JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 

 OF ENGLAND. 



I. — The Management of Sheep. By Robert Smith, 

 Prize Essay. 



Sheep Husbandry having long engaged my attention as a 

 breeder of male animals, and being fully convinced of the im- 

 portance of encouraging the present improved and established 

 breeds countenanced by the Society, viz. — the Leicestet^s, the 

 Southdowns, and the Long Wools, I do not deem it altogether 

 presumptuous in me to compete for the Premium. In doing so 

 I rely solely on the qualification which my motto indicates — 

 " Practice and Perseverance." 



Sheep may be found in every quarter of the globe, but are most 

 cultivated in Europe ; they inhabit every variety of climate^ and 

 adapt themselves to the vicissitudes of heat and cold. In each 

 country they are cultivated, according to the wants and tastes of 

 the people, either for food, clothing, or the uses of commerce ; 

 and the management is governed materially by the climates where 

 they are produced. They are impressed at every change with 

 some peculiarity alterable only by a change of situation, and 

 varying (I might almost affirm) with the weather; for where the 

 temperature is equable, there does the animal preserve unchanged 

 an atmospheric stamp, while under a fluctuating sky we can model 

 it at will, though in this case continued exertions are required to 

 maintain it for any length of time in an undeviating course. 



In a wild state sheep prefer to range at large upon open fields 

 and plains, and display considerable sagacity in the selection of 

 their food, which suggests the importance of change in their 

 domestic management. 



No other animal is, in my opinion, worthy of so much attention 

 as the sheep, it being alike valuable to the farmer and to the 

 nation; — to the farmer, because it is raised with ease, and in 

 situations where other animals could not exist ; and in general 



VOL. VIII. B 



