JLOMB SOMERYILJLE 
 
 ON 
 
 SHEEP, PLOUGHS, OXEN, 
 &c. &c.
 
 S.GosNELL, Printer, 
 Little Queen Street, Holborn.
 
 FACTS 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 RELATIVE TO 
 
 SHEEP, WOOL, PLOUGHS, AND OXEN : 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVING THE SHOKT-WOOLL£0 
 
 BKEEDS BY A MIXTURE OF THE MERINO ELOOJD 
 
 IS DEDUCED FROM ACTUAL PRACTICE, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 SOME REMARKS 
 
 ADVANTAGES, WHICH HAVE BEEN DERIVED 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 USE OF SALT. 
 
 BY JOHN, LORD SOMERVILLE. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, OLD BOND STREET. 
 
 1803.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 X-rflTTLE apology, it is presumed, will be 
 required, for offering to public notice the few 
 pages, which follow. 
 
 Treatises upon professional subjects arc 
 not expected to find an extensive circulation : 
 there are persons, however, deeply interested 
 in the matters the author has endeavoured to 
 investigate, nor is the number small; and to 
 such persons he particularly addresses himself. 
 It is hoped that those, who are connected with 
 the support and extension of our woollen ma- 
 nufactures, now in a great degree fed by a fo- 
 reign, and therefore more than ever, precarious 
 supply ; and those, who are deeply impressed 
 aho with the absolute necessity of a more 
 
 economical 
 
 V
 
 ( vi ) 
 
 economical system of labour in the produc- • 
 tion of human food, will not think their time 
 absolutely thrown away. 
 
 No speculative opinions whatever are 
 brought forward; but the author has, without 
 any embellishment of language, adduced such 
 facts as for some years past have confirmed, and 
 still continue to confirm that, which as a mat- 
 ter of duty rather than inclination, he was led 
 to treat of. He has now brought these sub- 
 jects to a conclusion, and he trusts to a satis- 
 factory one j and thus takes his leave of them. 
 
 Should these statements, however, on the 
 subject of our improved wool be insufHcient to 
 satisfy the minds of those who were unfortu- 
 nate enough to consider the thing impracti- 
 cable, complete conviction may in all pro- 
 bability result from the additional proofs 
 which Dr. Parry will, in the course of eighteen 
 months, be enabled to produce. Besides aa 
 acknowledged accuracy in the statement of 
 4 facts,
 
 ( vii ) 
 
 facts, his Essay will have the advantage of 
 that fluency and elegance of language, which 
 these pages cannot boast of. 
 
 The observations in the first part appear 
 in the form of a letter, which the author had 
 the honour to address to the Bath and West of 
 England Society. 
 
 Fearful of saying, although perhaps in 
 other words, what we have before urged on the 
 subject of working oxen, and the sound policy of 
 again bringing them into more general use, we 
 have confined ourselves to a simple detail of 
 the exhibition of oxen and sheep, instituted as 
 far as relates to cattle, with the sole view of 
 proving by evidence not to be doubted, the 
 possibility of cultivating the greater part of 
 our corn land by the very animals we must 
 breed as an article of food, and which do not 
 consume a grain of the corn they are the means 
 of producing, to the exclusion of other animals, 
 
 whose
 
 ( viii ) 
 whose chief nourishment is corn, and whose 
 flesh is perfectly useless. 
 
 , It must be obvious to the most common 
 understanding, that new land may be brought 
 into cultivation to any extent, but that the pub- 
 lic cannot thereby derive those advantages it has 
 a right to expect, if the corn grown is again 
 consumed by the animals producing it ; them- 
 selves not hunnan food. 
 
 Our object has ever been to simplify 
 and consequently to economise labour, in the 
 firm belief that it is ths straightest and safest 
 road to plenty. 
 
 SUBSTANCE
 
 SUBSTANCE 
 
 OF A 
 
 
 SHEEP, &c. 
 
 W ITH a view to the improvement of our 
 short-wool sheep, and those more particularly 
 belonging to our mountainous districts, hither- 
 to neglected, I thought it a duty incumbent 
 on me, to call the attention of our countrymen 
 to this point, and therefore ventured to publish 
 a short essay or prospectus on a subject, which 
 every man, even the most prone to doubt, 
 must have admitted to be of the utmost im- 
 portance both to our landed and commercial 
 interests. Assertions were to the utmost 
 avoided, and conclusions hinted at, which a 
 close attention to the various breeds of our 
 
 B sheep,
 
 ( 2 ) 
 
 sheep, and the operation of our soil and cli- 
 mate on them, might with safety warrant. 
 How far these hopes have been realized, and 
 to what extent, need not be contended by ar- 
 gument, but by ocular demonstration shall 
 be proved. The Bath and West of England 
 Society, having, at its last annual meeting, 
 been pleased to express its unanimous appro- 
 bation of the measures I had taken to ame- 
 liorate the fine wools of this kingdom, and of 
 the stock, as well of Spanish as English 
 breeds of sheep, there exhibited — in conformity 
 with the promise then made, 1 shall have the 
 honour of submitting to the Society's inspec- 
 'tion, ak its annual meeting in December next, 
 additional proofs of our success. The stock 
 will consist of the Merino breed, and its 
 orosses ; the sire vv^as Spanish, consequently 
 •the produce is of the half blood. 
 
 Two wether hogs, half South-down, and 
 
 Spanish, 
 Two ditto, half Ryeland and Spanish, 
 Two ewe hogs, ditto, ditto: these are 
 
 from the flock of which the wool, manufac- 
 tured into broad-cloth and kersymere by 
 Mr. Joyce, obtained, two days ago, the 
 5 recommend-
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 recommendation of the Committee for pre- 
 miums adjudged this year by the Society. 
 
 Two ewes, Spanish. 
 
 Two Mendip ewe and wether hogs. 
 
 One Spanish ram, just taken from the flock. 
 
 There was at first a difficulty in knowing 
 how to ascertain the value of these wools. A 
 lair times price of one shilling and ten-pence 
 per pound, was set on the native South-dov/n, 
 and two shillings and two-pence on the 
 Ryeland wool, untrinded. Strict comparison 
 was then made between the quality of the 
 mixed and native produce; the half South- 
 down was valued at three shillings, and the 
 half Ryeland at three shillings and two-pence 
 per pound, of clean washed wool. They were 
 purchased by an eminent wool-stapler in 
 Southwark, and carefully examined at home 
 before they were packed. The result was 
 most satisfactory, and the report of your Com- 
 mittee just now made, has stamped a decided 
 value on them far beyond my hopes. 
 
 Mr. Joyce, in his letter, this day come 
 
 to hand, says, ** I inform you with great 
 
 B 2 *' pleafurc.
 
 ( 4 ) 
 '* pleasure, that the bhie cloth and white 
 ^' kersymcre I have manufactured from your 
 *' Lordship*s wool, were by the Com- 
 ** mittee at the Bath meeting, yesterday, 
 ** awarded for the premiums of class 5. pre- 
 ** mium 4, page 50. and enclosed I send you 
 '• a statement of your wool, when sorted and 
 " manufactured, where it will appear that 
 '* your wool has less F's and T*s in it than 
 ** any wool that has yet been manufactured 
 *' for the Society, being both only 7 lb. from 
 ** 2^0 fleeces ofg6 lb. much less than what are 
 ** usually thrown from Spanish wool. The 
 ** cloth and kersymere I will exhibit again at 
 *' the annual meeting. I have the honour to be 
 
 ** Your Lordship's obedient servant, 
 
 *' Thomas Joyce. 
 
 ** September I oth. Account of wool re- 
 
 ** ceived from Lord Somerville, from his half 
 
 ** Ryeland and half Spanish breed of sheep, 
 
 ** 30 fleeces, weighing 96 lb. which, when 
 
 ** sorted, were as follows : 
 
 89 o R. 
 6 8 F. 
 
 o 8 T. 
 
 96 olb. **47lb.
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 *" 47 1^* ^^ ^^^ ^» when woaded and mami- 
 ** factured, produced 28 1 lb. of navy blue 
 ** cloth; the remaining 16 lb. 6 oz. of the R, 
 ** when manufactured, made 25 yards of uni.. 
 *' form white kersymere.'* 
 
 The sires of these sheep were good in 
 their frame : one of them has been let out this 
 year at one hundred guineas for the season 
 only. His wool, apparently, is not of the 
 finest quality; we had many better; but the 
 goods manufactured are evidence sufficient of 
 the value of this breed, as applied to our ma- 
 nufactures, did not the small proportion of 
 second and inferior wool put the matter be- 
 yond all dispute. 
 
 Eighty-six ewe hogs of this mixed breed 
 carried two hundred and thirty-iive pounds 
 three ounces of well-washed wool, which, at 
 3s. 2d. per pound, amounted within a very 
 few shillings to thirty-seven pounds per pack. 
 After the Committee's decision, its value may 
 safely be rated at 3s. 6d. per pound, forty-two 
 pounds sterling per pack. The cross with our 
 South-down sheep, both with respect to the 
 frame and wool, keeps pace with that of the 
 
 Ry eland.
 
 c (> r 
 
 Ryeland. Having a flock of each sort, I arrt 
 tillable to give the preference to either. 
 
 The Ryeland sheep arc one third less in 
 size, on an average; and we can stock one 
 third more in number, per acre. If \ve esteem 
 the Ryeland as good nurses to their lambs, we 
 must -value the South-dovv^.s as healthy and 
 quiet stock. The crosses from each bear the 
 same proportion in stocking per acre, to the 
 parent stock, and lose nothing either in size 
 or weight. The half Ryeland half Spanish 
 hogs are larger in size than Spanish or Rye- 
 land full-mouthed sheep. Why this is \vq 
 know not. They partake of the docile tem- 
 per of the Spaniard. Fifty Mendip ewes 
 were bought in, not as a store flock, but with 
 a view to ascertain the effect of this cross on a 
 horned breed. Their size, the quickness of 
 their proof, or aptitude to fatten, and the excel- 
 lent quality of the meat, can bring no discredit 
 on this breed, w hich is already high in estima- 
 tion. The same may be observed of the 
 South-down and Ryeland crosses, with respect 
 to value of mutton. We may, without much 
 indiscretion, anticipate the Society's judgment 
 of these admixtures, and declare them to be 
 
 fortunate.
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 fortunate, and in every point of view most be- 
 neficial to the public. The wether hogs are 
 not more than nineteen months old ; and the 
 ewes having dropt their lambs late in the sea- 
 son, owing to the late arrival of the rams ii^ 
 England, the lambs were weaned on the hills 
 bordering on Exmoor, where our sheep are 
 ■summered. The climate was too severe, and 
 the lambs were stunted or stopt in their 
 growth ; nor could they be m.ade to move 
 again before the month of October, so that the 
 sheep can only be said to have a twelvemonth's 
 growth. Under these circumstances, we trust, 
 it will appear that they have the means of 
 coming to market, as good meat, and at an age 
 as early as the public interest could demand, 
 namely, from twenty to twenty-four months 
 old. It has been deemed the criterion of a 
 good and profitable breed of sheep to ripen 
 early, because there is room to multiply such 
 breeds; far beyond thoseof slower proof. If a 
 «:heep can come to majket at two years old, his 
 fleece will be long enough for our manufac- 
 tures, and not sold at an inferior price as skin 
 wool J much before this period it would be 
 unfit. The growth of any high proof breed of 
 sheep, is far greater the first and second than 
 
 the
 
 ( 8 ) . 
 
 the third year j therefore it may be urged, that 
 more profit can be had from the animal at this 
 time, than at any later period, its growth and 
 fleece considered. If attempts had been made 
 to bring into general use a breed of sheep, 
 whose fleeces were of value, but incapable of 
 getting fat, we should be receiving with one 
 hand, what we were throwing away with the 
 other; no general benefit could result; but 
 when we bring sheep bearing such heavy 
 fleeces, and that wool capable of making 
 broad-cloths and kersymeres, of quality suffi- 
 cient to obtain the Society's premiums, and of 
 a proof or aptitude to fatten, equal to, if not ex- 
 ceeding, any short- woolled sheep we have, the 
 principle is no longer to be controverted ; it 
 becomics a breed of extreme value. Proof, that 
 both these objects can be obtained, will be set 
 before vou. No desire of change, or love of 
 innovation, led me to abandon the long- woolled 
 sheep of my own neighbourhood, the Bamp- 
 ton breed, dashed with the new Leicester; an 
 undoubted improvement was visible from an 
 introduction of the new Leicester; but there 
 was a prejudice so strong among our butchers 
 against the latter breed, that we were com- 
 pelled to look to Bristol market for purchasers 
 
 at
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 at the distance of fifty miles from home. 
 This stock continued to decrease in size con- 
 siderably, in spite of all attempts, consistent 
 with profit, to maintain it, notwithstanding 
 fresh rams were three times brought from 
 Leicestershire, in the twelve years these sheep 
 were in my possession ; the loss of size in 
 each four years amounted nearly to five pounds 
 per quarter. It will naturally be asked, what 
 sort of poor hungry soil this must have been, 
 which could not maintain such sheep. It 
 was the vale of Taunton, proverbially known 
 to be one of the most fertile spots in this king- 
 dom ; and much of the grass land, in which 
 these sheep were depastured, was equal in 
 strength to any in the vale : it stands valued 
 at 2I. 15s. per acre. A man must be blind, 
 who could withstand such evidence as this. 
 Nature pointed out, that the stock was too 
 coarse in quality, or our climate unfit, it 
 matters not which : the fact was plainly 
 marked, and it was merely an act of common 
 prudence to follow her dictates. How many 
 thousands, how many tens of thousands of 
 acres are there in Great Britain, which stand 
 exactly in the same predicament ! These 
 sheep weie soldj and the same land, which 
 
 c carried
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 carried forty- five breeding ewes, was imme- 
 diately stocked with 150 Ryelands in their 
 stead. The neighbours said they would all 
 be starved ; the winter was severe, but the 
 ewes maintained themselves moderately well, 
 and their lambs, at weaning-time, were in the 
 Tery best order. The ewes were stocked, 
 during the succeeding summer, at the rate of 
 ten per acre, and came back into the vale in 
 good store state*. One lot of these two tooth 
 
 sheep 
 
 * Their lambs were summered on the fame up- 
 land sheep farm, at more than the rate of twelve 
 per acre; and although this appeared to be a stock 
 too thick, the quality of the land and climate considered, 
 yet they returned into the vale, in October, in a growing 
 » state, were stocked almost as hard during the winter and 
 spring (^for our turnips were bad); and so far from having 
 suffered in size, the ewes were as good in their points as 
 the parent stock, and the wethers have since reached a 
 size, when fat, that sheep of this breed have not been 
 thought capable of. One lot, killed in 1B02, at Taunton, 
 is said to have died above 16 lb. per quarter. It is an 
 acknowledged thing, that butchers were in judgment of 
 them below their weight, almost 4 lb. per quarter, and 
 that the fifth quarter was excellent, beyond what we are at 
 liberty to talk of. A small one was rejected from the 
 lot ; and besides, as well shaped and fat a carcass as need 
 well be seen; was broad over the loins, thick through the 
 chine inmeat of the best quality, was unusually well turned 
 
 in
 
 { " ) 
 
 sheep was bbught by a farmer in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and put in turnips; between Can- 
 dlemas and Lady-day they were all killed, 
 and on an average they turned out more 
 pounds of rough fat than they were pounds 
 per quarter. Land of the vale of Taun- 
 ton might have supported coarse- woolled 
 sheep irv size^ had they been pushed in first 
 year*s grass, or buried in red clover up to 
 their eyes, and the refuse mown afterwards for 
 hay; but this was buying a good thing too 
 dear; it is not the size of individual sheep, but 
 the quantity of good meat and wool, per acre, 
 which must enrich the farmer, and feed the 
 public. It is to be lamented that we are such 
 slaves to size, and that the eye can hardly 
 resist it. A medium is most desirable ; but if 
 
 in the leg of mutton, and fine of bone; the sheep carried 
 12 lb. of rough fat, or tallow, besides kidney fat. Their 
 fleeces were heavy, and of the best quality ; the wool sold, 
 in 1 80 1, for 2S. 4d. per pound, trinded, a first-rate price. 
 In 1802, for 2S. 2d. untrinded. A pen of these wether,? 
 were kept on to this time, and will be killed at the Barbi- 
 can show. Their weights will hereafter be given. 
 
 We have been particular in tracing the progress of 
 these sheep, tediously so, perhaps ; but the jmportai^c<^ 
 of the subject must be gur excuse. 
 
 • c 2 extremes
 
 ( '2 ) 
 
 extremes are to be admitted, without a doubt 
 the small sheep, fine in its grain, is a more 
 marketable commodity. The rich will have 
 it, because its quality is superior; in short, be- 
 cause it eats better; the poor man will find its 
 joints more adapted to the strength of his purse; 
 and the dearer meat is to be, the more this ar- 
 gument applies; for legs and shoulders of mut- 
 ton cannot conveniently be cut, and retailed in 
 pieces. There remained, then, but the ma- 
 nufacturer, the mechanic, and the middle class 
 of housekeeper, to prefer coarse-grained 
 meat ; so we reasoned when we first sent this 
 Ry eland mutton to market; but these were 
 the very people who greedily bought it at a 
 penny per pound advance in price, and that, 
 too, in a manufacturing district. But we are 
 told that sailors, colliers, and keelmen, are 
 sure customers for these over-fat joints ; so 
 they are, and long may they enjoy them ! Fresh 
 meat is fresh meat, to a man coming from sea, 
 but if he stays long in harbour, and were once 
 to break pale, and get a taste of better mutton, 
 perhaps it would be no easy matter to bring 
 him back again. We are told, too, that coarse 
 fat mutton is best for salting ; mutton is not at 
 
 all
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 all well suited to this purpose ; beef and pork 
 take salt better. If men are to be kept on 
 salt meat, be it so ; if they are to live on mut- 
 ton, let that be good in quality. One of the 
 first cuttincr butchers in London has often been 
 heard to say, that he could not afford to buy 
 fat coarse-grained sheep ; for that, besides the 
 loss in spine fat, which he was obliged to cut 
 from roasting joints, there was not lean enough 
 to support the fat, which therefore roasted 
 away ; and that so long as meat bears a better 
 price than tallow, so long he must deal in 
 South-downs, and sheep of that description. 
 We have said thus much, because false argu- 
 ments are too often used to enforce adoption of 
 heavy sheep, in districts ill suited to them. 
 Where land is deep and strong enough to bear 
 long-woolled sheep, there let them be bred; 
 but let them not be foisted, by false argu- 
 ments, on land unable to maintain them ; by 
 so doing, the public is most essentially injured. 
 Our combing and coarse wool manufacturers 
 must be supplied, and therefore our strong 
 land should be allotted to carry coarse, heavy 
 sheep; but if, on the same false principle, one 
 is to be pushed every where to the exclusion 
 i ot"
 
 ( '4 ) 
 
 of the other, I, for one, am old-fashioned 
 cnougli to prefer clothes to carpets, a neces- 
 sary to a luxury. If carpets are to be exported, 
 well and good ; they may, perhaps, pay as 
 well as coarse woollens sent to South America, 
 or elsewhere ; but if carpets are to be consumed 
 at home, as they have been for some years 
 past, the manufacturer, indeed, is fed by 
 what he earns, but for any addition to the 
 national revenue, he may as well sit with his 
 hands behind him, and at once be fed from the 
 pocket of the richer classes : it is only receiv- 
 ing with one hand, and paying with the 
 other; the nation will not be enriched; and 
 the same thing may be said of every article of 
 luxury consumed at home. This is very 
 unfashionable doctrine, without doubt ; but it 
 is too true. In treating of Ryeland sheep, it 
 may not be amiss to remark, that they are not 
 a mountain sheep, as many suppose, but are 
 bred in the vales of Hereford and Ross, on 
 the very same land with the Hereford oxen. 
 
 How many favourite theories will he 
 knocked on the head by this one fact ! If the 
 same land breeds the smallest and finest 
 
 woolled
 
 ■ ( «5 ) 
 
 woolkd sheep, it breeds also the largest oxea 
 in our kingdom. A country must be envied, 
 which, without minute attention to the science 
 of breeding, can turn out two opposite animals 
 in size, so good in their kind ; it teaches us that 
 more dependance is to be placed on the breed or 
 race of animals, than we are at first aware. We 
 offer no comment on circumstances seemingly so 
 contradictory ; we only record them as facts. 
 
 Details of the breed and treatment of 
 the Merino flock at Rambouillet, a na- 
 tional farm near Paris, merit the Society's 
 notice. They appear to result from much 
 patient observation, and must be valued 
 accordingly. This race has retained all 
 its quality of pile in Saxony, as well as in 
 Sweden and Denmark, where it has been 
 spreading for fifty years past ; in proof of 
 which, 200 bags of Merino wool, scoured 
 and sorted, were imported into this country 
 last year, by one person, and the whole of ir 
 sold at the primest price of Spanish wool. 
 A sample was produced at the last annual 
 meeting of the Bath Society ; a clothier present 
 said, he had manufactured it into cloth, and 
 
 that
 
 ( i6 ) 
 
 that it worked up as well as it looked in 
 sample. The Editor of the Bibliothcque 
 Britannique speaks pointedly to the adoption of 
 the Merino breed in this kingdom : in a pri- 
 vate letter of a late date, he says, ** I have 
 ** much admired the samples of wool you have 
 '* caused to be directed to me j I like to see your 
 *' perseverance gets the better of prejudices 
 *' among your neighbours. The Spanish breed 
 *• of sheep is a true mine, which the English 
 *' have despised to explore till now. I don't 
 ** know whether I am mistaken, but I suspect 
 '* in you a higher opinion of that breed than 
 •* you were pleased to own. It seems, that, in 
 ** order to reconcile your prejudiced country- 
 ** men to the admission of these foreign sheep, 
 ** you disguised them under the Ryeland and 
 •' South-down cloak ; and knowing that meat 
 •• and fat are, in England, the necessary pass- 
 ** ports of fine fleeces, you particularly in- 
 ** sisted upon the carcass being not injured by 
 *• the introduction of the Spanish blood. Is 
 *' it your opinion that there will be more pro- 
 *' iit tor you in crossing the Spanish rams 
 *' with the Rveland and South-down ewes. 
 " than in breeding the Spanish in and in ? 
 
