HEEDING OF DIFFBEBNT BBEEDS. 89 



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

 )uds of diist, when not well sodded over, is unfavorable 



the cleanliness and beauty of- wool — yet some healthy 

 d profitable sheep ranges have this fault. A gravelly 

 am, or other soil of about equal consistency, readily 

 irmeable to surface water, thoroughly drained, abounding 



clear, rapid -flowing brooks, elevated and free from 

 alarious influences, dotted with groves or clusters of shade 

 ees, and of about medium fertility, combines the conditions 

 eferred by the Merino. The same conditions would as well 

 eet the wants of the Downs ; and greater fertility would 

 )t be objectionable to them. Lower and moister soils of the 

 shest quality are congenial to the long-wools. 



The Number of Sheep to be Kept. — Mutton sheep 

 insume more, demand a greater variety of artificial feed, 

 id greatly more care than Merinos, and therefore are better 

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

 I invest as much capital in sheep as can be rendered 

 imunerative. But the long-wooled families would be 

 holly unadapted to large farms, where surplus capital is 

 anting, even were there not a difficulty of another kind, 

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

 igether in large numbers. The Down families herd much 

 Jtter, but still do not compare with the Merinos in this 

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

 ^en run in the same flock, summer and winter, throughout 

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

 Ids by night. And my friend, George Wilkins Kendall, of 

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

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

 datable mutton ! His flocks passed through the terrible 

 inter of 1860 without artificial feed or shelter — when the 

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

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

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

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

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

 irm with a sufficient division of the fields and winter 

 lelters ; but they cannot profitably or safely be kept 

 )gether in large flocks. 



Associated Branches of Husbandet. — Economy de- 

 lands that for the most profitable production of mutton 



