226 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



summer's keeping, and which takes half a winter to regain. 

 It is a great error which is persisted in with an idea to save 

 fodder. But setting aside the injury done pvistures by close 

 feeding at this season of the year, the sheep which stray 

 away and are lost, and the time spent in hunting them, which 

 are not idle considerations, the farmer would more than get 

 repaid for his extra fodder, and a few weeks' attention in 

 yarding his sheep sooner, by preserving their health and 

 condition. When they are put to winter quarters they re- 

 quire as much v^.riety as possible, not that they want so 

 much room, but they need a number of different apartments. 

 Two yards and one shed wil] do very well for one flock, or, 

 what will answer the same purpose, if a large number of 

 sheep are to be kept near each other, have the yards in a 

 row, and one more yard than flocks of sheep. Then by 

 shifting one flock to the spare yard it leaves another vacant, 

 and so on. Thus may all be changed, which should be done 

 at every time of feeding. As fast as the yards are empty, the 

 food should be put in them, and never while the sheep are 

 there. One hundred sheep are enough to be kept together. 

 Cleanliness is of the utmost importance. Their yards should 

 be littered with straw or something of the kind constantly, 

 or they will be in danger of losing in a degree a relish for 

 their food. 



' The next thing necessary is to have proper places for 

 your sheep to eat hay in, which are the common board man- 

 gers, and may make partings to the yards. Take six joists, 

 say three inches square, and four feet long ; have the boards 

 of a length, then nail two of them to the joists set up per- 

 pendicularly in such a manner that one joist will be in the 

 middle of each board, and the other two at the ends, and 

 that the top edge of the boards will be one foot from the 

 ground ; then nail short boards on the ends two feet and a 

 half long, the width of the manger ; the next board on the 

 sides to be placed eight inches from the lower boards, then 

 board it tight to the top of the joists, and the manger is 

 finished. A manger eighteen feet long, of this description, 

 will accommodate thirty sheep. Single mangers may be 

 made along the outside fence of the yard, which do not re- 

 quire to be so wide. The great superiority of these mangers 

 over racks is, first, the facility of putting hay into them 

 without dropping it on the ground ; secondly, it obviates the 

 danger of hay-seed falling on the wool of the sheep ; and 

 thirdly, it prevents any waste of fodder. The next thing 



