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Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 39, 10 June 1890, Page 3

The Action of Sheep, G-oats,’ anl Oxen on the Soil.—ln Switzerland cattle-raising and cow-keeping are tin* principal occupations of the mountaineers. Here we find the upland pastures green and productive. On the French and Italian slopes, where sheep are abundant, the soil is bane and exhausted looking. These marked differences are to be explained by the different action of sheep and cattle on their pastures. The ox crops the hrbage. without plucking it; with its large feet it treads the earth, but does not cut it up ; the sheep on the contrary, with its narrow feet and tenacious teeth, does not browse—it tears up the grass and trenches the soil, The goat is even w-rje. It is said that when Napoleon 1. asked a d^piitaiipu. of Jura peasants what he could do for them, he received the prompt reply, paw a law against, the goats ”