ORDINARY TREATMENT OF LAMBS. 139 



Competition, a similar picture is drawn of the summer manage- 

 ment of breeding flocks, and if this were all, but little would 

 be left to write upon with reference to feeding. Our attention 

 would need to be directed to those episodes in a lamb or a 

 sheep's life, 'such as docking, castrating, washing, clipping, 

 weaning, and dipping. Also to such topics as maggots and 

 foot lameness, which always need close attention. A pen 

 should be made in a corner, and a dog is required to go 

 round the sheep and bring them into close quarters, where the 

 shepherd can catch and examine them. His shears are pro- 

 duced to cut off the wool where the maggots cluster thickly, 

 and the mercury stone, or the Cuffs fly ointment, or other 

 remedy, is applied to kill the wriggling pests. In other cases, 

 he pares and dresses the feet, and applies the particular astrin- 

 gent which he favours, be it a solution of sulphuric acid, butter 

 of antimony, or a paste bought of the druggist. Flies attack 

 both head and tail as well as any other part of the carcase, 

 especially when it is damp or dirty. Nothing can be more 

 painful and irksome to a sheep of the Leicester-Cheviot bfeed 

 than the pertinacious settling of flies upon his devoted head. 

 They form a black helmet between his ears. They suck the 

 juices from his scalp, trample it with their feet, and by the 

 friction of their bodies and wings soon wear a bare place into 

 a scald upon which they revel. The unfortunate animal in 

 vain tries to shake them off. He runs and stops, he stamps 

 with his feet, waggles his ears, shakes his head, squats among 

 the bents, or seeks the shade, and lies as close as a hare in its 

 form but all in vain. In this sad plight he is found by the 

 shepherd, who, summoning his faithful quaint-looking dog to 

 his aid, drives him and all his fellows to the pen, and pro- 

 ceeds to make him comfortable. If the injury is superficial, 

 a dressing of sulphur and oil applied with a brush is sufficient ; 

 if the skin is raw and broken, the sheep cap upon a pad of lint, 

 supplemented with a dressing of Canada balsam upon the sore, 

 may be applied. 



A shepherd should always carry a knife with a blade suffi- 



