SHEEP, SWINE, AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 439 



and after a night whicli has left no dew on the grass, their hoofs 

 are almost as tough as horn. They must be driven through no 

 mud, or soft dung, on their way to the yard, which doubles the 

 labor of cleaning their feet. The yard must be small, so they 

 can be easily caught, and it must be kept well littered down, so 

 they shall not fill their feet with their own manure. If the 

 straw is wetted, their hoofs will not of course dry and harden 

 as rapidly as in dry straw. Could the yard be built over a 

 shallow, gravelly bottomed brook,* it would be an admirable 

 arrangement ; the hoofs would be kept so soft that the greatest 

 and most unpleasant part of the labor, as ordinarily performed, 

 would in a great measure be saved ; and they would be kept 

 free from that dung which, by any other arrangement, will more 

 or less get into their feet. 



" The principal operator or foreman seats himself in a chair ; 

 a couple of good sharp knives, (one at least a thin and narrow 

 one,) a whetstone, the powerful toe- nippers, a bucket of water 

 with a couple of linen rags in it, and such medicines as he 

 chooses to employ, within his reach. The assistant catches a 

 sheep and lays it partly on its back and rump, between the legs 

 of the foreman, the head coming up about to his middle. The 

 assistant then kneels on some straw, or seats himself on a low 

 stool at the hinder extremity of the sheep. If the hoofs are 

 long, and especially if they are dry and tough, the assistant 

 presents each foot to the foreman, who shortens the hoof with 

 the toe-nippers. If there is any filth between the toes, each 

 man, after first using a stick, takes his rag from the bucket of 

 water, draws it between the toes and rinses it, until the filth is 

 removed. Each then seizes his knife, and the process of paring 



* A place might be prepared in any little brook by gravelling or by lay- 

 ing a floor of boards on the bottom. 



