142 THE TEEATMENT OF BOEDEK 



be given with advantage. Some give cotton-cake to bring the 

 ewes in season. 



It is usual for one Leicester tup to serve fifty ewes, or even 

 sixty if he be a shearling, but if aged, forty will be sufficient. A 

 half-bred tup serves seventy ewes, and lie is usually sent among 

 them at the 24th of October, or thereabout. 



The period of gestation of the ewe being 151 days, the 

 Leicester ewes should lamb about the 10th of March following, 

 and the half-bred ewes about the 24th of March. No difference 

 is made between three-parts bred ewes and half-bred ewes as 

 regards the time of tupping. Although the period of gestation 

 of the ewe is generally said to be at least 151 days, we have 

 found by experience that many lambs are dropped in 147 days, 

 and many ewes, more especially gimmers, pass their time before 

 lambing. 



The choice of suitable rams is a very important matter to the 

 sheep farmer, as upon his selection depends the improvement of 

 his fiock. Since ram sales have become common, however, he 

 has every opportunity for selection, and by constantly changing 

 he is enabled to counteract the bad effects of "in and in" 

 breeding. On going to a ram sale the farmer should bear in 

 mind the defects of his fiock, and by purchasing those tups 

 which are of a good strain, and strong in those points in which 

 his sheep are weak, he will at length arrive at a greater degree 

 of perfection. 



To buy a sheep just because it is cheap, without any regard 

 to its conformation and adaptability to the improvement of the 

 fiock it is to serve, is a great mistake, and should always be 

 guarded against. If the fieeces are usually too light, by crossing 

 with rams which possess a heavier fieece, a vast improvement 

 may be effected. In a word, all defects may be materially 

 lessened by judicious selection of tups. 



In all cases, however, it is well to beware of buying those 

 sheep which are strangers to the purchaser — that is, such as 

 have not gained a name for themselves, and which are not 

 known to be free of any predisposition to troublesome hereditary 

 diseases. There are some farmers who, seeing the benefit to be 

 derived from the introduction of pure blood, do not hesitate to 

 purchase a ram from the noted fiocks of Mertoun, Millendean, 

 or Mersington, even although the price rise to £50, knowing 

 well that if the shape of the tup is suitable his offspring will 

 repay the outlay when they in time come to the hammer. 



If no care is bestowed either in selecting or culling the fiock 

 unquestionably both disease and defect will ensue ; and if a con- 

 nection be permitted between two animals, each predisposed to 

 the same bad quality, the predisposition to such defect will exist 

 in their offspring in a two-fold degree. If, on the other hand, 



