SHEEP. 



not to be prevented from doing. The tathe is much more 

 than loft in mutton. And Mr. Reeve, of Wighton, never 

 folds : folding from layers, upon fallow, is only robbing one 

 field to enrich another. He is clear in this point ; and alfo 

 in the faft, that if fheep (whatever the breed) are driven by 

 foul weather to a hedge, there is the proper place for them, 

 and not by penning left to abide the beating of the ftorm. 

 Mr. H. Blythe, of Burnham, fometimes folds, but never from 

 choice, but folely by reafon of the opennefs of his farm ; 

 nor does he approve the prafticc. And he explained a point 

 in his manuring for wheat, which, the writer fays, comes 

 home to the queftion : he never fows tempered land with 

 wheat, without either oil-cake, or muck, except on pieces 

 from which the fheep were not folded while feeding the 

 layers. And Mr. Durfgate remarks, that folded (hecp 

 certainly demand more food than thofe which are not folded; 

 a quarter of a ton of rape-cake is equal to the fold ; and the 

 flock, without any doubt, fuffers more than that value by 

 folding. In (hort, folding is to gain one (hilling in manure, 

 by the lofs of two in fl^-fh. Some, however, fold with large 

 flocks. But Mr. Beck, of Rifing, does not fold ; and he 

 is very certain that if he did fold, he could not keep any 

 thing like the number of his prefent flock. It is added, 

 that as the writer rode acrofs a layer of forty or fifty acres, 

 on Mr. Overman's farm, he obferved a great difference in 

 the verdure, to a line acrofs it, the appearance of one fide of 

 that line being fo much fuperior to the other ; and on his 

 remarking it, he was informed, that it was an accidental ex- 

 periment, which was well worth attention : there was no 

 other difference in the management, to make one part of that 

 layer better than another, except the (heep that fed it being 

 from one part of it folded on another arable field during the 

 fummer ; but from the other part they were not folded at 

 all, but left in the layer night and day. The difference was 

 very confiderablc, and might have been difcerned half a mile 

 off. This experiment made that farmer give up folding, 

 except when his flock was in a falt-mar(h ; and Mr. Tuttle, 

 a neighbour, aflerted, he would never fold at all had he no 

 marfliea. Nor does Mr. Etheridge, of Stanhow, fold. 

 Thefe fafts (hould, the writer fays, be combined with an- 

 other, that of heaths and flieep-walks that have been fed 

 with (lieep for centuries ; but thofe flieep conftantly folded on 

 other lands, are fo far from improving them, that they are to 

 all appearance as poor a? they could liave been at any former 

 period. It is further itated, that Mr. Stylemaii, at Snet- 

 tifham, turned his flock loofe, and without folding, in twenty 

 acres of ollotid every night, for the fame period that would 

 have folded it in the common manner. The fheep did much 

 better than tlicy would have done liad they been folded ; tlie 

 face of the herbage materially imj)rovcd during the period, 

 and upon ploughing it up for wlicat the crop was equal to 

 what it would have been with folding, and (hewed by a 

 regular verdure, that they had dillributed the manure equally 

 in every part. He conceives that lambs fell jj. a-head lower 

 on account of folding, than they would do without it ; but 

 this is only his opinion. He thinks alfo that the ewe is much 

 injured. 



But Mr. Pitts, of Thorpe Abbots, finds that no mucking, 

 on his burning gravels, will do fo much good as the fold, 

 and efpecially on a white clover and trefoil layer for bar- 

 ley. And in the clay diltrift of tlic county of Hertford, 

 Mr. Byde remarks that fheep have been too much lellened. 

