Management of Sheep. 



13 



quarters on the best grass-land for fattening. When they are 

 intended to be sold in March or April, thej are allowed from 

 half a pint to a pint of old beans per day, that kind of food being 

 best in their cold situations ; on the rich or w armer lands they 

 attain a sufficient degree of fatness without any artificial food, and 

 are also sold off about May. With the graziers they are replaced 

 with lamb-hogs at the late fairs, which is an excellent arrange- 

 ment. 



Those shearlings that have been kept back upon the second- 

 rate grass-lands are put forward amongst the beasts on their rich 

 pastures during the summer ; thence they go to coleseed, and sub- 

 sequently they are sold to the butchers in the neighbourhood, 

 being far too heavy for the London trade, as at this period of the 

 year they weigh from 30 to 36 lbs. per quarter upon an average. 



The sheep bred upon the heath and in the middle of the county 

 are the '^improved Lincolns " (before mentioned), and their ma- 

 nagement is closely assimilated to the Leicester, particularly upon 

 the heaths near Lincoln. With the addition of their spirited 

 husbandry in supplying them with artificial food throughout the 

 year, the universal plan of these breeders is to sell their lamb-hogs 

 in the spring from turnips ; consequently every movement is 

 brought to bear upon the production of first-rate fat lamb-hogs, 

 whereby an immense return is made in the shape of wool and 

 mutton, as also in the succeeding crops of barley, seeds, and 

 wheat. The effect of sheep-husbandry on the productiveness of 

 the soil is an important feature in the general rules laid down 

 upon the heath-farms ; for, as the soil requires artificial aid, so 

 does the importance of producing sheep at an early age become 

 essential. By constant attention to an equal and proper distribu- 

 tion of the flock fed upon artificial food, immense results follow, 

 it being better to spend a portion of the money set aside for arti- 

 ficial manure in the purchase of oil- cake, &c., to be passed through 

 an animal to the soil, thereby gaining a second return, than to 

 expend the whole amount in the production of vegetables. 



Again, such are the propensities of the best sheep to fatten, 

 that an ample return of wool and mutton is made for the extra 

 keeping allowed them, and the land is manured at a cheap and 

 easy rate. Further, by the use of artificial food, the vegetable 

 produce is much economized, the animal is kept longer upon the 

 land, and becomes more healthy and less liable to disease. 



This result I fully proved by an experiment in the year 1836. 

 On the 26th of October part of a field of Swedish turnips was mea- 

 sured off, amounting to eight acres, and 80 wether-lambs and 80 

 ewe-lambs were placed upon them in separate pens, the wether- 

 lambs commencing on one side and the ewe-lambs on the other. 