 *' Have
 
 ( '7 ) 
 ** Have you any experiment, which- makes 
 ** you suppose, that a degeneration would take 
 *' place by persevering, exclusively, in the same 
 *' blood ? Now, if there was no degeneration 
 *' (as I am let] to suppose by my experience, 
 *• and that of many others in France), would 
 ♦' not there be infinitely more profit in keeping 
 *' the pure Spanish breed, than by crossing? 
 *' The reputation of that excellent breed cannot 
 ** but increase and extend annually in Great 
 ** Britain. If the monopoly, created by your 
 ** wool laws in favour of the manufacturer, 
 •' was once abolished, the Spanish sheep 
 *' would, no doubt, grow more and more po- 
 *' pular. The advantages, I experience by the 
 *' keeping of that breed, would certainly be 
 ** still greater with you, since you have already 
 *' hired out Spanish rams at one hundred gui- 
 ** neas, whereas I could not sell them higher 
 ** than twenty-five. You will see, however, 
 '* in the number of September, of the Biblio- 
 ** theque Britannique, that the produce of 
 '* my flock is immense, considering the capi- 
 ** tal. I shall learn with great pleasure, that 
 ** the number of these sheep is increasing in 
 " England; I shall say, in the terms of 
 
 D '* Washington,
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 ** Washington, * The multipHcation of useful 
 ** animals is a common blessing to mankind.' 
 ** National jealousy on that point is highly 
 *' absurd. Industry has an immense fields 
 *' and if rival nations, instead of crossing each 
 ** other in agricultural and commercial views, 
 ** endeavoured to take the lead in useful 
 *• improvements, and emulate each other in 
 *• all good things, they would be reciprocally 
 *' subservient to the prosperity of theirneigh- 
 ** hours without hurting their own. There 
 ** would be more happiness for all individuals, 
 ** and more people to enjoy it. — So much for a 
 ' • dream ! — I come to the samples of your flock. 
 
 ** I have, in my collection, samples of 
 ** all English wools: your Ryeland is com- 
 *' parable to most of the Spanish wool of 
 •* co?nmercc I but the improvement is evident 
 •* in the cross; thchalf Ryeland half Spanish 
 ** has all the qualities of fine Spanish wool. 
 *' There is one quality, which is peculiar to 
 ** the prime Leonese, viz. an extreme softness, 
 ** joined with strength and elasticity. All 
 ** your samples seem to partake, in a high 
 f* degree, of that quality, and it is peculiarly 
 
 ** remarkable
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 ^* remarkable in the cross of Ryeland*. NovV, 
 ** I suspect it may be partly owing to the 
 ** rubbing of ochre, after the Spanish fashion: 
 ** I was led to think so by observing a 
 ** reddish tinge -f- in your samples, which I 
 ** suppose to have been washed on the back, 
 ** and by remerhbering that you had counte- 
 ** nanced that method. — Be so good as to 
 * * tell me whether it was so or not ? I take 
 ** the liberty of sending here enclosed a sam- 
 " pie in the yolk of one of my best rams. I 
 ** have not yet met with a finer fleece among 
 
 * It was to this wool, that, within ten days after the 
 receipt of this letter, the premiums were adjudged by 
 your Committee. 
 
 t The common colour of the soil. Nothing has been 
 rubbed in. A trial was made three years ago on some 
 Ryeland sheep, in order to prove whether ochre tended, iri 
 any degree, to give a softness to the wool, but it appeared 
 to have a contrary effect, if any. No trace of. such a 
 practice could be discovered among the shepherds in 
 Spain, yet in some parts it may prevail. Some fleeces, 
 brought from Spain in 1800, were analyzed by Dr. 
 Garneti, as we have elsewhere noticed, and no ochre could 
 be discovered. Mon. Lasteyrie agrees in the disuse of 
 ochre, and considers it as an application to prevent the 
 skins from blistering in the sun immediately after shear- 
 ing : in no other way useful. 
 
 D 31 " many
 
 ( 2° ) 
 
 '* many hundred Spanish beasts, that I have 
 ** examined; as well those lately imported 
 *' from Spain, as the flocks that have been 
 *' naturalized these many years. That ram 
 *• belongs to the seventh or eighth generation, 
 ** born in France, out of the original flock 
 *' arrived from Spain, always -breeding in and 
 ** in, with a remarkable increase of weight in 
 ** the animals and in their fleece. These facts 
 ** deserve attention. You may see in the last 
 ** report of Tessier and Hazard, concerning 
 ** the sheep of Rambouillet, the results of the 
 ** comparison between the newly arrived 
 ** Spanish rams and ewes, and the old stock 
 *' issued from individuals drawn from Spain 
 '• eighteen years ago; I have seen the two 
 " flocks, and would have prejudged the fact 
 ** as it is stated. In my flock, the mean 
 •' weight of the fleeces of the ewes of the 
 ** Rambouillet breed has been seven pounds 
 ** fwe/ve ounces, pois de mare, in the yolk. 
 *' Now, the mean weight of the fleeces of tlie 
 *• Spanish ewes, arrived last year at three of 
 ** my neighbours* premises, has been five 
 ** pounds. As to the comparative fineness, no 
 *' better criterion could possibly be obtained, 
 •* than the price fixed by the merchants and 
 
 *' manufacturers
 
 ( 2. ) 
 
 ** manufacturers in the public sale at Ranl- 
 ** bouillet. The manufacturers do not act at 
 *' random, when they give a price full as high 
 ** for that wool as for the prime Leonese 
 ** coming from Spain; they have known its 
 ** value by repeated experiments these many 
 ** years.'* 
 
 The Merino fleece is in colour unlike 
 that of any English breed. There is a dark 
 brown tinge on the surface of the best fleeces, 
 amounting almost to a black, which is formed 
 by dust adhering to the greasy yolky proper- 
 ties of its pile : and the contrast between it and 
 the rich white colour within, as well as that 
 rosy hue of the skin, peculiarly denoting high 
 proof, surprise at first sight. The harder 
 the fleece is, the more it resists any outward 
 pressure of the hand, the more close and fine 
 will be the wool. Here and there a fine pile 
 may be formed with an open fleece, though but 
 rarely. Two seasons ago, some Merino wool 
 was sorted into R's, F's, and T*s j the broad- 
 cloth and kersymere manufactured froiVi it 
 were durable and excellent articles in wear; 
 the remainder was sold at a guinea per fleece ; 
 and none has yet been sold for a less price. 
 In iSoi, the fleeces weighed, on an average,' 
 I rams.
 
 ( « ) 
 
 rams J ewes, and ewe hogs, six pounds eight 
 ounces each in the grease; in 1802, seventy- 
 nine fleeces sold for seventy-nine guineas, the 
 weight somewhat less ; but every sort of wool 
 in the kingdom is said to weigh less this year 
 than usual, probably occasioned by the cold 
 and dry winds of April and May, which did 
 not allow the yolk to rise; but as it weighed 
 less, so it is admitted by the wool-staplers, that 
 its quality was improved. If we read the 
 late Report of your Committee, and attentively 
 consider the small quantity of waste and se- 
 cond wool in the fleeces of half Spanish and 
 half Ryeland sheep, we have no right to sup- 
 pose these Merino fleeces dear at one guinea 
 each. 
 
 No attention has been paid in Spain 
 to the form of their sheep; and it must be 
 evident to every judge of stock, that a jour- 
 ney from the mountains of the north, to the 
 plains of the south of Spain, cannot be other- 
 wise than productive of more injury to the 
 frame and constitution of the animal than of 
 benefit to the fleece, which, like the frame, is 
 dependant on, and nourished by, the blood. 
 Does it stand to reason, that a long drift of 
 four or five hundred miles every spring and 
 
 autumnj,
 
 { 23 ) 
 
 autumn, and that at the rate of 80 and I03 
 miles per week, can be beneficial to sheep ? — - 
 Undoubtedly not. Have we a single breed 
 which could support it uninjured ? — None, 
 which would not have been hunted into de- 
 formity. So far from thinking hot climates 
 necessary to fine wool, we know that coarse- 
 fleeced sheep are to be found in many parts of 
 Spain : that in Portugal, wool, unmixed with 
 Merino blood, is of the coarsest quality, 
 worth about is. ad. per pound. We know, 
 too, that after shearing every pile is coarse; and 
 improves, both to the eye and the touch, as 
 the autumn advances. No race of sheep has 
 ever been seen, even in this northern climate, 
 to be more impatient of heat, or more op- 
 pressed by it, than the Merino. By due at- 
 tention to foodj by moderation and equality of 
 keep; by shelter in the winter months; and 
 by those common regulations, which induce 
 health in the animal itself, we shall stand as 
 high as to the produce of wool and meat as 
 any nation in Europe. Hence we may sup- 
 pose it is, that Dr. Parry continues to demon- 
 strate that improvement on the Spanish pile, 
 which is so strongly pointed out by the last 
 Report of your Committee. One inference may 
 be clearly deduced from the long drift and 
 yolky fleece of the Merinos ; namely, that 
 
 they
 
 ( n ) 
 
 they are equal, if not superior, to any breed ia 
 these kingdoms, as a flock to work in the 
 fold. We may add, that the length and 
 thickness of wool covering their belly and 
 hind legs, together with a closeness of pile on 
 the back and loins, must of necessity enable 
 them to support more severity of cold and wet 
 than any breed as yet introduced arriong us ; 
 unless we admit, that length and fine wool are 
 inseparably connected with weakness of con- 
 stitution, which evidence from all quarters 
 forbids us to do. 
 
 We have before noticed, that a pendu- 
 lous skin under the throat, what we term 
 throatiness, is much esteemed, because it is 
 supposed to denote a tendency both to wool 
 and to a heavy fleece. This property is 
 usually accompanied with a sinking or hollow 
 in the neck : both of these points are offensive 
 to the eye of an English breeder, but they can 
 be got rid of by drafting the most faulty ewes, 
 and a due attention to the form of the rams; so 
 that it is probable, in a few years few traces of 
 them will be found* ; if they are faulty in 
 
 these 
 
 *• Nothing has tended to render the Merino sheep 
 more unsightly to an English eye, than the large tuft 
 of v-ool, which covers the. head. This wogl is of a 
 
 ver
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 these points, they are level on the back and 
 behind the shoulders. There is no reasonable 
 foundation to conclude, that a deformity in 
 the shape is essential to the production of good 
 wool : the fact is not so. The two rams, 
 from which the ewe hogs were bred, whose 
 fleeces have obtained your premium, were the 
 best shaped, according to our ideas, of twelve, 
 the whole number at that time imported. In 
 spite of these outward impediments, great en- 
 couragement has been given, inasmuch as all 
 the rams, which were not employed by the 
 Bath Society and at home, have been let out, 
 both last and this season, at an average price of 
 fifty guineas ; and all the draft ewes, of pure 
 Merino blood, have been readily sold at six 
 guineas each : a score were purchased of me 
 at this price, by a member of the Society, Mr. 
 
 very inferior quality, and classes with that below the 
 hock of the hind legs. It does not sort either into the R's, 
 F's, or T's, and is not thought worthy to be exported. It 
 has been our practice to keep the wool of both these parts 
 of the sheep clipped twice or three times a year 5 the first 
 lime about six weeks after shearing. The fleece, although 
 reduced a few ounces in weight, loses very little of its 
 value; and if the cats-hair should appear in the head 
 locks, without being visible in any other part of the fleece, 
 which sometimes occurs, the fleece is rescued thereby 
 from a very great drawback on its value, 
 
 E Toilet.
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 Toilet. A knowledge of its value, and an 
 anxious desire to disseminate every where this 
 celebrated breed, have led him into classical 
 researches as to its origin. He thinks it may- 
 be traced from Asia Minor and Greece into 
 Italy; from thence, probably, into Spain. 
 Columella, and other writers, call them " Ta- 
 rentine sheep," from the city of Tarentum. 
 There are various opinions, however,, as to 
 their origin : within a few years there will be 
 but one as to their value. 
 
 Lest it should be surmised that the 
 facts here stated, and the conclusions which 
 icvery judge of sheep will thence be. led 
 to draw, should have been formed on a scale 
 of practice too confined, it is advisable to 
 suggest, that the flock consists of 340 breeding 
 ewes, and the whole produce, at two years 
 old, is fatted off, with the exception of such 
 draft ewes as may be sold for stores; con- 
 sequently, the number of the sheep is from 
 1000 to 1200; a scale not of the largest, but 
 still large enough with safety to warrant any 
 inference that may be drawn. The lambs are 
 dropt in the vale of Taunton, and continue 
 in it during the first summer. The store 
 flock is summered a short distance from 
 2 thence
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 thence, on the hills before mentioned, bordef- 
 ing on Exmoor Forest. The contrast of di- 
 mate must be remarkable, because there is a 
 difference in the time of harvest of a month : 
 our feeding sheep are then grazed in the ex- 
 posed but rich marsh of Bridgewater, long 
 celebrated for its good beef and fat oxen ; or 
 finished in turnips and winter vetches in the 
 vale. We had reason to fear, in either case, 
 that the strength of keep might open the pile, 
 and give a coarseness to the wool, as well as 
 to the grain of meat; but the event has 
 destroyed such fears, insomuch that we had no 
 scruple in sending some wether lambs to win- 
 ter in the marsh, using the precaution to cott 
 them during the severe winter months; and 
 although this land had the character of being 
 too strong, and of scouring lambs, even to the 
 danger of losing them, we found the mixed 
 breed able to endure it, and thrive surpris- 
 ingly*. Whether as an article of food for 
 those, who are robust j or those, who are deli- 
 cate, even at the early age of i8 months, when 
 mutton is usually thought indifferent, it is nu- 
 tritious and exquisite in flavour. There is a 
 
 * They did well until the end of December, when 
 keep getting scarce, the grounds were hained up for a fresh 
 bite in February. 
 
 E % firmness
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 firmness in the spine fat ; a richness and deep 
 colour in the gravy ; and a fine texture and 
 tenderness in the grain, which must command 
 customers, and ensure to this breed the good 
 will of butchers, wherever they may be situ- 
 ated. There are two parties to be considered ; 
 the seller and the purchaser. We have had 
 occasion to note, how essential a ready sale is 
 to every article of produce, and that this cir- 
 cumstance, in great part, tended to enforce the 
 necessity of a change of breed. These diver- 
 sities of soil and climate, unequalled, proba- 
 bly, within the same space of ground, enable 
 us to speak with a confidence, it would be 
 presumption otherwise to do ; because toge- 
 ther they embrace all those leading varieties, 
 which., some certain spots excepted, are to be 
 found in the whole United Kingdom. 
 
 The quantity of stock here stated to run per 
 acre, may appear great to many persons : some 
 maybe disposed to doubt the facts. Every pos- 
 sible precaution to ascertain them has been ta- 
 ken; and to speak with as much accuracy as can 
 be, where we are to reason on an average. My 
 wish was not to deceive myself j I trust it is 
 not in my nature wilfully to deceive others. The 
 Ryeland sheep, alluded to, were summered at 
 
 2d.
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 2d. each per week by my own tenant that 
 season; we knew the fact to be correct, which 
 he has repeatedly confirmed by declaring, that 
 it was the exact average rate per acre. In the 
 marsh, such a stock, in point of numbers, of 
 fat and store sheep, has been carried this sea- 
 son, as would be found almost to exceed be- 
 hef. The fatting wether hogs and draft store 
 ewes, which must be, to make the most of 
 them, kept as high as fat sheep, amounted to 
 more than four per acre, during the six sum- 
 mer months ; the store ewes amounted to more 
 than two per acre, and were large, strong. 
 South-down ewes, of Mr. Elman*s blood, in all 
 more than six per acre, besides refuse lambs, 
 &,c. and nothing could exceed their proof. In 
 the winter of 1800, the vale estate carried, 
 from the beginning of September to the first 
 week in June, 700 store sheep, about 250 
 lambs included, on one hundred acres of 
 pasture land, of which sixty were indifferent, 
 and forty as good pasture land as could 
 be seen : the ground carried more stock ; 
 probably, from the mode of depasturing. 
 Where sheep work in the fold, they must 
 run in large lots : and some loss per acre 
 in the stocking may be incurred, because the 
 profit of the fold is great ; but where folding 
 
 is
 
 ( 3° ) 
 
 is not practised, and the country much en- 
 closed, sheep should be stocked in small par- 
 cels, thin on ground, and frequently changed: 
 the land thereby is not stained, and one lot 
 follows another in perpetual succession. Every 
 judge of stock knows the value of change, 
 even, occasionally, into worse keep. It is 
 our fixed belief, that wc can carry six and a 
 half Ryelands, or half Ryelands, per acre, on 
 land (free of any local consideration) worth 
 one guinea and a half per acre, with the help of 
 some turnips and pease-haulm in the dead 
 wmter months ; and that with judgment in 
 the manner of stocking we shall neither push 
 them beyond their growth, nor make them 
 meat for the butcher, but shall maintain them, 
 m healthy store state. On the same land, and 
 inider the same circumstances, we can carry 
 four South-downs, or their cross, and some- 
 what more per acre. If our Ry eland ewes will 
 fat to twelve pounds per quarter, our South- 
 downs will reach nearly eighteen; the rate of 
 stock per acre will therefore be found the same 
 in proportion to the size*. The quantity of 
 good mutton and wool per acre must be the 
 only test of good or bad management : it is 
 
 * The wethers of each breed will be, of course, sume 
 pounds heavier per quarter. 
 
 on.
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 on the increased stock of South-downs, which 
 his estate in Norfolk now carries, that Mr. 
 Coke prides himself. A noted husbandman 
 from Nottinghamshire is said to have declared, 
 that he never before saw an estate so stocked. 
 
 The South-down stock, which is now 
 reared on a farm of the Duke of Bedford, 
 called Maulden, in Bedfordshire, the nature 
 of the land considered, will be found to exceed 
 that, which belongs to myself. A very few- 
 years ago, great part of this estate was wild 
 unproductive heath, valued at 2S. 6d. per 
 acre. A Norfolk farmer was invited to take 
 it, but declined any engagement, at any price. 
 Four hundred acres of it have been broken 
 up. Its situation was such as to preclude alL 
 extra manure, therefore the estate is makins; 
 itself by the sheepfold : it now carries 
 400 breeding South-down ewesj the stock 
 amounts to 1200, and the fat sheep finished 
 on the same : there remain about 1 50 acres 
 only of heath to break up, at which time the 
 estate will carry 1600 sheep. The South- 
 down stock is large in size, and of the first- 
 rate quality ; the land cannot now be valued 
 at more than ten shillings, and the stock three 
 
 per
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 per acre, winter and summer. We should 
 rejoice to see any improvement more substan- 
 tial or more beneficial than this ; for it is to 
 be remembered, that, in proportion as the sheep 
 stock increases, heavier and better crops of 
 corn will be grown. The average of South- 
 down store stock on Mr. Elman*s pastures 
 at: Glynde, he asserts to be four per acre. As 
 his sheep are of the largest size, this rate of 
 stocking will be found exactly similar to our 
 own. He could not afford to starve his own 
 sheep ; because they are too valuable to make the 
 difference of feed of the slightest consequence. 
 
 The principle, on which Sir Lawrence Palk 
 conducts his sheep husbandry, needs only to be 
 recorded : it will speak for itself. Part of his 
 estate is rich land, improved by water, which 
 heretofore ran to waste, and lies low in the 
 vale of Exeter : the rest borders upon Haldown. 
 Instead of stocking the whole with the 
 heavy-bodied sheep of the country, which 
 either must have been stocked so thin per acre 
 as to pay nothing, or have dwindled in size, 
 or have been starved, the estate now carries 
 500 breeding ewes ; on the lower, aoo of the 
 new Leicester blood, and on the upper part, 
 
 300
 
 ( 33 ) 
 300 Ry elands, the produce of which have one 
 quarter of the Merino blood, and the whole 
 flock hereafter will be of this description. 
 As the winter advances, and the heavy-bodied 
 sheep go into turnips, the Ry elands are 
 brought down to run after and clean up the 
 layer, by which they get well wintered; and 
 as the summer approaches, they return to 
 the high lands, and work in the fold. 
 li:' any man can devise a system, which 
 under such circumstances will pay more 
 in good produce per acre, let him sug- 
 gest it : his information will be thankfully 
 received. But it will be urged, Why is it 
 that these men should do more than we do? 
 Why do not we draw from our management 
 as much for the public supply ? Because you 
 are tied down and fettered by old prejudices, 
 adverse to your interest ; and because they, 
 profiting by a more extended education, reason 
 on a greater scale, and act on principles more 
 consistent with nature and good sense. It is 
 by the neglect of, or by an unremitting atten- 
 tion to, this great secret in rural economy; 
 and by the adoption of animals for husbandry 
 labour, which do not consume our food, but, 
 on the contrary, add most considerably to it, 
 
 T that
 
 ( 34 ) 
 that the national supply will either be scanty 
 or abundant. 
 
