2p3 Reviarhs on the Management of Sheep. No'^ 



^nd It is no uncommon cafe, to fee the mountains covered with, 

 fnow, twice in twenty -four hours; and as often bared by ilormy- 

 winds and daflnnjr rains. Thefe fudden, and fevere changes of 

 weather, materially affect and injure, even the hardiofl race o£ 

 fheep •, and furely, when this is the cafe, all attempts to rear a 

 breed of a more delicate nature, in wet and expofed fituarionSy 

 mufl be confidered as highly improper, and eventually ujipro- 

 fitahle to the farmer. 



Ti^ere is another difadvantage, peculiar to the Cheviot breed, 

 and which is very prejudicial to the interefl of the lamb -, I mea!» 

 the dilatory way in which the ewe gives her milk. All ewe- 

 milkers (at ieaft thofe whom I have had an opportunity of con- 

 futing), who have for feafons milked both kinds, agree in this 

 point ; and it is known by experience, that a weakly lamb will live, 

 and even thrive upon a fnort ewe •, but, if attached to a long one, 

 will tithtr die immediately, or, at the beft, but waile and pine 

 away gradually. I (hall only add, what is known by experience 

 to every ftoremafter who has tried both kinds upon high-lying 

 farms, that, taking an average of years, one third more eild ewes 

 will be found among the Cheviot than the ForeR breed, which is 

 no trivial confideration *. 



• Farmers, who enjoy dry foils and warm expofures, may per- 

 haps be inclined to think, that I fpeak from prejudice to the one 

 kind, and an overweening fondnefs and partiality for the other ; 

 but I can afiure them that I am not actuated by fuch ideas. What 

 I advance is the refult of long experience ; and the only end I 

 have in view, by publifliing it, is to prevent farmers, who may 

 enter upon Highland fituations without a proper knowledge of 

 the dangers and difhculties attending them, from engaging in 

 fchemes that will be found unprofitable to themfelves and the 

 community at large. 



Having, in my former letter, defcribed the properties eiTential 

 to the true Foreil breed, I (liall now lay down a few rules for 

 laifing a ilock of that defcription. If the farm has a large pro- 

 portion 



* Perhaps the bed way for faving the lives of the Cheviot Idmhs, \n 

 a courfe of tempolluous weather. Is, to build houfes in the moll centri- 

 cal places of the farm, with a fold attached to each. Wheu a llormy 

 day hnppt tis, the fhepherd and his afliihuits (and the mover he has, on 

 ftich occafions, the better) fhoiild collcdl as many of the r.tw-dropt 

 lambs as they can, and carry them through ^hi^ folds into the houlcs. 

 The rnf.th 1^, from cultom, will enter the folds wlthoiit hcfitation, and, 

 when thcrt, will cafdy be got into the houfcs- This plan, has bctu 

 tried on fomj farms, and found to anfwcr wclji, as the ewes fuf^'cr pt- 

 ihing from a fhoit ccufine'r.cn*^; and the lambs arc fare to be h'fA. 



