OF WESTMORELAND-, Z09

commons; but while theſe laſt continue in their preſent deplorable fate, it would be in vain to attèmpt any altera- tion upon their ſocks, The ca e, however, 1s different with ftore farms properly ſo called, where the breed or treatment of the ſheep differs very little from that of thoſe Upon commons, although there can be no reaſonable doubt of their being well adapted to the keeping a’ far more profitable fort than is to be found there at preient. There is no weight whatever in the argument which has been often uſed againſt the introdudion of ſuch a breed from the ſcarcity of food and the coldnefßs of the climate, the Britiſh Wool Society having proved that©“ the fineſt

+ breeds of Spain or of England will thrive on the wil-|

““ deſt of the Cheviot hills, and that very fine-woolled “s breeds may be propagated on the moſt mountainous di- <c ftriéts of Scotland.” There are numbérs of ſheep at the Feroe iſlands, which lie in latitude 63, and even in Iceland, part of which is beyond the Ardtic circle; they are to be found in great abundance on every farm; and there Nature ſportein a great ſuperfluity of horns, as if the ſcanty pittance of food which the animal can pick up in that bleak and frozen climate were more than ſufi- cient íor the ſupport of the carcaſe and the fleece.

Thé extenſive and valuable commons of W eſtmore- land loudly demand the interpofition of the legiílature in a2 country that boaſts of attention to its intereſt. Some immediate alteration in their ſtate, whether by diviſion or by ſale, cannot be too eagerly purſued, nor too ſtrongly inculcated; nor can it be too generally made known, thac there are many wealthy peopte living near ſome of the beſt commons in the county,(which is a point of great importance) who do not think it worth while to avail themfelves of their right of paſturage.

Every perſon ſees the neceſſity of ſome material change with regard to the commons; and now that thinking men

X 3: are y i S—= S H E y en rms R E E EE- am—— A Es