272 THE NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FOOD OF 



close dry house, and loading the top with weights, to at least 

 one cwt. per square foot of surface. Put in during summer, it 

 would be in good condition the following spring, and could 

 then be removed by cutting out narrow " dasses " every day or 

 second day as wanted. It would be expensive to build a " silo " 

 on a hill-side to store ensilage, but use might be made of many 

 an old barn or other house to store sufficient to keep the sheep 

 provided with green food whenever it is necessary to bring 

 them down, as in a snowstorm. This would be supplying, at 

 the very worst pinch, the bulky natural food which is considered 

 of so much importance in our system of feeding. The large 

 rumen of a sheep is injured if allowed to remain contracted for 

 any considerable time from want of bulky food to distend it, 

 and the sheep suffers from the after consequences of this as 

 well as from getting into low condition. When sheep are 

 unable to get anything for themselves, we strongly recommend, 

 for the above reason, that chaffed hay be mixed with the con- 

 centrated food. Of course, ensilage would be much superior. 



From all the experiences which have been detailed, we deduce 

 the following conclusions : — 



1. That it does not pay to feed hill sheep in good seasons, 

 and that it would be a mistake to do so. 



2. That feeding is necessary during a severe sno\vstorm, and 

 better results are obtained by giving concentrated and bulky 

 food together, than either separately ; and that if the weather 

 becomes mild after the snow melts, the sheep do well enough 

 without further feeding. 



3. That sheep do much better on some places in backward 

 springs, when there is but little fresh growth, if supplied with a 

 moderate quantity of concentrated food, judiciously administered, 

 ■and this must not be stopped until a sufficiency of grass comes. 

 We do not, however, forget that feeding is expensive, and requires 

 some discretion to determine when sach treatment will pay and 

 when it will not. 



4. That it will always pay well to feed very lean sheep, and 

 that until grass has fully come. They should not be confined in 

 a small bare place, however much food be given. On a large 

 farm it works well to have a few hundred acres of enclosed 

 rouoh land on which cattle can be grazed in summer, but not 

 too late into autumn. Tt might then be used to shed ewes 

 into beside a special ram, or it might be stocked in October 

 with thin ewes (not necessarily the ones to come in next 

 spring), or with small hoggs, if not subject to braxy. It should 

 be cleared by New Year's day, and lean sheep shed in as they 

 are noticed. 



The present system of valuing hill fSrms, at so much per 

 head of sheep as they stand before the valuer, without any 