 The question having of late been repeat* 
 edly asked, What proportion of the Merino 
 blood it would be advisable to bring into the 
 South-down breed with advantage ? my answer 
 has been, One quarter, only, provided the out- 
 ward semblance and character of the South- 
 down is intended lobe preserved ; the Ryeland 
 being a white-faced sheep, assimilates with 
 the Merino more readdy, and will bear one 
 half, or even more. 
 
 With the strictest regard to truth it 
 may be said, that the unwearied attention of 
 this Society, and the abilities of many of its, 
 leading members, could alone have dispelled 
 those doubts, which hung over the minds of 
 numberless landed proprietors and manufac- 
 turers, deeply interested in the event, but 
 despairing of ultimate success. Its centrical 
 situation as to the superfine manufactures be- 
 fore alluded to, a consequent connexion be- 
 tween the landed and commercial interests, 
 naturally pointed it out as the centre of such 
 undertakings, and induced me to solicit its 
 
 aid.
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 aid. Our much-lamented President, the late 
 Duke of Bedford, was decidedly of the same 
 opinion, and acted up to it accordingly. His 
 loss, great as it is to th-e farming part of our 
 community, would have been irreparable, were 
 it not that his successor is bent on promoting 
 objects so notoriously beneficial : an intimate 
 knowledge of him enables me to say, that, as 
 far as I am competent to judge, he has ability 
 and knowledge to perfect them. 
 
 From the foregoing observations it will 
 appear, that, in its common application to Bri- 
 tish husbandry, this breed of sheep has the 
 power, perhaps exclusively, to maintain its 
 quahty of wool; for, strong keep will 
 lengthen, but will not open or deteriorate the 
 pile; that it has, without question, amelio- 
 rated the quality, and, what is of more im- 
 portance, has added considerably to the quan- 
 tity of our native shoit wool fleeces, whilst at 
 the same time, the proof or aptitude to fatten 
 has increased rather than diminished. Sup- 
 posing, then, that no great improvement in 
 the shape should be obtained, it becomes to 
 any man simply a question between his eye 
 and his pocket ; if he must have beauty, and 
 F 2 that.
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 that, too, of an unwieldy description, let him 
 have it ; but if he prefers profit, which is sup- 
 posed to be the more substantial acquisition of 
 the two, he knows where it may be found, 
 A trite but wise adage says, ** Handsome is 
 ** that handsome does.** He was a bold man, 
 who first ventured to introduce among us an 
 Alderney cow ; and he must have had an eye 
 steadfastly fixed on this adage for consolation ; 
 yet the event has justified his hardiness. Just 
 so with these Merino sheep ; but as other 
 breeds have been improved, so by careful selec- 
 tion may these: for the foundation, good wool 
 and good and early proof, are not deficient. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. &c. 
 
 Nov. 12th, 1802. SOMERVILLE. 
 
 Some days after the above paper was ad- 
 dressed to the Bath Society, I received from 
 Mr. Lasteyrie, together with a most polite 
 letter, his history of the introduction of Me- 
 rino sheep into different parts of Europe, lately 
 published (Histoire de Tlntroduction des 
 Moutons a Laine fine d*Espagne, dans les 
 divers Etats de TEurope, et au Cap de Bonne 
 Esperance). His exertions in tracing the 
 
 different
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 different properties of sheep in Spain, Sweden, 
 Denmark, Saxony, Prussia, &c. &c. are unex- 
 ampled ; his knowledge has obviously been 
 obtained in the sheepfold, and the fluency and 
 correctness with which he details the various 
 diseases of sheep and their remedies, declare 
 him to possess a shepherd's knowledge ot a 
 flock. In his commencement of the subject, 
 l»e expresses himself thus : 
 
 " The different governments of Europe 
 
 * had long acknowledged the advantages that 
 
 * would be derived to agriculture and com- 
 
 * merce, from the introduction of fine wools 
 
 * into their respective states; but their views 
 ' meeting oppositionin the ignorance and pre- 
 ' judice of the times, a considerable number of 
 
 * years elapsed before they set about realizing 
 
 * an idea, which at first seemed chimerical ; at 
 
 * length there appeared men, equally com- 
 
 * mendable for their patriotism and their 
 
 * knowledge, who have laboured, with zeal 
 ' and perseverance, to enlighten their fcllow- 
 ' citizens, by producing facts to prove, that 
 
 * nature, far from opposing itself to the pre- 
 
 * servation of fine- wool sheep in certain cli- 
 ' mates, seemed, on the contrary, to lend 
 
 *• itself
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 " Itself complacently to the exertions of in- 
 " dusfry. I believe I have demonstrated in 
 " my treatise on sheep, that the fine wools of 
 *' Spain depend neither on the voyage, nor on 
 *' the soil, nor the climate, nor the pasture, but 
 '* that it depends on other causes, and that it 
 *' is possible to have in France, and elsewhere, 
 " wool of the same quality as that of Spain. 
 " My travels in the north of Europe have 
 " offered f^icts and observations, which have 
 ** afresh demonstrated this truth. I have 
 '* found in the far greater number of the flocks 
 *' 1 have examined, wool, which, judging 
 ** from the eye or the touch, equals in beauty 
 " and fineness that of Segovia and Leon ; so 
 *' much so, that in my opinion no doubt can 
 ** remain,, that we can obtain superfine fleeces 
 •' in every part of Europe, where pastures are 
 '* to be found, and where we can depend on 
 " winter food, on which sheep can be sup- 
 '' ported. These wools make cloths as fine, 
 '* as silky, and supple as those manufactured 
 '* of Spanish wool, as attempts made in 
 '* France, and other countries, prove. But 
 *' were it true, that the food, climate, and other 
 " local circumstances had a certain influence 
 ' on die iiUrinsic qualities of wool, such as 
 
 ♦' the
 
 ( 39 ) 
 •* the elasticity, the strength, the soft- 
 ** ness, &c. &c. it would not be the less 
 " proved, that, at all events, cloths, fine and 
 " beautiful enough to satisfy persons the most 
 ** difficult on this point, can be obtained; and 
 ** that a nation can easily do without the fine 
 *' wools of Spain, and feed its finest manufac- 
 '• tures with those drawn from its own proper 
 '* soil. Nevertheless, as these truths are still 
 " held in doubt by some persons, and lest 
 *' these doubts should have a considerable influ- 
 ** ence on our agriculture and our commerce, I 
 *' thought it my duty to publish these facts, 
 " which must give a new degree of force and 
 *' certainty. I here present to view the actual 
 •' state of Merino flocks, naturalized in 
 ** Europe.'* 
 
 He says, that a Merino flock came into 
 Sweden, in 1723; that from the year 1740, 
 to the year 1780, a bounty of 75 percent, 
 was allowed to those, who sold fine wool ; 
 in 1780, these bounties were reduced to 15, 
 and in 1786, to 12 per cent.; and in 1792, 
 being no longer deemed necessary to encou- 
 rage this breed, they ceased. In 1764, Swe- 
 den possessed 65,369 Merino sheep, of the 
 
 pure
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 pure blood, and 23,384 ot the mixed blood: 
 since that period they have constantly in- 
 creased in number, in spite of the difficulty 
 occasioned by the length of winter, and seve- 
 rity of the climate. That the Merino sheep 
 preserve, in Sweden, their pristine form ) that 
 the fleeces have lost nothing of their equality of 
 length, their elasticity and fine quality of pile j 
 that their weight continues as great as in Spain ; 
 that he has seen Merino rams, whose fleeces 
 weigh 13 poundseach; and that, when seasoned 
 to the climate, and properly fed, he has seen 
 them larger and finer sheep than in Spain. Up- 
 per Saxony, he says, is the country next to Swe- 
 den, where the introduction ot the Merino is of 
 the longest date; and it is in Saxony where 
 this naturalization has met with the most 
 marked success, and produced effects the most 
 beneficial : (he native breeds have, by a mix- 
 ture of Merino blood, profited in an equal 
 degree. The first importation was in 1765; 
 the next in 1778. Mr. Lasteyrie says, he 
 has seen many different flocks, and has found 
 the pure Merino, as well as some mixed 
 breeds, producing wool of the first quality; 
 indeed, the sheepwalks of Saxony are at this 
 moment more productive than any other spe- 
 I cies
 
 ( 4> ) 
 
 cies of husbandry J and that the wool sells at 
 three times the price (une valeur triple au- 
 dessusj of the wools of the country. Saxony 
 rears about i ,600,000 sheep, of which 90,000 
 are Merinos, and the mixed breed. 
 
 They were introduced into Prussia by 
 Frederic II. in the year 1786. Some of these, 
 distributed over the country, from misma- 
 nagement and gross neglect, have degenerated 
 and died ; others he has seen which preserve 
 their pristine qualities*. 
 
 In Denmark, and in various parts of 
 Germany, Mr. Lasteyrie has seen this race of 
 sheep always prospering, if well treated ; and 
 in this, and in every other country, degene- 
 rating from want of food, and neglect; always, 
 however, doing as well as the native breeds in 
 
 * The same circumstances have been made known 
 to myself by the Baron de Walknitz. He is said to have 
 been sent from Prussia for the purpose of studying rural 
 economy, in different parts of the continent. If a week's 
 residence with him on my own farm, in the month of 
 May last, could entitle me to give an opinion, I would 
 say, that a person more fit was never sent forth to gain in- 
 formation J nor is a person easily to be found, who will 
 apply his knowledge and talents to more direct and useful 
 purpose. 
 
 « thr
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 the same keep, and, in some cases, better; that 
 the more regular and ample the supply of food 
 is, whether of grass or green vegetables, the hea- 
 vier and finer will be the fleece — the larger in 
 size and more perfect in shape will the sheep 
 be. He strongly recommends housing ; bur 
 adds, that foul, close, sheep-cots are injurious, 
 that a free circulation of air is always found 
 beneficial, and that this breeed of sheep 
 suffers more from heat than from cold — (This 
 doctrine has been repeatedly confirmed by our 
 practice at home); that they will get fat as 
 quick as any indigenous breed, in any country, 
 and have done so wherever a comparison has 
 been made. 
 
 An experiment was made on the Me- 
 rino sheep of Rambouillct, which denotes 
 the peculiar character of this breed, and its 
 tendency to carry wool. A ewe, eighteen 
 months old, was left unshorn ; the next sea- 
 son, her fleece, when shorn, weighed fourteen 
 pounds ten ounces ; and its pile, which was 
 double the usual len";th, lost nothin": as to 
 weight, because few ewes would have 
 given more wool, if clipped at the usual 
 period. Another ewe was shorn at thirty 
 month? old, and gave a still greater quan- 
 tity
 
 ( 43 ) 
 tity of wool, although she, at that season, 
 suckled a lamb ; her fleece weighed twenty- 
 one pounds, and the pile was eight inches long. 
 In the ninth year (1800) eight ewes, whose 
 fleeces were of two years' growth, gave from 
 sixteen to twenty pounds each. It appeared 
 irom these different experiments, that Merino 
 wool, of two years' growth, will double its 
 length, and will preserve all its fine quality. 
 It was not observed, that the sheep, subjected 
 to this experiment, suffered particularly from 
 heat, or that their health was, in any degree, 
 injured. It is possible, that this property in 
 the Merino fleece, to grow beyond the period 
 usual in our breed of sheep, may be produc- 
 tive of some new manutaCture, where great 
 length and fine quality of pile is requisite; 
 but the hazard of the blow-flv, and the chance 
 of losing in hedges and brakes any part of a 
 fleece after it is once fit for a manufacture, 
 will not allow of this practice becoming ge- 
 neral, admitting even that the sheep suflFer no- 
 thing in their proof during the summer 
 months from the weight of the fleece, which 
 in a large scale of practice is improbable, and 
 that the wool should be found to pay as well 
 for growing to this length, as it would when 
 G 2 shorn
 
 { 44 ) 
 
 shorn in common course ; but we have taken 
 the liberty of noticing a circumstance so novel 
 to us, because our English breeds are all sup- 
 posed to cast their fleeces at a certain season of 
 the year, if not shorn, with exception to lambs 
 which hold their fleeces (this is quoted by 
 many as an argument against shearing lambs); 
 because the fact has also been doubted by some 
 of the best-informed and liberal amongst us, nor 
 supposing the reporters of Rambouillet meant 
 to deceive, but that some mistake must have 
 been rriade. A sample of this wool is now in 
 England; I have carefully examined it, and 
 can bear testimony to the fact. 
 
 Salt is not given to sheep in Prussia, and 
 m Holland ; but in Sweden, in Saxony, in Si- 
 lesia, and in France, it is considered a most 
 important article, and is strongly recom- 
 mended on the same principle as we had 
 before laboured to induce its adoption in these 
 kingdoms. 
 
 There are three points of view, in which 
 salt becomes an object of importance to the 
 landed interest : as a manure, worked into 
 ind incorporated with the soil ; as a top- 
 dressing
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 dressing to green corn crops in the spring 
 season, like soot, malt-dust, pigeon's dung, 
 &c. or as a component part of the food of 
 animals, more especially of cattle and sheep. 
 
 It might be presumed, that salt would 
 be useful as a manure, because sea sand, where 
 it can be obtained, has occasionally produced 
 good effect; yet great benefit is known to 
 arise from an admixture of common sand, 
 with clay and marls ; if judiciously applied, 
 it renders that lighter, which was before too 
 clofe and heavy, and that more w^arm, which 
 was before too cold ; but whether the sea 
 sand produces a property superior to com- 
 mon sand, remains yet to be proved. 
 
 In another case, also, without due atten- 
 tion we may be misled ; where fish arc caught, 
 as is sometimes the case, in great abundance ; 
 for instance, pilchards on the coast of Corn- 
 wall ; they have been applied as a manure, 
 and with an effect almost incredible: this 
 effect, on a cursory view of the subject, might 
 be attributed to salt ; but we must not forget 
 the oil contained in these fish, when putrid, 
 equal almost to whale blubber, the strongest 
 
 of
 
 ( +6 ) 
 
 of manure: indeed, we have reason to believe, 
 that, as a manure, it is of no vahie, and we 
 have to prove it the authority of Mr. Fenna, 
 who, in his Report of Experiments on Salt as a 
 Manure (and he has accurately detailed many) 
 thus concludes : ** As an assistant or sti- 
 mulus to the vegetable system, it appears 
 through all the foregoing experiments to be 
 quite destitute of every good property, and 
 unworthy of notice as a manure, in any kind 
 of process : such is the opinion of several 
 neighbouring flirmers, who have viewed the 
 different applications, and have, without 
 exception, concurred m this report." 
 
 We had no doubt of the good effect of salt 
 on mouldy hay ; but it remained to be proved, 
 how good hay, which had not spent its 
 strength in premature fermentation, would 
 bear such a quantity of salt as would invigo- 
 rate the stomach, quicken the circulation of 
 blood, and excite in cattle a desire to drink 
 largelv. Some medical men, aware of our 
 practice, conjectured, that salt tends to decom- 
 pose and convert water to nourishment in an 
 increased degree. Whether this is, or is not, to 
 be so accounted for, we are incompetent to judge, 
 
 but
 
 ( 47 ) 
 but it is our business to know the effect it has 
 on stock; and we do know, that it surpasses all 
 belief. Some of our hay, lately in use, wan 
 of the first quality of sheep hay, the produce 
 of rich and deep loam on a limestone bottom; 
 it was put together without wet, and had 251b, 
 of salt per ton sprinkled through a sieve, a 
 greater quantity than has yet been used. In 
 colour, flavour, and proof, it equalled any hay 
 whatever, and satisfies us that this, or a greater 
 quantity of salt, may be infused into hay of 
 the best quality, and with the best possible 
 effect. In confirmation of this fact, we have 
 also the authority of Mr. Darke of Breedon, 
 one of the most celebrated graziers in the king- 
 dom, who has mixed salt with his flooded 
 mouldy hay, 8 lb. of salt only to a ton, and 
 declares, that his Hereford oxen did better on 
 it than others on the best hay he had, and that 
 he was and is convinced, that the hay had all 
 its good effect from the salt. 
 
 Wc are not aware that the practice of 
 giving salt in its raw state is any where to be 
 found in this kingdom, except on our own 
 estate. We shall therefore speak with due 
 caution on the subject, confining ourselves to 
 
 what
 
 '( 4S ) 
 what has actually been done, and to the effect 
 which in thirty months trial has been most 
 apparent. The heavy duty now imposed on 
 salt seems to be sufficient to deter others 
 from its use, as it for some time deterred us. 
 At length, we fortunately lost sight of this 
 timidity : our motive was not to produce 
 this or that imaginary effect, but to keep 
 sheep in health. It was reasonable to con- 
 jecture, that the flock would demand more 
 salt in the autumn and spring months when 
 dews are heavy, than in the summer or dead 
 vvintcr months ; and so it proves. 
 
 In Spain, a thousand sheep use in five 
 months four arobes, or one quintal of salt, 
 which is 128 lb. Their sheep would fat 
 to about 13 lb. per quarter upon the average; 
 this is the quantity given out, all of which 
 may not be consumed ; and as the price ot 
 salt in that country is no object, more 
 would have been given, if more was ne- 
 cessary. Without reference to what was 
 allowed in Spain (for tlie increased moisture 
 of our climate and the peculiar properties of 
 our various soils would not allow such re- 
 ference safely to be had), the quantity given 
 
 to 
 I
 
 ( 49 ) 
 to our sheep was such as we have before staled 
 would keep them healthy, or such as they 
 appeared to demand. It is given in the morn- 
 , ing when the sheep are looked over, in order 
 to counteract the ill effect of the dew. They 
 have consumed at the rate of one ton of salt 
 for every thousand sheep, annually, which 
 at the rate of 26s. per hundred, its present 
 price, amounts to twenty-six pounds sterling : 
 at the sarrte price the consumption of a thou- 
 sand sheep might occasionally, but varying 
 according to the season, amount to thirty 
 pounds sterling per annum, and no more. 
 
 A small handful is put on a flat stone, 
 or slate, and ten or fifteen of these slates set 
 a few yards apart, are enough for one hun- 
 dred sheep. At first the sheep may be moved 
 towards them ; if they feel a craving for salt, 
 they will lick up quickly as much as is ne- 
 cessary j if they do not want it, what remains 
 dry, when the sheep are next looked at, is 
 taken up and reserved for future use. Twice 
 a week has usually been found sufficient ; in 
 particular cases it may be offered thrice. As 
 to any doubt respecting their inclination to 
 
 H it,
 
 ( s° ) 
 
 it, none can be maintained; for in the year* 
 1 80 1, of a flock approaching towards 1000, 
 there are not ten old sheep, which have not 
 taken kindly to it, and not a lamb, which 
 does not consume it greedily. 
 
 • You had suggested (says a gentleman 
 who farms near Tewksbury, in Glouces- 
 tershire) that chalk might be substituted 
 for salt ; the latter being in this country 
 too dear for common use upon a large scale. 
 In Mr. T. Dillon's account of the Merino 
 sheep, I find it stated, that the sheep eat less 
 salt, when depastured in limy or marly soils. 
 This led me to suppose, that an economical 
 substitute for pure salt might be made use 
 of; with this view I caused 12 lb. of chalk 
 to be pounded, sifted, and kneaded in 
 water, saturated with salt. This paste, being 
 put in a trough, and dried in the oven, is 
 placed in one of the racks, to prevent the 
 sheep from soiling it; to this, when in the 
 fold, they have constant access, and I be^ 
 lieve they have received from it every benefit, 
 that could be wished; they lick it constantly, 
 and the lambs shew an uncommon partiality 
 fx)rit." * - "when
 
 ( 5< ) 
 
 When turnips in the early season are 
 stocked with sheep, and the greens rank 
 and strong, many die suddenly, more espe- 
 cially young two-tooth sheep. The disor- 
 der is a pent-up wind, occasioned by excess 
 of fermentation in the stomach ; here salted 
 hay and salt are devoured with a greediness, 
 that denotes their salutary effect. The au- 
 tumn of 1 80 1 was rainy and unfavourable, 
 yet we did not lose one sheep in turnips, and 
 probably never shall, whilst we persevere in 
 the use of salt. In that of 1 802 we had many 
 hundred fat wethers, gales, and hog sheep 
 in turnips, and lost about two during the first 
 month the turnips were stocked; the chances 
 were, that in any keep, and in any season, 
 of such a flock more might have died. 
 
 In strong pastures likewise, when 
 seasons are wet, the rot often spreads de- 
 struction over whole tracts of country : 
 here salt must be beneficial, and an object 
 of national importance. It may not be an ab- 
 solute specific in land naturally unsound ; 
 such land it is madness, at any rate, to 
 stock with sheep; but where the rot occa- 
 H 2 sionally
 
 ( 52 ) 
 sionally prevails, those, who have- carefully 
 noted how salt affects cattle, can hazard 
 little in supposing, that the disease will no 
 rnore be heard of, when such a corrective is 
 applied. We must content ourselves rather, 
 with a negative than a positive proof, be- 
 cause it is not easy to ascertain how many 
 sheep might have fallen sick, or have died, 
 which are now in health and alive; but it 
 may be put to any flock-master, whether he 
 would not consider himself a fortunate man, 
 if at the expense of thirty pounds sterling per 
 annum he could materially improve the health 
 and condition of a flock of icoo sheep, 
 weighing 14 lb. per quarter. His probable 
 answer will be, that he would give double thq 
 money to secure to himself such an advantage. 
 
