varies but slightly from the Leicester, with the 
exception of their having good grass reserved to 
place them upon after lambing. The lambs are 
allowed to remain with the ewes until the Ist of 
August ; and they are then placed upon clover 
eddish, and subsequently upon coleseed, and are 
finished with cut swedes. Corn is rarely given 
in this district. The study of the breeders is to 
turn out large long-woolled lamb-hogs for the 
purpose of grazing, when, unless sold to the gra- 
ziers, they are run very thickly upon their clo- 
vers, or middle descriptions of grass-land, during 
the summer. From the bleakness of the district, 
they are not shorn until the beginning of July ; 
and, as these breeders and graziers look more to 
quantity than quality of wool, it suits their sys- 
tem. During the month of August, the flocks 
are thinned out to other parts of the farm ; and 
afterwards they are placed in their winter-quar- 
ters on the best grass-land for fattening. When 
they are intended to be sold in March or April, 
they are allowed from half a pint to a pint of old 
beans per day, that kind of food being best in 
their cold situations. On the rich or warmer 
lands, they attain a sufficient degree of fatness 
without any artificial food, and are also sold off 
about May. With the graziers they are replaced 
with lamb-hogs at the late fairs, which is an ex- 
cellent arrangement. Those shearlings that have 
been kept back upon the second-rate grass-lands 
are put forward amongst the beasts on their rich 
pastures during the summer ; thence they go to 
coleseed, and subsequently they are sold to the 
butchers in the neighbourhood, being far too 
heavy for the London trade, as at this period of 
the year they weigh from 30 to 36 lbs. per quar- 
ter upon an average. The sheep bred upon the 
heath and in the middle of the county are the 
improved Lincolns; and their management is 
closely assimilated to the Leicester, particularly 
upon the heaths near Lincoln. With the addi- 
tion of their spirited husbandry in supplying 
them with artificial food throughout the year, 
the universal plan of these breeders is to sell 
their lamb-hogs in the spring from turnips ; 
consequently every movement is brought to bear 
upon the production of first-rate fat lamb-hogs, 
whereby an immense return is made in the shape 
of wool and mutton, as also in the succeeding 
crops of barley, seeds, and wheat. The effect of 
sheep-husbandry on the productiveness of the 
soil is an important feature in the general rules 
laid down upon the heath-farms; for, as the 
soil requires artificial aid, so does the importance 
of producing sheep at an early age become essen- 
tial. By constant attention to an equal and pro- 
per distribution of the flock fed upon artificial 
food, immense results follow, it being better to 
spend a portion of the money set aside for arti- 
ficial manure in the purchase of oil-cake, &c., to 
be passed through an animal to the soil, thereby 
gaining a second return, than to expend the 
| whole amount in the production of vegetables. 
SHEEP. 
197 
Again, such are the propensities of the best 
sheep to fatten, that an ample return of wool 
and mutton is made for the extra keeping al- 
lowed them, and the land is manured at a cheap 
and easy rate. Further, by the use of artificial 
food, the vegetable produce is much economized, 
the animal is kept longer upon the land, and be- 
comes more healthy and less liable to disease. 
The breeders upon the heaths and wolds rarely 
occupy grass land, but generally plough their 
whole farm, and merely procure a portion of 
marsh land at a distance and use it for growing 
or feeding the cattle raised on their ploughed 
farm. In setting their flocks at Michaelmas, 
they select ewes who are uniform in size, frame, 
fleece, and style, and use only rams who, in ad- 
dition to being well-proportioned, possess what 
they call ‘good looks;’ and during the lambing 
season, some of them feed their ewes upon man- 
gel-wurzel, and find it to suit much better than 
turnips. The wether-lambs of the principal 
breeders are preferred to the ewe-lambs, and 
separated from them at an early period; and 
when taken off about the middle of July, they 
are still supplied with corn or oil-cake upon the 
seeds; and afterwards are placed upon the tur- 
nips; and, in the barley-thrashing season, are 
indulged with bruised barley and malt-comb 
along with oil-cake ; and as the spring advances, 
receive cut swedes in addition to other artificial 
food. Some breeders prefer keeping their lamb- 
hogs until the late fairs, and allow them to take 
the best of their young seeds; others reserve 
them entire for the ewes that are suckling the 
couples and wether-lambs. In some instances, 
the lambs are not castrated until the first week 
in August, to produce extra size and constitu- 
tion, when they are either castrated, or what is 
termed “trapped,” and are rarely known to fal- 
ter or decline eating their food after the opera- 
tion. The ewe-lambs are drafted early in the 
winter, and the culls placed with the wether- 
lambs to be sold in the spring,—the best being 
reserved for the flock, and kept entirely upon 
turnips. The flock-ewes are inspected and 
drafted early in the summer, and are removed 
from their lambs about the first week in June, 
when they are prepared for the autumn fairs, 
and fetch high prices, breeders from the sur- 
rounding districts being anxious to procure 
them. In the southern or Grantham district, 
the wether-lambs are kept upon moderate food 
during the winter, it being the practice to sell 
them as shearlings in the autumn, when they 
are purchased by the graziers for wintering upon 
their grass-land, or for feeding off coleseed, where 
the land is intended to be sown with wheat. 
The Ootswold sheep are kept principally on 
the hills and on circumjacent poor, thin-soiled, 
arable tracts ; and they require to be managed 
on principles of good sheep-husbandry. The 
breeders produce their sheep at an early age; 
and the best flock-masters rarely practise fold- 
