523 
HUSB 
in ufe. In fome cafes, where the lands are in a Hate of in- 
clofure, it is a profitable practice to buy ewes in lamb in 
the latter end of fummer or beginning of autumn, keeping 
them on the inferior forts of grafs-lands, Hubbles, or fal¬ 
lows, till the beginning- of January, and then, by giving 
them turnips, to keep"them in good condition through 
the period of their lambing, and afterwards in the beft 
manner that can be contrived, in order that the lambs 
may become fit for the butcher fufficiently early to admit 
of the ewes being afterwards fattened, and difpofed of in 
the beginning of the autumn. Another method, of graz¬ 
ing fheep is to purchafe wether-ftock, about the begin¬ 
ning of May, at the age of two or three years, keeping 
them fcantily till fome weeks after the grounds have been 
cleared from hay, then bringing them to good keep in 
the rowen, afterwards fattening them by means of tur¬ 
nips or cabbages, fo as not to have them ready fooner 
than the beginning of March, which is ufually the feafon 
in which they fetch the greatest price. This lpecies of 
grazing-management inaftly affords a good profit to fuch 
farmers as are fufficiently attentive to it. 
In addition to thefe methods there is another praftifed 
in fome cafes with great profit and advantage, which is 
that of buying in "lambs of the wether or other kinds 
about the beginning of September. Thefe are kept in 
different methods by different managers ; by fome they 
are brought forward with the greateit poffible expedition 
by the beft keep, fo as to be ready to be difpofed of as 
foon as poffible. Others, however, adopt the contrary me¬ 
thod, keeping them only in a middling way during the 
winter till about the beginning of April, and then forc¬ 
ing them by good keep, fo as to have them ready for the 
butcher in Auguft, or continuing them, in the following 
month, and then clearing the whole of the ftock from the 
land. This is a praftice from which great profit is often 
derived. 
The providing of gra'fs-lamb for the markets as early 
as poffible in the fpring of the year, is an objeft of great 
importance, and which pays the grazier well in many 
fituations, efpecially near large towns. In this view it is 
the praftice to procure the more forward ewes, fuch as 
thole of the Dorfet kind, which may drop their lambs 
before Chriftmas. The ewes, in order that they may 
have a plentiful fupply of mffk, (hould be extremely well 
kept on turnips and fine green fweet rowen bay, and the 
lambs thereby forced forward in fuch a rapid manner as 
to be ready for the markets in the beginning of March 
or April. The ewes, from their becoming dry fo early, 
are capable of being fattened and difpofed of towards 
Michaelmas, ufually fetching the prices at which they 
were purchafed in at; as the whole of the ftock is in this 
fyftem cleared within the year, the farmer has the oppor¬ 
tunity of fully afcertaining its advantage or diladvantage. 
In the fattening of grafs-lambs, Mr. Marlhall, in his 
Midland Counties, has mentioned a praftice which in 
particular cafes, may be advifeabie; this is that of remov¬ 
ing the lambs from the ewes when they decline much in 
milk, before they are perfeftly fattened', in order to com¬ 
plete them on young clover, or other forts of prime keep. 
The principle in this cafe is that of the ewes becoming 
fooner ready for the butcher ; befides, it is fuppofed by 
fome, that after the firft fiulh of milk is gone, and it be¬ 
gins to be fcanty, the lambs thrive better on grafs alone 
away from the ewes, than when kept along with them, 
as the hankering after the little milk that is afforded pre¬ 
vents their feeding freely on the grafs. Where this me¬ 
thod is followed, which can probably be with advantage 
only where the milk of the ewes is-greatly deficient in fup- 
poning and bringing the lambs forward, much attention 
muft be paid to having the keep early and in abundance. 
In this view rye-grals and white clover for early ufe, 
and broad clover at a later period, are the .molt proper 
and ufeful crops. 
