EERGEHIE ROYALE. 



83 



beauty from the practice of cutting them down every 

 third year for fuel, leaving only the trunk about 10 feet 

 in height, with the stumps of the branches to produce 

 fresh shoots. 



The plain of Perpignan offers as strong a contrast 

 as possible to the (naturally) much richer plains of 

 Andalusia. Much may be owing to the difference of 

 climate, and the greater facilities for irrigation ; but 

 much more is owing to the difference in the political 

 institutions of the respective countries. The absurd 

 law of Spain, which prevents the enclosure of corn or 

 meadow land, strikes at the root of all agricultural im- 

 provement. 



On arriving at the bergerie, which is a shabby-looking 

 cluster of old houses in bad repair, I was informed that 

 the sheep were out at pasture, and on following the 

 directions given me I soon came up with them. There 

 are 160 rams, and about 300 females Their wool is 

 certainly much liner than any I had seen at Mr, Durand's, 

 but still there are few of our sheepholders in New South 

 Wales who could not show finer sheep in their flocks than 

 the generality of them. The government make an annual 

 sale of these sheep. The minimum price for the rams is 

 60, and for the ewes 40 francs. A very few of those 

 offered sometimes go off at much higher prices, but the 

 demand is not nearly sufficient to take off' those that are 

 disposable at the minimum price, I saw amongst them a 

 Saxon ram, which had cost the government 600 francs. 

 Running with the rams were a male and two females of 

 the goats of Cashmere; the male was a very large animal, 

 with long white hair ; the females under the size of an 

 ordinary goat, but they were both very young, the one 

 being 18 and the other only 7 months old. They breed 



