Live Stock Sheep Down Kind Management of. 6&amp;lt;)i 



the fpring feafon, as about the middle of April, and kept there till the 

 of autumn, .as in. October ; .the (hort tweet- nutritious herbage in thefc lituations 

 affording them a fupply of food Efficient to keep them in tolerable order; but 

 -vvhen this keep begins to decline, the farmers have reeourfe to other forts of food, 

 the fheep being ufually -folded on turnips or cole, on which they are continued dur~ 

 ing&amp;gt;. the winter until they are .expended, .when they are chiefly fed with hay, flack 

 ed for the purpofe on thedowns or other places, till there is again afufficient biteof 

 grafs. In thefe cafes the-pra&ice of folding is moftly in ufe throughout the year ; 

 which during thefummer and autumn is mofUy onthelands under preparation for 

 wheaucrops&amp;gt; but in the winter occaiionally on the (tubbles, though more generally 

 on the downs and pafture ; ,and in the fpring on the grounds that are deftined for 

 the barley crops.*. 



In fame of the more elevated and hilly diftricts in the northern parts of England, 

 where fheep-hufbandry is conducted on an extenfive fcale, the fheep on being 

 divided^ under the care of different fhepherds, into old fheep, fuch as wethers and 

 two-year olds, and breeding and young fheep, the former are put upon the more 

 elevated and expofed paftures,and the latter on thofe that -are more fertile and Ihel- 

 tered, being well fupported in the winter with turnips and hay.-f 



There is another inferior fort of management in thofe fituations, which is that 

 of permitting the flocks to range over the hills and commons during the fummer 

 feafon, moftly without being under the command of any fhepherd. About the clofe 

 of this feafonj or on the approach of winter, they are collected together, and brought 

 home inorderto undergo the operation offmearingor/alving t $ which is common in 



* Donaldfon s Prefent State of Hufbandry in Great Britain. t Ibid; 



+ This is an operation that was formerly confidered as indtfpenfible to the health and fafety of 

 flieep. But in thefouthern parts of the kingdom, according to the Survey of Northumberland, it is not 

 in, ufe, and in fome of the lefs expofed northern diftri&amp;lt;b it is wholly in difufe ; even with fome of the 

 hill-fheep farmers it is now laid afide without any inconvenience being fuftained. 



The fubftance employed in this diftrift is a mixture of 12lbs. of butter with four quarts of tar, well 

 incorporated by being put together while warm. This quantity is fufficient for twenty-four iheep. lr 

 Perthfhtrein the north of Scotland, &quot;the compofition now in ufe is likewife tar and butter. Some 

 take ten Scotch pints of tar to a ftone of butter; others only five pints of tar to that weight ; and 

 others in the various proportions between thefe extremes. This quantity fufficeth for laying fifty-five 

 or fixty flieep, at the rate of three or four pence each.according as there is more or lefs tar in the mix 

 ture. Formerly fhepherds ufed tobacco-juice and foap, and in fome cafes chamberley ; but thefu are 

 laid afide as lefs efficacious/ 



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