than their value. Such pheop, getting f^ood tur- 

 nip feeding till the end of March, would weigh, 

 on an average, from 18 to 20 lbs. per quarter; 

 but individual sheep have \veighed 2-5 lbs. per 

 quarter. The fleeces of the shearling ewes will 

 be about 4 lbs. weight each on an average ; but, 

 taking fleeces of all classes, the average per 

 fleece will be about 5 lbs. The fleeces are un- 

 derstood to consist of laid wool. 



Mr. TiceedtP. Denchric, Presfoyik/rk. — The 

 flock contains from 300 to 400 shearlings. The 

 sheep are washed in June by making them leap 

 three or four times into a pool, and swim fifteen 

 or twenty yards. They are generally clipped 

 within a week after, the shears being used lon- 

 gitudinally. The pasturage is on the Lammer- 

 muirs, poor and mostly heath. In winter and 

 spring, turnips and hill pasture are the means 

 of support, each being afforded daily. The clip 

 of hogg and ewe wool in 1845 sold at 29s. 6d. 

 per stone of 24 lbs. For the last five years, a 

 bath mixture, prepared by Brown of Hadding- 

 ton, has been used in autumn; and, while it has 

 kept the stock quite clean, it is easily applied. 

 Three men to dip, and a boy to drive water, can 

 ea.sily bathe COO or SCO sheep :n a day. The 

 apparatus is not very expensive, and it promotes 

 the comfort both of men and .sheep. It consists 

 of a tub for dipping, and a large trough in which 

 the sheep, after being dippefl, stand to drip — 

 and so constructed that the drippings run back 

 into the tub. Since the adoption of this plan, 

 the wool has always been considered very fine, 

 and, indeed, the best shown at a local exhibi- 

 tion. 



Bt.ack-Faced Sheep. — Mr. Vere Irving. 

 Newtown Honse, Moffnt. — In the district of 

 Moffat it is not customary to wash black-faced 

 sheep. The shearling and ban-en ewes, and the 

 rams, were, in 184.5, clipped on the 2d July, and 

 the rest of the flock, consisting of evi-es rearing 

 lambs, on the 19lh of the same month. In 1844, 

 the chpping of the latter class of stock took 

 place some days earlier; but this is not consid- 

 ered advisable, as the wool last season was bet- 

 ter risen than in the preceding year. In clip- 

 ping black-faced sheep, the shears are run from 

 head to tail ; but, in tlie case of Cheviot sheep, 

 they are directed over the shoulder and back. 

 The latter method produces a neater clip, but 

 the former is more expeditious. The farm rises 

 from a base of 910 feet above the level of the 

 sea, to an altitude of 1,5.>0 feet above it. The 

 lower portion, which is divided into parks, and 

 is well sheltered, is occupied with dairy-.stock, 

 grain, green-crop and hay ; and, for the greater 

 part of the year, the sheep are entirely confined 

 to the upper division, or steep ground. The 

 pa.sture is short and of a bright color, intermixed 

 ■with coarse bent, which requires to be burnt in 

 spring. Some years ago, part of the benty 

 ground was plowed, heavily limed, and sown 

 with grass seed ; and thus a great improvement 

 was effected, the bent having been replaced by 

 a bright green pasturage, which cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from those portions of the ground 

 that are not naturally covered with bent. In 

 winter and spring, the sheep, if their condition 

 peems to demand it, are admitted into such of 

 the lower parks as have been cut for hay, or 

 pastured during the summer by the dairy stock, 

 which is then fed in the house. The sheep are 

 let down from the higher ground in the morn- 

 ing, but are invariably put out of the parks be- 

 tween one and two o'clock in the afternoon. In 

 the event of a severe snow-stonn, they are fed 

 ^ (1266) 



with meadow haj', which is carried out to them. 

 In weaning the ewe lambs intended for .stock, 

 they are put into one of the parks for a week, 

 and then allowed to return to their mothers, 

 whom they recognize, but no longer attempt to 

 suck. An advantage of this plan is that the 

 lambs follow their dams through the winter, 

 and, if there is snow, they are helped by them 

 to scrape, so that they.do not so often need to 

 be fed with hay as when they are kept separate 

 all the winter. The last clip sold fetched 12s. 

 per stone of 24 lbs. for fleeces of all denomina- 

 tions. 



Cross BtTWEEN Cheviot axd Leicester 

 Sheep. — Mr. Brown, Halls, Dunbar. — In the 

 flock there are about 600 hoggs. The usual pe- 

 riod for washing is about the end of May or be- 

 ginning of June ; and the plan followed is that 

 of placing four or five men in a stream of clear 

 water up to their middle, one above the other, 

 and passing tlie sheep, one by one, from the 

 lowest to the highest — each man, in tura, plung- 

 ing the animal in the water. The shearing fol- 

 lows in three or four days, ^^•heu the natural oil- 

 ine.ss of the wool, extracted by the washing, is 

 restored. The operation is performed in an 

 open shed, laid with green sods. One or two 

 women attend for the purpose of freeing the 

 fleeces from particles of clotted wool, and after- 

 ward winding them. The price obtained for 

 the clip last sold was 31s. per stone of 24 lbs. — 

 The pa.sture on which the Cheviot ewes are 

 grazed, from which the half-bred lambs are 

 reared, is situated on the northern boundary of 

 the Lammermuirs. The lambs are weaned 

 about the middle of Auc-ust, when they are re- 

 moved to the so\\u pastures on the farm. In 

 November they are bathed with a mixture of 

 tobacco liquor and spirit of tar, in the proportion 

 of half a Scotch pint of the former to a wine- 

 glassful of the latter for each sheep. They have 

 then a few turnips laid on their pasture, and, 

 when they have fully acquired a taste for them, 

 they are folded on turnips alone during winter 

 and spring, or until grass is ready tor them — 

 which, on the high situation to which they are 

 tran.sferred, is, in ordinary seasons, about the 

 middle of April or beginning of Mav. 



HOME AND FRIENDS. 



BY CHARLES SWAIN. 



Oh ! there 's a pouer to make each hour 



As sweet as Heaven de.oigned it ; 

 Nor need we roam to bring it home, 



Though few there be that find it ! 

 We .scL'k too high for things close by, 



And lose what Nature found us ; 

 For life hath here no cha'Tii so dear 



As home and friends aroimd us ! 



We oft destroy the present joy 



For futiire hopes — and praise them , 

 While flowers as sweet bloom at our feet, 



If we'd but stoop to raise them I 

 For things afar .still sweetest are 



WTien Youth's bright spell hath bound us ; 

 But soon we 're tau<;ht the earth hath naught 



Like home and friends around us ! 



The friends that speed in time of need. 



When Hope's lB3t reed is shaken, 

 To show us still that, come what will, 



We are not quite forsaken : 

 Though all were night, if but the light 



From Friendship's altar crowned us, 

 'T would prove the liliss of earth was this — 



Our home and friends around us I 



