20 AGRICULTURAL MUSEUJI 



tablishmcnt, if r]anger is npprcbended from feeding tea 

 fijong on one spot, might easily be co^itrived, and made 

 also proof against -dogs. 



It is of great importance tobave the flock entirely gen- 

 tle. The sheep are more roadil}'- fed and inspected, and 

 ■when it is necessary to hanfilc any of them, as will fre- 

 quently be the case in a system of good care and good 

 feeding, there is no racing or penning, which, beside the 

 delay and trouble of the thing to catch a single sheep, an- 

 noys and disturl)s the whole flock — and some times acci- 

 dents happen. It is easily effected, by making it the par- 

 ticular business of some one sedate careful person to at- 

 tend to the flock. Let him by degrees, and particularl3'in 

 winter, accustom them to feed while he is in the midst 

 of them, and often to take it from his hands — and those 

 among them that are the most shy, let him, by slow ap- 

 proaches and kind usage particularly attend to — he will 

 soon have the whole flock at his call, at any season of the 

 year, and under his hand, he may take hold of any sheep 

 he wants. A good shepherd should know, and he may 

 very soon come to know ever}' individual in his flock, if 

 not a large one, and if very numerous, he should at least 

 know forty or fifty of the most remarkable. 



The principal cause of the decay of flocks, is that the 

 old sheep are not removed from it in season ^ any man 

 ivill acknowledge the truth of this remark, who will be at 

 the pains of observing. He will find that, w ith the same 

 treatment, the young sheep (up to six or seven years old) 

 will be in good case, while those older will be thin; and 

 those yet more advanced miserably poor and apparently 

 diseased. It is a shortlived animal, comes soon to matu- 

 rity and soon declines ; and although there are instances 

 that a sheep lives and propagates to twelve or fifteen 

 years, they are rare ; the rule is otherwise. The time of 

 sheanngis the time of general inspection, and of disposal 

 of the flock. Then let the masters eye be scrntinously 

 placed on every sheep he owns — to ehuse his lambs to 

 breed from, to mark, to hi; and to dispose of in tiic cour&e 



