500 
HUSB. 
the whole winter with profit on thofe farms which have 
a perfectly dry gravelly foil. It muft not be attempted 
on moift arable land, nor on moift grafs land, but on dry 
paHures. Here the fafety to the fheep is greater, and the 
benefit to the crop the leaft objeft. 
But a much better method than folding in the winter, 
is, to confine the flock at night in a fheep-yard, well and 
regularly litteredwith ftraw, ftubble, or fern, by which 
mea/is the flock is kept warm and healthy in bad feafons, 
and at the fame time a furprifin'g quantity of manure is 
raifed. A great improvement in this method would be 
giving the fheep a great portion of their food (except 
their pallure) in fuch yard; viz. hay and turnips; for 
which purpole they may be brought up not only at night, 
but alio at noon, to be baited ; but, if their pafture be at 
a diftance, they fhould then, inftead of baiting at noon, 
come to the yard earlier in the evening, and go out later 
in the morning. 
This'bufinefs may be Hill farther promoted by means 
of proper yards fuited to the extent of fheep that are 
folded, with-fheds on the fides for them to feed under; 
as in this way, by having the bottoms and under the fheds 
well covered with turf, bog-earth, marl, or the ferapings 
of roads, in the autumn and winter feafon, the fheep 
being kept on them in the day-time in bad flormy wea¬ 
ther, and always during the night, with plentiful fup- 
plies of Hravv, Hubble, fern, or any'flmilar fubftances, as 
litter, fo as that they may be preferved quite dry and 
free from moilture, a vaH Hock of excellent manure would 
be raifed. Such yards or Handing folds, on this account, 
as well as that of improving the wool and affording (bel¬ 
ter to the animals, deferve to be much more general than 
they are at prelent. Thefe yards, both with and without 
fheds, are very common in Sufiex ; with fheds they are 
probably better than when wholly covered, as in the 
Herefordfhire method ; for in this laH mode it is probable 
the fheep may be kept too warm, which is hurtful; an 
equality of temperature being found of the mofi benefit 
in the economy of thefe animals. 
Wherever the bufinefs of folding is adopted, it fhould 
be purfued with as much fleadinels as poffible, and con¬ 
ducted in a perfectly regular manner. The lands under 
fallow for turnips are in general beH to begin upon, as 
the crops will be ready to be put in almoH immediately 
afterwards. From thefe the farmer may proceed to the 
grounds in preparation for other crops, as the wheat fal¬ 
lows, being conHantly attentive to put his fheep upon 
luch lands firit as are to be firft fown, whether with grain 
or grafs feeds. When, on the approach of the winter 
feafon, the weather becomes too wet for folding on the 
arable lands, it fnould be transferred to the paHures; for 
on dry paHures this management may be continued with¬ 
out any harm to the fheep, while much improvement to 
the land will be effected. Where there is much mol's on 
the land, folding effectually removes it. 
Folding on tares is a‘ molt excellent method. In the 
month of May, where the land is good, tares will in gene- 
^ ral be fit to be fed off, and will be found of infinite be¬ 
nefit to the flock, at a feafon of the year when very great 
difficulty generally occurs to the farmer how to procure 
the neceffary food. But, if he be provided with a tole¬ 
rable fucceffion of tares, he will find ample provifion for 
his flock. To make the raoH of them, let a certain por¬ 
tion be cut acrofs the field, as far as'occafion may require, 
and as far as there are hurdles and Hock for the purpole. 
This firft allotment lhould be mown, and carried clear 
off the field into a well-littered yard, and put into low 
racks; thefe racks to be moved about the yard at every 
replenilhing; and thus, by the immenfe quantity of 
urine provoked by the tares, the fheep will nearly faturate 
the .whole yard. After a fufficient fpace of ground is 
cleared, the fhepherd mult cut fome frelh tares, which he 
will place in racks, and diftribute over the ground that 
was firft cut;' moving the hurdles forward as often as 
neceffary, until the whole, field is fed off, and drefled alike. 
I N DRY. 
