558 SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



Juniper communis, which is the winter stand-by of the sheep 

 in hard weather when "ling" heather, Calluna vulgaris, fails 

 them, and practically nothing else can be got. The lips 

 are at times so injured by the hard, sharp spines that they 

 grow together and require to be severed with a knife to part 

 them. Fell sheep can easily jump a six-foot wall. Ewes do 

 best to lamb first at three years. There is no fixed age at 

 which they are cast. They are drawn by the condition of 

 the teeth and the appearance of the eye. Those from the 

 mountains go to the adjoining lowlands and into Yorkshire 

 and Wales (where they thrive admirably) to breed cross 

 lambs by Long-wool rams. The " wicks " or maggots of blue- 

 bottle flies have always been troublesome, but they became 

 worse after the '87 Jubilee year, and involved incessant 

 labour during gleamy summer weather in " shedding "-in the 

 sheep to clean and hand-dress them about the tail and 

 breeches, as well as to sprinkle their backs with a preventive 

 mixture, such as a strong sulphur dip put on with a heather 

 " kow," or sulphur and train-oil rubbed on lightly by the hand. 

 Crude carbolic dips encourage the flies to strike, and give no 

 protection. On some farms there is a considerable loss in 

 lambs from balls of wool in their stomachs, taken in while 

 they are sucking. 



The hoggs are wintered in the low country from some 

 farms at a cost of 55. to 55. 6d. They leave in mid-October 

 and return on " Hogg-day," April 5th ; but on some high 

 places they do so badly on their return after low-country 

 feeding and flushing, that they are best wintered on hay at 

 home. Different flocks keep their own ground and do not 

 mix much with neighbours, if sheep that tend to stray are 

 regularly sold. The mutton is of excellent quality. Ewes 

 when fat make 10 Ibs. to 12 Ibs. per quarter, and wethers at 

 three years old, 14 Ibs. on the fell. Rydal wethers go up to 

 1 8 Ibs. when fat. Wethers used to be kept till four years 

 old before the price of wool fell. It went down to 45. 3d. per 

 17! Ibs. (the local stone) in 1901-2 from the highest point, 

 2os., about twenty years before. It rose to los. 3d. in 1904, 

 and prevented the threatened depletion of Herdwick stocks. 

 At 3d. per lb., making a return of pd. per sheep, the wool 

 from 1000 sheep only amounted to 40, which was not 

 sufficient to defray the cost of wintering the hoggs. The 



