90 Essay on Sheep, 



incommoded by the heat. If the pasture af- 

 fords a wood or a hill, under the shade of which 

 they can feed, they will be found on their legs 

 again by three or four o'clock in the afternoon ; 

 but if not, they begin to feed later in the day, 

 and will continue so to do some hours after 

 sunset. It will easily be conceived then, that 

 sheep must suffer extremely by being folded 

 when they should feed, and being compelled 

 to feed when they should be at rest. 



I ought to have mentioned, that it is a prac- 

 tice in some places to shear the tags and w^ool 

 from the udders of the ewes before they lamb- 

 ed; and this practice is strongly recommended 

 by a number of agricultural writers, who allege 

 that the lamb cannot suck so well unless this is 

 done: but there are many plausible theories 

 which are not confirmed by practice, and 

 this I take to be among tlie number. The 

 teat is always bare, and this is the only part 

 that the lamb has any thing to do with, and 

 bareing other parts only tend to mislead his 

 search. But this is not the greatest evil that 

 results from it. The ewe must be handled, 

 and too often very roughly, when she is heavy 

 with lamb. The effect of this is very obvious; 

 the teat is sometimes wounded by the shears; 

 but, above all, the shearing exposes the udder 



