From the data which have been given, the important and difficult point respecting the number of sheep in this country may be ascertained, with as near an approxima tion to the truth as can be expected on such a subject ; the following table will exhibit the result : Number of long woolled sheep, 4,153,308 Number of short woolled do. . 14.854,299 Total number shorn, -- 19,007,60' Slaughter of short woolled sheep per annum, . . . . 4,221,748 Carrion of do. 211,087 Slaughter of long woolled do. . 1,180,413 Carrion of do. 59,020 Slaughter of lambs, . . . . 1,400,560 Carrion of do. 70,028 7,140,856Total number of sheep and lambs in England, 26,148,463 As the number of lambs yenned, on an average, in the course of the year, is calculated to amount to 7,002,802, and it is seen above, that the number of slaughtered and carrion sheep and lambs, annually, on an average, amounts to 7,142 856, it would indicate an annual decrease of 140,054 ; and certainly, from all accounts, the sheep stock of this kingdom is not so great as it was some years ago, though the decrease may not be in quite so large a proportion.
The grand result of these investigations, that the num ber of sheep in England and Wales does not much ex ceed 26 millions, and that the produce of fleece is not annually 400,000 packs, we must acknowledge is at variance with the general opinion on this most important subject, which estimates the produce of England and Wales at 600,000 packs, and increases the number of sheep nearly in the same proportion ; but this opinion either rests on no specific and particular data, or it is grounded on an erroneous estimate of the quantity of land in England and Wales, and, in the next place, on an overcharged calculation of the quantity of stock kept per acre. We have already had occasion to point out the error in the estimate of the quantity of land in this kingdom, which reckons it considerably above 40 mil lions of acres. The number of acres capable of sup porting sheep certainly cannot be supposed much to ex ceed 32 millions of acres ; the quantity of stock per acre has been averaged from the average stock of the dif ferent counties, by Mr Luccock, in his " Treatise on English Wool," whom we have followed through all these details, with great confidence, from a well-founded opinion of his minute and extensive knowledge on this important subject ; and, with him, we have no doubt, that the estimate of 600,000 packs of wool, as the annual pro duce of England and Wales, is far above the truth, and that it does not reach 400,000 packs.
The original and established breeds of cattle, with their permanent varieties at present in England, are the fol lowing : First, the Devonshire ; from these are derived the Herefordshire, the old red cattle of Gloucestershire, and the Sussex. The Devonshire are admirably calcu
lated for draught, and fatten easily ; they are a most beautiful and well-formed animal : they are chiefly found in the county from which they take their name. The Herefordshire are rather larger than the Devonshire, but similar to them in most of their qualities ; the cows yield a large portion of rich milk ; they also are princi pally met with in the county from which they derive their name. At this time, it is difficult to find any spe eimens of the old variety of the Gloucestershire reds, which seem to have been a mixed breed from the De vonshire and Welsh cattle. The Sussex cattle are in high estimation for beef and labour; and with respect to milk, they excel the Devonshire and Herefordshire. They are a mixed breed, having been produced by a cross ing of Welsh cattle. They are principally found in Sussex and Kent: in the former county, oxen arc more used for draught than in most parts of England; great numbers of them arc fattened in the marshes and mea dows. In Kent are also found a different kind of cattle, called the Kentish home breed, which are well adapted for the dairy ; they are of a mixed breed, the Sussex being most predominant, crossed with the Welsh, Al derney, &c.
The next breed consists of the Welsh mountain and lowland cattle ; those of Glamorganshire are in high re pute for draught ; they resemble the cattle of Norman dy. The Pembrokeshire somewhat resemble those of Glamorganshire, but they are not equally valuable. The next Welsh county in which the best breed of the prin cipality occur, is Cardigan ; but varieties of this breed arc found all over Wales, and in most of southern counties of England; they are in general quick feeders.
The next are the Lancashire, and north-western and midland country long horns: they were originally con fined to Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, from whence they spread to the south, into the counties of Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Stafford, Warwick, Northampton, and Buckingham. It is rather a singular circumstance, that the neck of land, containing Lanca shire and Cumberland on the western, and Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, on the eastern coast, should have been the parent country, both of the long horned and short-horned cattle ; the latter extending from Northumberland southward, to the county of Lincoln. It was on the Lancashire long-horned, that Mr Bakewell made his experiments for the improvement of cattle, and the result was the new Leicester variety, which are cal culated solely for the grazier, the old breed retaining their superiority in the dairy. The former are in great request in almost all parts of the kingdom.