122 BOxVRD OF AGRICULTURE. 



in tliat way, suspected that the lambs becoming heated by play, 

 laid down upon the cold, damp ground and became paral} zed ; 

 since that, his practice has been to turn them out at first only 

 for a short time, and then returning, they lie down on the litter 

 made under the sheds, and he has never since lost any. In 

 turning sheep to pasture, perhaps the first thing is to see that 

 the fences are secure ; poor fences or walls will soon teach sheep 

 to jump and ramble. One jumping sliecp will lead a fluck any- 

 where, and there is no remedy for the habit once acquired, but 

 death to the sheep, or unreasonably high fences. A flock may 

 by care, be kept within bounds, and hardly allowed to know 

 that they can jump; the larger breeds of sheep are more quiet 

 than smaller ones, and less liable to ramble. Every humane man 

 who has seen the anxiety of sheep to escape the burning midday 

 sun, will see that his flocks have shade of some kind ; and if the 

 pasture is deficient in this, will provide an artificial shelter. 



Sheep ought to be supplied with water in a pasture, for 

 although they will live without it, the fact that they will drink 

 when they are allowed, shows that they require it, and we are 

 decidedly of the opinion that no pasture should be unwatered. 



Salt is indispensable for the health and thriftiness of a flock, 

 and should be given in quantities varying from two to four 

 quarts to the hundred sheep, once a week, increasing as the 

 season advances. It stimulates the appetite, materially assists 

 the digestion of food, and tends generally to prevent disease and 

 to promote the health ; it is fed on flat stones or more properly 

 in troughs. 



The use of tar applied to the noses of sheep is recommended, 

 and it is often put into the troughs where salt is given, that they 

 may smear their noses with it ; many believe that the smell of 

 the tar is of itself healthy, and a preventive of, and remedy for 

 colds, catarrh and lung diseases, but as a protection against the 

 fly that in July and August deposits in the nostril of the sheep, 

 the egg producing the grub, which ascends into the head, it is 

 invaluable ; the smell of the tar is repulsive to all insects, and 

 a free application of it is most effectual. 



Sheep are usually shorn in this Commonwealth from the fifth 

 to the twentieth of June, having been washed from five to fifteen 

 days previously. Tlio limits of this rcitort will not admit of 

 our going into the details of these operations and we must leave 



