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1803.] On the Vatuc'‘of Sheep,as fattening Stock. 169

made their appearance, for a time he very probably might have succeeded.;

As a very great proportion of the sheep stock in Norfolk consists of the Leicester and South-down breeds, I have had many opportunities of observing the comparative increase of each, and I assert that it 1s not only improbable but absolutely impossible that a healthy Leicester sheep should not gain more than 20lbs. in 48 weeks, where a South-down of the same age would gain 86lbs. and in this assertion I am confident I should be supported by the most-zealous advocates of the lat- ter breed. Iam convinced they are both very valuable breeds of sheep, and that we are under great obligations to Mr. Coke, to whosÈ meritorious exertions we are almost exclusively in- debted for their introduction into this county; and I have lit- Ue doubt that one of them will, by the Duke of Bedford’s ex- periment, be proved the most profitable in the possession of this island.

As you very properly observed, in a note, the nett produce of ihe ſive Mendip sheep, instead of 31. 17s. 4d. as is stated in the extract, is 41.78. 4d. which places them next on the list to the Dorsets, whose produce was 41. 8s. 9d. and making allowance for the additional quantity of ſood consumed by the lat- ter, the former will be ſound by far thé most profitable sheep. From the 3d to the 10th of April the Dorsets eat of cabbages 29 Ibs., of hay 123Ibs.; from the 20th to the 27th of June, of vetches 10501lb.; from the Ist to the 8th of December, of cabbages 520Ib., of hay 43#1bs.; the whole of which amounts to 555 lbs. of cabbages, 1050 of vetches, and 1662 of hay; whilst the Mendips in the same time consumed only 446 lbs. of cabbages, 1281 of hay, and 870 of vetches; not s0 much by more than a fifth; consequently there might have been six of the Mendips kept upon the food which waz consumed by the five Dorsets, whose produce would have amounted to 51. 4s. 9dz1., exceeding that of the Dorsets by 16s. 02d. Most probably had Mr.'Billingsley's communica- tion been examined before the Bath Society, an error s0 ob- vious would have been immediately detected; and had it been s0 clearly’demonstrated that the Mendip was s0 much the most profitablè breed of sheep, I have not the least doubt that long before this time they would have been dispersed over the whole kingdom, and that the Mendip Tup Society would have exceeded in opulence their brethren in Leicestershire.

It was with great pleasure I saw that Dr. Parry’s sheep ob- tained a prize at the last meeting of the Bath Society, and that pleasure would be much increased by seeing his promised an- swer to Practicus. Ï Famis Sits

Neighbourhood of Holkham, Your obedient Servant, March 16, 1803. A NORFOLK FARMER.