December 12, 1878, J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 455 
and economical form. After being fed in this way the ordinary 
breeds of Shropshire sheep will be fit for sale at Michaelmas ; and 
at the same time they will have consumed food the manurial 
residue of which will have improved the pastures. 
The Shropshire sheep are of varying character, but since the 
Royal Agricultural Society has acknowledged them as a distinct 
breed they have assumed a more eyen appearance. The best type 
by the award of the Judges are the stock bred and reared by Lord 
Chesham of Latimers. In fact these sheep almost in kindness of 
character appear like Southdowns ; but we prefer some of the 
stronger larger breed with speckled face, such as we have often 
had under hand when officiating as judge at shows where the 
Shropshires formed a portion of the exhibits, as they make more 
weight at a given age than the higher-bred and neater stock, and 
furnish more lean meat in proportion to fat. These sheep give a 
good fleece of wool, which is appreciated by the manufacturers 
and forms an important part of the profit accruing to summer 
feeding. Shropshire sheep are a cross, the original being horned 
and natives of a locality called Morfe Commen, and were first 
crossed by Southdowns. After this cross they still retained their 
roaming habit ; but to make them more docile and better adapted 
to feed the rich pastures in company with fatting bullocks, resort 
was had to the Leicester cross ; and this cross has not only made 
them more quiet in their habit, but has improved the aptitude to 
fatten, with a better fleece. 
We must now refer to the Oxford downs as being best adapted 
for feeding upon the mixed arable and grass land farms in the 
midland counties of Oxford, Bedford, Buckingham, &c. These 
sheep originated in a cross between the Hampshire down and the 
Cotswolds, some being further improved by a cross with the 
Leicesters. This type of sheep was so far improved in the hands 
of the late Mr. Druce of Ensham and Mr. C. Howard of Bedford, 
that they have now for a number of years been recognised as a 
distinct breed by the Royal Agricultural Society ; and it must 
be admitted that for feeding in the home farms in the midland 
counties there is no stock will yield more profit when fed upon 
the same plan and under the same circumstances as just related 
for the management of the Shropshire. As wether sheep they 
wlll give greater weights when fed upon the system of early 
maturity than any of the black or mottled-faced polled sheep, 
and are generally quoted in the Metropolitan Market in conjunc- 
tion with Southdowns as fetching the highest price per stone. 
These sheep are also of a quiet habit, which will enable them to 
feed with bullocks in the pastures with advantage. 
The Leicester breed of sheep will require at our hands especial 
notice as animals well calculated for the home farms situated in 
the north midland districts of England. Owing to their quiet and 
docile temper these sheep are especially adapted for feeding in 
company with horned: cattle. In stocking the grass lands it is 
customary to put on a bullock and one or two sheep per acre, as 
the fertility of the pasture may require or be capable of feeding. 
We have known Hampshire downs used for the purpose, but they 
continually roam about, treading the food instead of eating it, thus 
starving themselves and the bullocks also. It is therefore a wise 
custom to prefer the Leicesters, which eat and lie down similar to 
their companion bullocks, The Leicesters are very quick to fatten, 
but they do not give a good proportion of lean meat. It is in con- 
Sequence a good plan not to make them too fat for general con- 
sumption. The most economical plan is to send them to market 
as soon as they have arrived at the most selling stage of fatness. 
If any artificial food is given, which is not necessary unless the 
pastures are very poor, it should be beans or lentils cracked and 
put in troughs, unless mangolds or other vegetable food is at 
hand to be mixed with meal as before stated. In this way these 
sheep may be kept on until they reach a great weight, when the 
meat will be found to consist of flesh and fat in such proportion 
as will be appreciated by the consumers. 
Gloucestershire with its Cotswold sheep, and with it some 
adjoining counties, furnish splendid animals of great size and 
heavy weights, well calculated to furnish the markets of the 
manufacturing districts, where these large stock find a ready sale. 
They are a hardy race of sheep, and perhaps suffer less from dis- 
ease (particularly foot root) than any breed with which we are 
acquainted, and are especially adapted for the Cotswold Hills and 
the western districts, which suffer from a heavy rainfall compared 
with the eastern or southern counties. They feed quickly when 
put upon good and liberal keeping, and for early maturity of meat 
they are exceeded by none, but the flesh is coarse although yielding 
a fair proportion of lean meat. When selected for feeding upon 
the home farm it should be in some district similar in soil and 
climate to which they have been accustomed, and where there is 
a ready sale for these strong and heavy sheep. The wool, too, 
being long gives weighty fleeces and forms no inconsiderable por- 
tion of the profit of feeding this kind of stock. 