 We venture no opinion whatever on 
 the propriety of commuting or abolishing 
 this duty : if it be moderated or abolished, 
 so much the better for the farming world ; 
 if the duty remain, we shall persist in the 
 use of salt, fortunate that we can obtain so 
 great a benefit at so cheap a rate ; and rather 
 than forego its use, we do not scruple to 
 
 declare,
 
 (' 53 ) 
 
 declare, that we would ' give one hundred 
 pounds per annum, for every thousand sheep 
 we possess, rather than be debarred its use 
 even at its present rate ; well persuaded that 
 we shall be most essential gainers thereby. 
 It becomes a duty with us to say thus much, 
 because an extensive adoption of the use of 
 salt has a two-fold operation ; whilst it bene- 
 fits the landed interest, it adds also, in a 
 most considerable degree, to the national re- 
 venue. 
 
 On the subject of the Essay addressed to 
 the Bath Society, the Chairman was pleased to 
 express himself as follows : 
 
 " Hetling House Society Rooms, Dec. 15, 1802. 
 
 ** My Lord, 
 
 ** As Chairman of this anniversary 
 V meeting, I am directed to convey to your 
 *' Lordship the most grateful thanks of the 
 *' Society for your valuable Essay on Sheep 
 f and Wool, and for your exhibition of stock 
 
 " and
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 ** and utensils of husbandry; all of which 
 ** were received with sentiments of the highest 
 ♦* approbation. 
 
 *' I have the honour to be, 
 ** My Lord, 
 ** Your most obedient servant, 
 *' John Billingsley.*^ 
 
 Report of the Committee. 
 
 COPY. 
 
 ** Your Committee, appointed to take 
 ** Lord Somerville's Memoir into considera- 
 ** tion, have perused the fame with much sa- 
 " tisfaction. 
 
 ** It contains a great deal of interesting 
 *' information respecting the Spanish breed of 
 ** sheep, and the different crosses of them ; and 
 ** his Lordship appears now to be demonstrat- 
 ** ing from his own experience what he 
 
 *' long
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 " long ago promised to the Society and to the 
 ** public. 
 
 (Signed) " Jno. White Parsons., 
 ** George Tollett. 
 " Richard Astley. 
 ** David Sweet. 
 ** John R. Lucas. 
 ** S. Payne. 
 ** John R. Bracher. 
 ** Gab. Goldney. 
 ** W. C. Sloper." 
 
 Among the stock exhibited was a Merino 
 ram, reduced almost to a skeleton by a tedious 
 voyage from Spain in boisterous weather, 
 which had since served more than one hundred 
 ewes, and was taken from the flock the day 
 he was sent to Bath ; we believe this circum- 
 stance could hardly be known, and that it was 
 probably the first time a ram was ever exhi- 
 bited for public inspection at that season of the 
 year, after serving any number, much less such 
 a flock as one hundred ewes, running with them 
 all at the same time : more particularly when 
 we include the sea voyage, which constantly pro- 
 duces fever, until sheep are seasoned to it, and al- 
 I ways
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 ways renders their importation a matter of ex- 
 ceeding difficulty ; yet, under all these disad- 
 vantages, there was ^ natural tendency in him to 
 lay on fiesh and fat, which could not be control- 
 led, together with a breadth of chest, a fulness rn 
 the twist, or leg of mutton, and a breadth on 
 theback, exemplifying the symmetry, to which 
 these sheep, by attention to the frame, may 
 be brought : he cleft two inches thick of fat 
 on the rump. A tame bell wether, or manso, 
 was shewn at the same time, and killed ; he 
 was kept for the purpose of leading the flock 
 (for no dogs are used in Spain), and always 
 followed the shepherd, feeding from his 
 pocket; so that when he came to this country 
 at three years old, this sheep might have been 
 warranted never to have tasted grass, yet, with 
 hardly a tooth in his head, he brought himself 
 to be good mutton on grass alone, and was as 
 fat as need be served at table, or *' eat with 
 *' bread," as the technical term is. The half- 
 bred Ryeland and South -down two-tooth we- 
 thers died as well, carrying as much spina 
 fat as was necessary; and besides what was 
 on the kidnies, rough fat or tallow in full pro- 
 portion to their age and size; one of them, a 
 small sheep, was judged to carry as much 
 
 wholesome
 
 ( SI ) 
 
 wholesome flesh on the spine, as some sheep 
 would, weighing 40 pounds per quarter. 
 As very few of the Merinos, actually bred in 
 Spain, can ever be seen in this country; and 
 as this is the foundation, on which we are 
 heareaftcr to build that improvement in shape, 
 which never yet was refused to animals, na- 
 turally high in proof, we must cite one in- 
 stance more. Several rams, brought over with 
 the flock, were of a shape unfit to breed 
 from ; notwithstanding the sacrifice was great, 
 prime cost and heavy expense of the voyage 
 considered, they were cut about the middle or 
 end of October; and although very low in 
 order at that time, they have exhibited a ten- 
 dency to get fat, which absolutely surpasses 
 belief. Some of them were spared to a gen- 
 tleman near Taunton, and were judged by 
 butchers to be fit to kill, and good meat in 
 January. For two pure Merino ewes, exhi- 
 bited, fifty guineas were offered, in presence 
 of the whole meeting, and more was readv" 
 to be given, if that price was not suflicient : 
 it was not accepted. 
 
 This subject has, at last, excited a 
 more than common interest, and number- 
 less questions arc asked as to the return or 
 
 I profit
 
 ( S8 ) 
 
 profit per acre, on clothing or fine wool ; 
 this will depend on the nature of the keep ; 
 if sheep are to run on pasture land only 
 during the whole year, so much will depend 
 on the nature of the seasons, that no fixed 
 value, or specific rate of stock, can well be 
 given. If a large portion of this grass is to 
 be kept hained up for winter, and the season 
 be not favourable, autumn rains, followed 
 quickly by frost, will kill very much of the 
 foggage, and the sheep will consequently be 
 very hard driven for food from Candlemas to 
 the next shoot of grass, however late that 
 may be. The quantity, indeed, of stock to be 
 carried per acre, as well as their health and 
 good condition, must be in proportion as there 
 is more or less produce ; and on the compe- 
 tent and regular supply of food the growth of 
 good wool wholly depends. South-down 
 store ewes, at three pounds a fleece, and at one 
 shilling and ten-pence per pound, will pay five 
 and six-pence per fieece; which, at six and a 
 half sheep per acre in good upland pasture 
 for seven months, and five months in turnips 
 at the rate of fourteen or fifteen per acre will 
 pay thirty-eight shillings or two pounds per 
 acre. Ryeland, ditto, two pounds and a quar- 
 ter a fleece, and two shillings and two-pence 
 
 per
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 per pound, untrinded; nine sheep per acre, tur- 
 nips in the same proportion as above, will 
 pay two pounds three shillings and ten-pence 
 halfpenny per acre. South-down and Me- 
 rino ewes, of the half blood, at four pounds a 
 fleece clean washed and at three shillings a 
 pound, will amount to twelve shillings each 
 fleece, which, at seven and a half per acre for 
 seven months, amount to four pounds ten shil- 
 lings per acre for the pasture land, with tur- 
 nips for winter keep. The store ewes of 
 Ryeland and Merino half-blood, at ten per 
 acre for seven months, and turnips in propor- 
 tion as above, at three pounds and a quarter 
 each fleece, at three fliillings and two-pence 
 per pound, or ten shillings and three- pence 
 halfpenny a fleece, amounts to six pounds ten 
 and five-pence per acre. 
 
 Doubts have arifen as to the poflibi- 
 lity of any return, such as this, to be had 
 from wool. What then will be said of 
 the pure Merinos ? — Why, that their fleeces 
 have never been sold at less than one 
 guinea each ; that the weight averages more 
 than six pounds each, in the yolk; that on 
 the above allowance of pasture for seven 
 months, and turnips in aid of that pasture, 
 
 1 2 the
 
 ( 6o ) 
 
 tlie return shall be ten guineas per acre. Mr. 
 Lastcyrie says, that a ram was shewn last 
 year at Rambouillet, whose fleece weighed 
 sixteen pounds ; that some other flocks have 
 given fleece of the same weight ; and a table, 
 which he has given, demonstrates, that the 
 average weight of the Merino fleece is from 
 seven to eight pounds each, in the grease; 
 setting the price at three shillings per pound 
 only, the fleece becomes worth more than one 
 guinea ; if it were necessary to bring addi- 
 tional proof of a statement, which is known tq 
 be correct, we are ready to allot some acres of 
 ground to this purpose, and again to prove the 
 fact : but as the proportion of stock, both of 
 the mixed breeds and pure Merino, with the 
 parent stock of South-down and Ryeland 
 sheep, is well ascertained, we have, and can 
 have, no further doubts on the subject : the 
 wools from each sort actually will weigh these 
 weights (and we have more than proved it, re- 
 gard being had to the scanty growth of wool 
 last spring), and they have actually sold for 
 these prices, which are still considered by the 
 trade as moderate. We are not now stating a 
 return always to be made under careless and bad 
 management, but what can be made, if every 
 attention be paid. Few can form a calcula- 
 2 tio^;^
 
 ( 6« ) 
 
 tfon how much the water-meadows in Hamp- 
 shire and Wiltshire pay per acre when they 
 are hurdled off in cuts, and fed by couples in 
 the spring months ; the scarcity of keep at that 
 season of the year, and its value, enforce the 
 necessity of thrift ; every blade of grass is then 
 of consequence, and the profit m.ade of these 
 meadows wonderful. We refrain from any 
 comparison between the profits of long and 
 short wool : on Lincolnshire and Leicester- 
 shire land let Lincoln and Leicester wool be 
 
 grown. 
 
 A member of the Bath Society stands 
 single in his avowed opposition to the ame- 
 lioration of clothing wool, and, with the ill 
 fortune, which usually attends an unqualified 
 general assertion, is said to have declared, that 
 he was an enemy to its impovement; where- 
 upon another manufacturer and one of the 
 most eminent in Gloucestershire asked if he 
 knew any single article manufactured from 
 coarse, which would not be better made from 
 finer wool, if more was grown, so that it 
 might be had equally cheap. No reply was 
 made. This comparison gave rise to num- 
 JDerless reflections in all probability, of which 
 
 wc
 
 ( 6z ) 
 
 we arc ignorant, but it produced the following 
 from a member of the Society, the Rev. Mr. 
 B. whose judgment and impart iaUty no man 
 can doubt : 
 
 ** Indeed, in whatever point of view the 
 subject is contemplated, it is full of satis- 
 faction ; double the quantity of fine wool 
 can be raised from the same breed only by 
 crosses, without impairing the carcass ; and 
 if it should be argued, that in time the fine- 
 wool sheeep might supersede others, it is 
 some comfort to know, that there is not a 
 single manufacture in which coarse wool is 
 used, that would not be doubly valuable by 
 being composed of that, which is fine; and as 
 to price, the consumer or manufacturer need 
 be under no apprehensions, for plenty would 
 be sure to reduce it within fair and equita- 
 ble bounds. In fact, it cannot be long, from 
 the conviction that has been wrought on 
 the public mind, as to the subject of your 
 Essay, before the price of Spanish wool, 
 from the quantity grown in this island, 
 will be considerably reduced. As the pub- 
 lic was obliged in the last scarcity of corn 
 to pay on its importation for agency, freight, 
 
 '* insurance J
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 *' insurance, demurrage, and a thousand et 
 
 *' ceteras, which the home farmer puts into 
 
 ** his pocket for every grain raised on his own 
 
 '* estate without a shilhng additional expense; 
 
 ** in the same manner the iine wool at present 
 
 ** bears nearly the same price as the Spanish ; 
 
 ** but when the country is enabled to raise 
 
 *' enough for its own consumption, the ex- 
 
 *' penscs attending the transportation from 
 
 •' Spain being deducted, a far less profit than at 
 
 ** present must satisfy the flock-master. At all 
 
 '* events, every one is left at liberty to raise a 
 
 '* competition, which can alone secure the inte- 
 
 " rests of the public, and by which the price will 
 
 " be fairly regulated. It was a most grateful 
 
 *' pieceof intelligence, and confirms byyourex- 
 
 ** pcrience what Dr. Parry had before intimated 
 
 '■* to me, that it was in your power, by strong 
 
 ** feeding, to lengthen the pile of the short- 
 
 *• wooUed sheep, without deteriorating its 
 
 ** quality ; a circumstance this, which may 
 
 ** give birth to manufactures hitherto un- 
 
 ** known or unsuspected." 
 
 We ought to apologize for these details, 
 which many may think projix; but it must 
 
 not
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 not be forgotten, that subjects of this nature 
 are liable, beyond any others, to misconstruc- 
 tion, sometimes to selfish and wilful misre- 
 presentation. We are fortunate in having de^ 
 monstrated to the public that our " hexame- 
 *• ters and pentameters," as the Editors of the 
 British Critic have been pleased to express 
 themselves, are not founded iin error. 
 
 The dignity, the utility of this subject 
 has been acknowledged in all ages and in 
 every corner of the civilized world ; we love it 
 for its own sake ; and it is necessary we should 
 do so, to endure with patience the unworthy 
 treatment to which it too often subjects us, and 
 will never be induced to make it subservient 
 to dirty political intrigue. We have twice 
 been assailed by language as unprovoked and 
 illiberal as ever disgraced the British press; 
 once by a Daily Journal, v.hich did, indeed, 
 endeavour by a subsequent comment to atone 
 for what it had done; and once by *' A So^ 
 ** ciety of Farmers,'' as the publication entitled 
 itself, which Society consisted of one repub- 
 lican land-surveyor, and his bookseller, in 
 London. The surveyor is said to have lately 
 
 • defrauded
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 defrauded a nobleman of a very large sum of 
 money, to have been refused a passport to quit 
 the kingdom, and to be now seeking refuge in 
 the King's Bench prison, or in the Fleet, it is 
 not very material which : the bookseller has 
 since been a bankrupt. It is needless to 
 say, both these publications were treated with 
 the silent contempt they merited. Objections, 
 however, to any principle may be made by 
 men of another description ; and they may 
 come from a quarter so respectable, as to 
 demand elucidation : this is illustrated by the 
 following observations on the properties of 
 the two-furrow plough, in reply to a Treatise 
 on Ploughs, published by Mr. F. de Neuf- 
 chateau, ex-director, and member of the Na- 
 tional Institute of France. This Treatise was 
 sent to us by the author j to avoid noticing it 
 was, therefore, impossible: any little know- 
 ledge we happen to possess, shall be most rea- 
 dily communicated, whether demanded in terms 
 somewhat harsh, or, what is always more 
 pleasant, in language of conciliation. Our 
 reply was as follows : 
 
 ** I have the honour to acknowledo^e the 
 receipt of your Treatise on Ploughs, and the 
 polite letter, which accompanied it. I feel 
 
 K myself
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 myself bound, in an individual capacity, to 
 offer you all possible elucidation on a question, 
 interesting to all nations. 
 
 ** Your Treatise does me the honour to 
 put my ploughs in competition with many 
 others. I must be allowed to disclaim any 
 connexion with the assertions of others, and 
 to stand or fall by my own alone, confirmed, 
 as they fortunately are, by repeated and re- 
 peated facts. If it appear, that I have formed 
 any one erroneous calculation as to what might 
 be done with this implement of husbandry, 
 which subsequent practice has not again and 
 again confirmed ; or stated that as a fact, 
 which was not a fact j then will shame de- 
 servedly be mine. The following passage m 
 your Treatise must plead my excuse for this 
 allusion : ' Voila certainement de magni- 
 
 * fiques promesses; qui les admettrait sans ex- 
 
 * amen ne sera pas digne d'en apprecier les re- 
 
 * sultats, mais ni la description nile dessein nc 
 ■ sufRcent pour se faire Tidee de la possibility 
 
 * de resultats annonces.* Had this sentiment 
 originated in a speculative opinion of mine 
 alone, it might have been justifiable; but it 
 follows the statement also of an absolute fact, 
 
 witnessed
 

 
 ( 6? ) 
 
 witnessed by very many persons of different 
 descriptions. 
 
 " Of the many ploughs you have called 
 into notice, some we have long known to be 
 useful implements j such as the Rotherham, 
 or Yorkshire; the Essex and Suffolk, as well 
 as Small's Scotch plough; the Norfolk, Hert- 
 fordshire, and Turn wrest wheel ploughs ; and 
 since, doubtless, you would not sit down to 
 compose a programme on ploughs, the pro- 
 perties of which you are unacquainted with, 
 I take the liberty of sending a copy, or fac^ 
 simile, of ploughs then in use, taken from a 
 treatise written by Walter Blith, about the 
 year 1653, by which you will immediately 
 perceive how little originality of invention or 
 improvement has been manifested in the greater 
 part of the swing and wheel ploughs, con- 
 structed within the last hundred and fifty years . 
 Two or three exceptions there are, which shall 
 be immediately noticed. This stagnation of 
 real improvement militates nothing against the 
 implements themselves now in use, but much 
 against the numberless fancied improvements 
 of modern authors. If all had written like 
 Duhamel, or even like my countryman Small; 
 K 3 or
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 or if all those, who have written, had studied 
 the subject where only it could be studied, 
 namely, in the furrow, this confusion would 
 never have arisen. 
 
 '* No notice is taken in your Treatise of 
 two inventions in the construction of ploughs, 
 which have really borne the test of practice 
 with success. 
 
 ** The first, Mr. TugwelPs, the Beverston 
 single-wheelplough,theprinciple of draught in 
 which, although expensive in the iron-work, is 
 most effective ; his point of draught is perpen- 
 dicularly above the point of action^ namely, the 
 throat, or breast, where the share fits on : 
 this plough has been noticed by the Bath 
 Society. The second {?> the production of that 
 most excellent husbandman, the late Mr. 
 Ducket, of Esher, in Surrey : it is called the 
 skim coulter plough. Having an engraving 
 of this plough, I do myself the honour of for- 
 warding it; but r fear the representation will 
 do injustice to the work, which the plough is 
 known to make. The principle is most sim- 
 ple, and therefore most valuable : it is bor- 
 rowed from the practice of trenching, used by 
 
 gardeners.
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 gardeners, that is, of turning one spit of earth 
 first, and then a second upon it, by which 
 means that, which was first turned dow^n, lies 
 rotting, undisturbed by any operation on the 
 surface. The skim requires a perpendicular 
 direction, and the coulter-hole is to be further re- 
 moved from the throat and share : in the corn=- 
 mon position it would choke, when in work* 
 In thin and sandy soils it is more particularly 
 useful, because it cuts off all which is on tlj^ 
 surface, at the depth of an inch or inch and 
 half, that it may be rotting for a future crop, 
 giving thereby increased depth of soil to every 
 subsequent course of crops, and acting often ^§ 
 a pan or support to keep up manures in cir^ 
 culation ; it being esteemed a great misfortune 
 in such soils, that they run through. There 
 is one other novel principle in the formation 
 of our English ploughs, of which I shall en^ 
 deavour to speak as sparingly as possible^ bej^ 
 cause it is my own invention, and because it 
 had not the good fortune to attract your notice 
 in that representation of the two-furrow 
 plough, which you have done me the honoujr 
 to allude to. Having made some amcndmeat 
 in the moveable plates, applied to two- furrow 
 ploughj5, and having now de^i^ned them fpf
 
 ( 7* ) 
 
 single-furrow ploughs of every description, I 
 found myself under the necessity of taking out 
 a patent, by which means alone the form of 
 the cast iron mould-plate can be preserved 
 from piratical and deceptive imitation : any de- 
 viation from the original form, however 
 trifling, might materially affect the turn of 
 the furrow, and without doubt, any addi- 
 tional obtusity or thickness in the form of the 
 breast and throat must, of necessity, add very 
 much to the weight of draught. In proportion 
 to this obtusity will be the increase of weight. 
 Nor should we forget another consequence at- 
 tending this bluntness in the breast, namely, a 
 broken and ragged furrow. On due consider- 
 ation, you will find this a fundamental error 
 in many of the ploughs noticed in your Trea- 
 tise, whether of foreign or English construc- 
 tion; yet, to prove to you how long ago this 
 was known and prohibited, I take the liberty 
 of quoting a passage from the above-men- 
 tioned Walter Blith, which treats of the con- 
 struction of ploughs. I was fortunate enough 
 to purchase a copy of this book some weeks 
 ago, and I have the more pleasure in giving 
 an extract from the book, because it is as 
 scarce as it is valuable. He says, * Before I 
 5 * proceed
 
 ( 7« ) 
 
 * proceed in this discourse, I shall lay down 
 
 * these two or three maxims, or conclusions; 
 
 * first, that whatever moveth upon the land, 
 
 * or that worketh in the land, or carrieth the 
 
 * least earth or weight with it, must needs 
 
 * move or work the easiest : a plough, the more 
 ' earth or weight it carries with it, the more 
 ' strength must be required : the natural fur- 
 
 * row it must carry; but the lesser compass, 
 
 * both in height and length, it bears upon the 
 
 * plough, the easier the plough must go; the 
 
 * more naturally any thing moves, the more 
 
 * easily; and the more artificially, the more 
 
 * difficultly : the sharper or thinner is any 
 
 * tool, the easier it pierceth, and the less 
 
 * strength it requireth; so, contrarily, the 
 
 * thicker or duller any tool is, the more strength 
 
 * must work it. 
 
