MAHCII. 83 



have a house built in a quadrangle, round which 

 there are sheds where the ewes and their lambs 

 can be sheltered and fed ; and a fire is kept up day 

 and night in the shepherd's lodge, to which any 

 perishing or weakly lambs may be brought. Their 

 contrivances also in the fields are various and in- 

 teresting. The sheep are kept upon turnips, so as 

 to maintain their strength, and afford sufficient 

 nourishment to the lambs; screens of hurdles, or 

 straw, or fern, are raised to keep off the wind, and 

 troughs with corn, and linseed-cake, are placed 

 here and there in the fields where they feed, also 

 furnished with screens of wood, hurdle, or other 

 material, at once to protect the sheep as they feed 

 and prevent the corn being blown out by the winds. 

 Planting and plashing of hedges should now be 

 finished, if not done before ; so also the pruning 

 and grafting of fruit-trees, and the planting of 

 deciduous trees. Timber is felled, coppice-wood 

 cut, and plantations thinned, if not done in Feb- 

 ruary. Hop-plantations are formed, and the old 

 hills are cut and dressed. Osiers are now cut, 

 preparatory to peeling : when cut, they are set on 

 end in sheaves, in standing water, a few inches 

 deep, till, by the ascension of the sap in May, they 

 will readily peel. Birch-trees are tapped in this 

 month, and birch-wine made : some trees will run 

 twenty-four gallons in as many hours. There are 

 many operations in the garden this month; digging, 

 planting, and sowing. Water meadows are closed 

 for the first crop. 



