1038 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



Sheep-hooks. The shepherd's crook or sheep-hook is a 

 tool not used by one flock-master in five hundred, yet it is a 

 wonderful labor-saver, especially in Iambi ng-time, when every 

 ewe has to be caught once and often several times. The shep- 

 herd can save himself many a hard chase and lame back by the 

 use of one, and any blacksmith with a modicum of ingenuity can 

 make it. Take a three-eighths or one-half inch bar of spring 

 steel, weld it on to the socket of an old hoe-handle, nnd give it 

 the shape herewith figured, with dimensions as follows : Socket 

 and crook together, thirteen inches long; the recurved lines four 

 inches in a straight line, or about five and one-half inches in its 

 windings ; the bulge one inch across on the inside ; the neck, 



seven-eights inch. The shank 

 is left round, the crook is flat- 

 tened a little. The handle of 

 wood is about six feet long. 

 In using it catch the sheep by 

 the hind-leg just above the hock- 

 joint, and pull back and up with a quick jerk, so as to lift the 

 animal partly or nearly off its hind-feet. Otherwise it is apt to 

 kick loose and escape. 



The utility of sheep as scavengers of foul land can not be 

 too fully recognized. With the exception of thistles, mullens, 

 pawpaws, and the sprouts of the oak, walnut, arid butternut, 

 there is hardly any thing they will not browse, especially on 

 thin uplands. They eat most sprouts and weeds best when they 

 are tender in the spring (the poke is one notable exception) ; 

 and if a field is very foul this is the time to turn flock after 

 flock on it in rapid succession, stinting each a little temporarily, 

 to make them consume the trash. When foul land has been 

 burned over the sprouts which come up are much more relished 

 by them than those on unburned land, the ashes seem to give 

 them sweetness. This is the best method I ever found for 

 clearing up old pastures which it was not convenient to plow. 

 The evenness with which sheep-manure is distributed, and 

 their tendency to accumulate it on the highest knolls (which are 

 generally the poorest) are noteworthy points in their favor. 