In the folding of fheep, many inconveniences have and 
do arife from the flight materials with which the fold 
is formed; and the difficulty, particularly in hard frolty 
weather, of.crediting any fold at all, or even of penning 
off turnips for the flock. To remedy thefe evils, Thomas 
Plowman, efq. of Broome, in the county of Norfolk, has 
recently invented an improved flrcep-fold, of which lie 
gives as the following account. “ This lheep-fold, in¬ 
vented on an improved and Ample principle,- combines 
many advantages over the old method of folding by hur¬ 
dles ; particularly lince the whole fold can be removed with 
eafe at all times. It will alio be found peculiarly ufeful 
in feeding off turnips in frofty weather, when hurdles 
cannot be ufed; and, as the faving of labour in agri¬ 
culture is a leading objeft, I have no doubt of feeing it, 
in a very few years, generally adopted. The expence, 
in the firit inftance, will exceed that of hurdles, for the 
lame given quantity of Iheep ; but, having had one in ufe 
nearly three years, I am fatisfied the faving will be very 
confiderable : for, before I adopted this method of fold¬ 
ing, I loft from thirty to forty nights folding, in the year, 
owing to the land being hard in dry feafons; which 
renders - folding almoft impracticable, as they never can 
be fet without great labour and deftrudtion of hurdles. 
I am alfo clearly of opinion, that the Hock of iheep will 
be greatly increafed when this method of folding becomes 
more known ; and that it will enable many fmall farmers 
to keep from fifty to one hundred fheep, who now are 
deterred from it, on account of the fmall quantity of feed 
they have, not anfwering to keep a man for the purpofe 
of folding them. In heavy gales of wind too, it fre¬ 
quently happens that hurdles are blown down, and the 
fheep, of courfe, being at liberty, range over the crops, 
and do incalculable mifehief; which cannot happen with 
this new-invented fold. By this invention alio an af- 
tonifliing' quantity of time is favea, when a man can 
remove a fold to contain three hundred fheep in five 
minutes, which, by the old method, frequently takes 
fome hours to accomplifh.” 
In the Hufbandry Plate II. the plan of this fold is 
given. Fig. i, reprefents a compartment of the lheep- 
fold, twenty-one feet long, and three feet eleven inches 
high, compofed of a top-rail, A, three inches deep and 
two'inches thick. B, the upper bar, three inches deep, 
and three-quarters inch thick. C C, the two lower bars, 
four inches by three quarters of an inch, which, with 
the upper bar, are mortifed through the uprights, DDDD, 
which are of oak, three inches by two inches. E, the 
lower bar, three inches by three. F, an upright bar, with 
the horizontal bars halved into it. G G, two oak up¬ 
rights, three by two inches. 
Fig. 2, fhows the oak uprights GGG. H, the axle- 
tree, three inches by three, and three feet between the 
wheels. I, an oak knee, which connects the uprights 
G G with‘the axle-tree, by means of two ferews and nuts. 
Fig. 3, is a plan, in which the axle H is fhown with two 
arms KK, at right angles to H, which are made to aft as 
pivots to the wheels, when intended to be moved in a 
direction at right angles to the bars. 
Fig. 4, is a more perfeft view of the fame parts deferibed 
in fig. 3. Tire wheels marked W, in all the four figures, 
are of caft iron, which colt 3s. 6d. each. 
When the fold is wanted to be ufed on very hilly 
ground, you muft begin at the top, and work it down to 
the bottom, for the eafe of removing it, and then draw 
it up again with a liorfe. This, however, there is no 
occafion to do if the land be ploughed in a contrary di- 
reftion, and the fold worked in the fame courfe as the 
ridges. By this mean, the inconvenience is avoided of 
eroding the furrows, and they are alio a guide to keep 
the fold in a, ftraight direftion. For this invention Mr. 
Plowman was honoured with the gold medal of the Society 
of Arts and Manufaftures, &c. in 1804. 
The bufinefs of Shearing the Flock, under the pre- 
fent circumltances of the price of. wool, fhould call forth 
the 
