THE BLACKFACED BREED OF SHEEP. 221 



along with a large range of bill pasture, feed the weclder lambs 

 on the lowland farm instead of selling them at weaning time, 

 and dispose of them in the spring, or through the following 

 summer. 



Practically speaking, so soon as the shearing and weaning are 

 over, and the sheep carefully marked, the ewes, lambs, and 

 wethers are divided, if necessary, and disposed of according to 

 the nature of the farm. The old and true proverb, that " shelter 

 is half meat for sheep," is prominently kept in view^, and 

 shepherds are watchful to move their flocks to sheltered ground 

 during stormy weather. During the past thirty years the 

 practice of smearing, once so common on hill farms, has been to 

 a great extent abandoned. Some farmers in the north, how- 

 ever, still smear their flocks. The great mass of flockowners 

 prefer to dip their sheep, as will be learned from the opinions 

 of the leading breeders subjoined. It is found to involve less 

 expenditure, and be on the whole more profitable than smear- 

 ing. Most farmers dip their flocks twice a year. This is 

 regulated by the character of the pasture, whether wet or dry. 

 On very dry pasture one dipping in the year is — at least for old 

 sheep — sufficient. Lambs are generally dipped at weaning 

 time, and again before being sent to the wintering. 



Besides the experiments tried with a view to the improve- 

 ment of the blackfaced breed, some enterprising gentlemen have 

 also made some progress in the direction of improving pasture 

 land by draining and liming, &c. Mr Howatson made an 

 experiment on his property at Dornel, in the parish of Auchin- 

 leck, some years ago, which is worth being recorded. He took 

 two farms, which had been previously used for dairying 

 purposes, into his own hands, and having drained and limed 

 them, he put them under a regular breeding stock of blackfaced 

 sheep. After a trial of some eight or nine years, however, the 

 experiment proved unsuccessful and he abandoned it, and let 

 the farms. He found that a sufficient number of sheep coukl 

 not be kept to consume the grass, without the latter getting too 

 foul from their droppings, and not having a portion of rough 

 pasture to graze upon, the sheep lost a good deal of their 

 hardiness of constitution, which is a very valuable feature of 

 this breed; and, moreover, the sheep stock on such land, was 

 not so remunerative as the dairy cows which had previously 

 been kept upon it. The experiment, however, was not without 

 its value, as showing that the class of land is chosen for eac.'h 

 distinctive breed of stock which is best adai)ted for it. The 

 flocks of this gentlemen are, as I have already indicated, of the 

 highest and purest breeding. He gives and gets long prices for 

 tups annually. In IcSTO he sold a tuj) at £00, and in 1872 he 

 purchased one at £50. Mr Archibald, Overshiels, has, in 