 Of all the common manures, he eonfiders the fold as the 

 befl ; and he lias obferved in many farms the general appear- 

 ance of the crops decline, as the number of the fiicep kept 

 has leflened. 'rhat at the Hadhams, every man folds the 

 (he<"p wiiich he keeps ; a little farmer will even fet four 



hurdles, if he has not flieep for more. But that good as the 

 manure of the fold is, Mr. Chapman has found by trial in 

 the fame field, for turnips, that yard-dung was much better 

 than both fold and malt-dufl together. However, Mr. Ro- 

 berts, of King's Walden, thinks nothing is equal to the 

 fold ; he never reckoned it worth lefs than 40^-. per acre, 

 corn being cheap ; but of late much more ; he folds two 

 poles of ground with twenty fheep. And Mr. Sedgwick, 

 of Rickmanfworth, is clearly in favour of folding on all farms. 

 See Folding of Sheep. 



It has been obferved by Mr. Ellman, in the Annals of 

 Agriculture, that jult twenty South Down (heep (if a large 

 fort, a lefs number will do) will fold one rood^fr night : three 

 thoufand two hundred will fold one Englifh acre per night. 

 We value the manure at from35j.to50J-./>c/-acre,thegoodnefs 

 of which depends much on the rnanner in which the theep are 

 kept ; if kept on artificial food, fuch as tares, rape, clover, 

 turnips, &c. they will drop more foil than if fed on grafs only. 

 Suppofe we eftimate the folding at 40J. per acre, it will 

 amount ^fr year to 4J. 6\d. per fheep ; 22/. \6s. ^d. per 

 hundred ; or 223/. 2s. 6d. per thoufand, fuppofing the flieep 

 folded throughout the year. If it be a breeding flock, it 

 might be well to omit folding for five or fix weeks imme- 

 diately after lambing, as the young Lambs might fuffer from 

 being trampled upon, and from driving to and from fold, 

 would often lofe their dams, and fuffer in that way more 

 than if they remained quiet. There is, however, another 

 method of folding, by which all the advantages may be 

 attained during winter on all foils, without the inconveni- 

 ences of the former plan. This is ftated to be by confining 

 them at night in a fheep-yard, well and regularly littered 

 with ftraw, ftubble, or fern ; by which means you keep your 

 flock warm and healthy in bad feafons, and, at the fame time, 

 obtain a furprifing quantity of dung, fo great a quantity, if 

 you have plenty of htter, that the profit will be better than 

 folding on the land. A great improvement in this method 

 would be giving the fheep all their food (except their paf- 

 ture) in fuch yard, inz. hay and turnips, for which purpofe 

 they may be brought up, not only at night but alfo at noon, 

 to be baited ; but if their pafture be at a dirtance, they fhould 

 then, inftead of baiting at noon, come to the yard earlier in 

 the evening, and go out later in the morning. This is a 

 praftice which cannot be too much recommended ; for fo 

 warm a lodging is a great matter to young lambs, and will 

 tend much to forward their growth ; the (heep will alfo be 

 kept in good health, and, what is a point of confequence to 

 all farms, the quantity of dung railed will be very great. 

 If this method is purfued through the months of December, 

 January, February, March, and April, with plenty of litter, 

 a hundred flieep will make a dunghill of, at leaft, lixty loads 

 of excellent ilufF, whicli will amply manure two aces of land, 

 whereas one luindied flieep folded (fuppofing the grafs dry 

 enough) will not in that time equally manure one acre. 



And in Norfolk, Mr. Bevan finds a yard well fenced in 

 for (landing fold tor littering and for folding in bad wea- 

 ther convenient ; and is fully convinced of the great ad- 

 vantage of it. He intends in future to have his (lock in it 

 for yeaning, whctlier the feafon be good or bad. And in 

 Hertfordfliire, the earl of Clarendon has a fold which con- 

 tains good room for three hundred flieep, the number kept 

 in it : an open (hed furrounds it, except on one fide, where 

 a barn is the fence ; the outfide of the fhed is formed of 

 wattled hurdle-work, without ftraw or other materials, for 

 cooliiefs, left a greater clofcnefs (hould make tlie yard too 

 hot : it IS all kept well littered with Hubble, and yields, from 

 three hundred flieep, eighty large cart-loads of manure. 

 This fyftem agrees perfeftly well with the flicop, and keeps 

 3 L 2 them 