 ** * As for ixivino; an addition of ease unto 
 
 * an ordinary way of ploughing, and the taking 
 
 * away of some of the strength which is so 
 
 * great a burden to the husbandman, is a 
 
 * very vast concernment, and will take a very 
 
 * large discourse; the effecting whereof, I 
 
 * shall endeavour, under the following heads : 
 ^ First, to discover several abuses or hinder^ 
 
 * ances
 
 ( 70 ■ 
 
 * Antes to the well going of the plough, With 
 
 * some remedies thereto. Secondly, td give 
 
 * you the descriptions with the figures of se^ 
 ' veral sorts of ploughs, now in use* Thirdly, 
 
 * to consider wherein the chief ease of the 
 
 * plough consists,withtheeasiestgoing plough, 
 *■ and the advantages gained thereby* Fourthly, 
 
 * to discover to what sorts of land, and seasons 
 ' of ploughing, each plough is most suitable, 
 
 * with a double plough, yet unknown » and a 
 
 * plough that shall both plough and harrow 
 
 * at once.' He then proceeds to state the 
 faults of ploughs, and says : * I tliereforc 
 
 * shall be bold to say, that if plough-irons be 
 
 * not madeexceeding true in all points, according 
 ' to the land you have to plough, and wrought 
 
 * fair and smooth, a plough-wright, or 
 
 * plough^maker, shall not, nor cannot, work 
 ' true to a false foundation; and if it be not 
 
 * Wrought true, it shall hardly go true, unless 
 
 * after much wearing, being wrought into 
 ' work, it may plough reasonable well at last, 
 ' and by that time the plough must be worn 
 
 * out; but never with that ease nor conti- 
 ' nuance as it would by truth of workman- 
 
 * ship. Another abuse in him is the not 
 
 * steeling his plougli-irons well, and making 
 
 * them
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 * them sharp and well pointed ; the second 
 
 * abuse is in the plough-maker, who works 
 
 * according to certain coarse rules he hath 
 
 * learned by trade, knows not how to hold a 
 
 * plough himself, nor to apply himself to the 
 
 * nature of the land, or according to the alter^ 
 
 * ation of it, nor scarce is able to discern the 
 
 * falsity of the smith*s workmanship, and is 
 
 * not able to apply himself to all sorts of lands, 
 
 * or those several sorts of tilths the husband- 
 
 * man gives ; he shall never make a plough to 
 
 * go with ease by his rules, unless he chop 
 
 * upon it by chance. 
 
 ** * The third abuse may be in the plough- 
 
 * holder; and if he have not abilities to hold 
 
 * his plough; to fix and alter his iron, and 
 
 * his plough too, according to the several na- 
 
 * tures of the land he plougheth, and accord- 
 
 * ing to the manner of his ploughing, and 
 
 * keep his irons in a true and keen posture ; 
 
 * sometimes he is to cast down his land ; 
 
 * sometimes to raise up, and sometimes to 
 
 * plough up hill and down; sometimes even, 
 
 * level ground; in all which, if he have not 
 
 * good €;xperience, though both smith and 
 
 * plough- wjights dp their parts, yet, because 
 
 L * th^
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 * the plough-holder cannot be made as well as 
 
 * the plough, many good ploughs are utterly 
 ' spoiled in the usage or abusage.* 
 
 " Blith then proceeds to describe the 
 Hertfordshire wheel-plough, represented in 
 the plate, and says it is useful on flinty and 
 strong soils, and will work well with great 
 strength : he notices also the Turnwrest 
 plough, and says : * There is another double- 
 
 * wheel plough, and it is called the Turn- 
 ' wrest plough, which of all ploughs that ever 
 
 * I saw, surpasseth, for weight and clumsi-s 
 ' nessj it is most of use in Kent, Picardy, 
 
 * and Normandy, and is called the Kentish 
 ' plough with us : I am confident it might 
 
 * be cast into a neater form, and made to 
 ' gooii advantage : the weightiness and ug- 
 ' liness of it I hate, but the Turnwrest con- 
 
 * ceit I like.' 
 
 ** He next treats of the single- wheel 
 plough, represented in the plate, which he 
 commends highly. Its principle of draught 
 comes nearer to that of the Beverston, than any 
 I have yet seen, although differently executedl 
 He tells us, that ' Col. Blunt, of Greenwich, 
 
 *hath
 
 .%r ■]()
 
 ( IS ) 
 *" hath ploughed with six good horses, six 
 
 * men, and six ploughs, six acres a day at 
 
 * sowing time, in light well-wrought ground.* 
 
 ** Blith then treats of the Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, which he calls * good ploughs, in 
 
 * many countries where land is light.* Of 
 the Dutch plough then used, and still in use 
 in Lincolnshire, and of the double-furrow 
 plough, carrying two furrows at once ; of 
 this last he gives a description (vide plate), 
 and says: * Which plough, thus marshalled, 
 
 * you may well plough upon ordinary arable 
 
 * land, which is in good tillage, a double pro- 
 
 * portion, and also upon fair, clean lay tuff; 
 
 * and this you may manage with four good 
 ' horses, but not upon strong or rough land ; 
 
 * the description and discourse whereof, I gi\Q 
 
 * not in as of any great advantage above the 
 
 * other plain plough, but for variety *s sake, 
 ' and to provoke others to the amendment and 
 ' perfecting of this discovery; yet I, for pre- 
 
 * sent, see not, but it may be of excellent use 
 
 * and expedition upon many lands in Eng- 
 
 * land ; and experience of a good ploughman 
 
 * will order it at pleasure.* 
 
 L 2 *« Thar
 
 ( 76 ) 
 ** That fhere is much practical good 
 s^nse contained in these passages, no hus- 
 bandman can deny. Now, Sir, I am to prove, 
 whether or not I have worked out any of that 
 ifnprovement, which he says the plough 
 carrying two furrows is capable of. From 
 the design representing a side view, you will 
 observe, besides the moveable plates, coulters, 
 stays, &c. how firmly the plough is put to- 
 gether, and how little waste there is of timber 
 and iron work. 
 
 ** No foreshortened or front view was 
 given, but the description in a particular man- 
 ner noticed the keenness of the throat or breast, 
 and the little resistance it would thereby pro- 
 voke. 
 
 ** Now, it is not to be denied, that you 
 add to the strength of any implement, in pro- 
 portion as you do away the resistance with 
 which it had to contend; this circumstance 
 Blith dwells on much; and, indeed, so will 
 evel-y other man who knows what work is. The 
 double-edged coulter is formed also to produce 
 this effect; in strength and substance it is equal 
 to the common or narrow coulter, and being less 
 5 broad,
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 broad, presents so much less for resistance: 
 when in work, the stay gives a steadiness to it, 
 the coulter being subject to frequent derangc- 
 ment, to correct which, must occasion frequent 
 stops, alteration of the wedges, and loss of time. 
 
 ** We have now to consider the moveable 
 mould-plate, and its operation on the furrow. 
 If the breast of a plough be obtuse, the whole 
 struggle lies there — there is the furrow turned, 
 and the hindermost part of the mould-plate has 
 little or nothing to do,- the furrow may be well 
 laid for one particular sort of work, but the 
 breast of the common plate can only be of one 
 form, therefore can only turn one description of 
 furrow; and this must be done at an increased 
 weight of draught: this is beyond all contradic- 
 tion, in these moveable plates, the furrow is not 
 turned until it reaches the remotest point of 
 action, at a distance of two feet from the point 
 where the furrow is cut off from the land. 
 By the gentle and progressive turn of the 
 mould-plate, the earth hangs balancing, as it 
 were, in the air, and the slightest pressure 
 of the moveable plate lays it over. The prin- 
 ciple of this plate is to deposit the furrow 
 U any angle required, and to qualify it 
 
 thereby
 
 ( 7« ) 
 
 thereby for the different purposes of hus- 
 bandry. There is another principle in plough- 
 ing, equally well established; namely, that 
 the base or bottom of the furrow must be cut 
 level and true, or the surface of the work will 
 be untrue, and the crop derive otherwise ma- 
 terial injury. To effect this, the plough must 
 go close at heel, and upright in its work, 
 therefore the furrow must assume one form 
 only. A third principle equally certain is, that 
 in ploughing lay ground, or for sowing on 
 one earth, the furrow should be laid far more 
 iiat than is advisable in the last stirring or 
 seed earth. As lor barley, &c. hitherto we 
 have obtained one of these objects at the ex- 
 pense of the others. No two-furrow plough 
 could, for an instant, make work, except in 
 an upright direction; for if it did, the ' land,' 
 or left share, v/ould be buried too deep, and 
 the furrow, or right share, would be thrown 
 <vat of work. But still further I will be bold 
 to say, that no single-furrow plough, whether 
 constructed in China, in France, or in Eng- 
 land, has ever yet, or ever will be, able to 
 ansvver all these purposes, without the aid of 
 a njoveable plate; and therefore, however 
 good for a limited purpose it may be, it can- 
 not
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 not be called a perfect implement; it is in- 
 capable of doing all that is for ever required 
 of it to do. It would be the height of folly 
 and extravagance to construct two implements 
 where one would do. I therefore sit content- 
 edly in the conviction, that these plates must 
 be resorted to ; and as I had the honour before 
 p state, that I have taken out a patent for 
 them, I beg to observe, that it is not mv ob- 
 ject therebv to reap any great benefit; the 
 price will prove, that I only look to be repaid 
 in a given period, the expenses attending the 
 raking out a patent, and that my purpose in 
 doing so was to secure the identity of my own 
 constructed implements. 
 
 *' In many cases, the moveable plate will 
 probably supersede the use of the Turnwrest 
 plough. 
 
 *' I may be accused of wasting time in 
 going too much into a description: yet, I am 
 desirous to pay attention to what you require, 
 and in the hope that he will gain a credit, 
 which it was not my good fortune to attain, 
 I offer you the testimony of another person. 
 About the time when I vviis honoured with 
 
 your
 
 ( So ) 
 
 your I letter, he was personally a stranger to 
 me; his partiality, therefore, is to the plough 
 itself; not to the inventor. I am not disposed 
 to draw absolute conclusions from ploughing 
 matches, because much may depend on acci- 
 dent; besides that, exertions might be made 
 for three hours, without much apparent dis- 
 tress » which nevertheless could not be main- 
 tained for three weeks, and fo the public be- 
 comes misled. Yet, as this match was much 
 talked of, and many questions on the sub- 
 ject put to me, I wrote to Mr. Tweed to 
 know the particulars; his tale is plain and 
 imvarnished ; 1 give it you in his own words. 
 It may not be amiss, however, to premise, 
 that the ploughmen of Essex have, for a very 
 long time, been celebrated throughout Eng- 
 land, and that Mr, Tvveed*s land is strong and 
 sijfF in quality ; not a turnip has been sown 
 there for more than twenty years past ; it is 
 what we term bean and wheat land. The 
 practice of that country has been to allot loo 
 acres of land m tilth to four horses; there- 
 fore, let it be remembered, that the saving of 
 £xpense obtained by the use of the two-furrow 
 .plough does not arise from a comparison on 
 ^ands, expensively cultivated with four or 
 
 live
 
 ( 8. ) 
 
 five horses, incurring a charge of twelve, six- 
 teen, or twenty shillings per acre; but in the 
 county of Essex, and in the vicinity of Chelms- 
 ford, where it has long been a system to work 
 these strong soils with two horses and no 
 driver ; and where this art is allowed to be as 
 well understood, and practised with as much 
 skill and economy as in any part of Europe, 
 Flanders not excepted. 
 
 *' Mr. Tweed says, * In answer to th^ 
 letter I have just had the honour to receive, 
 I take the liberty of stating the experiments 
 1 have made with your two-furrow ploughs 
 upon strong land, as well as the result of 
 the only match I have yet been engaged in. 
 I put my first plough to work with three 
 horses and one man, against two of my own, 
 and four horses, held by two remarkable 
 good ploughmen, who are very much averse 
 to any new implements : after exerting them- 
 selves to the utmost every day fQr a month, 
 upon clover lays, bean and pea etches, for 
 wheat, they allowed, very much against their 
 inclinations, that it performed the work best, 
 which is entirely owing to the superior form 
 of the breast, and the great advantage derived 
 ^X * from,
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 * from the moveable plates ; this trial having 
 
 * perfectly convinced me that there is an abso- 
 
 * lute saving of five shillings a day every day 
 
 * they are used. I ordered a second, and soon 
 
 * after a third, and have ever since had all my 
 
 * work done with them, nine horses, and three 
 
 * men, which before employed six ploughs, 
 
 * twelve horses, and six men, causing a reduction 
 
 * of one fourth the horses, and one third of the 
 
 * men, and is, in my opinion, one of thegrcatest 
 
 * improvements that ever was made in agri- 
 
 * culture, for which I conceive the public and 
 
 * myself highly indebted to your Lordship. 
 
 * Being at Mr. Lovibond's rent dinner (the 
 
 * gentleman I live under), I made a proposal to 
 
 * the company, who were all farmers, to 
 
 * plough for a wager, two acres of any land 
 
 * with the two-furrow plough and three 
 
 * horses, as well, and in the same time, as one 
 
 * acre could be ploughed by a single one and 
 
 * two horses. This was accepted by Mr. 
 
 * Gibling, of Hatfield, and a field of his fixed 
 
 * upon that had been sown with rye directly 
 
 * after harvest*, upon a wheat etch, and being 
 
 * fed by bullocks and sheep in wet weather, 
 
 * poached a great deal ; and when the plough- 
 
 * ing took place, was extremely dry and bound. 
 
 * Stubble. ' A great
 
 C 83 ) 
 
 * A great number of spectators attended : at 
 ' starting, the odds were three and four to one 
 
 * against the two-furrow plough, as it was 
 
 * supposed not to be able to break up, and 
 
 * turn hard work : after a fair contest, five 
 
 * farmers were appointed umpires, who were 
 
 * unanimous in their decision, that the two- 
 
 * furrow plough, having executed the work 
 
 * soundest and best, and in the least time, was 
 
 * entitled to the wao-er. 
 
 o 
 
 * I remain, with due respect, 
 * Your Lordship's 
 * Most obedient humble servant, 
 Sandon, 1802. * T. L. TwEED.» 
 
 Second Trial, reported as follows, by the 
 Umpires : 
 
 Essex Herald y June i, 1802. 
 
 * On Saturday last, a ploughing sweep- 
 
 * stakes was decided in a field of Mrs. Steb- 
 
 * bings, of Springfield. The match was 
 
 * made by F. Honey wood, Esq. C. C. Wes- 
 
 * tern, Esq. Mr. T. L. Tweed; M. Bur- 
 
 * goyne, Esq. L. E. Wakefield, Esq. for 
 
 * three guineas each, p. p. for ploughing 
 ' one rood of land each. About half past 
 
 * eleven, the ploughs of the respective ama- 
 
 M a * teurs
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 * teurs took their station, and the men dis- 
 
 * pkyed every possible attention in the execu- 
 
 * tion of their work, in 'the presence of a 
 
 * vast concourse of spectators. The sweep- 
 ' stakes was adjudged by the umpires to the 
 
 * d-ouble-furrowed plough of Mr. Thomas 
 
 * I^ittle Tweed, of Sandon. A double-fur- 
 
 * rowed plough was allowed, by the articles^ 
 
 * to have four horses ; but Mr. Tweed's was 
 
 * worked with only three, and ploughed two 
 
 * roods, not only in the best agricultural man- 
 
 * ner, but within considerably shorter time than 
 
 * the other common ploughs did their one 
 
 * rood.* 
 
 ** In addition to this testimony I have 
 only to add, that it has not been my ill fortune 
 to verify the old adage, which says, * A pro- 
 ' phet is no prophet at home;* for these 
 ploughs are spreading, with unexampled ra- 
 pidity, over the country, in which they origi- 
 nated: and at a very large meeting of far- 
 mers, held there lately, no ploughs of any 
 Other description appeared, and the prize given 
 by subscription, was contended for by these 
 ploughs only. 
 
 'It
 
 ( 85 ) 
 ** It has been argued, that a two-furf-ow 
 plougli, with the double mortised beam, has 
 an advantaox" over that of the curved sinjHe 
 beam, inasmuch as, by a screw, the beams 
 can be brought nearer or set more apart, for 
 the purpose of cutting a wider or narrower 
 furrow. In common ploughing, no great be- 
 nefit was contended to result from this powTr, 
 but in sowing under furrow, great things were 
 to be expected. Now let us look round, and 
 see where the tillage husbandry is reputed to 
 be good, and single-furrow ploughs in use, 
 consequently, the size of the furrow is op- 
 tional; let us see, I say, whether the wide or 
 the narrow furrow is preferred. We can in a 
 moment instance the usage of the country 
 round Westham, in Essex, and Petersham and 
 Moulsey, in Surrey. In both mstances the 
 land is level and good, and the broadcast hus- 
 bandry very high in reputation, as their crops, 
 on an average of years, are ready to testify. 
 Here the seed is ploughed in at a ten, or some- 
 times at an eleven inch furrow. We are not to 
 establish a general system on two or three in- 
 stances — twenty or thirty might, perhaps, be ad- 
 duced; but they arc xvorth, at least, oneassertion. 
 
 It
 
 . ( 86 ) 
 
 It has been my determination to avoid, as much 
 as possible, any comparison of other imple- 
 ments with my own ; but I may say, that I 
 learn from one, who is as good a judge of 
 husbandry as any among us, and has com- 
 pared the double beam two-furrow, with that 
 of the curved single beam two-furrow plough; 
 that, besides additional expense in mortising 
 and iron work, and consequent tendency to 
 derangement, there is an absolute difference 
 of one horse in four in favour of the patent 
 plough. 
 
 *' If land is inclined to be wet and stiff, 
 the less trod it is, the better. Here Mr. 
 Tweed's mode is to work three horses, one on 
 the land, and two in the furrow one before the 
 other, instead of three abreast : and it appeared 
 by the regulation of the cops^ i. e. an iron screw, 
 acting through the end of the beam to regulate 
 the depth of work, how little he has added io 
 the weight of draught. It is almost needless to 
 say, that the true point of draught should be 
 exactly in the centre notch of the cops ; any 
 deviation to the right or left can only be for the 
 purpose of counteracting a false friction or pres- 
 sure.
 
 ( 87 ) 
 
 sure, which must have added to the weight. 
 The size of a furrow, provided it be of just 
 proportions, is optional; that which I have 
 preferred is nine inches and a quarter, and for 
 every purpose of husbandry I know of none 
 better. It will give as much mould, oi 
 * crumb,* (as we term it, provincially) to the 
 harrow, as any other furrow whatever : this 
 is the best object in ploughing for a ley crop. 
 
 ** If ley peas are to be sown, every other 
 furrow at nine inches and a quarter each, there 
 will be an interval of eighteen inches and a half 
 between the rows; a distance as much ap- 
 proved as any we know. At every third fur- 
 row for beans, the interval will be tvventy- 
 seven inches three quarters: at every fourth 
 furrow, thirty-seven inches : and it must be 
 allowed, that if any implement be attached to 
 a plough for delivery of pulse, or white grain 
 in drills, the upright position necessarily be- 
 longing to the two-furrow plough, when in 
 work, will qualify it admirably for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 ** I have a thousand apologies to make 
 for being thus prolix, but I am insensibly 
 
 drawn
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 drawn on by the subject itself; I have bor- 
 rowed no man's opinion, but have offered you 
 the result of my own obser\'ations alone. 
 
 *' In conclusion, I beg leave to say, that 
 li you should do us the honour hereafter to 
 send a person among us, conversant in the use 
 of a plough, I am disposed to think every at- 
 tention will be shewn to him ; but I must be 
 pardoned if I decline sending forth these 
 ploughs, unless I can previously discover a 
 marked inclination to adopt them: such com- 
 pliance would retard rather than advance the 
 good cause of husbandry in every quarter of 
 the globe.'* 
 
 To Fran9ois de Neufchateaii, Sec. See. &c. 
 March, 1802. 
 
 That these ploughs are adapted to all 
 light soils and loams, will not admit of a 
 doubt, whether of unequal or level surface ^ 
 we have elsewhere stated, that steep ground 
 ran be ploughed up and down, cutting one 
 furrow with the land or left plough up the 
 hill, and two furrows down, by which the 
 weight of draught wil-l be more equal, and the 
 pvvvcr not wasted. We have just noticed, 
 
 that-
 
 ( 89 ) 
 that in working across an inclined field, the 
 moveable plates maybe so regulated, as to pro- 
 duce very much of the effect of a turnvvresr 
 plough. That they have the power to lay 
 hold of and maintain themselves in hard and 
 bound-up ground, is proved beyond contra- 
 diction: we may account for it, perhaps, by 
 the length and extent of the sole, or bottom, 
 from the foremost part of the right or furrow 
 plough, to the heel of the land plough; the 
 void space, or interval between both, does not 
 at all affect its firm and upright position, yet 
 renders the friction materially less, conse- 
 quently the plough itself lighter in action j 
 but of the facility with which they would lay 
 up land into one bout ridges for winter fallow, 
 we had no experience until this autumn, when 
 some close, deep, loamy land was bouted up, 
 without any additional strength of team, or 
 any undue exertion of the four Devonshire 
 steers, the usual strength applied to these 
 ploughs. To eighty, perhaps ninety acres of 
 arable, or rather in its present state, tillagi* 
 land, the whole of the heavy road work, car- 
 riage of lime, dung, and timber included, w^ 
 allot one plough of this description. 
 
