54 AGRIOCULTURAL REPORT.

The natural configuration of this vast region is not the least of the many desirable advantages it presents. It is situated many hundred feet above tide-water, fanned by the purest atmosphere, and sup- plied with innumerable salubrious streams. Having a high and dry range, so conducive to the healthfulness of sheep, and presenting a succession of mountain and valley, it affords the most ample defence against the heat of summer, as well as the bleak winds of winter. Artificial protection, indispensable at the North, yet so apt to induce disease, is thus rendered unnecessary in this more favored situation.

These valleys, or mountain gorges, are most prolific in a variety of herbage suitable for sheep, and, during winter, they afford a supply of pasturage so abundant that very little additional food is required. Especially is this the case when a portion of the range is reserved for the winter season, which is the proper course. Hence,

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the sheep have access to a continuous supply of green food, by which the secretory organs are retained in full action, and an uninterrupted growth of wool is promoted; while cases of constipation, frequently fatal at the North, by reason of sudden changes from green to dry food, are unknown here, there being scarcely a day in the year in which sheep cannot find sufficient green food to keep their digestive organs in healthy condition.

Many of the more elevated portions of this region are so naturally disposed to grass that it is only necessary to clear out, the under- growth-which can be done at an expense of about S2 per acre— when the indigenous grasses, such as Timothy, blue-grass, white clover,&c., will immediately spring up and take possession of the land. There are few ranges of any extent that do not furnish ample quantities of arable land for all the purposes of the sheep-farmer; and they frequently include a fair proportion of excellent meadow land. The soil in this region is generally good, and it is by no means uncommon to find it fertile even to the tops of the mountains; and although there are to be found considerable bodies of thin soil, yet even these are more disposed to the production of grass than lands of a better quality further south.

This thin soil is generally of loose texture, and, therefore, liable to be washed off by rains, unless appropriated to grass. The common sodge is the kind usually found upon it. When this is burned off, in early spring, a luxuriant range is afforded for sheep during the sum- mer. It is not advisable precipitately to substitute the cultivated grasses on this land, since it is not capable of growing them success- fully. By burning off the dry and decaying growth of the previous year, when its accumulation interferes with a succeeding growth, and close depasturing for a few years, the sedge will gradually give way to the more valuable grasses. It is well known to all sheep-farmers that, when lands are freely pastured by sheep, their capacity for producing grass is much assisted, as by close grazing the morèe useless grasses, briars,&c., are subdued, and the desirable descriptions allowed to strengthen their hold, and this, together with the tramp- ing t the land and the droppings of the sheep. induces a more dense sward.

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