On the Breed of Sheep.[Mays

by Mr. Bartley; and, in Several vespects his experiment is more jJudicious almost than any otber I have been informed ef through the medium of any agricultural publicatiop. He weighed the Sheep, and(for Some time) their food, and, So far, proceeded upon a just principle. 1 objected to Mr. Young's experinient not only on account of the paucity of the Sheep, but because he did not weigh their food. And upon the Same principle I would have objected to that pro- posed by Mr. Bartley, had he offered to extend it zufiiciently. E would have objected to the age at which he proposes its commencement: for at that age, or a few months more, the Leicester Sheep, if properly Supported, would be compleatly fat, and eonsequently would not improve in the Same propor- tion, as the emall Sheep. Beides, if he and I agree relative to the conditions of a comparative experiment, one of them would probably, bind us to conduct neither in his nor my district.

That it is of very great cansequence in all countries where the inhabitants consume animal food, but more especially in Such countries as this, where the produce of human food is inadequate to its own conzumption, to prefer the breeding of those animals which arrive Soonest at maturity, is a posSition which will Scarcely be contradicted. I Shall, therefore, not enceroach; at present, upon your valuable pages, by defence of it.

It appears equally clear that when animals have so nearly reached the ze plus ultra of improvement as well bred and properly managed Leicester Sheep at from fifteen to twenty months old, it 1s highly injudicious to use them in a compa- rative experiment against Sheep of other breeds which do not attain maturity till they are much older, and which at the commencement of the trial, are in little more than common Store condition. Yet our great advocates for the smallest breeds, always wish to begin experiment after the Sheep are Once or twice Shorn, in other words, when they ought to be ft for the butcher.

' Six different sorts of Sheep were employed in Mr. Billings» tey's experiment, viz. 5 Leicester from Mr. More, of Charlcote, Warwickshire,» 5. Cotswold. from Mr. Pacey, of North Leach Gloucester» Shire.(three fourthtis Leicester blood) 53 South Downs from Mr. Gale, of Stert, Wilts. 5 Dorset irom Mr. Hix, Castle Cary, Somersetshire, 5 Wilts from Mr. Tinker, Chittern, Wilts, 5 Mendip from Mc. Parsons, Blagdon, Somerset. This experiment commenced when the heep were one year