140 SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



ciently long to slaughter a sheep if necessary. Such meat is 

 not generally thought to be unwholesome by rural folk, and if 

 the carcase dresses out fairly well, it finds a ready sale among 

 the work people ; and the farmer himself is not averse to 

 taking a quarter for his own household. In the light of 

 modern science this appears wrong, as blood poisoning, car- 

 buncle, and other evil consequences have been traced to the 

 consumption of diseased meat. On the other hand, thorough 

 cooking appears to be a fairly good safeguard against such 

 evils, and all we can advise is that when braxy mutton is 

 eaten it should be well roasted or boiled. It would go sadly 

 against the instincts of a true shepherd to bury a carcase 

 slaughtered to " save its life," or rather its value ; and the 

 master also would think himself greatly wanting in thrift if 

 he followed high medical advice, and sacrificed a sweet bit 

 of meat obtained under such circumstances. 



Such is an outline of the management of lambs, as carried 

 out in many counties. It contrasts forcibly with the next 

 picture which I shall endeavour to present, of constant change 

 of food, corning from birth to death, and the production of 

 lamb prodigies. The two cases are so different that descrip- 

 tions of the latter system has often aroused criticism from 

 sheep-breeders who follow the less sophisticated method just 

 described. According to the first plan lambs in August will 

 be worth from 153. to 303. a head, and as an extreme case 

 applying to black-faced lambs 6s. may be mentioned as a 

 satisfactory price. 



I shall next endeavour to describe a system adapted for 

 producing lambs of 2olbs. per quarter at eight months old, or 

 rams ready for service at the same age. It is well, however, 

 to point out that the difference between the management of a 

 lot of lambs upon a Yorkshire fell or Northumberland hillside 

 farm is very different from the system pursued upon a Hamp- 

 shire farm with its double cropping of fodder crops and roots, 

 and its diversity of foods for each month of the summer. On 

 these farms the lambs frequently are indulged with three or 



