Book VII. FOLDING OF SHEEP. 1007 



and more tar is thought to be necessary, according to their greater elevation and exposure. 

 In Roxburghshire, some mix two gallons of tar with thirty-six pounds of butter, as a 

 sufficient allowance for three score of sheep, but for the same number it is more common 

 to allot only one stone (twenty-four pounds) of butter, to two gallons of tar. {Roxburgh- 

 shire lieport, p. 155.). A common proportion of late has been about fourteen pounds of 

 butter, to two Scotch pints of tar (nearly 3^ quarts English wine measure), for ewes, and 

 eleven pounds to the same quantity of tar for hogs . This mixture should smear from 

 twenty to twenty.five of each, which is the number one man can do in a day. The ex- 

 pense, according to present prices, will be about nine-pence for each sheep : and the ar- 

 ticles, such as oil, palm-grease, tallow, &c., have been recommended in place of butter ; 

 but none of them are in general use, and the only addition that is approved of is a little 

 butter-milk. The butter is slowly melted and poured upon the tar, and the mixture is 

 constantly stirred till it becomes cool enough for use. The wool is accurately parted 

 into rows from the head to the tail of the animal, and the salve is carefully spread upon 

 the skin with the point of the finger at the bottom of each row. (Sup. En. Brit. art. 

 ^gr. 180.) 



6467. The care of sheep during storms is a business requiring constant attention. 

 In storms of wind and rain, or what are called black stor?ns by the shepherds, the sheep 

 will, in a great measure, take care of themselveS, by pasturing in situations naturally 

 sheltered. All that is required from it here is to remove any of the more delicate into 

 a covered fold or sheep house ; though such conveniencies are seldom to be found on 

 mountain farms. But in a storm of snow the natural shelter to which the sheep have 

 recourse, becomes the great receptacle of drift, and the harbinger of death to the flock. 

 It is in such situations that Captain Napier purposes to place his stalls, or circular folds, 

 {Jig. 678 O ), into which the sheep should be driven, or will naturally enter on the 

 commencement of the storm. The round form for these stalls or folds is decidedly 

 preferable to any figure with straight lines, as these invariably harbour drift. Where no 

 artificial shelter is provided immense losses sometimes take place on mountain farms. 

 The sheep are buried many feet deep in the snow ; and though the shepherd, with such 

 assistants as he can procure, armed with poles and spades, and aided by the sagacity 

 of his dog, may dig out a few, yet the greater number perish. While the sheep remain 

 in artificial shelters of any kind they must of course be 679 



fed ; and the only convenient food in such cases is hay, 

 straw, or dried spray the latter, fortunately, seldom 

 resorted to in this country, which should be put into 

 baskets, or racks. !Jig. 679.) The Ry eland breed of 

 sheep in Herefordshire, and some of the flocks in the 

 Highlands of Scotland, are put under cover nightly 

 throughout the year : a practice which has probably 

 originated in security, and been continued as mattei 

 of convenience and habit. 



Sect. V. Of the Folding of Sheep, 



6468. Catling or folding is a practice more or less extensively followed with particular 

 breeds and in particular districts, but now generally on the decline. It was formerly 

 thought to be indispensably necessary to the success of the farmer in different districts ; 

 but of late a difterent opinion has prevailed, except in particular cases, ^nd it is consi- 

 dered as merely enriching one field at the expense of another. The practice may how- 

 ever be beneficial where there are downs, heaths, or commons. Folding has been chiefly 

 confined to England, and a small part of Wales and Ireland. The object is to enrich 

 the arable land ; but as this is done at the expense of the pasture, it is truly, as Bake- 

 well expressed it, " robbing Peter to pay Paul." 



6469. The sheep best adapted to the fold are those of the more active, short-woolled 

 varieties, such as the Norfolk, Wiltshire, and South Down breeds ; the heavy long- 

 woolled kinds being less hardy, and some of them, as the Leicesters, much too valuable 

 for a mode of treatment that converts them into dung carriers. The following calcula- 

 tion by Marshal will show, that though, in open lands, the practice may be in some 

 cases tolerated on the ground of conveniency or expediency, it can possess no recom- 

 mendation as a profitable mode of management in other circumstances. 



6470. This morning (September 22d, 17S0), measured a sheep-fold, set out for six hundred sheep, con- 

 sisting of ewes, wedders, and grown lambs. It measures eight by five and half rods, which is somewhat 

 more than seven rods to one hundred, or two yards to a sheep. 



6471. August 2% 1781. Last autumn made an accurate experiment, on a large scale, with different 

 manures for wheat, on a sandy loam, summer fallowed. Part of an eighteen acre piece was manured 

 with fifteen or sixteen loads of tolerably good farm-yard dung an acre ; part with three chaldrons of lime 

 an acre ; the rest folded upon with sheep twice ; the first time at the rate of six hundred sheep to a 

 quarter of an acre (as in first ipinutc), the second time thinner. In winter and spring, the dung kept 

 the lead ; and now, at harvest, it has produced the greatest burden of straw. The sneep-fold kept a 

 steady pace from seed-time to harvest, and is now evidently the best corned, and the cleanest crop. The 