 With exception to a pair of light lorses em- 
 ployed in conveying out and home rams hired for 
 
 N season,
 
 ( 9° ) 
 
 season, and other light jobs, our whole labour 
 is done by four teams, four oxen or steers in 
 each, three of which with great ease will, and 
 do, work ten acres each team per week, resting 
 two days in it, and would do more when oc- 
 casion presses *; a rate of labour which must 
 induce those who work horse teams to give 
 this matter most serious consideration, because 
 it can carry on, with regularity and profit, a 
 very great extent of business ; for it must be 
 remembered, that the wheat sowing of the 
 autumn, the oat and barley sowing of the 
 spring, the turnip fallowing until midsum- 
 mer, and the harvest, not only do not inter- 
 fere with each other, but frequently admit of 
 leisure days, which cattle, not over- worked, 
 seldom fail of turning to excellent account. 
 When they are in labour, they pay ; when 
 they lie by, their growth is a certain source of 
 profit. Fears have prevailed, that labour is 
 injurious to the growth of cattle : we have 
 had proof on proof, and pledge ourselves, that 
 they are unfounded ; if young stock are well 
 kept, as every good husbandman will keep 
 
 * The three year old steers, which are yoked up, 
 when the six year old oxen are turned off to be grazed, 
 cannot be supposed to work equally with those seasoned 
 *o labour; yet, from the scarcity of store oxen, our labour 
 has been done at this rate, by steers of this age, for the 
 l^st two seasons. 
 
 ^ tjicm,
 
 ( 91 ) 
 
 them, whether they work or lie idle, muscu- 
 lar action, not overdone, must produce muscular 
 strength, and growth will be the result. Look 
 at the well-fed servant in a farm-house, at the 
 ploughman, and compare them with the me- 
 chanic — with one who works at the loom, or 
 in short who follows any sedentary trade, pos- 
 sessing ample means to be well fed , that is to say, 
 earning in four days enough to enable him to 
 lie idle the other three days of the week ; and 
 no man can dare lon2:er to entertain a doubt on 
 the subject. Threats we cannot employ ; but 
 precept, example, and reward, we have held 
 forth ; and with the support which is now 
 given to our attempts, we have no fears for 
 the result. 
 
 CATTLE SHOW. 
 
 Prizes for Stock, 
 
 *' In exact conformity therefore with the 
 doctrine here laid down, and trusting it will 
 not be thought presuming or officious, the 
 author* is induced to offer two annual prizes 
 of 50I. each in due proportions ; one to the 
 first and second best yoke of fat oxen, which 
 shall have laboured a given period, to provide 
 
 * Lord Somerville,— Extract fromhis work just published. 
 N 2 corn
 
 ( 9? ) 
 
 corn and other food for man, but shall never 
 once have consumed it; the second, to all 
 breeds of short-woolled sheep (hitherto so 
 much neglected), giving the preference to 
 those most productive in food and raiment. 
 Both subject to the following conditions. 
 
 '• To be given annually, solong as shall be 
 thought advisable, a prize of 30I. to the best, 
 and 20I. to the second best yoke or pair of 
 oxen, vi^hich shall have worked together in 
 yoke or harness, for the space of three years 
 previous to their being turned up to graze; 
 aged from five to eight years, weighing from 
 one hundred to one hundred and sixty stone, 
 eight pounds to the stone, that is, from ten to 
 sixteen score per quarter, being the size best 
 adapted to labour, and to the average of mar- 
 kets. They will be let up from work between 
 the 25th of April and the ist of May, in each 
 year, and shewn at Langhorn*s Repository^ 
 in Barbican, on Monday and Tuesday nearest 
 the I St of March following,, being a period of 
 ten months, more or less. 
 
 ** The order, as to flesh, in which these 
 oxen are, on New Year*s Day, antj the i^ymber 
 
 of
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 of days' work done between that time and the 
 :?5th of April, must be specified. Due al- 
 lowance will be made for distance of drift from 
 any part of the kingdom, both in a lean and 
 fat state. 
 
 *' It must be warranted, that they have 
 had no corn of any description ; that the straw, 
 if any given when fatting, was carefully 
 cleaned of corn; that they have had no beans, 
 peas, buck- wheat, or potatoes (turnips are not 
 included in this exception). What quantity 
 of oil-cake has been given must be accurately 
 stated, that due allowance may be made. If 
 the least fault should be discovered in any cer- 
 tificate, the person so offending will be set 
 aside, and deemed disqualified ever afterwards. 
 
 ** This point is designed to countenance 
 farmers in their usual course of profitable hus- 
 bandry, rather than those who, forgetful of 
 general benefit, are ambitious of keeping on 
 cattle too long after they are ripe. 
 
 *' Another prize of 50I. in like propor- 
 tion, and at the same time and place, will be 
 given to those who produce, in fair store state, 
 
 the
 
 ( 94 ) 
 the best five ewe hogs, not in lamb, 30I. thit 
 is to say, not exceeding thirteen, or less than 
 ten months old when shewn ; also the five best 
 fat wethers, four or six tooth sheep, aol. of 
 . any short or clothing wool breed, whether 
 horned or natt. This age is preferred, because 
 it docs not exclude those flocks which work 
 in the fold, yet it obliges them to come to 
 market at a period when their growth ought to 
 be perfect. Quality of carcass, aptitude to 
 fatten, quantity and quality of wool, and meat 
 per acre, to be considered. By * store state* 
 it is meant, that sheep are not to be taken from 
 the flock more than ten days before the com- 
 mencement of their journey, or forced beyond 
 the average keep of the flock. Strict certifi- 
 cates will be required as to the keep and time 
 of lambing for the ewes; as to the time of 
 lambing, duration of work in the fold, and 
 period of fatting, as well as quality of food, 
 for the wethers. Five umpires will be chosen 
 for each of these prizes. No person to be 
 admitted as an umpire who is personally in- 
 terested in the event. No person gaining a 
 prize is qualified to exhibit stock for the same 
 prize the succeeding year, 
 
 ** The
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 ** The prizes for oxen will be divided be- 
 tween the grazier and the farmer who pos- 
 sessed these oxen during the last twelvemonth's 
 work. The prizes for sheep will be given to 
 the breeders only of the sheep shewn. The 
 two pair, or yoke of oxen, to which these pre- 
 miums shall be adjudged, are not to be slaugh- 
 tered with the axe, but * laid* or pithed ac- 
 cording to the usage of other countries, for 
 which purpose a skilful person will attend at 
 the convenience of the purchasers. — Without 
 entering into a comparison between the two 
 methods, let it be remembered, that public 
 prejudice is very strong in favour of the mode 
 here proposed, and where prejudices can be 
 indulged without difficulty or loss, it is wis-» 
 dom to indulge them. 
 
 *' Implements of husbandry, on a new 
 well-approved construction, and samples of 
 grain or seeds, will be admitted, for which, as 
 well as for the stock, proper places are allotted, 
 on due notice given to Mr. Langhorn. The 
 stock to be sent in before seven o*clock on 
 Monday morning. 
 
 ** Working oxen here exhibited, which 
 are to be fed for the show of the following 
 
 year,
 
 ( 96 ') 
 
 year, will not be required to return to work, 
 should the distance exceed forty miles, but 
 may then be let up. 
 
 * * Two pieces of plate will also be given 
 by Lord Somerville, to those who may have 
 best merited premiums without obtaining 
 them ; and another piece of plate will be given 
 to the owner of the best fat pig of any age. 
 
 ** Claimants for these prizes are re- 
 quested to give notice to Mr. Langhorn, one 
 month previous to the day of show ; and will 
 not fail to send in their stock at or before seven 
 o*clock on Monday morning. — After nine 
 o'clock, none will be admitted. The gate 
 will be open for inspection of the stock, at 
 eleven o'clock each day. 
 
 OXEN. 
 
 ** I do certify, that my 
 
 yoke, or pair of oxen, have worked together 
 for the space of years ; were bred 
 
 by and during the last year were 
 
 worked by that they have had 
 
 no corn, beans, peas, buck-wheat, or pota- 
 toes ; that the quantity of cake has been 
 
 EWE
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 EWE HOGS. 
 
 "I do certify, that the 
 
 five ewe hogs were bred by myself; were not 
 taken from the flock more than ten days before 
 the commencement of their joiirney." 
 
 WETHERS. 
 
 ** I do certify, that the 
 
 five wether sheep were bred by myself; have 
 had no corn, meal, or potatoes; are now 
 old, and worked in the fold." 
 
 The following were the regulations for 
 1802, being the first year. — Five persons were 
 appointed judges : 
 
 A landed proprietor . Lord Grim stone 
 A farmer .... Mr. Astley 
 A woolstapler . . . Mr. Oakley 
 A salesman . . . Mr. Wheeler 
 A butcher .... Mr. Bird. 
 
 ** They are requested to have the good- 
 ness to attend on Saturday at ten o*clock, for 
 the purpose of inspecting the stock, and care- 
 
 o fully
 
 ( 98 ) 
 fully examining the certificates, and again to 
 attend on Monday, at eleven o'clock, when, 
 after mature investigation, their final decision 
 will be given, sealed up. 
 
 List of the Show. 
 
 OXEN. 
 
 Two Hereford oxen, from his Majesty, in 
 work from the ist of January to the 25th 
 of April, 97 days ; low in order when 
 turned up. — Journey 22 miles. 
 
 Two Glamorganshire oxen, grazed and 
 Worked by his Majesty ; in work 97 
 days ; seven years old. — Journey 22 miles. 
 —No oil-cake. 
 
 Two Hereford oxen, six yeirs old — worked 
 by Mr. King — grazed by Mr. Thomas 
 Crooke. — Journey 100 miles. 
 
 Two Sussex oxen — eight years old — bred 
 and grazed by Charles Gilbert, Esq. — 
 Journey 62 miles. 
 
 Two Devonshire oxen, grazed and worked 
 by Hugh Hoare, Esq. — in constant work 
 from I st January to 25th April. — No oil- 
 cake.-— Journey 45 rtiiles. 
 
 " Two
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 Two Devonshire oxen, by Mr. H. King — 
 worked by Lord Somerville — in work 
 65 days, from ist January, to the 25th 
 April — low in order. — ^Journey 165 miles. 
 
 Two Devonshire oxen, grazed by Mr. Richard 
 Hudson ^- worked by Lord Somerville 
 —in work 69 days — from ist January 
 to the 25th April — low order. — Journey 
 165 miles. 
 
 Two French oxen, six years old — regularly 
 worked and grazed by Mr. Thomas 
 Crooke — Journey 100 niiles. 
 
 Two Hereford oxen, grazed by Mr. J. 
 \Yestcar — worked by Mr. H. Williams 
 — in work every day from ist January 
 to the 13th May. — Journey 160 miles. 
 
 A French bull, three years old, bred by Mr, 
 Thomas Crooke. 
 
 SHEEP. 
 
 Five Ryeland wether hogs for grazing— 
 Lord Somerville's — not $hewn for the 
 bounty. 
 
 five South-down ewe hogs — Henry Hugh 
 Hoare, Esq. 
 
 o 2 Five
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 Five South-down ewe hogs^ — Duke of Bed- 
 ford. 
 
 Five South-down ewe hogs — Mr. Smith. 
 
 Five South-down wethers, two years old — 
 Duke of Bedford. 
 
 Five South-down wethers — Mr. King. 
 
 Five South-down wethers, three years old — 
 Mr. Smith. 
 
 Five Wiltshire three-shear ditto-^Mr. Browne. 
 
 The first prize for working oxen strictly qua- 
 lified to Mr. Westcar and Mr. Williams, 
 for a yoke of Hereford oxen, 30I. 
 
 The second to Mr. Hoare, for a yoke of De- 
 von oxen, 20I. * 
 
 The first prize to his Grace the late Duke of 
 . Bedford, for ewe hogs, 30I. 
 
 The second to Mr. Brown, for three shearing 
 wethers, 20I. 
 
 The oxen which obtained the first prize 
 Avere beautiful animals, and finished after Mr. 
 Westcar's usual manner. — The ewe hogs of 
 the late Duke of Bedford were most deservedly 
 admired . 
 
 1803.
 
 ( '°I ) 
 
 1803.^ — Second Tear. 
 
 Judges, 
 
 Hon. G. ViLLiERs Mr. Lindsey 
 
 Salesman . , Mr. Ebs worth 
 Farmer . ♦ , Mr. Pester 
 Butcher . . Mr. Eyres 
 Mr. Lloyd, to assist in questions re- 
 specting wool. 
 
 In order to decide with more accuracy, 
 two from each pen of fat sheep, claiming the 
 prizes, were slaughtered and exhibited dead. 
 
 The following oxen were shewn for the 
 prizes : 
 
 Two Hereford oxen, worked and grazed by hi^ 
 Majesty at Windsor. 
 
 Two Devons, worked by Mr. J. Hcllings, 
 grazed by Mr. H. Coles, fed upon grass 
 and hay only. Drift, when fat, 1 40 miles » 
 
 Two Herefords, worked and grazed by Mr. 
 Edmonds ; fed upon grass and hay only. 
 Drift, when fat, 90 miles. 
 
 Two Kentish, worked and grazed by Mr. 
 Millar. 
 
 Two Sussex, worked and grazed by Sir Tho- 
 mas Carr, Two
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 Two Devons, worked and grazed by the Duke 
 of Bedford. 
 
 Two Devons, worked by Lord Somervil{c, 
 grazed by Mr. R. Hudson. 
 
 Two Glamorgans, grazed by Mr. Waters. 
 
 Two Devons, grazed by Mr. Martin Web- 
 ber. Drift, when fat, 128 miles. 
 
 Two Hercfords, worked by Mr. J. Skyrmc, 
 and grazed by Mr. Byng. 
 
 Two Glamorgans, grazed by Mr. Waters. 
 
 The following heifers were shewn : 
 
 One Sussex, belonging to Sir Thomas Carr. 
 
 Pnc Devonshire, belonging to the Duke of 
 Bedford. 
 
 One Kentish, belonging to Mr. Whittle; and 
 two bulls, belonging to the same gen- 
 tleman. 
 
 The following fat sheep were exhibited for 
 the prize of 20I. five in each lot; t\yoof them 
 were killed, and their weight, &c. ascer- 
 tained : 
 
 Five Wiltshire wethers, three years old, be- 
 longing to Christopher Chapman, of 
 East W^ickam, in Kent. No. I. when 
 alive, 2391b. No. 2, 244lb = 
 
 3 Five
 
 ( i<^3 ) 
 
 Five South-down wethers, two years old, be- 
 longing to the Duke of Bedford, from 
 Maulden Farm, Bedfordshire. 
 
 Five South-down wethers, two years old, be- 
 longing to the Duke of Bedford, from 
 Prisley Farm, riear Woburn. 
 
 Five Ryeland wethers, three years old, belong- 
 ing to Lord Somerville, fed on grass and 
 hay only. Not shewn for the premium. 
 
 Five South-down wethers, two at two years 
 old, and three one year old, belonging to 
 Mr. Edward Smith. 
 
 Five South-down wethers, three years old, be- 
 longing to Mr. Ellman, of Sussex. 
 
 The following ewe lambs, store stock, 
 were shewn for the prize of 30L 
 
 Five South-downs, belonging to Mr. Ed- 
 ward Smith. 
 
 Five ditto, belonging to Mr. Runciman, of 
 Woburn. 
 
 Five Ryelands, belonging to SirW. Clayton. 
 
 Five Ryelands, belonging to the Hon. W. 
 Harcourt. 
 
 CATTLE. 
 
 The first prize to his Grace the Duke of Bed- 
 ford, for a yoke of Devon oxen, 30I. 
 
 The
 
 { 104 ) 
 
 The second, to Mr. Edmonds; and in case 
 his Hereford oxen should be found to 
 exceed the stipulated weights, then to 
 Mr. Martin Webber, for his yoke of 
 Devon oxen, 20K 
 
 SHEEP. 
 
 The first prize to Mr. Edward Smith, of 
 Hertfordshire, for ewe hogs, 30I. 
 
 The second, to his Grace the Duke of Bedford, 
 for his Maulden wethers, 20I. 
 
 A silver cup to Mr. Ellman's South-down 
 wethers, and to the Hereford oxen, bred 
 by Mr. Skyrme, was drawn for by lot, 
 and won by the latter. 
 
 A silver cup to Mr. H. Cole's Devon oxen, 
 ' bred by Mr. Hellings, and to Mr. Mil- 
 lar's Kentish oxen, bred and worked by 
 himself, was also drawn for by lot, and 
 won by the latter. 
 
 Various implements of husbandry were exhi- 
 bited by Mr. Lester, of Holborn, and 
 Mr. M'Dougall, of Oxford Street, and 
 selected grasses, and other seeds, by 
 Messrs. Gibbs and Co. Piccadilly. 
 
 Certificates
 
 ( >05 ) 
 
 Certificates of the iirst year's show are 
 now mislaid ; those of the last year for stock 
 obtaining premiums, are as follow : 
 
 *' This is to certify, that the two pair of 
 *' oxen shewn by the Duke of Bedford, for 
 **.Lord Somerville's premium, are seven 
 " years old ; that they were worked together 
 ** for three years; that on January i, 1802, 
 ** they were in fair working condition; and 
 *' between that time and the ist of May, 
 " when they were let up from work, they did 
 ** forty-four days hard work: that they have 
 ** never had corn of any description, or pota- 
 ** toes; and between the 9th of November and 
 ** the 19th of February, the day they set ofF 
 ** on their journey for London, have con- 
 ** sumed three hundred and eighty-four oil- 
 ** cakes each. 
 
 ** Edward Cartw^right. 
 
 *' John Clayton.*' 
 
 ** A yoke of oxen, seven years old, 
 ** bought of (and as I believe bred by) Mr, 
 ** Edward Jeffries, of the Sherriffs, Hereford- 
 ** shire, worked by me three years, were in 
 ^* fair working condition on New Year's Day, 
 
 p ** 1803 r
 
 ( -06 ) 
 
 ' 1 802 : went to work as soon after Candle-r 
 ' mas as the land would permit us to plough, 
 
 * and continued the same to the 2d or 3d 
 ' of May following : did as much work day 
 ' by day as any oxen 1 had : after they were 
 
 * turned off from their work, have been fed 
 
 * solely with grass and hay : never have eaten 
 
 * during the time I have had them, either 
 
 * potatoes or corn of any description: have 
 ' travelled 80 miles and upwards, since Sa- 
 
 * turday, the 19th instant. 
 
 Feb. 25, 1803. ** John Edmonds/* 
 
 " Haine Farm, near Tiverton, Devon. 
 
 *' I hereby certify, that I sold, on the 
 ' 5th May 1802, at Collumpton fair, to 
 " Mr. Martin Webber, tw^ooxen, which he in- 
 '* tends shewing for Lord Somerville*s prizes; 
 ** bred by me, and taken to labour at two 
 '* years old, and continued regularly working 
 *' till the 25th April last: on New Year*s 
 *' Day, 1802, they were quite lean: cannot 
 ** say the exact number of days* work they 
 ** did from New Year*s Day, 1802, but ven- 
 " ture to say, more than fifty before I sold 
 " them. I also certify, that they were never 
 
 *♦ fed
 
 ( 107 ) 
 ** fed with any kind of corn whatever while 
 ** in my possession. 
 
 ** Witness my hand, the 23d day of 
 ** February 1803. 
 
 ** Thomas Gamblin.*' 
 
 *' Two oxen, bred and fed by Thomas 
 ** Miller, West Farleigh, Kent; fed with 
 *' cake and hay, and worked to the ist day of 
 " August 1802. 
 
 ** The cake these two oxen have eat, 
 ** Weio-hedout 1 000 lb. 
 
 'to 
 
 ** Now left - 1 
 
 45 
 
 8551b. » 
 
 '* I John Skyrme, of Strotton Sugwas, 
 ** in the county of Hereford, do hereby cer- 
 ** ti fy, that the two oxen which I sold Mr. 
 '* Byng on the 12th day of May 1802, were 
 *• bred by me, and worked in the yoke for 
 *' the space of three years preceding. 
 
 October 20, 1 8o2. " JoHN SkyRME.' 
 
 p 2 *• These
 
 ( '08 ) 
 
 ** These two reel oxen Were bought by 
 " me, Henry Coles, on February ii, 1802, 
 '* and since Lady-day have been worked by 
 '* my s'ervant, the bearer of this certificate, and 
 ** the same have been fed by me on grass and 
 " hay only, without any artificial food what- 
 ** ever. — As witness my hand, this 14th day 
 ** of February 1803, 
 
 *' Henry Coles.' 
 
 *' February 24, i8oa, sold Mr. Henry 
 '* Coles two red oxen, which were my own 
 ** breed at the parish of Stawley, in the 
 ** county of Somerset, which were constantly 
 ** kept to the plough to the last day of January 
 *' last, by straw, and without any artificial 
 *' food whatsoever. — As witness my h^nd, 
 *' this nth day of February 1803. 
 
