Essay 07i Sheep. 159 



even be made to breed thrice In that time, if 

 they are kept in high order, and not suftered to 

 nurse the lambs. I have two or three that have 

 taken the ram this winter, since lambing, and 

 one within eight days after lambing, though the 

 lamb was running at her side. Whether the co- 

 pulation will be productive remains to be seen ; 

 if It should (and I have no reason to think it will 

 not), the lambs will fall In August; of course 

 the ewes may take the ram in October, so as to 

 lamb again in March, which would be three 

 times in the course of the year. This, how- 

 ever, is a practice by no means to be recom- 

 mended, as I think it would injure both the 

 ewes and the lambs, and deteriorate the stock. 

 Lamhs at birth, — In most breeds of sheep 

 single lambs are more common than a greater 

 number; but in some, as in the Dorsetshire, 

 double lambs are nearly as usual as single. The 

 Friesland and Tees- Water sheep, which are of 

 the large long-woolled species, if well kept, 

 bring from two to five lambs at a birth, and that 

 sometimes twice in a year, if we may believe an 

 old English writer, Barnaby Gage, who says, 

 " It hath been seen in Guilderland, that five ewes 

 ^^ hath had in one year five and twenty lambs : 

 ** It may seem, peradventure, to many incredi- 

 *' ble, and yet no great marvel, since they have 



