A Treatise On Sheep

“The truth of the Greek p truth of the Greek proverb, that “a great book is a great evil,” is no where more apparent than in the construction of works on agricultural concerns. Those who have attended to the subject well know, that the profitable management of live-stock is by far the most difficult branch of farming, as it is here that improvement is peculiarly tardy ; and from this we might infer that authors would endeavour so to arrange and simplify their treatises as to enable ever y one to obtain the bearings of the study at the smallest possible expense and trouble. Such, however, is not the case. Many would appear to have done their best so to dilute and mystify the little which is known about the matter, that it is nearly impossible for any one, not gifted with more than ordinar y power of application, to arrive at any thing like just conclusions. To avoid this error has been my object in the following pages. Such points only as are of real importance have been noticed; ever y thing having been rejected which could not admit of a practical application.”