 "J. W. Hellings.'^ 
 
 ** This is to certify, that the five South- 
 ** down wethers shewn by his Grace the 
 ** Duke of Bedford, for Lord Somerville*s 
 ** premium, were lambed on Maulden farm, 
 *' in March 1801 ; that they vyorked in the 
 ** f bid in 1 801, from May ist till JuJy 20'th^ 
 
 ** wher^
 
 ( 1^9 ) 
 •** when they were weaned, and have never 
 *' had oil-c^keor corn pf any description. 
 
 " Edmund Cartwright. 
 ** Thomas French." 
 
 ** This pen of ewe hoggets were dropt in 
 ** March; they went to fold in the middle of 
 ** April, and folded with their dams till the 
 *' beginning of November, invariably, when 
 *• they were put to turnips, where they have 
 ** been until last Wednesday : never have 
 ** had cither corn, cakes, or hay; when they 
 *• wxre taken from the flock, and drove to 
 ** Edmonton, where they have been until this 
 ** morning; their coats will inform the un- 
 *' congenialness of the soil, and an open com- 
 *' mon field. I shall again express my wish 
 * ' that they may not be put in competition with 
 ** park or paddock bred and fed, for the very 
 ** same reasons as expressed in the certificate 
 ** with my wether sheep. 
 
 ** Edward Smith, jur». 
 
 Clothalbury, 17th February 1803. 
 
 ** They have, agreeably to the proposal, 
 ** not been forced beyond the flock, nor have 
 * ' they had their coats smoothed by the scissars." 
 
 ^* This
 
 ( no ) 
 
 " This is to certify, that the five Soiith- 
 ♦• down wether sheep I offer for a premium 
 *' given by Lord Somerville, were bred by 
 *' Mr. Thomas Ellman, and self; are two 
 ** years ten months old; were kept with the 
 " flock, and folded the first year; since 
 *' which time they have been fed on grass and 
 *' hay till November last, wdicn they had 
 *' some turnips. 
 Feb. 28, 1803. ** John Ellman.'* 
 
 The oxen which his Majesty conde- 
 scended to exhibit, having no respite from la- 
 bour, and being grazed in Windsor Park, 
 could not be supposed, in point ot ripeness, to 
 compete with others grazed on better land : 
 they turned out, however, well when dead. 
 
 The Devon oxen, grazed by the Duke of 
 
 Bedford, which obtained the first prize, were 
 worked together with six others in the thrash- 
 ing-millj whether attracted by the principle 
 of this stupendous piece of machinery, or by 
 the uniformity, and, we may add, beauty, of 
 the team itself, certain it is, that of the various 
 exhibitions at the Woburn shearing in June, 
 this seemed to claim more than common at- 
 tention
 
 ( III ) 
 
 tention in the husbandmen of Norfolk, in 
 particular. We have noticed this with silent 
 delight, and hailed it as a most auspicious 
 omen. The husbandry ol that county wocild 
 be almost inimitable, if a due proportion of 
 its labour be performed by that which will 
 add to, rather than consume, the food of m.an. 
 
 The Kentish oxen, produced by Mr. 
 Millar, although heavier *Jian the stipulated 
 weight, could not be dismissed without some 
 acknowledgment of their merit. They la- 
 boured to the month of August last, and there- 
 by completely illustrated the principle aimed at 
 in this exhibition ; they were as fat as need 
 ever be seen on the stones of Smithfield ; 
 and in tlieir working state they must have 
 evinced that activity and just proportion which 
 would carry a loaded waggon to the top of any 
 hill, and excite surprise and wonder in those 
 who arc unaccustomed to the exertions of 
 oxen. 
 
 The Hereford oxen, grazed by Mr. Ed- 
 monds, as well as those grazed by Mr. M. 
 Webber, were much esteemed for the quantity 
 of labour, and the manner in which they bore 
 
 the
 
 ( "2 ) 
 
 the drift up when fat. The prize was secured 
 to Mr. Edmonds, his oxen not being over- 
 weight : they weighed, 
 St. lb. 
 
 Fore quarter 41 4 
 
 Ditto 4^ o 
 
 Hind quarter 38 o 
 Ditto 38 
 
 Y The yellow ox. 
 
 3j 
 
 J59 
 
 Fore quarter 41 
 Ditto . .41 
 Hind quarter 36 
 Ditto . . 37 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 156 
 
 2 
 
 Their rough fat amounted to 40 stone, 
 or i6oIb. each. 
 
 The yoke of Hereford oxen, bred by Mr. 
 Skyrme, were not only such as might be ex- 
 pected from his stock, but would have done 
 credit to any breeder in the kingdom. 
 
 The yoke of Devon oxen, grazed by 
 Mr, Hudson, could not be supposed to come 
 
 5 i»
 
 ( "3 ) 
 
 in competition with many others, for their 
 labour is incessant, and their hopes of 
 rest, except on Sundays, most feeble. Our 
 certificate of their labour done, equalled, 
 and, indeed, exceeded that of the last year; 
 we believe they were universally thought 
 to be creditable stock, yet had no hopes of 
 gaining either prize, and consequently no dis- 
 appointment : but as their proof has done cre- 
 dit to him who grazed them, for they had all 
 new flesh to lay in, as well as fat, it m,ay not 
 be amiss to state, that they carried 53 stone of 
 rough fat; that the kidnies were loaded, and the 
 flesh, or grain, ripe and well filled up with fat. 
 We were induced tolimit the weight of oxen ex- 
 hibited, from 100 to 160 stone (16 score per 
 quarter) on the presumption that cattle of these 
 weights were best adapted to quick motion com- 
 bined with strength, not aware that, in a period 
 often months, or less, they could be brought to 
 rharkct from labour, so ripe and perfect, as it now 
 appears they do come. The same reason which 
 then limited these weights to x 60 stone, now 
 justifies an increase of weight to 180 stone, 
 or 1 8 score per quarter, which alteration will 
 be announced for the show of the years 1 804-5. 
 
 Q. • If
 
 ( "4 ) 
 
 It is a matter of precaution again to de- 
 clare, that our only object is the introduction 
 of oxen in the labour of husbandry, and by 
 no means to advance one good working breed 
 at the expense of another : whether they come 
 from the East Riding of Yorkshire^ from 
 Scotland, from Shropshire, from Hereford- 
 shire, from North and South Wales, from 
 Devon and Somersetshire, or from Sussex and 
 Kent; all shall be welcome; and to all, as 
 far as human endeavours can go, shall justice 
 be done. 
 
 How many millions of money have beer> 
 expended in procurmg corn by importation, 
 within the last four years, and how cruelly 
 thousands of our fellow-subjects have suffered 
 from the want of bread, need not here be 
 urged, for the occurrence is too fresh in every 
 memory ; but we are bound to repeat what 
 has before been advanced, and without con- 
 tradiction; that taking the number of heavy 
 cart-horses at 500,000, which probably 
 comes far short of the actual number; and 
 admitting 200,000, from local circumstances, 
 to be useful, the remaining 300,000 totally 
 superfluous : the latter consume at the rate of 
 
 one
 
 The following it eight y 
 
 years ago. 
 
 To face page
 
 The following Tables are inserted ; they were first published by us about eight years ago. 
 
 TABLE FOR THE EQlULrZATION OF DIFFERENT WEIGHTS. 
 
 Scores, 
 
 Stones, 
 
 It 141b. 
 
 Stones, 
 
 at 8 lb. 
 
 Scotch Stones, i61b. 
 
 Hundred, It2lb. 
 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. 
 
 lb. 
 
 St. lb. 
 
 Cwt. qrs. lb. 
 
 20 equal 
 
 28 
 
 8 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 328 
 
 2S — 
 
 35 
 
 10 
 
 62 
 
 4 
 
 31 2 
 
 4 I 24 
 
 3° — 
 
 42 
 
 12 
 
 75 
 
 
 
 37 4 
 
 5 I 12 
 
 35 — 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 «7 
 
 4 
 
 43 6 
 
 610 
 
 40 — 
 
 57 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 7 i6 
 
 4S — 
 
 b4 
 
 4 
 
 112 
 
 4 
 
 56 2 
 
 804 
 
 5° — 
 
 71 
 
 6 
 
 125 
 
 
 
 62 4 
 
 8 3 20 
 
 
 z** 
 
 8 
 
 137 
 
 4 
 
 68 6 
 
 9 3 8 
 
 60 — 
 
 »5 
 
 10 
 
 150 
 
 
 
 75 
 
 10 2 24 
 
 65 - 
 
 Q2 
 
 12 
 
 162 
 
 4 
 
 81 2 
 
 II 2 12 
 
 70 — 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 >75 
 
 
 
 87 4 
 
 12 2 
 
 75 — 
 
 107 
 
 2 
 
 ,87 
 
 4 
 
 93 6 
 
 13 I 16 
 
 80 — 
 
 114 
 
 4 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 14 I 4 
 
 TABLE OF PRICES. 
 
 Scorn 
 
 3K 
 
 sM- 
 
 Sj'i. 
 
 ^. 
 
 4iJ. 
 
 4J''. 
 
 4}i 
 
 S''. 
 
 SH 
 
 sy- 
 
 sK 
 
 6J. 
 
 6Jd. 
 
 t¥- 
 
 ty. 
 
 7,/. 
 
 difference. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 S 
 
 'S 
 30 
 35 
 40 
 
 45 
 50 
 
 11 
 
 is 
 
 70 
 
 li 
 85 
 90 
 95 
 
 /. .. J. 
 
 ° 5 5 
 
 ols '3 
 I I 8 
 
 I r I 
 
 5 8 4 
 
 6 15 5 
 
 8 I 6 
 
 9 9 7 
 10 16 8 
 
 12 3 9 
 
 13 10 10 
 
 14 17 II 
 ■6 5 
 17 It I 
 .81, . 
 JO 6 3 
 
 M 13 4 
 
 23 J 
 
 =4 7 6 
 25 14 , 
 27 ■ 8 
 
 /. J. d. 
 s 10 
 II 8 
 
 17 6 
 ■ 3 4 
 
 1 9 ' 
 5 16 8 
 7 5 10 
 3 IS 
 
 ■ 4 1 
 11 13 4 
 13 2 6 
 
 \t'l,l 
 17 10 
 .8 ., 1 
 
 20 8 4 
 
 21 17 6 
 • 3 6 8 
 24 IS ■=> 
 2« 5 
 
 27 14 2 
 
 '9 3 4 
 
 6 3 
 
 1 12 6 
 
 18 9 
 
 1 5 
 
 e'; ^ 
 
 7 16 3 
 
 976 
 
 .0 .8 9 
 
 14 I 3 
 
 15 12 6 
 >7 3 9 
 18 15 
 
 20 6 3 
 
 21 17 6 
 23 8 9 
 
 25 
 
 26 II 3 
 
 28 2 6 
 
 29 13 9 
 31 5 
 
 I. 1. J. 
 068 
 
 13 4 
 
 1 6 8 
 
 I'.lt 
 8 6 8 
 
 II 13 4 
 
 13 6 8 
 
 18 6 8 
 
 21 13 4 
 23 6 8 
 
 25 
 
 26 13 4 
 28 6 8 
 
 30 
 
 31 '3 4 
 33 « 8 
 
 1. .. J. 
 
 ii \\ '\ 
 
 1% 6 8 
 
 /. /. <J. 
 7 6 
 
 IS 
 
 1 2 6 
 
 I 17 6 
 7 10 
 976 
 II s 
 
 13 2 6 
 
 15 
 
 16 17 6 
 .8 js 
 
 14 7 6 
 26 s 
 23 2 6 
 
 30 
 
 31 17 6 
 i3 'S ° 
 35 " « 
 37 10 
 
 /. .. J. 
 7 II 
 
 IS 10 
 ' 3 9 
 
 1 I. 8 
 t 19 7 
 7 18 4 
 9 17 " 
 
 II 17 i 
 13 17 1 
 ■ 5 "6 8 
 .7 .6 3 
 19 IS 10 
 21 15 5 
 23 15 
 '5 "4 7 
 27 14 2 
 29 13 9 
 3" '3 4 
 
 35 12 6 
 
 /. J. ^. 
 8 4 
 
 i< 8 
 
 1 5 
 
 1 13 4 
 
 2 I 8 
 8 6 8 
 
 10 8 4 
 
 !Jm 8 
 16 13 4 
 
 22 .8 4 
 
 :^ :? 
 
 29 3 4 
 
 1; ^ s 
 
 3! 8 4 
 
 15 m 8 
 41 13 4 
 
 /. I. ./. 
 8 9 
 
 17 6 
 
 1 6 3 
 1 IS 
 
 ihi ' 
 
 13 '2 6 
 >S « 3 
 17 10 
 19 13 9 
 21 17 6 
 
 14 I 3 
 26 5 
 28 3 9 
 30 12 6 
 32 16 3 
 35 
 37 3 9 
 39 7 6 
 41 II 3 
 Uj IS 
 
 1. s. d. 
 
 18 4 
 
 1 7 6 
 
 1 16 8 
 
 2 S '° 
 9 3 4 
 
 II 9 2 
 13 IS 
 16 10 
 18 6 8 
 20 12 6 
 22 18 4 
 25 4 2 
 27 10 
 29 IS 10 
 32 I 8 
 34 7 « 
 36 13 4 
 38 19 2 
 41 5 
 
 :?r8 
 
 /. t. J. 
 097 
 
 19 2 
 
 1 8 9 
 I 18 4 
 
 uv. 
 
 II 19 I 
 14 7 6 
 ■ 6 IS 5 
 '9 3 4 
 21 II 3 
 23 19 2 
 26 7 1 
 28 IS 
 31 2 II 
 33 '0 >o 
 35 '8 9 
 38 6 8 
 40 14 7 
 43 ' ' 
 45 'o 5 
 47 18 4 
 
 1. : d 
 
 /. J. rf 
 
 10 s 
 
 1 11 3 
 
 2 I 8 
 
 10 i 4 
 
 13 J 
 • S 12 6 
 IS 4 7 
 2o 16 8 
 23 8 9 
 26 10 
 iS 12 II 
 ji 5 
 33 >7 I 
 j6 9 2 
 39 ' 3 
 41 13 4 
 44 S 5 
 46 17 6 
 49 9 7 
 J. I 8 
 
 I. I. J. 1. 1. d 
 
 10 10 II 3 
 118126 
 
 1 12 6 I 13 9 
 
 2 3 4 » 5 
 2 14 2 » "S 3 
 
 10 16 8 II s 
 13 10 10 14 I 3 
 16 s 016 17 6 
 18 19 2 19 <3 9 
 
 24 7 625 6 3 
 
 2, I 828 2 6 
 29 IS ■030 18 9 
 32 10 033 -5 
 35 4 236 I. 3 
 37 '8 439 7 6 
 40 12 6 42 3 9 
 43 6 845 
 46 1047 16 3 
 48 IS 50 11 6 
 SI 9 > S3 8 9 
 54 3 4 5« 5 
 
 /. /. d 
 II 8 
 ■ 3 4 
 
 I'l t 
 2 >8 4 
 II 13 4 
 14 I. 8 
 17 10 
 20 I 4 
 =3 « 8 
 .S s 
 '9 3 4 
 32 I 8 
 3S 
 37 18 4 
 40 16 8 
 43 <i 
 46 13 4 
 49 •' 8 
 
 55 8 4 
 58 < i 
 
 /. I. d. 
 005 
 
 I 3 
 I S 
 
 8 \ 
 
 14 7 
 
 16 8 
 ?'o,o 
 
 • 5 
 
 1 7 1 
 I 9 J 
 I II 3 
 I 13 4 
 
 ;:5 1 
 1 19 1 
 
 t I 8 
 
 To face page 114.]
 
 ( "5 ) 
 
 one peck of corn per day for nine months in 
 the twelve, 6 2 bushels per annum*, which 
 nearly equals 36 bushels of wheat, equal to 
 the average bread of seven persons during the 
 whole year, whereby it cannot be denied that 
 300,000 cart-horses consume the bread- corn of 
 two million one hundred thousand persons ; 
 which, admitting the population to be ten mil- 
 lion of persons (Ireland not included), is more 
 than a fifth part of the whole, and a loss of more 
 than ten weeks* consumption of the whole ; 
 and which cannot have cost much less than 
 twenty millions of money. We also stated a 
 circumstance worthy to be repeated ; that in 
 the year 1754, the inordinj^te use of cart- 
 horses began to prevail, trespassing, in many 
 instances, on its natural inhabitant the ox: 
 about the very same year, our exports of corn 
 began to abate, and they have kept pace 
 with each other : in 1774, these exports, ex- 
 
 * This may be called by some a large allowance ; buj 
 with a less allowance of oats these immense animals cannot 
 be maintained in a stale of vigour suited to constant h- 
 hour : where owners have flattered themselves with sjjch 
 vain ideas, they would do well to look closely into the barn 
 produce ; it is considered as no crime to rob a master of 
 his wheat and barley to feed his own horses, when the 
 poof crc atures would have looked ill without it.
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 cept in an instance or two, ceased altogether : 
 from that time the import commenced, and 
 has, together with an immoderate use of cart- 
 horses, increased to this day. They have 
 gone hand in hand together. 
 
 This concurrence of facts and dates must 
 lead to deep reflection on a subject of the ut- 
 most importance, and induce us to follow, as 
 far as in our power lies, an example, not only 
 on a scale by far the largest in this kingdom, 
 but an example set us by the first, the wisest, 
 and the best man among us — the King. 
 
 The wools of some pens of wethers, as 
 well as ewe hogs, were valued at the request of 
 the judges; and from the adjudication of the 
 prizes it is obvious, that this important part of 
 the produce of our sheep did not pass unno- 
 ticed. 
 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Wilts wool .... 
 
 I 6 
 
 2. 
 
 Ellman South-down ditto 
 
 I II 
 
 3- 
 
 Woburn ditto . . . 
 
 2 O 
 
 4. 
 
 Maulden ditto . . . 
 
 2 I 
 
 5- 
 
 Runeiman ditto . 
 
 2 I 
 
 6. 
 
 Smith ditto .... 
 
 2 2 
 SPANISH
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 SPANISH CROSSES. 
 
 I St, With Ryeland 
 ad, With South-down. 
 
 ** The first we consider as the finest 
 
 hair ; but being more elastic, we think it has 
 
 less of the distinguishing character of Spanish 
 
 wool than the second. 
 
 ** Daniel Lloyd. 
 
 ** George Wansey." 
 
 It must not be supposed, that the average 
 value of the wool of each flock will be equal 
 to the above prices; the sheep were drawn out 
 with an attention to this particular point, and it 
 is probable the price will be found to exceed by 
 two-pence per pound, the prices which each 
 flock-master will obtain. We are induced to 
 throw out this hint, lest any person should think 
 his produce undervalued, and thereby overstand 
 his market. There is strong reason to believe, 
 that the manufacturers have, for three years 
 past, maintained a trade, which demands both 
 skill and capital, on very indifferent terms ; 
 and that their profits, notwithstanding cloths 
 have risen within the last four months is. 6d. 
 per yard, are scarcely seven per cent.; a return 
 
 wholly
 
 ( i>8 ) 
 
 "wholly inadequate to the risk and trouble irt- 
 curred. As we have heretofore resisted the 
 "vvanton attacks of the trade on our endeavours 
 to increase and improve the breeds of short- 
 wool slrcep, so again, motives of justice, as 
 -well as interest, dictate to us, that if too high 
 a price is set on the raw article, and an ade- 
 quate profit does not belong to the manufac- 
 turer, it may cease tobe manufactured altogether. 
 
 The half South-down and Spanish wool 
 was declared to be worth four shillings per 
 pound ; but taking into consideration the im- 
 mense profit we draw from these fleeces at 
 three shillings per pound, the quantity mate- 
 rially increased, and quality as materially im- 
 proved, we shall content ourselves with 
 such prices for the wool as will enable others 
 to draw their share of profit from it when sent 
 forth manufactured. 
 
 These efforts to improve the wools of 
 Great Britain by every possible means, origi- 
 nated in a fear, that the Merino wool might, 
 through the influence of France, either be denied 
 to us wholly, or might come so fettered by du- 
 ties and intermediate charges, as would para- 
 lyze
 
 ( '»9 ) 
 
 lyjze our manufactures, if not wholly destroy* 
 our trade. We have incurred the sneers of 
 thousands by such fears; an edict to this effect 
 has at length passed; a Weekly Journal, well 
 informedj in general, of what is passing oa 
 the Continent, says, in its Number of March 
 5th, 1803, *' Our dealers in Spanhh wool 
 *■*■ havCy to their great surprise, found that 
 *' there exists in Spain an edicts prohibiting^ 
 ** the exportation of woot\ except it be sold to 
 '* a Frenchman — and, we believe , unless it 
 ** be shipped first to France also.** 
 
 If this edict has passed, the most flippant 
 and sanguine speculator amongst us cannot con- 
 strue it otherwise than as a measure most hostile 
 to our trade ; we regret that it is so, but we draw 
 consolation from the contents of the foregoing 
 pages, which deal out, not opinion, but facts, 
 ■whichgo to prove, thatthis blow at our national 
 prosperity, like every other, may be warded off 
 — that it may be defeated by the spirited exer- 
 tions of the landed interest ; that we may, in 
 spite of the world, produce this treasure on our 
 ^tive soil. 
 
