APPENDIX. 391 



Aiguerras, the Escurial, the Negretti and Montarco, I thought 

 there was so little difference that I concluded to mix them all to- 

 gether. It is true the Paular was ratlier the handsomest and car- 

 lied the heaviest fleece, and the Escurial was a shade the finest ; 

 but the wool of all was soft and silky to the touch, and all pos- 

 sessed the felting or fulling properties so essential for superfine 

 broadcloths. 



I take up my sheep from the 15th to the 25th of November; 

 acQprding to the weather, and put them in separate yards of a 

 hundred to two hundred in a yard, having a trough supplied by 

 r unnin g water from an aqueduct in each yard. I give about a 

 pound and a quarter of hay in the morning, arid the same quantity 

 in the afternoon to each sheep, fed in racks. If my hay runs 

 short, and I have a plenty of grain, I lessen my hay and give a 

 gill of com or a half pint of oats per head, at noon. By feeding 

 m racks in yards, as we have no trouble in driving our sheep to 

 water, one man will feed a thousand sheep, and take care of four 

 to six horses in a stable besides. To every yard there is attached 

 a shed for the sheep to run under whenever they will, and when 

 the shed gets foul it is lightly strawed over. A part of a sill is 

 slightly boxed up and salt kept in it. Potatoes contain much mu- 

 cilage or starch, and are a good article of food. The sugar beet or 

 mangel wurtzel possesses much saccharine matter, and is likewise 

 nutritious. When hay is scarce, about half may be saved by 

 giving an equal weight of either sliced up in a cutting machine. 

 Rutabaga is also good food, but I think it does not contain more 

 than half the nutriment of either of the foregoing. 



My usual yeaning season has been about thejirst of May, but 

 1 have sometimes purposely had the lambs come ten days later, 

 sometimes ten days sooner, and the success of either has much 

 depended on the state of the weather. In a lot near to my house 

 where a man has looked after them three or four times a day, and 

 in rainy and stormy weather they have been put under cover at 

 night, I have raised nine lambs from ten ewes ; but when turned 

 to pasture without any special care, we generally do not raise 

 2nore than a lamb to two ewes. But I am satisfied it would 

 amply pay breeders if their pastures were witlKu convenient dis- 

 tances to erect slight shanties in them, and in stormy weather to 

 put their ewes in during the yeaning seasoii. My rule has been 

 to put a buck to twenty-five to thirty-five ewes, according to his 

 strength ; the Spanish rule was one to twenty-five. 



Sheep prefer high dry grounds for pasture, but any dry lands 

 will answer well. They are not so healthy when fed on cold, 

 wet, or swampy land, and the foot-rot is undoubtedly occasioned 

 by swampy grounds. As sheep are somewhat nioe in the choice 

 of their food, if put in pastures where they can select a sufficiency, 

 I am not aware that the coarse or finer grasses would be likely to 

 have much influence on the quality of their wool. There was a 

 general opinion prevalent amongst the shepherds of Spain, that to 



