HERDING OF DIFFERENT BREEDS. 89 



A very light, sandy or other soil which rises readily in 

 clouds of dust, when not well sodded over, is unfavorable 

 to the cleanliness and beauty of wool — yet some healthy 

 and profitable sheep ranges have this fault. A gravelly 

 loam, or other soil of about equal consistency, readily 

 permeable to surface water, thoroughly drained, abounding 

 in clear, rapid -flowing brooks, elevated and free from 

 malarious influences, dotted with groves or clusters of shade 

 trees, and of about medium fertility, combines the conditions 

 preferred by the Merino. The same conditions would as well 

 meet the wants of the Downs ; and greater fertility would 

 not be objectionable to them. Lower and moister soils of the 

 richest quality are congenial to the long-wools. 



The Number of Sheep to be Kept. — Mutton sheep 

 consume more, demand a greater variety of artificial feed, 

 and greatly more care than Merinos, and therefore are better 

 adapted to small, high-priced farms, where it is desirable 

 to invest as much capital in sheep as can be rendered 

 remunerative. But the long-wooled families would be 

 whoUy unadapted to large farms, where surplus capital is 

 wanting, even were there not a difficulty of another kind. 

 They do not herd well — that is, thrive well when kept 

 together in large numbers. The Down families herd much 

 better, but stiU do not compare with the Merinos in this 

 respect. In Australia and Texas, a thousand or more Merinos 

 often run in the same flock, summer and winter, throughout 

 the year, occupying the same pastures by day and the same 

 folds by night. Aiid my friend, George Wilkins Kendall, of 

 Texas, used playfully to insist to me that in his Merino flocks 

 of that number, he could not find one poor enough to make 

 palatable mutton ! His flocks passed through the terrible 

 winter of 1860 without artificial feed or shelter — when the 

 cold was severer than ever before known in that climate, and 

 when it so arrested the growth of grass that his sheep daily 

 traveled four or five miles from their folds to obtain food; — 

 and he did not lose scarcely one per cent, of their number ! 

 A large number of mutton sheep may be kept on the same 

 farm with a sufficient division of the fields and winter 

 shelters ; but they cannot profitably or safely be kept 

 together in large flocks. 



Associated Branches of HrsBANDRT. — Economy de- 

 mands that for the most profitable production of mutton 