 The
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 The three year old, or six-tooth wethers, 
 exhibited by Mr. Ellman, were most generally 
 and deservedly admired ; any prize which they 
 eould have obtained, would not have been 
 equal to the merits of the sheep ; to him the 
 improvement of the South-down sheep, and 
 that within a very short period of time, is in 
 great part, if not wholly attributed. The ra- 
 pidity with which it is now followed up, can 
 be traced in the two pens of two year old we- 
 thers, exhibited by the Duke of Bedford : 
 this breed was not judged capable of coming 
 to market ripe enough at that early age. The 
 extension of stock in point of numbers, which 
 results from this improvement, is an incalcu- 
 lable benefit to the public ; and by those v/ho 
 are competent to judge, it is so understood. 
 Some eminent butchers in London have lately 
 been heard to say, that, whether from increase 
 of wealth, or other causes, so much more meat 
 is ftow consumed than was the case even 
 within their short remembrance; that the 
 town could not have been supplied on the old 
 system, and that if it had, mutton would now 
 have been sold at, perhaps, five shillings per 
 pound. 
 
 3 The
 
 ( '2' ) 
 
 The pen of Wiltshire three year old we- 
 thers, grazed by Mr. Chapman, were very 
 complete sheep of their kind: it is a breed 
 which works readily in the fold; and being pf 
 a large size may be supposed to pay in the 
 article of manure fpr living one year too long. 
 The pen of Ry eland three year old wethers, of 
 which we in a former passage promised to detail 
 the weights, having been fed on grass and hay 
 only, and exposed to the severity of the winter 
 on an unsheltered layer, must have wasted con- 
 considerably, more especially in the rough 
 fat : it is usually the last laid on, and the first 
 to decrease: the difference between a good 
 grazier and a bad one consists in knowing 
 what lean stock will get fat, and when it 
 shall afterwards reach the exact period of its 
 ripeness. They exceeded very little in size 
 those of the same lot, which were all killed in 
 September, but which did not die so ripe in 
 the fifth quarter. At that period, or in the 
 following month, it was acknowledged, that 
 these were at their best also; so that we ascer- 
 tain, by incontestable evidence, the size and 
 degree of ripeness which this breed of sheep 
 will attain in thirty months, however hard 
 
 R their
 
 
 ( 122 
 
 ) 
 
 
 
 
 their keep i 
 
 Tiay be, even 
 
 from the 
 
 time they 
 
 were dropped. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 St. lb. s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 /. 
 
 J-. ^. 
 
 One sheep 
 
 9 5 at 5 
 
 4 
 
 per St. 
 
 , 2 
 
 II 4 
 
 Fat . . 
 
 13-4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 5 8 
 
 One sheep 
 
 86-5 
 
 4 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 6 8 
 
 Fat . . 
 
 I 31- 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 5 II 
 
 One sheep 
 
 81-5 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 4 
 
 Fat . . 
 
 I 2I- 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 One sheep 
 
 92-5 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 
 
 9 4 
 
 Fat . . 
 
 I 2-4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 5 2 
 
 One sheep 
 
 8 3-5 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 8 
 
 Fat . . 
 
 I 0-4 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 4 2 
 
 Five heads 
 
 and plucks 
 
 
 i- 
 
 
 
 6 8 
 
 
 13 
 
 8 5 
 
 Five skins 
 
 
 
 X- 
 
 I 
 
 13 I 
 
 
 15 
 
 I 6 
 
 WEIGHT OF SHEEP. 
 
 Eighteen pounds per quarter; rough fat, 
 ten pounds each. The wool, selling as skin 
 wool, did not produce as much by some shiU 
 lings each fleece, as if it had been shorn. 
 The present value of the five sheep would be 
 more than three pounds each. 
 
 3 The
 
 ( 123 ) 
 The two-tooth Ryeland wethers, one 
 year younger, were sold the same week fat at 
 ^I. 5s. each, and died fuH as ripe as these 
 above;- this puts the matter in a very clear 
 point of view ; more especially when it is ob- 
 served, that the sheep were sold in the 
 country, at a distance of 160 miles from Lon- 
 don, where the price is materially less than in 
 the metropolis. 
 
 ' The half Ryeland and half South-down 
 wethers of the same age, being a new stock in 
 the market, have excited much attention : 
 those, we mean, which have been killed in 
 the country and sent up ; for the distance pre- 
 cludes all hope of sending up sheep alive, with 
 any advantage. Whether this stock, under 
 the adverse circumstances of feeding before 
 detailed, yields to any other breed in the pro- 
 perty of early ripeness, in small size of bone, in 
 the thickness and quality of meat on the back 
 and prime parts of the sheep, may be learnt 
 o{ many, who are reputed to be among the best 
 judges in this kingdom; we mean Messrs. 
 King and Boys, sheep salesmen; and Messrs. 
 Thomas, Giblet, Garment, and many other 
 butchers. Jf these sheep can come up thus 
 • * R. 2 ripe
 
 ( 124 ) 
 
 ripe from nineteen to twenty-two months 
 old, how much more perfect will they be 
 three months hence, when their fleeces are 
 taken off: their size adapts them in a peculiar 
 degree to the supply of that season of the year. 
 The struggle appears to be for early proof 
 and abundant supply ; and we have the autho- 
 rity of the most experienced to assert, that 
 those possessing Merino blood will not be last 
 in the race. — Nor is there any man bold 
 enough to Say that they will not be first, 
 when that attention shall be paid to the form 
 and outward pdints of this unimproved but 
 profitable race, without which true symmetry 
 }.s rarely if ever to be met with. 
 
 The
 
 ( >«5 ) 
 
 The principles which we shall never (^ase 
 to inculcate do not apply to any one exclusive 
 mode of farming; they do not uphold the 
 broad-cast against the drill, nor do they rnaiii- 
 tain the drill against the broad- cast ; they are 
 preparatory, and absolutely needful to both : wc 
 have used both, and avow no preference to 
 either. Various pieces of land were this season 
 sown; half of each broad-cast, and half drilled, 
 at nine inch intervals. Whatever doubts there 
 were as to the crops of corn, there were none 
 as to the goodness of the clover ; those, which 
 were broad-casted in the drill barley, far ex- 
 ceeded those seeded out in the broad-cast, at 
 the rate of ten pecks of barley per acre : we 
 must attribute this advantage, in a great de- 
 gree, to a more free admission of the sun 
 and air. Having heretofore noticed Mr. Bud- 
 den's statement of the comparative expense 
 of seed corn, broad-cast and drilled ; viz. fifty 
 acres of wheat, forty acres of barley, ten acres 
 of oats, twenty of peas, arid twenty of beans, 
 in the year 1801 ; total broad-cast charge 
 t\v6 hundred and sixteen pounds ten shillings, 
 seed wheat, at fourteen shillings a bushel — 
 with the same number of acres drilled and seed 
 corn at the same price, by which the saving 
 ;n seed cotn, on a hundred and forty acres of 
 
 land,
 
 ( 1^6 ) 
 
 land, amounted to one hundred and twenty-six 
 |5ounds ten shillings, in favour of the drill; 
 We think it right to give his return of the crop 
 of that year, which has some time ago been 
 sold ; and having stated the value and proper- 
 ties of the land, we studiously avoid tedious 
 controversial inquiries into the relative merits 
 of the two systems^ and leave the reader to 
 draw his own conclusions, and in secret to 
 compare this produce with his own. The 
 wheats averaged twenty-six bushels per acre, 
 forty-five acres having yielded just one 
 hundred and fifty- five quarters and three 
 bushels j the barleys sown after turnips 
 produced thirty-eight bushels and a half; 
 and those put in, like a bad farmer, as he is 
 pleased candidly to admit, after other corn 
 crops, just twenty-four bushels per acre. The 
 produce of i8o2 is expected to prove greater; 
 the wheats j although nearly one half were; 
 grown upon clover leys, where farmers 
 in that part of the country said, it Was 
 impossible to grow wheat, are averaged at 
 twenty-eight bushels per acre, except one 
 very poor field, valued at seven shillings 
 per acre, produce about fourteen or sixteen 
 bushels per acre. The barleys are judged 
 to average more than forty bushels, or five 
 
 quarters
 
 ( 127 ) 
 
 quarters per acre. *• Twenty-eight bushels 
 ** of wheat, or forty bushels of barley per acre, 
 '* will, I know,** says Mr. B. *' be consi- 
 ** dered by our great drill advocates as nothing; 
 " but as 'the compecition between the drill and 
 '■* the broad-cast husbandry can only fairly be 
 *' ascertained, where crops are taken from lands 
 ** nearfy of the same quality, I think 1 have 
 *' every reason to be satisfied with the system 
 ** I novv pursue ; for in no one instance, where 
 ** I have been able to get a true account of the 
 '■* broad-cast crops of this neighbourhood, even 
 ** allowing the soil to be of somewhat a supe- 
 *• rior quality, have I discovered the average 
 *' produce for the last two years to be equal 
 *' to what I have stated.*' Four acres of his 
 last year's crop of wheat, 1802, from three 
 feet lands, were put into a barn alone (these 
 were not acres measured from the middle of the 
 piece of land, but included the head lands), and 
 threshed immediately after harvest; the produce 
 156 bushels, or 39 bushels per acre. The land 
 which grew it was not worth thirty shillings 
 per acre: the fields adjoining it were, a very 
 few years ago, valued at twenty-five shillings 
 per acre, which is the average value of Mr. 
 Budden's lands, bearing the clover ley wheat 
 of 1801 ; his purchase of manure for these 
 
 crops
 
 ( 128 ) 
 
 crops did not amount to twenty pounds ster- 
 ling, and more than half the wheat crop had 
 never heen manured since the estate came into 
 his hands, or for many years before. Every 
 man who knows him, will give ample credit 
 to the truth and correctness of his statement, 
 but should any person be disposed to doubt, 
 he has expressed his readiness to give access to 
 his books, with reference to the persons to 
 whom his crops of that year were sold. We 
 again examined the crops on this estate, in the 
 month of August last ; and taking into consi- 
 deration the nature of the land, found them 
 such as any good husbandman would be proud 
 to call his own. His turnips, one piece in parti- 
 cular, drilled in like manner on three feet rows *, 
 had more strength and more busy growth than 
 any other crop we saw, journeying an hun- 
 dred miles from thence. It since appears, that 
 they did not fail during the dry month of Sep- 
 tember, when so many were destroyed, but 
 turned out in feeding a very great crop. 
 
 The author of the New Farmer's Calen- 
 dar, in his preface to the fifth edition of that 
 
 * Two rows at nine inches apart, on three feet 
 lands ; the interval, therefore, under correction of the 
 plough or broad hoe, is 27 inches, 
 
 work,
 
 ( 129 ) 
 
 work, having been pleased to speak of the 
 quick return of capital expended on a dairy 
 farm of ours, of which the greater part was 
 two years ago a morass, we hope for indul- 
 gence if we here insert the account, with a 
 view to pomt out the injury which the com- 
 munity, as well as individual proprietors, 
 derive from joint possession of land, and 
 with a view to deter others from incurring 
 the heavy charges of under-ground and stone 
 draining, until they hav-e first ascertained the 
 dead water which will draw off by opening 
 in a proper manner the ditches round each 
 piece of land ; a measure, independent of the 
 benefit derived to the land, necessary to the pre- 
 servation of the hedge itself, where cattle are to 
 be depastured. 
 
 Between eight and nine acres only have 
 been hollow drained ; the stones were not far 
 distant, and carried by contract, therefore the 
 expense was comparatively light, about four- 
 teen pounds per acre. Six acres are left in their 
 natural state; not as evidence of what the rest 
 were, but because they contain in varioys 
 parts peat, or turf, very large quantities of 
 which are about to be burnt for the purpose 
 of top-dressing, and of manuring for the 
 
 s turnip
 
 ( ^3o ) 
 
 turnip crop. On this account, these few acres 
 far exceed in value any others on the estate, 
 yet the peat forms no part of the following 
 valuation, but is considered as swampy dairy 
 ground . 
 
 Where the spine was considered to be in- 
 curably coarse, it was pared and burnt at the 
 rate of fifty shillings per acre, or nearly that: 
 the land was then winter fallowed, and is now 
 in complete order for cropping. For many 
 years to come, this land has strength enough 
 to bear the round course of beans, wheat — 
 beans, wheat — beans, wheat; — but it will be 
 brought into the four course of beans^ — wheat 
 — cabbage — oats — on account ot wintering 
 better the young stock. 
 
 The dairy is let out to a dairy-man, ac- 
 cording to the approved practice of our country, 
 vvho brings security for payment of rent, 
 we finding cows and an adequate keep for 
 them during the year as for our own use, at 
 eight guineas each cow, first caivers included. 
 The stock is of the smallest and best breed of 
 tlie country, called Devons; and such calves 
 as we wish to rear, wc are allowed to wean at 
 fourteen days old; the calves getting the w'hole- 
 
 I . ^flush
 
 ( '3< ) 
 
 flush of milk until that time ; and for them 
 we pay one pound eight shillings each, to the 
 dairy-man, when taken away; by which 
 means, being in a tillage country, and highly 
 stocked with sheep, wx are not embarrass- 
 ed with any young stock which is not of 
 the most kindly nature. The whole of this 
 land, now pared and burnt, was not valued at 
 more than seven shillings per acre, two years 
 ago; it is probably now worth thirty shil- 
 lings per acre, and cheap in the money. The 
 remainder is rendered sound by opening 
 <i itches to such depths as were deemed advi- 
 sable, always keeping them narrow at the bot- 
 tom, to prevent cattle from getting a footing 
 therein, by which means they cannot break 
 over and destroy the fence. In cutting through 
 the second vein of clay, which was not a 
 thick stratum, but lay about three feet and ,\ 
 half deep, the water burst out in such quanti- 
 ties for fiveor six days, as was judged effectually 
 to relieve the whole of that part of the estate ly- 
 ing almost on a level. When the lands are more 
 dry, and as they become so, there is water at 
 hand in plenty to irrigate them : many pieces 
 are already becoming excellent water meadow. 
 Salt has produced more effect, on the hay cut 
 s 2 from
 
 ( 132 ) 
 
 from these lands, than on that which was cut 
 from water meadows on lighter sub-soils, worth 
 two pounds ten shillings per acre, although 
 the quantity of salt was equal. The hay 
 made in the year 1801, was not thought 
 worth salting; and not having strength enough 
 to ferment, became mouldy, and is now used 
 for litter. The hay made from the same lands 
 in 1802, is that of which we have just now 
 been treating ; the best evidence we can bring 
 of the improvement derived from the removal 
 of dead pent-up water*. 
 
 The estate, of which this dairy farm 
 formed a part, was let at Michaelmas 1800, 
 for the intirety at one hundred and sixty-eight 
 pounds per annum, when one undivided third 
 v/as purchased at two thousand pounds. It 
 was immediately relet, and on very easy terms, 
 
 * A similar improvement is to be found on the 
 estate of Mr. Thomas Crook, of Titherton, near Chippen- 
 ham, effected by judiciously spining a ditch to a great 
 depthj until that vein of clay was cut through which con- 
 fined the water. The extent to which it operated was 
 said to have been proved by a considerable decrease of 
 water in all the neighbouring wells, and a consequent 
 increase of value in the grazing land to a great amount. 
 
 at
 
 ( ^33 ) 
 at four hundred pounds per annum, subject 
 only to the land tax, which is not highly rated, 
 but heavily burdened with the poor rates. 
 Advance of rent, two hundred and thirty-two 
 pounds per annum — increased value in perpe- 
 tuity, four thousand six hundred pounds; 
 since which time, by improvements on the 
 dairy farm, which amounted in cost to one 
 hundred and eighty-one pounds three shillings 
 and six-pence *j and from other causes, the 
 whole is now worth five hundred pounds per 
 annum, and is considered to be cheap in tha?: 
 money. If sold at the former rent of one hun- 
 dred and sixty-eight pounds, at thirty years* 
 purchase, it amounted to five thousand and 
 forty pounds, present value, five hundred 
 pounds per annum, at thirty years' purchase, 
 worth in fee, fifteen thousand pounds'. 
 
 It is not to be inferred from this advance 
 of rent, that the lands are screwed up to a va- 
 lue which the average of prices will not bear ; 
 
 £. s. d. 
 * iioo Rope(2o feet)ofdraining,at 2s. 2d. 119 3 4 
 
 Paring and burning 14 acres, at 4d. per yard, 
 
 burning included — — 37 6 8 
 
 658 Rope ditching, at gd. — — 24 13 6 
 
 /. 181 3 6 
 they
 
 ( '34 ) 
 
 they were let, for the most part, to one tenant; 
 they are now in the hands of severah When the 
 clog of joint property was removed, they in- 
 stantly rose to their natural and relative value: 
 it is a question of possession, not of advanced 
 rental. The estate has the advantage of being 
 situated near a town ; which, although not very 
 considerable in size, yet had much effect on its 
 value. The seller of the undivided third part 
 asked such a price as a liberal man would under 
 such circumstances demand, and it was imme- 
 diately given : he allowed the purchaser to make 
 three pounds ten shillings per cent, on the ex- 
 isting rent, whilst he made five pounds per 
 cent, of the money in the funds, or on mort- 
 •niee. The tenants are said to be well satis- 
 fied with their leases ; and so long as wheat 
 shall sell at seven shillings and six-pence per 
 bushel, barley at four shillings, and other 
 produce in the same proportion, so long will 
 this estate never want tenants. 
 
 Whatever our exertions in England may 
 be to improve our soil and to promote the na- 
 tional husbandry to the utmost, they will be 
 far outdone by that unexampled spirit which 
 pervades every rank of landed proprietors of 
 Ireland : there are not less than ten thou- 
 sand
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 sand members, and thirty societies, in different 
 parts of the kingdom, all connected with, and 
 assisted by the funds of the great farming society 
 of Ireland, from whence premiums are offered an- 
 nually to the amount of twelve hundred pounds, 
 for the improvement of stock and implements, 
 and for other purposes of active and immediate 
 utility : the value of land and its daily rise will 
 best bespeak the sense that country has of these 
 operations. Had such an advance in the price 
 of land taken effect some years hence, people 
 might have argued that it arose from an in- 
 crease of capital vested in trade circulating 
 itself, as the capitals of Glasgow have done over 
 the western counties of Scotland, producing a 
 like improvement ; but no increase of trade 
 can have had tims to operate on the landed in- 
 terest of Ireland, and the advance in value of 
 its land has depended on itself alone. 
 
 Similar provincial societies, in like man- 
 ner connected with one central establishment 
 under the sanction of Government, we proposed 
 some years ago. Obvious as their advantages 
 must have been, many wise heads decided that 
 the measure was fraught with danger to the 
 state : to convene twenty or thirty persons in 
 
 different
 
 ( 136 ) 
 
 different districts of the country twice or thrice 
 a year, unarmed, to discuss and decide on sub- 
 jects of notorious utility, was deemed perilous; 
 when the very same men, who must of neces- 
 sity, together with a few of our gentry and 
 cleigy, compose these meetings, are embodied 
 as volunteers, are entrusted with arms, and, 
 after a probation of eight years, have been 
 hailed with one voice the support and orna- 
 ment of our constitution : whilst in Ireland, 
 where the sword of rebellion is scarcely 
 sheathed, such an establishment, instituted by 
 its most distinguished statesmen, and sup- 
 ported by the most loyal subjects it possesses, 
 is daily proving itself a blessing to that coun- 
 try, inasmuch as it must and does promote in- 
 dustry, which is the parent of peace. 
 
 To carry such measures into effect unsup- 
 ported, can be the work of no individual — ex- 
 cept in this instance, all that which we have 
 promised we have performed ; what has re- 
 quired caution, expense, labour, and vexation 
 enough, to bring to bear, has been demon- 
 strated to the eyes of thousands. There is 
 a pride, and, we trust, an honest one, in per- 
 fecting that which we have been induced to 
 
 undertake ;
 
 ( ^7 ) 
 
 undertake : having done so, whilst we keep 
 an eye on those, who, from unworthy motives, 
 mislead the public, we commit these subjects 
 into the hands of others. — There are hun- 
 dreds ready to do them justice. 
 
 The lud. 
 
 Lately published hy the same Author ; 
 THE SYSTEM 
 
 FOLLOWED DUKING THE TWO L/VST YEARS BY THE 
 
 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 
 
 FURTHER illustrated; 
 
 With Disserratiops on the Growth and Produce of Sheep and 
 Wool, as well Spanish as English ; also, Observations upon the 
 Poor, and Foor Laws, to which are added, RemarKS on the Modes 
 of Culture, and Implements of Husbandry, used in Portugal. By 
 John, Lord SoM£RviLL£. Withplates. 8vo. price 7s. boards, 
 second Edition.
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 34, Hne 7, dele the comma afttr quarter, 
 
 36, — l8j Jor I, read, we. 
 
 57, — 1, /or spine, rM^, chine. 
 
 60, — 5, for fleece, read, fleeces, 
 
 69, — 12, for be, rwi/, lie. 
 
 82, — 24, put the asterism after wheat etch. 
 
 89, — I'i, for arable, read, convertible. 
 
 103, — 1 1, for three one, read, three tS)fif, 
 
 1x3, — 1 1, for lay iVj, r^flr/, lay en. 
 
 J20> — 23, /ier not, rtadf hardly 
 
 S. GosNtLL, Printer, 
 Litt4« Queen Street, Hoiborn.
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 Series 9482 
 
 I
 
 000 562 936