SHEEP. 



the more improved kinds, and which is faid to have been 

 found to anfwer better than the common Iceep in particular 

 cafes; which is that of employing parfnips or carrots with 

 hay of tiie green rouen kind, or a portion of pea, bean, or 

 barley-meal, ilfo malt-combs, with potatoes and hay, &c. 

 Thefe forts of keep are, liowever, obvioudy much too ex- 

 penfive, except under particular circumftances, and for the 

 more improved breeds. 



It is obvious, that where (helter can be provided, it will 

 always be of much beneiit to the fheep. But it has been 

 obferved, that the pradtice of letting them to the iiay- 

 ilacks, which is common with fome farmers, is (lovenly and 

 walleful, and which, though it may afford a degree of 

 (helter, fliould never be attempted when the other methods 

 can be had recourfe to. It has alfo been fuggefted by Mr. 

 Young, as an excellent method, though not efl'entially necef- 

 fary, to allow the fheep, whether the weather be bad or 

 not, a fmall proportion of hay daily while at turnips. And 

 it is fuppofed that by this careful management, and the ufe of 

 Itubble turnips when neceilary, the ewe and lamb-llock may 

 be well fupported through the feverity of the feafon, and be 

 brought on in the bed poffible condition until the turnips 

 are finifhed in March, which fhould always be the cafe when 

 the prelerved grafs or rouen may be ready to receive them ; 

 which is confidered by fome as the moll to be depended upon 

 through this and the following month, which, with the firlt 

 week m May, is the moll difficult period of the year to the 

 ftock-farmer. On dry meadows and paftures it is invaluable 

 in this view, though at firll fight it may have an unpromifing 

 appearance, from the covering of decayed autumnal grafs 

 that is upon it ; but which, when removed, prefents a new 

 growth of frefli green grafs, five or fix inches in height, 

 brought up by, the (helter and warmth afforded by the 

 covering of old grafs. This is found to agree remarkably 

 well with the fheep, as they confume both together, having, 

 as it were, both hay and grafs in the fame bite. It is, indeed, 

 fuppofed impolTible to keep a full (lock of fheep fo cheaply 

 in April by any other method as by this. Tolerable rouen 

 will carry ten ewes an acre, with their larfibs, through the 

 whole month. Such rouen may be worth in autumn ten or 

 twelve fhiUings an acre ; in April it is worth thirty or forty 

 (hillinr'S ; and if it be a backward feafon, a farmer that has it 

 would not be tempted to fell it for much more. But in the 

 fupport of his fheep and lamb-flock, if the farmer be pro- 

 vided with a fufficieiit extent of watered meadow, he may 

 fully depend upon that without any other provifion for this 

 period. 



But in cafes, however, where thefe cannot be fully de- 

 pended on for the fupport of the fheep-flock at this difficult 

 feafon, the mofl improved praftice is, in place of depending 

 on turnips and hay with rye fown for the purpofe, young 

 wheats, and the run of the paftures, to let the turnips con- 

 tinue, fo as that their fhoots may become an objeft of flieep 

 food, and to have annually a portion of tolerable good 

 land, fufBcient to the extent of the flock, under rye- 

 grafs and clover, fo as to be ready in the fpring to lake the 

 fheep from turnips, and fupport them till the time of turning 

 upon the pallures. Tlie fame writer remarks, that this con- 

 duft is an improvement on the other, as it gets rid of 

 three great evils : depending on rye, which is fooii eaten ; 

 feeding on wheat, which is pernicious to th^ crops ; and 

 turning too foon into the general pailureB. But at the fame 

 time that it cffeds this advantage, it is open to fome objec- 

 tions, which make furtiiei- improvement iv ceflary. Keeping 

 the turnips long in tiie fpring is very bad hufbaiidry. 

