Breeding, Rearing, and Feeding Horses, Cattle, and Sheep. 107 
at East Linton, in Haddingtonshire, the rainfall in 1874 
was 23'93. The ordinary rainfall in the south-west of Scotland 
ranges from 40 to 60 inches per annum. 
Though the total rainfall is not so excessive in the Hamilton 
district and in some other parts of the west, there is frequently 
a drizzling sort of rain, and the proportion of dry days is small. 
This is the case, also, in the greater part of Ireland, where sheep- 
rearing and feeding have not been so successful as cattle-raising. 
Where the land has been well-drained in Ireland, the manage- 
ment skilful, and the feeding liberal, mutton-producing has paid 
well enough, thus showing that imperfect management has some- 
thing occasionally to do with what is attributed to climatic 
defects. 
Owing to the elevated and poor character of a great portion 
of the sheep-breeding farms, it is impossible to carry on both 
breeding and fattening on the same holdings, excepting, as already 
pointed out, there be considerable variety of soil and a very large 
acreage. Thousands of breeding-farms have no feeding-ground, 
and, conversely, many good sheep-feeding occupancies are minus 
favourable breeding-land. The division of labour between the 
breeder and feeder in the case of sheep has, I think, more to 
recommend it than such an arrangement has in reference to cattle. 
The difference betwixt the breeding soil and climate, and the 
feeding, is greater in the former instance than the latter. Sheep 
are better pedestrians than cattle ; are seldom driven about so 
much, and do not lose so much flesh journeying from the breeding- 
walks to the feeding-plains. They are also hardier than cattle, 
and are less injuriously affected by long fasts, particularly the 
mountain breeds. The buyer has little to dread as to the breeding 
of sheep compared with cattle. Almost every sheep-breeder 
makes a point of securing a good well-bred ram, which is not 
the case with nearly all those who breed calves. The purchasers 
of sheep know and appreciate this, and the breeders profit by 
the comparatively higher prices they obtain for the lean material. 
In short, what has been accomplished by the careful attention 
displayed in the selection of feasibly well-bred rams, even in the 
remote breeding-districts, might be a stimulus to the more exten- 
sive use of decently well " come " bulls. As there is scarcely 
anything said by the correspondents about sheep with which any 
practical man could not coincide, and as I have already con- 
siderably exceeded the space originally allotted to this Report, I 
need say nothing further than express my own conviction that 
the modern system of breeding, rearing, and feeding sheep 
forms, perhaps, the best-managed branch of British agriculture. 
