202 ON THE AGRICULTURE OF THE 



farms in the lowlands of the counties, and two or three of these 

 feed their wether lambs for the spring markets, while 

 others utilise their low ground pasture as wintering for their hill 

 stocks ; bringiQg down the hoggs all winter, and sometimes the 

 weakest of the old sheep for a month or two. Those who hold 

 the bleacker and more elevated farms have to remove the greater 

 number both of their old and young sheep during winter, but, 

 generally speaking, the system is to send the hoggs away dow^n to 

 wintering to the low lands of Eoss and Cromarty, Inverness, 

 Moray, and Aberdeenshire, and to retain the older sheep at home 

 on the lower and better sheltered grounds. Many thousands of 

 the Eoss-shire hoggs go to Aberdeenshire every winter, and in an 

 ordinary year they come back in good condition. These 

 hoggs generally leave home about the 1st of October, and return 

 about the 1st of April. In some cases the ewe hoggs only are 

 sent off to wintering, in others the wether hoggs alone leave home, 

 while in a few instances part of both. Generally the weaker 

 beasts are shifted to escape the hardships of the stormy months 

 among the higher hills. When the wether hogs return in spring 

 they are generally sent on to the higher lands for the summer 

 months, the lower valleys and straths being retained as ewe 

 ground. Older sheep are generally smeared about the beginning 

 of October, and in some cases also dipped, immediately after 

 being clipped, if wethers, and at the weaning of the lambs, if 

 ewes. The lambs in some cases are dipped at weaning and about 

 the middle of November, and in others, dipped or smeared, 

 generally dipped, about the end of September before leaving for 

 their winter quarters. A few farmers dip the hoggs again in 

 February, but this is done only occasionally. 



Clip2^ing. — This important part of the sheep-farmer's work 

 commences about the third week of June, and is seldom all 

 accomplished before the end of the month. The collecting of 

 the sheep from the wide mountainous ranges on which they are 

 grazed sometimes occupies several days, and the mustering of 

 labourers for clipping is occasionally a matter of considerable 

 difficulty. All these preliminaries over, however, the work 

 proceeds rapidly. The weight of the fleeces varies very much 

 according to the season and the quality of the pasture on which 

 the sheep are grazed. The following may be taken as pretty 

 near the averaeje : — 



Cheviots {smeared) — Wethers, 6 to 7 lbs. of wool ; Ewes, 4 to 5 

 lbs. ; Hoggs, 5 to 6 lbs. 



Cheviots {dijjped.) — Wethers, 4 to 6 lbs. of wool ; Ewes, 3 to 

 3 J lbs. ; Hoggs, 3 J to 4 lbs. 



Black-faced (smeared.) — Wethers, 5 to 6 lbs. of wool ; Ewes, 3^ 

 to 4 J lbs.; Hoggs, 4 to 5 lbs. 



