206 



Farmers' Visits. 



Vol. V. 



But no class of animals called forth my 

 commiseration so much as the poor sheep, 

 which seem too generally to be consigned to 

 the care of a divine Providence; few, com- 

 paratively, ever thinking that they require or 

 deserve regular food or shelter ! no wonder 

 that they are by many considered a worthless 

 description of stock, for indeed in many cases 

 they are so, nature not having endowed them 

 with the power of withstanding the tempta- 

 tion to supply themselves with food wherever 

 it might be obtained, preferring to do this ra- 

 ther than to die of starvation ; and we all know 

 that a sheep without food soon grows small 

 enough to pass through a very small hole. 

 But I believe that sheep-farming, on a much 

 more extended scale than has ever yet been 

 carried on in this part of the country, would 

 prove far more profitable than very many of 

 the crops that are cultivated, at a far greater 

 expense of labour and care ; yet to do tiiis 

 profitably or comfortably, preparations must 

 first be made, which are adapted to the busi- 

 ness; these and a due regard to the size of 

 enclosures, and the fencing and shelter re- 

 quisite ; as well as a proper succession of 

 crops, and above all, a plentiful supply of 

 winter food, both roots and hay. But all this 

 is easily had and obtained, and no stock pays 

 so well in manure, which, as has been said, 

 they not only carry abroad, but spread gratu- 

 itously ; and assuredly, none pay so well for 

 extra care and management, for where plenty 

 of good food and shelter is provided, the ewes 

 may be put to the bucks a month sooner than 

 customary, and the price of fat Iamb in the 

 market a month earlier than usual, would 

 bring an unusual price, besides which, there 

 would then be time to fat the ewe afler, upon 

 the summer crops, securing likewise an early 

 market for first-rate mutton. 



With regard to the proper size of the fields, 

 these might be graduated by the simplest of 

 all methods, and in the way which is prac- 

 tised in some of the sheep districts in Europe, 

 with the greatest ease and facility, by placing 

 temporary fences across the lands, the work, 

 oftentimes of a couple of hours only ; these 

 fences are formed of hurdles made of very 

 light materials, four bars in height and 16 or 

 18 feet in length, the head piece of one end 

 being tenoned into a short axle of wood, 

 about two feet long, with two small wooden 

 wheels of four inches wide, upon which the 

 hurdle is trundled along to the place where 

 it is required, with the greatest ease and fa- 

 cility, and is fixed in a moment, by the shep- 

 herd making a hole in the ground with his 

 iron bar, exactly at the spot to receive the 

 bottom part of the other head of the hurdle, 

 which must be made sharp and tapering for 

 this purpose, observing to place these hurdles 

 alternately, wheels to point, when they re- 



quire no more care or fastening than tying. 

 These temporary fences should be removed 

 occasionally, for no one would easily conceive 

 the advantage it is to the flock to be changed 

 from one pasture to another ; a few days 

 being often sufficient to sweeten an old en- 

 closure, when they will return and eat their 

 rejected food with avidity. 



But shelter is as necessary, oftentimes, as 

 food, and the well-being of the flock depends 

 more on this, than very many would imagine 

 — indeed this must sound strange to those 

 who suppose — as has already been said — that 

 sheep neither require nor deserve such treat- 

 ment: those however, who have witnessed 

 the quantity and quality of the wool of a flock 

 which has been well sheltered, need not be 

 told this. Now nothing makes a better shel- 

 ter than a few of these wheel-hurdles, cover- 

 ed on one side with very thin boarding, which 

 might extend a foot or so above the top rail ; 

 these can easily be removed to the point from 

 whence the storm comes, and under the lee, 

 the sheep will congregate and weather it out, 

 most comfortably ; their advantage to the 

 flock being a hundred fold greater than all 

 the labour, and expense of the hurdles, twice 

 told : but these boarded shelters must be 

 placed outside the hurdles, else the sheep will 

 soon demolish tliein, by rubbing against them. 



But 1 am aware that many will smile at 

 the idea of erecting fences for shelter in the 

 fields, for any kind of stock ; if, however, 

 they will try the value of such a provision, 

 they will rejoice to witness the advantage 

 which it is to their animals, and be surprised 

 to find at how little cost the arrangement has 

 been made. Still, I admit that the advan- 

 tages of such a climate as that which our 

 middle States give us are very great, and 

 that, comparatively speaking, we know but 

 little of the horrors which are oflentimes felt 

 in other countries ; but even here, we have 

 all known the time, when every kind-hearted 

 man must have been grieved to see his poor 

 animals ranged under the shelter of an open 

 fence, wet and shivering to the bone, and 

 eyeing the storm with a deadly cast of coun- 

 tenance, enough to make an honest man 

 shudder. Assuredly, no one is justified in 

 exposing any part of his family to these cruel 

 hardships, when the means are so readily in 

 his power to alleviate them. And as it might 

 possibly awaken their sympathy, or rather 

 their gratitude, for " the lines that have fallen 

 to them in sucji pleasant places," were they 

 to read an account of a storm which fell on 

 a part of the Cheviot Hills in Scotland, in 

 the year 1794. now reprinted in Low's grand 

 work on British Cattle, from the Ettrick 

 Shepherd's Tales, I beg to copy it for your 

 pages ; after which, if they do not rise up 

 with a more grateful heart for the blessings 



