SCOTCH HILL SHEEP. 265 



that when any artificial assistance is supplied, the sheep are 

 taken entirely from what natural food they could get, which 

 no doubt was insufficient in itself, but only required to be 

 slightly aided to be all that was wanted. Taken from a hill, 

 and put into a bare pasture field, that had perhaps only a few 

 sheltered places to recommend it, sheep require, to keep them 

 even from falling off in condition, more than twice the amount 

 of corn, &c., that would have guaranteed their doing well, had it 

 only been used as a supplement to the natural food. A short 

 time of this treatment, while it is positiv-ely necessary, as during 

 a snowstorm, will do little harm, as we shall see further on ; 

 but to continue it for weeks or months together, as is often done 

 in the case of lean sheep drawn in from the hill, is certainly a 

 mistake. Their constitutions which were weak before from some 

 cause, are not improved, as is seen the following spring when all 

 of the lot are found again amongst the lean sheep, and requiring 

 to be in earlier than before. This is perhaps the strongest argu- 

 ment which the advocates of non- feeding can bring forward. 

 They do not see that there are two reasons why it goes to prove 

 nothing against feeding properly conducted, and is consequently 

 most misleading. Firstly, the experiment is made with sheep 

 which have something soft about their constitutions originally and 

 were poor in consequence before ever they were fed ; and secondly, 

 the food given is not supplied under suitable and proper 

 conditions. The sheep either have it in too great quantity, if it 

 is intended to keep them up at the time when insufficiently pro- 

 vided with their usual natural and bulky food ; or, on the other 

 hand, if they are given too little concentrated food as well as too 

 little bulky food, they are starved. Again, if the feeding is done 

 on the hill, which is not so frequently the case, the worst 

 place possible is selected, viz., on the low-lying land. This 

 brings the sheep down away from their feeding ground, and 

 there they incline to remain until spoiled, as in the manner 

 previously explained. They have been taken, this time, however, 

 by their own freewill, from the food which is natural to them, 

 and which is not used in any other way. The actual loss 

 sustained at the time is not the only disadvantage. Sheep 

 treated in the above way get into the bad habit of Hying to the 

 low ground on the first appearance of snow or hard weather next 

 year. There they spend valuable time looking for the feeding 

 troughs, and foil (Scotch, file) the land in such a manner that 

 when an actuid storm does come, and they must of necessity be 

 brought down, there is nothing worth having for them. Another 

 very common practice is to sto]) feeding at a certain fixed date, 

 say when lambing begins, regardless of whether there is a sulli- 

 ciont sjiring of grass or not. It is needless to say that feeding 

 sheep WL'll for a tinu- and then starving them, is what no farmer 



