On  Winter  Feeding  of  Sheep. 
93 
is,  however,  economy  of  litter  in  lambing  under  a shed  of  this 
kind,  from  the  moisture  so  readily  escaping  from  the  straw 
through  the  gratings ; none  is  necessary  for  the  fattening  sheep. 
I cannot  speak  confidently  on  the  point,  but  experiments  I have 
had  made  give  a weight  of  more  than  2 cwt.  of  excellent  pungent 
manure — weighed  before  it  has  dried  thoroughly — from  each 
sheep  in  twelve  weeks ; this  applied  directly  to  a young  crop  is 
very  valuable,  whatever  the  amount  may  be. 
I beg  to  repeat,  that  the  general  arrangement  of  this  mode  of 
sheep-feeding  has  been  derived  from  that  of  Sir  R.  Simeon,  from 
whom  I have  received  much  kind  information  ; the  penning  the 
sheep  loose  is  the  result  of  careful  experiments  I made  at  Mr. 
Huxtable’s  suggestion,  whilst  the  plan  of  adapting  the  shed  to 
lambing  and  other  purposes  is  a notion  of  mine  for  the  sake  of 
convenience  and  economy  ; and  that  my  object  in  addressing  you 
is  the  hope  of  usefully  inviting  investigation  of  a practice  on  which 
I have  had  frequent  inquiries  to  answer,  but  which  has  not  been 
as  fully  and  fairly  considered  as  I think  it  may  be  with  advantage 
to  the  agricultural  community. 
I will  just  add,  that  an  easy  way  of  trying  the  experiment  is  to 
have  the  gratings  raised  on  feet,  so  as  to  be  available  in  any  spare 
or  rough  shed  for  a time,  or  in  a barn  ; if  a pit  should  ultimately 
be  determined  upon,  the  gratings  will  be  available  on  removing 
the  feet. 
Believe  me  to  be  yours  very  faithfully, 
Dudley  Pelham. 
St.  Lawrence , Isle  of  Wight , 
Jan.  15,  1850. 
VI. — The  Improvement  of  Land  by  Warping,  Chemically  con- 
sidered. By  Thornton  J.  Herapath. 
In  many  of  the  counties  of  England  and  Scotland,  more  particu- 
larly in  those  of  Lincoln  and  York,  there  are  certain  districts, 
bordering  upon  the  larger  rivers  and  tlieir  tributaries,  where  the 
agriculturists  are  in  the  habit  of  manuring  their  land  or  of 
restoring  its  exhausted  fertility  by  means  of  a peculiar  mode  of 
irrigation,  which  is  there  termed  “ warping .”  In  order  that  this 
operation  should  be  pursued  with  advantage,  two  points  are 
necessary : namely,  first,  that  the  general  level  of  the  country 
through  which  the  river  flows,  should  be  below  that  of  high  tide ; 
and,  second,  that  the  water  of  the  river  should  be  of  a very  muddy 
character,  as  the  main  object  of  the  farmer  consists  in  producing 
an  equal  and  uniform  distribution  of  the  alluvial  matters,  which 
are  kept  in  suspension  by  the  water,  over  the  surface  of  the  land. 
