered. It is hardly to be ex- 

 pected that the American feeder can use precisely the same 

 crops as the English farmer to feed his flocks ; but he may, 

 at least, find substitutes which are better suited to our soil 

 and climate, and have the same nutritive value. We shall 

 give some of the best-authenticated experiments of English 

 feeders, that may serve to give a clear idea of their plan of 

 winter feeding a period attended with more obstacles 

 than any other, as the summer produces Nature's best 

 ration for sheep the grasses. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH ROOTS, GRAIN AND GRASS. 



The experiments recorded in Mr. Robert Smith's essay 

 on " The Management of Sheep " for which the Royal 

 Agricultural Society granted him a prize in 1847 are full 

 and carefully made, and represent the effect of the most 

 commonly adopted ration, and many important variations 

 of it. 



Experiment 1. Eight lambs were weighed on the 20th 

 December, 1842, and placed upon turnip land to consume 

 the turnips on the field where they grew ; and being 

 supplied with all the cut swedes they would eat, were 

 found to consume, on an average, 23% Ibs. per head, per 

 day. They were again weighed April 3d (15 weeks), and 

 gained 25 *4 Ibs. each. 



Ex. 2. Same day, eight lambs were placed in a grass 

 paddock, under same regulations, and found to consume 