The Lincoln sheep are particularly adapted for the fen districts 
of the county from which they derive their name, also for Cam- 
bridgeshire and adjoining counties, where they are greatly valued, 
particularly for the weight of their fleece, which sometimes is said 
to yield the principal part of profit in feeding, for tegs of this 
stock in the spring of the year sell fora long price, The length 
of the wool is rather against this stock for feeding off turnips 
upon the land, as the wool often reaches within a few inches of 
the ground, and they are principally fed upon the rich grass lands 
of Lincoln and other counties. The management described for 
other long-woolled sheep applies in full force to this breed both as 
to feeding and otherwise. 
We will now consider the sheep best suited for feeding on the 
home farm when it is situated in the vales of Scotland and the 
English border counties. We have a breed admirably adapted for 
this purpose in the Cheviots ; for although they are, strictly speak- 
ing, natives of the mountainous districts, yet they flourish more 
particularly in the valleys, and when crossed by the Leicesters they 
have proved yery profitable. Considering that they are natives 
of the hills they are extremely docile compared with the black- 
faced horned sheep of the mountains. They yield to superior 
Management and folding off upon roots in the enclosed districts ; 
and being of only a moderate size they fetch a good price per 
stone in the market. Except when crossed with longer-woolled 
breeds they produce only a moderate weight of wool. As they 
are, however, the chief stock kept in the northern counties and 
the best lands of Scotland, we are compelled to believe that they 
are well suited to the soil and climate of these districts; and as 
most of the modes of feeding before described will apply to these 
sheep we shall not here repeat them. 
There are various other breeds of sheep which may be kept 
upon the home farm in certain districts with profit, yet as they 
assimilate so much to some of the breeds before named, we shall 
conclude by remarking that good management for one may be 
considered equally beneficial for the other. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour.—The period or seed time for autumn wheat sowing 
being about over, the question may well be asked if it is desirable 
to sow wheat after this time whilst the value of that grain in the 
market is so low? Upon many kind barley soils in good con- 
dition where roots have been fed-off by sheep, rather than sow 
wheat it may be held over for barley in the spring, to be ploughed 
now and left for the earliest season, by merely scarifying and 
drilling during the first fine weather in the months of February 
or March. Fallow ploughing of the land intended for root crops 
next year should now be pushed on so that it may be concluded 
before hard frosty weather sets in. Old saintfoin leas and old 
clover leas intended for oats in the spring may now be ploughed 
and pressed with advantage, because it will give time for the o'd 
sward to decay, and for the land to becomestale and mellow befoie 
the spring seed time arrives. Some horses and men may now ke 
employed in carting roadside earth, also earth obtained by scour 
ing ditches to a heap to decay, so that it may be ready for future 
use in placing at the bottom of pigsties, cattle pens, cart horse 
stables, &c, The farm roads and approaches, together with the 
rick yards, &c., should now be shoyelled over so as to collect 
everything in the shape of soil, rotten straw, and cattle droppings, 
not only for the sake of cleanliness but for the value of materials 
for laying out on pastures. If the pasture land is dry it may be 
laid out at the time of collecting, and save the expense of heaping 
and second cartage. The roadside earth, &c., may be laid out also, 
and spread immediately ; it will then prove very beneficial to the 
grass land, especially if 2 cwt. per acre of guano or nitrate of soda 
is applied in the spring, because the earthy substances supply the 
mineral matters required, and the guano and nitrate the ammonia 
required. This will afford the best and cheapest dressing for the 
grass land, not only to increase the crop but also to improve the 
quality of the herbage. 
Hand Labour will consist of trenching in the meadows, also 
cutting the water carriers and the relieving trenches in the irrigated 
meadows, as the earlier this work is done the more the produce 
will be benefited, and the earlier the grass will be in the spring, 
either for feeding or fora hay crop. The action of the water in 
the irrigated meadows is not only fertilising by the deposits of 
earthy materials at flood time, but in the winter months when the 
temperature of the air is very low the temperature of the earth 
when covered with flowing water is higher, consequently the grass 
grows much faster than when exposed to the atmosphere. The 
steam-threshing of corn will be going on where fodder of the Lent 
corn is required ; this will employ some men and women too. We 
have, however, often saved the expenses of threshing and winnow- 
ing by cutting the corn fresh out of the rick, straw and all together 
into chaff. The only question to be arranged and considered is the 
quantity of corn contained in the chaff, so that no more of oats or 
drege shall be given than the usual allowance for either horses or 
cattle. We have often, when the straw crop was not very heavy 
and containing young clover, harvested the crop entirely for the 
purpose of using as chaff, and found it save a considerable amount 
of labour. The ricks of corn will now, in many situations, be in- 
fested with rats. These may be disturbed by ferrets and shot on 
making theirappearance. There are men, however, who undertake 
to clear the ricks of rats, and by smearing the ferrets with some 
kind of scented oils round the head and neck, which leayes so strong 
an odour in the rat runs that those which are not killed at the 
time of ferretting are sure to forsake the rick, and never return 
