1060 PRACTICE OP A GRreU'LTURE. Part III. 



such as have little milk ; those that have been induced to adopt another^ offspring; and j generally, all 

 that need to' be frequently inspected, and are in want of better treatment than the rest of the flock. 

 {Supp. ^c. 178.) 



71991 Cnstration is performed in the male lamlw when a few days old, the ewe lambs are never spayed : 

 mild weather is chosen, and the operation performed in a fold on small quantities at a time. 



T'iOO. The late lambing ewes are separated from the ewes iind lambs at tiio end of the lambing season, 

 and kept by themselves, that they may be more under the eye of the shepherd, than if scattered over all 

 the pasture. It is desirable to allow them tine grass for a few weeks after lambing, that their lambs may 

 come to be nearly equal to tlie rest of the flock when weaneti ; or if they are too late for this, that they 

 may get ready for the butcher by the month of August, beyond which period the ewes must be much 

 irijured by suckling them. {Supp. 8(c., BiXt. A<j;7: \~\).} 



7201. Washinf;, in store-farming, is performed when the wool has risen sufficiently, which is easily known 

 by the appearance of a new growth. The barren sheep are first brought to the washiiig ppoL : Sometimes 

 they are hand-Washed by men who stand in the pool, and have the sheep forced towards them singly ; 

 but more commonly, the Cheviot sheep, especially if the flock be numerous, are compelied to leap into 

 the pool in a body for three or four times successively ; and It is desirable that they should have room to 

 swim a little, and come out on a green low bank on the opposite side. After being washed, the sheep are 

 preserved as f,ar as possible from rubbing against eartiien dykes or banks, and from lying down on any 

 dirty spot which might soil their wool [Supp. S(C.) 



7202. Marking, as in general sheep-farming (.7185.), takes place before the shorn sheep are turned out 

 to pasture: they are marked, commonly with the owner's initials, by a stamp, or boost in provincial 

 language, dipped in tar heated to a thin fluid state ; and it is not unusual to place this mark on different 

 parts of the body, according to the sheep's age. 



7203. The weaning of Imnbs takes place when they are about three months old, sometimes sooner. 

 When the ewes are gathered to be washed or shorn, the ewe lambs to be kept for supplying the place of 

 the old ewes occasionally sold are stamped in the same way as the ewes. 'I'he storeJambs are sent to 

 aome clean grassy pasture for a few weeks; and where the farm docs not afford this accommodation, they 

 must be smnmered, as it is called, at a distance. Several farms near Cheviot, and on the Lammermuir 

 bills in Berwickshire, are appropriated to tliis purijose, the owner of the lambs paying so much a head for 

 six or eight weeks. In the mean time the ewe hogs, or gimmers, as they are denominated after shearing, 

 havejoineil the ewe stock, and the lambs, when brought home, go to thepasture which they had occupied. 

 Wherever they may be kept in winter, it is always desirable to allow them a few turnips, along with a 

 full bite of coarse herbage. 



7204. The practice oftnilking ewes after the separation of the lambs is still continued in a few places. 

 This very objectionable management is generally continued for six or eight weeks. The value of the milk 

 of each ewe for this lime may not exceed from one shilling to one shilling and sixpence a head, and the 

 sheep are injured to at least three times that amount, independent of atridents at the milking fold. The 

 cream is separated from the ewe milk, and made into butter for smearing, and the inilk itself mixed with 

 cow milk, and converted into cheese. The most skilful store-masters, however, have either laid aside 

 milking, unless for a few days, or have shortened the period to two or three weeks. 



7205. The selection of the crones or old ewes to be sold generally takes place in September or October, 

 when th6y are sold to the feeder, and replaced by lambs of the cuiTent year. On the lower hills, ewes ate 

 generally disposed of after having lambed three' seasons, or under four and a half years of age. In some 

 situations they are kept on till a year older ; but when they are purchased, as they usually are, to be kept 

 another year on lower grounds, it is commonly for the interest of the store-farmer to sell them when still 

 in their full vigour. Skilful managers do not content themselves with drafting them merely according to 

 age ; for as there is no disadvantage in keeping a few of the best another year, they take this opportunity 

 of getting rid of such of the flock of other ages as are not of good shapes, or are otherwise objectionable. 

