LEICESTER EWES AND LAMBS. 149 



enclosed with hardies, is also in connection with these lambing 

 pens, into which on stormy nights ewes and gimmers having 

 single lambs are placed. There is also a storehouse for food 

 under the same roof. 



A lambing shed like the above would cost too much for the 

 farmer to erect, but landlords should provide one oq every farm 

 where a ewe stock is permanently kept. 



The field into which the ewes go by day should be provided 

 with an hospital It is constructed in the following manner : — A 

 small square at one side or corner of the field is enclosed by 

 means of a wooden fence, a space being left for a gate. Each 

 side of the square is then made windtight by means of the 

 bundles of straw already described. Inside the enclosure are 

 constructed six or more small pens which are not provided 

 with roofs as in the case of lambing pens. These small pens 

 are made in the same way as the outside walls, and covered 

 with straw in a like manner, so that a ewe when placed in 

 one of them is entirely protected from all cold winds. In 

 one corner of each pen a small box should be fixed to contain 

 corn, roots, &c., which it is usually necessary to supply to weak 

 ewes. The part of the hospital not occupied by pens is well 

 littered with straw, and on a cold day when a ewe is about to 

 lamb, she should be turned into this outer court that she may 

 have protection from the severity of the weather. 



These field-hospitals are not seen on every farm where ewes are 

 kept, but we are certain that they will repay the farmer for the 

 trouble and expense in erecting them. They do not cost much 

 to put up, as the spade-hind or ditcher will erect a suitable 

 barrack in a forenoon, with posts and rails which have been used 

 before for fencing, the straw having previously been drawn and 

 bunched in frosty weather, when such employment was required 

 to occupy the hands. Instead of this bunched straw, many 

 farmers are in the habit of using straw ropes, wrapping them 

 round and round the rails of hurdles. Thev form an efficient 

 shelter, but give unnecessary trouble and expense in their con- 

 struction. 



At Lambing. 



March liaving now arrived, with all its wind and severe 

 weather, and its too frequently recurring storms of sleet and 

 snow, the shepherd begins to feel anxious about his charge, while 

 the owner looks forward to a good crop of laml)S, and to more 

 genial weather, that he may begin ther busy work of getting in 

 the seed. 



At this time, when all is bustle and hurry on the farm, tlie 

 shepherd, like the rest, is thrown all at once into his busiest 



