94 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



the farmer is ordinarily content to have them drop 

 about the end of February or March, when green food 

 is nearer; lambs that defer their appearance until 

 May are called cuckoo-lambs, and are of little worth, 

 as they attain to but small size comparatively. 



In the south of France, where, by the bye, the 

 small farmer is much given to rowen-fields, you 

 may see flocks of weaned lambs at Christmas- 

 time. 



Many prefer to dock the lambs almost as they fall, 

 castrating at the same time all the males except a 

 few from the best ewes ; unless, indeed, you propose 

 to hold a ram sale. 



Some defer castration until they have attained the 

 strength of yearlings. If killed sooner, as five-year- 

 old mutton now-a-days is, I fear, with rarest excep- 

 tions a myth, they should be kept far away from the 

 stock, or the blood is apt to streak their meat, making 

 them one red, and so spoil its appearance and flavour. 

 Shut up by themselves, they are about as good as 

 wethers at that age. 



To attend sales of draught ewes yearly, for the 

 purpose of building up a flock, will only bring a 

 second-class lot into your hands. Go in at once, and 

 buy anyhow a score, first rate and young. Better 

 begin so than with three times as many of a lot 

 cashiered. 



Wild thyme and other odoriferous plants have the 

 credit of giving a delicious flavour to mountain and 

 down-fed mutton ; others deny that they will touch 

 such food ; while, again, it has been said that the 

 Southdown wether owes his delicate sweet meat to a 



