CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



drifts, sometimes saves large numbers of sheep 

 If the flock can be conveniently driven to a clearec 

 hay-field, this is done in preference to carrying 

 food to the animals ; there should be one field for 

 the rams, and another for the lambs, or for sheep 

 in a weakly condition. A general rule for sheep 

 intended for the butcher is, that they should never 

 be allowed to turn lean, but be kept in a constanl 

 state of improvement ; and that kind of food 

 should be selected that will bring the animals to 

 the highest condition in the shortest time and at 

 the least expense. In well-managed store-farms, 

 sheep are now allowed many kinds of food little 

 thought of in former times, as sliced turnips, oil- 

 cake, &c. ; and are, besides, provided with troughs 

 of pure water, and a trough of salt, that they may 

 lick when their taste leads them to that indul- 

 gence. 



Heedless farmers are sometimes apt to purchase 

 and keep more sheep than they can conveniently 

 feed on their grounds, which causes a serious 

 evil. To overstock a farm, where artificial food 

 cannot be obtained, is one of the most fatal errors 

 a farmer can commit. A farm may be overstocked 

 for a few years, but death will by and by not only 

 lessen the numbers, but diminish to a great extent 

 the health and productiveness of those that survive. 

 Avarice and ignorance have tempted not a few 

 farmers to carry on this unequal struggle against 

 the laws of nature and humanity for years, but it 

 has always ended, as it ever must, either in the 

 farmer's min, or in a reformation of his plan. 



The tendency which most sheep have to ramble, 

 renders it necessary for them to be attended by a 

 shepherd and his dog. The duties of a shepherd 

 are very irksome, and require to be performed by 

 a man of firm resolution, good temper, and dis- 

 cretion. To keep the flock within bounds may be 

 troublesome, but much may be done in the way 

 of prevention ; and, at all events, the sheep must 

 not be harassed and chased as if they were so 

 many wild beasts. Being naturally of a timid and 

 gentle nature, the sheep ought to be treated with 

 gentleness. Lazy shepherds who do not exercise 

 a judicious foresight in keeping the flock to its 

 ground, try to remedy the evil by hounding or 

 driving the dog after the stragglers, besides giving 

 no small toil to their own limbs in running. We 

 are desirous to lay it down as a rule, which, how- 

 ever, is well known to all good shepherds, that there 

 should be only a rare and cautious use of the dog, 

 Much also depends on the dog being of the proper 

 breed, and well trained to his duty. A good dog 

 gives little tongue ; he is seldom heard to bark ; 

 his great knack consists in getting speedily and 

 quietly round the further extremity of the flock, 

 and then driving them slowly before him in the 

 direction which his master has pointed out A 

 wave of the hand in a certain direction, and a 

 word, are usually enough as a sign. Under-bred 

 dogs bark at and fly upon the poor animals, 

 chasing them hither and thither without purpose. 

 All such dogs should be destroyed. A first-rate 

 shepherd's dog is invaluable to the store-farmer, 

 and no reasonable price should be grudged to 

 obtain one. 



We now proceed to quote a few passages on the 

 'Winter or Storm Feeding of Sheep,' from an 

 article which ' appeared in the North British 

 Agriculturist in 1853, from the pen of Mr Boyd 

 of Innerleithen. ' One of the greatest errors that 



648 



can be committed in the management of stock 

 during a storm, is to be too long in commencing 

 the feeding of the flocks. Once allow them to 

 deteriorate, and it will be found no easy matter to 

 restore them again to their wonted health and con- 

 dition. We have long advocated the propriety of 

 cultivating the whin and broom for the winter-feed- 

 ing of sheep They fill up the blank in green 



feeding, between the decay of herbaceous plants 

 in autumn and their renewal in spring, and they 

 afford a nourishment more wholesome and palat- 

 able than can be afforded to sheep during that 

 interval, with the additional recommendation of 

 being in general suitable to the soil of our pastoral 

 districts. The Ulex strictus, or upright Irish 

 whin, has the greatest number of shoots, and being 

 of a less prickly nature than the French or Scotch 

 varieties, it is on that account more relished by 

 the sheep, but from its tender nature, it is ex- 

 tremely apt to be cut down by frost, when the 

 Scotch and French remain unscathed. The 

 whin ought never to be cut, but portions of it 

 should annually be burned, to keep its shoots 



tender and succulent It has long been a 



well-ascertained fact, that both the whin and the 

 broom possess medicinal properties for the sheep, 

 and in particular act as an antidote for the rot 

 It may be stated with some truth that whins and 

 broom occupy no space, as it will be found from 

 the shelter they give to the soil, that the quantity 

 of grass is not only much greater, but some weeks 

 earlier than it would have been had there been 

 no whins and broom whatever. The planting of 

 whins and broom may be considered a perman- 

 ent improvement of no ordinary kind. . . . 

 Every shepherd of experience and observation 

 must have noticed how very superior in condition 

 the lambing ewes and sheep were which had been 

 fed on whins and broom during a storm, to those 

 which had been fed on the best natural or arti- 

 ficial hay. The former, from their healthy brown 

 colour, more resemble turnip-fed sheep than 

 mountain stock. They are also all but exempted 

 from diarrhoea, which the hay-fed sheep are apt 

 to be seized with the moment they partake of the 

 moist pasture, and which not unfrequently re- 

 duces them to a condition anything but calculated 

 to secure a successful lambing-time. From the 

 difficulty of procuring hay during the winter- 

 storm of 1852, many were induced to thin their 

 plantations, that they might give the fir-tops to 

 :heir sheep, and not a few of them found to be 

 :rue what was many years ago pointed out by Mr 

 Little, that the sheep thrive better upon half hay 

 and half tops than upon whole hay. Salted pea- 

 straw is considered by many superior to hay for 

 the storm-feeding of sheep, as they have found 

 "rom experience that their flocks are less apt to 

 : all off in condition. It may not be generally 

 cnown that when pea-straw is given to turnip- 

 ieeding sheep, it has not only the effect of com- 

 municating to the flesh of the animal a beautiful 

 tint, but at the same time gives a flavour to the 

 mutton which is highly relished by every palate. 

 A few bolls of oats ought to be at the command 

 of the shepherd, to assist, if found necessary, in 

 eking out the hay during the protracted winter.' 



In those districts which are exposed to storms, 

 t is important to afford shelter to the flocks. 

 Where there are jutting or overhanging rocks or 

 rushes, the sheep will crowd under their lee, and 