 It damages greatly the barley crop, both in robbing the 



Vol. XXXII. 



land, and preventing it from being fown in proper time : 

 nor is the food of great confequence, for many acres of tur- 

 nip-tops are requifite, the number of which mull be in pro- 

 portion to the flock of (lieep ; and as to the roots, they grow 

 fo fticky and hard after tiie tops are at all advanced, that 

 their value is trifling. With refpeft to ray-grals, the clo- 

 ver mixed with it is feldom above three inches high at this 

 feafon ; and a great breadth of ground to a given flock mufl 

 be afligned to keep the fheep through April. The number of 

 acres of that young growth neceflary to keep a hundred fheep 

 and lambs, is, it is faid, furprifing ; fo that thefe farmers, 

 although they manage to fpring-feed more fheep than the 

 worll of their brethren, yet effeft it at a great expence, 

 and at lad not in any degree comparable to what might be 

 done. A turnip fhould never be feen on the ground after 

 March. For the month of April the farmer fhould have a 

 field of cabbages ready, which, yielding a great produce on 

 a fmall breadth of ground, reduces the evil of a late fpnng 

 fovving ; and, if he manages as he ought, totally excludes it. 

 The turnip-cabbage, and ruta baga, will lall as long ai 

 wanted ; and though they run to feed, yet the bulbs will 

 not be ilicky. The green borecole may be fed off feveral 

 times : it is impenetrable to froll, and will make fhoots in 

 the winter. And another crop, continues Mr. Young, for 

 feeding fheep in fpring, which is of particular merit, is bur- 

 net. An acre of it managed properly, will at this feafon 

 yield much more food than an acre of clover and ray-grafs. 

 It fhould be four or five inches high in November, and left 

 fo through the winter. Burnet has the fingular quality of 

 maintaining its green leaves through the winter ; fo that, 

 under deep fnows, you find fome luxuriance of vegetation. 

 From November to February the crop will gain two or three 

 inches in growth in the young leaves, and then be ready for 

 fheep. It will be better in March, and if kept, ready in 

 April, not only for fheep, but horfes, cows, or any other flock. 

 Tliefe fyflems of feeding and management are, however, in 

 pradlice much varied according to the nature of the farm 

 and the kind of flieep that are kept. In Norfolk, with 

 Mr. Bevan's flock, which confills of forty-five fcore of the 

 South Down kind, the following is the arrangement. The 

 tups are put to the ewes about the loth of September, for 

 two months, being fed on the layers and paftures, and are 

 folded on the old layers for wiieat : after wheat-fowing thejr 

 are folded on the paftures and layers till the time of yeaning, 

 during which they lie on the paftures without fold, and have 

 turnips thrown to them, with plenty of good hay. The 

 fattening fheep are on turnips and hay, from Michaelmas to 

 the end of March, followed by the hoggits. In April 

 the couples go to cole-feed in hurdles ; from cole to rye ; 

 from rye to the new layers, if forward enough, otherwife to 

 the water-meadows, till the beginning of May ; ami from 

 thence to the new layers, being flill in hurdles, with a good 

 deal of room to fall back, and continue fo on the layers 

 till about the loth of June, when the ewes arc waflied for 

 clipping, and until the lambs are weaned : the ewes then go 

 to fold with the fliearlings on the fallows intended for turnips, 

 and the lambs are put to frefh grafs refervcd for that pur- 

 pofe : all the fheep on turnips and cole having hay, they 

 confume about twenty-five tons. The general winter pro- 

 vifion is 80 acres of turnips, 20 of cole, and 30 of rye, for 

 the fpring. Mr. Bevan ploughs in his rye-fluLbles before the 

 fhocks are carried to turn in the Icattered feed, harrowing 

 in half a peck of cole-feed for flieep-feed in the fpring, and 

 finds it of very great fervice. The latter, after feeding. 

 Hands for a crop. He values his turnips on the average at 

 30J. /icT acre, and cole at 2$s. After turnip-fowing, the 

 3 IC flock 



