WINTER MANAGEMENT OF EWES. 117 



anxious to get in his last sowings of wheat, and as he relies to 

 a great extent upon his ewe flock to clear the ground of the 

 root crop, he runs the risk, and pushes on the ewes, so as to 

 make room for the ploughs. The probable consequence is a 

 loss among the ewes and lambs later on. Even good farmers 

 often do what they ought not to have done, and leave undone 

 what they ought to have done and this, not so much from 

 want of knowledge, as because of the exigencies of the entire 

 farm. A certain sacrifice, sometimes of keep, sometimes of 

 corn, in the interest of the entire business, becomes necessary, 

 and mischief is the result. 



This mutual dependence of the various departments upon 

 each other, and the wish to avoid expense, constitute dis- 

 turbing elements, and prevent us from always doing the 

 evidently best thing for our sheep. We cannot entirely avoid 

 these disturbing elements, but a proper balancing of stock to 

 area, and the exercise of forethought, will do much to mitigate 

 them. It is not so much want of knowledge of rules as a right 

 and ripe judgment that is wanted, and these qualities are best 

 summed up in the word experience. 



We hear a great deal as to the expense of ram-breeding, and 

 one of the chief expenses consists in the sacrificing of the 

 other interests of the farm to the sheep. 



It is the " single eye " which leads to success, but when 

 corn, and horned stock, and work have all to wait upon the 

 flock, and everyone has to stand aside for the shepherd, our 

 success as sheep-breeders is balanced by less success as corn- 

 growers or cattle-graziers. This point requires to be brought 

 out, because it is the duty of the master to see that the whole 

 machinery of the farm is kept moving, and that all the wheels 

 are oiled. This is the difficulty, and the reason of certain 

 courses being at times followed which the master-mind knows 

 full well are not the best for some particular section. 



Another fact should also be stated in this connection. Sea- 

 sons are so various that good luck sometimes follows bad 

 treatment of a flock; and bad luck occasionally follows the 



