The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-03-13 00:00:00

To the Edigar al the Dorset County Exprese mut
Agricultural Gazette.

Dorchester, 12th Much, 1860.

Sia,—Some years ago I come to the conclusion
that mutton would be very dear, and then many
of my friends tried to persuade me that such would
not be the case; but time has proved that I was
right I will now say how I arrived at this, in order
to show why it must continue to be dear. In the
first place. I will take the common rule, "supply and
demand." and • very little inquiry will show that for
some year, past the manufacturing and other labour:
jig part of the population have been improving their
position, and have in consequence been enabled to
live better. This being the case, it requires no con•
juror to show that the demand for mutton has been
greatly increased, and without the possibility of a
larger supply (which I will presently endeavour to
show would take many years to bring about) this in-
crease of demand, without any material addition to
the supply, is the sole cause of the high price.
Why it must be so fora very long time will, I
think, be dearly seen by taking it for granted that
this demand will not abate, and by coupling with it
the impossibility of increasing our flocks to anything
like the required number, which impossibility I will
endeavour to prove in this way —The life of a sheep
is not a long one—five yams being generally thought
to be the tan that. they should be kept, as aft" that
they low their teeth, nod are not so valuable for fat-
tening purposes; eo the leverage number of lambs each
will produce will be four, mid • this will leave only.
two ewe lambs to supply the peoll the old sheep.
Then, remembering tWicitice wiD die, some be unlit
for keeping, and sotnethtliettkirien (and these will
not be a few during tau sg, t Will Im sufficient to
prove that the breeditt -*wit be increased
very rapidly, but is the w Imlay years.
This will also apply to other countries, so we need
net anticipate soy gnat. impsdatiou except at the
present and similar high liguretc
NOW, in order to talcs proper advantage of this, so
as to make it profitable, the ;rend point to aim at is
to produce as much sheep•kenp is possible, by break.
jog up the old downs ; sad 'by a greater outlay hi
labour, make them more productive, and by growing
a less number of acres of coni,,in prier to bring the
land more frequently under mote and -other green
crops, which will be improving.the.seil, and in many
cases more corn will be grows, notwithstanding the
acreage being lees. Then the present great object will
be attained, I mean that of producing is greater weight
of mutton; for although we cannot increase the num-
ber of sheep, we can make them carry a greater
weight ; and as meat is sold by the pound, it will, I
think be readily men that this is the proper mode of
proceeding, for if stock sheep Sr. dear, the most pro-
fitable way must be to make them as heavy as possible
for the butcher. Ido not mean from this to infer
that they should be kept longer than one or two
years, for I am a great 'advocate for early
_maturity,
but that they should consume as much food as will
produce the greatest quantity of flesh and fat in •
reasonable time, and as time is money, they must not
be very long in arriving at perfection. I will here
add that it has been said that the great error is this,
by killing young sheep instead of old ones, as was
formerly the plan, the stock cm hand diminishes; and
as this must be of national importance, I will say, in
order to prove that no alarm need be felt, that the
average weight of the young sheep killed at the pre-
sent day exceeds that of the old ones in former
years.
I trust it will be seen from these remarks that
mutton at 9d. per lb. (the present price,) must be re-
munerative, and that it will continue very dear. and
that every attention should be paid to the production
of green crops so as to force the available number of
sheep to as great a weight as possible, always having
an eye to early maturity, knowing well that a quick
return is the beat one for profit. By carrying out
these plans the consumer will reap benefit as well as
the producer.
_ . _

I somuan, Sin,

infer