Ch. XXXIX.] 



ON LAMBS. 



461 



hot to cold, is so ven' injurious to the «wes, that it is no uncommon 

 thing for a ewe or two to die in the night. 



When the ewe is not capable of supplying so much milk as the 



lamb will consume, those which have lost their own, or which liave 



been sold early, are brought in, and held by the head, or put into a 



yoke, till the lambs by turns suck them clean ; they are then turned 



into the pasture, and at twelve o'clock tlie dams are driven into the 



lamb-house for an hour, in the course of which time each lamb is 



suckled by its mother. At four o'clock, all the " dam-ewes, — as 



those which have not lambs of their own are called, — are again 



brought to the lamb-house and held for the lambs to suck ; and the 



mothers of the lambs are afterwards brought to them for the night. 



Lambs thus treated, and kept free from all disturbance, will in about 



eight weeks' time become sufficiently fat, and their flesh extremely white 



and delicate. The price varies greatly, according to the season of the year 



when they are ready for the butcher ; for they sometimes bring as high as 



bl. per head, and at others not even half that sum.* 



When many lambs are not suckled, an empty barn is not uncommonly 

 used ; but, when built for the purpose — if calculated to suckle from 160 to 

 180 lambs at a time — it should be 70 feet long and 18 feet wide, with three 

 coops of different sizes at each end, so constructed as to divide the lambs 

 according to their ages. Deal hurdles are also placed for this purpose 

 about the middle of the house, in order to enable the lambs to find 

 their mothers without difficulty ; and it is latticed, in this manner, in order 

 to admit a free circulation of air — 



Grass-laynb, although requiring particular attention to the season of 

 coupling the ewes, and great care in feeding them, so as to bring it to per- 

 fection in time to meet the fall of Easter, at whatever period that may 

 occur, yet does not, of course, fetch so much at market as house-lamb ; but 

 then the trouble and expense of rearing it is not nearly so great. 



One hundred and fifty ewes of the Dorset breed are said by the lamb- 

 breeders to produce them 200 lambs, of both kinds, on an average of years, 

 exclusive of twins, in this manner : — 100 of the old stock, tupped in the month 

 of June, drop their iambs some time before Christmas, so as to have them 

 gradually at market previous to grass-lamb coming into season ; then 50 

 purchased, in lamb, at Michaelmas, produce 50 lambs in the latter end of 

 October, and 50 more in July ; all of which are sold within the year.f 



When bred for stock, the short-woolled species are most commonly 

 allowed to range upon the open wolds and downs of our English counties, 



Stevenson's Surrey> p. 535. 



f Arthur Young's Hertfordshire, p. 192, 