 As soon as the ewes to be disposed of are drawn from the flock, they are kept by themselves on better 

 pasture, if the circumstances of the farm will admit of it. Sometimes they are carried on till they are 

 fattened, and turnips are often purchased for them at a distance. \Vhen this is the case, it is not thought 

 advisable to keep them longer than till between Christmas and Candlemas, as an old ewe does not improve 

 like a wether in the spring months. {Supp. ^c.) 



7206. The salving or smearing of sheep \% an operation scarcely known in England, and not practised by 

 the Welsh : some store-farmers in the milder districts of the northern counties consider it unnecessary, 

 but in all very cold situations it is still employed. The object of this operation is to destroy vermin, to 

 prevent cutaneous diseases, and to promote the warmth and comfort of the animal during the stnrms of 

 the ensuing winter. It is not necessary with sheep kept on low grounds, and well fed during winter, and 

 it may occasionally be omitted for one season, particularly with old sheep, without material injury; but 

 notwithstanding the ridicule that speculative writers have attempted to throw upon the practice, it is 

 almost universally considered necessary and beneficial on high exposed situations, by the store-farmers of 

 the border hills. Smeared wool does not sell so high as white wool, but the greater weight of the former 

 more than compensates for the difference in price. {General Report of Scotland, vol. iii.) The season of 

 salving or smearing is usually towards the end of October or beginning of November, before the rams are 

 sent to the ewes. The most common materials are butter and tar, mixed in different proportions ; a greater 

 proportion of tar being employed for the hogs or young sheep than for the older ones. The proportions 

 are also different on almost every farm, and more tar is thought to be necessary, according to tiieir greater 

 elevation and exposure. In Roxburghshire, some mix two gallons of tar with thirty-six pounds of butter, 

 as a sufficient allowance for three score of sheep ; but for the same number it is more common to allot only 

 one stone (twenty-four pounds) of butter to two gallons of tar. {Roxburghshire Report, p. 155). A com. 

 mon proportion of late has been about fourteen pounds of butter to two Scotch pints of tar (nearly 3| quarts 

 English wine measure), for ewes, and eleven pounds to the same quantity of tar for hogs. This mixture 

 should smear from twenty to twenty-five of each, which is the number one man can do in a day. The 

 expense, according to present prices, will be about nihe-pence for each sheep: other articles, such as oil, 

 palm-grease, tallov/, &c., have been recommended in place of butter ; but none of them are in general use, 

 and the only addition that is approved of is a little butter-milk. The butter is slowly melted and poured 

 upon the tar, and the mixture is constantly stirred till it becomes cool enough for use. The wool is accu- 

 rately parted into rows from the head to the tail of the animal, and the salve is carefully spread upon the 

 skin with the point of the finger at the bottom of each row. {Supp. En. Brit. art. Agr. 180.) The practice 

 of salving has undergone a change within these four years, and is not so general now as formerly, the low 

 price of smeared wool having forced the store-masters to try other ingredients than tar. In the Farmer's 

 Magazine, vol. xxv. are some notices of these experiments on smearing ; which have not, however, been 

 so Tong in use as to aWard certai|j) results. The object at present is as far as possible to dispense with tar, 

 by which the wool is rendered unfit for certain sorts of manufacture. 



7207. The care of sheep during storms is a business requiring constant attention. In storms of wind 

 and rain, or what are called black storms by the shepherds, the sheep will, in a great measure, take care 

 of themselves, by pasturing in situations naturally sheltered. All that is required is to remove any of 

 the more delicate into a covered fold or sheep-house; though such conveniencies are seldom to be found 

 on mountain farms. But in a storm of snow the natural shelter to which the sheep have recourse be- 

 comes the great receptacle of drift, and the harbinger of death to the flock. It is in such situations that 

 Captain Napier purposes to place his stalls, or circular folds {fig. h93. O ), into which the sheep should be 

 driven, or will naturally enter on the commencement of the storm. The round form for these stalls or 

 folds is decidedly preferable to any figure with straight lines, as these invariably harbour drift Where no 



