lambs, although of a breed that generally produces twins. I think there is no doubt but the sheep would produce young thrice a year, were the bad practice resorted to, which has been so currently recommended with the rabbit, of allowing the male immediately after parturition; the ready way to render both the female and her progeny worthless. Could the lambs be advantageously weaned at two months, sufficient time would remain for the ewe to bring forth twice within the year; for example, suppose the young ewe tupped in August, the lamb would be dropped in the middle of January, and might be weaned in mid March, the ewe again receiving the ram on the turn of the milk, like the sow, perhaps in or before April, she would then bring forth within the twelve months or in August. This plan would at least injure the dam infinitely less than suckling during gestation.

The ewe brings most commonly one, next in degree of frequency, two, rarely from three to five lambs at a birth. This property of double birth is in some instances specific; the Dorset sheep usually yeaning twins, and the large polled Belgic sheep, with their descendants, our Teeswater, doing the same, and producing occasionally more at a birth. Other breeds bring twins, in the proportion of one third of the flock, which is supposed to depend considerably on good keep. A certain number of ewes per centum prove barren annually: the cause, very rarely, natural defect; sometimes over fatness, a morbid state of body from poverty or neglect of the ram, in other words, want of system in the shepherd.

Barnaby Goge (p. 139) says, " Ewes for the most part bring but one lamb apiece, yet oftentimes two, and if they be well fed, five at a time. It hath been seen in Guelderland, that five ewes have had in one year, five and twenty lambs; it may seem peradventure

to many incredible, and yet no great marvel, since they have twice a year, most times two, and sometimes five at a time."

Mr. Culley gives the following uncommon instance of fecundity in a Teeswater ewe. "When two years old in 1772, she brought four lambs: In 1773 five: In 1774 two: In 1775 five: In 1776 two: In 1777 two." The first nine lambs were lambed in eleven months.

This large species of sheep Mr. Culley justly observes are not adapted to numerous flocks or poor ground, and require the best winter keep. On the fruitful banks of their native Tees, they are kept in small well-sheltered inclosures, enjoying the privilege of the haystack during winter, the ewes receiving the benefit of corn some time previous and subsequent to parturition.

The reader will bear in mind those general rules on the subject of FORM in animals, which I tendered to his consideration and correction in a former work, and transcribed in p. 21 of the present. Hereafter follow other opinions ancient and modern, on the subject.

COLUMELLA recommends the RAM which is tall, with a pendent and woolly belly, an exceedingly long tail and thick fleece, a broad forehead, twisted horns and large testicles, preferring however the hornless breed. The ram not to be used in the flock until three, nor after eight years of age. The EWE to come into breeding use at two years; to have " a huge body,' a long neck, a large belly, well covered; long wool, but not harsh or coarse." He counsels very wisely and practically, to avoid the ewe" with a peeled, bare, and small belly."

MARKHAM advises" to choose your sheep the biggest boned, with the best wool, the staple being soft,

greasy, and well curled, and close together, so that a man shall have much ado to part it with his fingers. These sheep, beside bearing the best burden, are always the best butcher's ware, and go soonest away in the market. The RAM large of body, in every general part, with a long body and a large belly, his forehead broad, round and well rising, a cheerful large eye, straight short nostrils, and a very small muzzle, by no means any horns, for the dodder [hornless] sheep is the best breeder, and his issue never dangereth the dam in yeaning as the horned sheep do. A large upright neck, somewhat bending like the neck of a horse, a very broad back, round buttocks, a thick tail, and short jointed legs, small, clean, and nimble, his wool should be thick and deep, covering his belly all over; also his face and even to his nostrils, and so downwards to his very knees and thighs." The reader has doubtless remarked in the first part of this quotation, the advice to choose the biggest boned sheep, in the latter, a recommendation of small, clean legs, a trifling inaccuracy that, in the collections of old Gervase. The general description of the sheep however, does no dishonour to the discernment of the breeders in the reign of our virgin Queen.

Culley's description of the RAM. "His head should be fine and small, his nostrils wide and expanded, his eyes prominent and rather bold or daring, ears thin, his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the same time join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to leave not the least hollow in either 'place; the mutton upon his arm or fore thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean

fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy wool, from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper wideness; his girth or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, that part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a fine, circular arch; his belly straight, the quarters long and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor out; his twist [the junction of the inside of the thighs] deep, wide, and full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright; the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, soft wool." Mr. Culley's present breed from new Leicester tups, comes nearer perhaps to the above description than any other breed in Britain, and I am assured by one of our best judges of sheep, who has lately viewed many flocks of them in the North, that they are our best variety of new Leicesters, and even superior to their originals: I should be glad to see some of these tups made use of in the South.

The NUMBER of sheep in the kingdom were a few years since calculated at twenty-six millions; and of lambs ten millions: which by this time, with our increasing population, we may justly conclude much augmented. The old author I before alluded to, p. 241, has also given a table of the increase of sheep, according to which, a person beginning with a stock of ten ewes, will find in the twelfth year [casualties excepted] his increase to be 879 ewes, 439 ewe lambs, and 440 wethers; the total number of the living stock being 2852. I have several times noticed with pleasure the flock of a poor labourer raised from the smallest beginning; in particular, the flock of a poor lad,

from a single ewe lamb won by him at a raffle; and another of a poor young man and his wife, who were yet turned out of their comfortable home by the act of settlement. An extensive and judicious scheme of sheep-breeding, which supposes improved stock, the best management, and ample scope in a fit country, cannot fail, in the course of years, to create a considerable fortune.

FOLDING sheep, I have observed, in the New Farmer's Calendar, is not generally deemed a part of improved husbandry, yet there are perhaps, circumstances which may render it eligible, or at least incline the farmer to the practice. It is moreover almost universally practised upon light soils, but seldom on those deep and rich lands, where heavy long woolled sheep are fed, or where grazing, rather than breeding is the object.

It does not appear clearly, from any of the ancient writers, whether the moveable fold, for the purpose of dressing the land, was in use in their time, nor is it easy to trace the commencement of the practice in this country, or in Spain, where also, it has prevailed, and whence probably we derived the knowledge of it. I do not observe it mentioned in Barnaby Goge, who, however, was rather a learned compiler, than an original or practical writer on rural affairs. Mascal and Markham speak little, but rationally, on the subject, giving proper cautions on the danger of folding, to the health of the sheep. Mortimer, a truly original writer, de re rustica, speaks in the same tone. From these sources of information, it does not appear, that the practice in question was so general, or so highly in repute in their time, as it has since been; and it seems to have gained ground during the last century, and with it a much more free exposure of sheep to the rigours of the seasons, than had the sanction of ancient