SHEEP. 



when the bleak trafts on which they live are deeply covered 

 with fiiow. According to the writer of the Perthfhire 

 Affricultural Report, in thefe cafes the fheep have their 

 chief dependence for fubfillence on their own habits, which 

 lead them to remove the fnow by their feet with great faci- 

 lity, till they reach the heath or withered herbage. But 

 when the fnow is filling, or blown by a ilor:r., the fhep- 

 herds drive their flocks, without interniiffioii, round the top 

 of a hill in a circle, in order to keep them from lowering, 

 and bein^ drifted up or (mothered It has been the prac- 

 tice, in feme diilrifts, to ereft a fort of circular folds on 

 the tops of low hills, for the fame purpofe ; and when the 

 heath is all covered, they fometimes rake or harrow the 

 fnow, in order to bring up the heath, with a fort of long- 

 toothed rake or fmall harrow. With fome iheep-farmers it 

 is the mode to have recourfe to feeding with hay, or un- 

 threflied oats, which i^depofited in handfuls upon the fnow. 

 Mr. Marfhall has luggcfted, that cultivating plots of furze, 

 broom, juniper, &c. by fod-burning, and rippling the fur- 

 face, or by other more eligible means, could not fail of 

 proving beneficial upon the wintering grounds of a (hecp- 

 farm. By means of thefe, as a relourcc in the deepeft 

 (now, when the herbage of tiie brass was buried too deep 

 and too evenly to be uncovered by the fcraping of the (lieep, 

 by keeping the mod cxpoled part of the brihs in full 

 herbage for lefs general coverings of fnow, and by referve 

 of rape for the feafon of lambing, even ewe-flocks might 

 be fupported through the winter with tome degree of cer- 

 tainty, without dry fodder, and without being left to the 

 uncertainty of the feafons, and the mercy of the winds and 

 weather, as they are at prefent. 



The pradlice of hirftH'mgi where no more lambs arc kept 

 than what is neceffary for drawing the ftock, is now mucli 

 objefted to by fome, though it may be beneficial in rearing 

 wether hogs ; as they are found not only to do much better, 

 when at large with the ewes, but there is much lefs dellruc- 

 tion of grafs by trampling, and the pallures are fed down 

 more properly, and with leis injury to, and lofs of, the (heep. 

 Befides, the flieep thrive better, and are kept in far better 

 condition, while much lefs herding is required, by which 

 there is a confiderable faving of expence. 



There are feveral different m.odes of rearing the lamb 

 hogs in thefe fituations ; as by laying them, when lambs, 

 upon a certain part of the ground, and keeping them fepa- 

 rate from the old fheep, through the whole winter and 

 fpring, until they are clipped ; and then blending them 

 again with the old (heep, putting more lambs upon the fame 

 ground, &c. ; by allowing the hog lambs, when gimmers, 

 to I'emain upon the fame land on which they were bred, and 

 breeding the hogs on a different part of it, and continuing 

 them on that alfo until they are gimmers or dinmonts, and 

 then introducing them among the old (heep, the lambs 

 being every year laid on the land where fuch gimmers or 

 dinmonts had been the previous year ; by keeping the hogs 

 and dinmonts or gimmers together, and putting the gim- 

 mers or dinmonts only among the old (heep, and the lambs 

 among the hogs, in tlie fame place, &c. ; and by breeding 

 the hogs among the old (heep. The three lafl of thefe 

 modes of management are fuppofed the mod ufeful, but 

 the lait the moll powerful in preventing difeafe ; though 



(heep employed, mull operate fo much in this way, as to 

 leave the profits of no two (heep-farmers fcarcely the fame. 

 But our limits will not allow us to introduce any particular 

 ftatements on the fubjeft. 



In all forts of (heep-grazing management, it (hould be 

 the conftant aim of this kind of farmer to have his pafture 

 or other land fo flocked and provided, as to derive the 

 greateil poflible profit from it ; as where this is not the cafe, 

 he not only injures himfelf, but the whole community. 

 Where fyflems and practices of this nature are followed, 

 which are not fufficiently profitable, they (hould be given 

 up, and changed for luch as arc more fully beneficial. The 

 fame plan cannot, however, be always equally productive 

 of advantage, as the fluftuation in the value of Hock in dif- 

 ferent places, and from the eafe or difficulty of providing 

 it, at different times, as well as the nature of the feafon, 

 mull be the caufes of much diverfity in it, which are in- 

 variably to be well attended to by the (hecp-grazier, and 

 turned as much as poflible to his own account. See 

 GiiAZiNG, and Stocking Land. 



The praftices and profits of different (heep-grazing 

 farmers arc often very different in the fame fituations, as 

 fcarcely any two farms of this kind arc conduc\ed exaftly 

 in the fame manner for the whole of the fame year, or pro- 

 bably the fame farms for two fuccecding years together ; as 

 farmers of this fort inuft be direfted and regulated in their 

 management by times, circumftances, and feafons, fo as to 

 have their lands flocked according to the growth, or the 

 probability of the growth, of grafs on them; taking care 

 to have them always provided during tlje early fummer 

 months. Peculiar local circumllance!;, and the difference in 

 the condudl and management of individuals, as well as ca- 

 pita', may alfo have great influence on the profit. On thefe 

 grounds, the ordinary profit may amount, in favourable 

 cafes, to one pound the acre, and from that to two or three, 

 as they are lefs or more favourable. The difference of prac- 

 tice which is had recourfe to, as it relates to the forts of 

 flieep-flock, may likewife further increafe it. 



The employing fheep-flock wholly is probably the moft , 

 profitable plan of all others, where fuch flock can be readily I 

 and rcafonably procured, at all times, in the lean flate ; but 

 which is not always the cafe. And where the grazing 

 farmer, as in the Romney-Marlh pradlice, can either fend 

 them readily to the uplands for the winter, or feed them on 

 turnips, and have their lambs well kept, and fend out a 

 fufficient number, as well of them as of the tegs or two- 

 years old fheep, or render thefe lall fat, as is fometimes the 

 cafe, a greater profit, it is faid, will be produced than in 

 other ways. The value of the wool is likewife to be taken 

 into confideration in this fort of flock, as it tends to 

 profit. 



The profits of the breeding fydem, in the above mar(h, 

 with (heep, depends much upon the qualities and properties of 

 the lands for the purpofe, as fome will carry and keep a far 

 greater number of them than others ; as two to the acre, 

 two and a half, and three on the fame extent ef ground. 

 It is unquedionable, that by lightly flocking fuch lands in the 

 winter feafon, the growth of the fummer grafs would be 

 greatly benefited; but lOO acres of fuch breeding pafture 

 land, which keep only 200 fheep, producing 220 lambs. 



the fird and fecond probably afford the mod equal flock of will not pay fo well, it is thought, as if 300 ewes were 

 this defcription, in fuch expcfed fituations. kept, producing 340 lambs. Two returns, therefore, are 

 Profits of aheep-Managemenl. — It is evident that there is not capable of being made in the breeding fyllem, as 

 a variety of circnmdances in the praftice of fheep hufbandry, many ewes are, of courfe, under the iieceffity of being kept 

 that mud alTcft any datemer.t that can be made, in refpcfl in the winter time as fuch lands will fupport. It is, how- 

 to the profit that may be derived from it : the nature of the ever, fuggeded, that by the ufe of hay and artificial food, 

 fydem of management purlued, and that of the breed of much increafe of profit might not only be produced, but 



fuch 



