SHEEP. 85 



to suffer by reflection, just as the ill-fated dog did 

 after a meal upon a villain rat who had taken the 

 sensible precaution of wiping off the poison with his 

 fur from the bread-and-butter cheat which was to 

 slay him. There is a wash, however, not poisonous 

 now advertised, but I have not tried it, and cannot, 

 therefore, pronounce upon its fiierits. 



Another essential that requires the head's looking 

 after, is the regular trimming of the sheep's hoof. 

 In its native state upon the mountain-side, its 

 frequent collision with a rocky or other hard surface, 

 prevents effectually any injurious overgrowth. But 

 as our flocks are not in a native state, something else 

 has to be done : for when the horn begins to over- 

 grow the soft part or sole of the foot, dirt, sand, 

 pebbles, &c, soon begin to work up towards the 

 quick, and will cause, if neglected, suppuration, and 

 a bad foot. Periodically then— say every two 

 months ; except in the case of the ewes when they 

 get heavy, when they should on no account be 

 turned over, unless the farmer has a mind to make 

 them abort — the shepherd and another, for the 

 shepherd cannot usually manage a big sheep by 

 himself quite to our satisfaction, should go carefully 

 over the flock, with a keen drawing knife, cleaning 

 off all raggedness of edge and broken corner : laying 

 bare each cell or crevice in which a dark powder-like 

 residuum of old mud has lodged, and cutting out the 

 mischief with a decided groove, that reminds one of 

 the work, which as children we admired, of our 

 grandmamma's famous apple-scoop. 



Be not nervous about paring away the external 



