In dry and high grounds, where wild thyme and other odoriferous plants abound, the flesh of the sheep is of a much better quality than when fed on low plains and humid valleys; unless near the sea coast, where all the herbage having imbibed a degree of saltness, it renders the mutton superior to that fed on any other pasture; it gives also a pleasing flavour to the milk, and adds to its quantity. Nothing is more pleasing to the taste of these animals than salt, nor is there any thing more salutary for them when given in moderation; in some places they put a bag of salt, or salt-stone, into the sheep-fold, the which they will all lick by turns.
Every year those grown of a proper age to fatten should be picked out of the flock, as they require a different treatment. If in summer, they should be taken to the field before sun-rise that they may feed on the grass while the dew remains upon it. Nothing contributes more to fatten sheep than water taken in great quantities, and nothing retards it more than the heat of the sun; for which reason they should be taken into the shade by nine o'clock in the morning before the violent heat comes on, and a little salt should be given them to excite their appetite for water. About four o'clock in the afternoon they should be led out again to fresh and moist pastures. This care pursued for two or three months is sufficient to make them fleshy and fat; but this fat, which originates from the great quantities of water drank by the animal, is only a kind of pursy swelling, and would soon occasion the rot; it is therefore necessary to kill them immediately when they acquire this false fat: even their flesh, instead of having become firm and juicy, is frequently the more flat and insipid. If we would have good mutton, besides feeding them in the dew and giving them plenty of water, it is necessary they should have more succulent food than grass. In winter, nay in all seasons, they may be fattened by keeping them in stables and feeding them with the flour of barley, oats, wheat, beans, &c. mixed with salt to make them drink more frequently. But whatever mode is followed, it should be done quickly, and the sheep should be killed immediately, for they cannot be fattened twice, and almost all die with diseases of the liver.