The proportion in which different fofts of cattle and 
fheep-ftock foould be introduced upon the grafs-lands 
A N D R Y. 
with the view' of being fattened, muft 'depend chiefly 
upon the goodnefs of the land, the fize of the ftock, and 
various other circumftances of feed. The great principle 
is never to ftock in fuch a way as to reft rift the animals 
in the leaft degree ; as it is by filling themfelves quickly, 
and lying down much, that the greateft progrefs in rat¬ 
tening is made, whether in cattle, Iheep, or any other 
fort of animals when at grafs. On the weaker grafs-lands, 
a much fmaller proportion of ftock than on thofe of th* 
rich and fertile kind, can only be admitted. Often not 
more than an ox and a Iheep or two, to two acres or a 
half. There is alfo another circumftance that is neceffary 
to be attended to in bringing the ftock properly forward 
in the paftures, which is that of changing them more 
frequently than has generally been the caie wdth graziers; 
On this principle, as well as thofe of their affording 
greater degrees of warmth and fhelter, and thereby pro¬ 
moting the growth of the herbage more abundantly, fmall 
inclofures may be more advantageous in the grazing of 
live-ftock than large ones ; but to have them varying in 
fize from ten or fifteen to twenty-five acres or more, ac¬ 
cording to the nature of the paftures, may be the perfec¬ 
tion of the fyftem ; the matter is not, however, eafily de¬ 
cided by experiment, as no two pieces of grafs-land can 
fcarcely be met with that are precifely equal in ail their 
different circumftances. 
In the mode of difpofing of his fat ftock, the grazing- 
farmer muft be direfted by the nature of his farm, and 
the circumftances of his fituation. In the fouihern parts 
of England, Smithfield is the principal market; but in 
the northern parts of the kingdom the feveral large towns. 
In the firft cafe, on the fmaller forts of farms, the fat¬ 
tened ftock is moftly fent up by men who are lblely em¬ 
ployed in the bufinefs, and who are termed “ dijlrid dro¬ 
vers ,being regularly employed by different graziers in 
the fame neighbourhood, and in whom they have the 
moil perfeft confidence. But where the farms are very 
extenfive, fo as to enable the graziers themfelves to re¬ 
gularly fend droves of cattle or other ftock to this mar¬ 
ket, the common praftice is to depend upon falefmen 
for the difpofal of them. 
In regard to the profits on fattening-land, two methods 
muft be noticed: the firft ufed by the beft graziers; the 
other, the raoft common : fome take bullocks in to 
keep,- others buy runts ; the profits of which muft de¬ 
pend on their judgment; but 3I. is the medium profit be¬ 
tween the whole; 10s. each iheep is generally allowed as 
the gained profit by fattening. Yet, it Cannot be fup¬ 
pofed that this profit will always amount to 1 "q much, as 
the years differ; therefore dry feafons will abate it, and a 
large traft of land cannot have the fupply of ftock to 
make it fo great. There are Ioffes alfo to be taken out; 
but, upon the whole, it is very profitable, as the expences 
are fo moderate, that one fervant-man can manage a thou - 
fand acres of pafture land. 
Befides the above methods, there are other fyftems of 
feeding and fattening cattle, that properly come under 
confideration in this place, fuch as thofe of soiling, dur¬ 
ing the fummer feafon, with various kinds of fucculent 
green vegetable crops; and stall-feeding, in the win¬ 
ter months, with roots, cabbages, turnips, and other forts 
of food of a fucculent nature, in combination with va¬ 
rious kinds of dry meat. The former of thefe modes ap¬ 
pears to have had much lefs attention bellowed upon'it 
than its importance would feem to demand. Without 
attending fufficiently to the economy and advantage of 
the praftice, it has been the common hufbandry in almoft 
every part of the ifiand, to allow all forts of horned-cattle 
to be grazed in the paftures. In fome Cafes of improved 
farming, it has indeed been lately purfued in fome degree 
in the liable, but without being applied to the cattle- 
ilock. The principal circumftances that recommend this 
fyftem of praftice, are thofe of the food being confurned 
with much lefs wafte, and of eourl’e going a vail deal fur¬ 
ther, than when fed upon the land ; the great increafe of 
good 
