1006 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



are never spayed : mild weather is chosen, and the operation performed in a fold on small 

 quantities at a time. 



6460. The late lambing ewes are separated from the ewes and lambs at the end of the 

 lambing season, and kept by themselves, that they may be more under the eye of the shep- 

 herd, than if scattered over all the pasture. It is desirable to allow them fine grass for a 

 few weeks after lambing, that their lambs may come to be nearly equal to the rest of the 

 flock when weaned ; or if they are too late for this, that they may get ready for the butcher 

 by the month of August, beyond which period the ewes must be much injured by suck- 

 ling them. [Supp. ^c, art. Agr. 11 9.) 



6461. Washing, in store-farming, is performed when the wool has risen sufficiently, which is easily 

 known by the appearance of a new growth. The barren sheep are brought to the washing pool. Some- 

 times they are hand-washed by men who stand in the pool, and have the sheep forced towards them 

 singly ; but more commonly, the Cheviot sheep, especially if the flock be numerous, are compelled to leap 

 into the pool in a body for three or four times successively ; and it is desirable that they should have room 

 to swim a little, and come out on a green low bank on the opposite side. After being washed, the sheep 

 are preserved as far as possible from rubbing against earthen dykes or banks, and from lying down on any 

 dirty spot which might soil their wool. {Supp. S^c.) 



6462. Marking, as in general sheep-farming (6447. ), takes place before the shorn sheep 

 are turned out to pasture ; they are marked, commonly with the owner's initials, by a stamp, 

 or boost in provincial language, dipped in tar heated to a thin fluid state, and it is not 

 unusual to place this mark on different parts of the body, according to the sheep's age. 



6463. The weaning of lambs takes place when they are about three months old, some- 

 times sooner. When the ewes are gathered to be washed or shorn, the ewe lambs to be 

 kept for supplying the place of the old ewes occasionally sold, are stamped in the same 

 way as the ewes. The store-lambs are sent to some clean grassy pasture for a few weeks; 

 and where the farm does not afford this accommodation, they must be summered, as it is 

 called, at a distance. Several farms near Cheviot, and on the Lammermuir hills in Ber- 

 wickshire, are appropriated to this purpose, the owner of the lambs paying so much a-head 

 for six or eight weeks. In the mean time the ewe hogs, or gimmers as they are deno- 

 minated after shearing, have joined the ewe stock, and the lambs, when brought home, 

 go to the pasture which they had occupied. Wherever they may be kept in winter, it is 

 always desirable to allow them a few turnips, along with a full bite of coarse herbage. 



6464. The practice of milking ewes after the separation of the lambs is still continued in a few places. 

 This very objectionable management is generally continued for six or eight weeks. The value of the milk 

 of each ewe for this time, may not exceed from one shilling to one shilling and six-pence a-head and the 

 sheep are injured to at least three times that amount, independent of accidents at the milking fold. The 

 cream is separated from the ewe milk, and made into butter for smearing, and'themilk itself mixed with 

 cow milk, and converted into cheese. The most skilful store-masters, however, have either laid .iside milk- 

 ing, unless for a few days, or have shortened the period to two or three weeks. 



6465. The selection of the crones or old ewes to be sold, generally takes place in Sep- 

 tember or October, when they are sold to the feeder, and replaced by lambs of the current 

 year. On the lower hills, ewes are generally disposed of after having lambed three sea- 

 stms, or under four and a half years of age. In some situations they are kept on till a 

 year older ; but when they are purchased, as they usually are, to be kept another year on 

 lower grounds, it is commonly for the interest of the store^farmer, to sell them when still 

 in their full vigor. Skilful managers do not content themselves with drafting them 

 merely according to age ; and as there is no disadvantage in keeping a few of the best 

 another year, they take this opportunity of getting rid of such of the flock of other ages 

 as are not of good shapes, or are otherwise objectionable. As soon as the ewes to be 

 disposed of are drawn from the flock, they are kept by themselves on better pasture, if the 

 circumstances of the farm will admit of it. Sometimes they are carried on till they are 

 fattened, and turnips are often purchased for them at a distance. When this is the case, 

 it is not thought advisable to keep them longer, than till between Christmas and Candle- 

 mas, as an old ewe does not improve like a wether in the spring months. {Supp.SfC.) 



6466. The salving or smearing of sheep is an operation scarcely known in England, 

 and not practised by the Welsh : some store-farmers in the milder districts of the north- 

 ern counties, consider it unnecessary, but in all very cold situations it is still employed. 

 The object of this operation is to destroy vermin, to prevent cutaneous diseases, and to 

 promote the warmth and comfort of the animal during the storms of the ensuing winter. 

 It is not necessary with sheen kept on low grounds, and well fed during winter, and it 

 may occasionally be omitted for one season, particularly with old sheep, without ma- 

 terial injury ; but notwithstanding the ridicule that speculative writers have attempted 

 to throw upon the practice, it is almost universally considered necessary and beneficial on 

 high exposed situations, by the store-farmers of the border hills. Smeared wool does not 

 sell so high as white wool, but the greater weight of the former more than compensates for 

 the difference in price. {General Tteport of Scotland, vol. iii.) The season of salving 

 or smearing is usually towards the end of October or beginning of November, before the 

 rams are sent to the ewes. The most common materials are butter and tar, mixed in 

 different proportions ; a greater proportion of tar being employed for the hogs or young 

 sheep than for the older ones, The proportions are ako different on almost every farm. 



