As soon as the warm weather approaches, and the grass appears, sheep become restive and impatient for the pasture. This instinct should be repressed till the ground has become thoroughly dry, and the grass has acquired substance. They ought, moreover, to be provided for the change of food, by the daily use of roots for a few days before turning out. It would also check the tendency to excessive purging, which is induced by the first spring feed, if they were housed at night, and fed for the first few days with a little sound, sweet hay. They must be provided with pure water, salt, &c., as in winter, for though they may sometimes do tolerably well without either, yet thrift and freedom from disease are cheaply secured by this slight attention. Dry, sweet pastures, and such as abound in aromatic and bitter plants, are best suited for sheep-walks. No animal, with the exception of the goat, crops so great a variety of plants. They eat many which are rejected by the horse and the ox, and which are even essential to their own wants. In this respect, they are valuable assistants to the husbandman, as they feed greedily on wild mustard, burdocks, thistles, marsh-mallows, milkweed, and various other offending plants; and the Merino exceeds the more recent breeds in the variety of his selections. Many prepare artificial pastures for their flocks. This may be done with a number of plants. Winter rye, or wheat sown early in the season, may be fed off in the fall, without injury to the crop; and in the following spring, the rye may be pastured till the stalks shoot up and begin to form a head. This affords an early and nutritious food. Corn may be sown broadcast, or thickly in drills, and either fed off in the fields, or cut and carried to the sheep in their folds. White mustard is a valuable crop for this purpose. To give sheep sufficient variety, it would be better to divide their range into smaller ones, and change them as often at least as once a week. They seek a favorite resting-place, on a dry, elevated part of the field, which soon becomes soiled. By removing them from this for a few days, rains will cleanse, or the sun dry it, so as again to make it suitable for them. More sheep may be kept, and in better condition, where this practice is adopted, than where they are confined to the same pasture. Washing Sheep.