SUMMER MANAGEMENT. 167 



where no sheltering is provided, greater labor and vigilance 

 must be employed, the presence of the flock-tender being 

 constantly needed, with his bottle of warm milk, and putting 

 the more helpless in a large basket, lined with hay or straw, 

 and bringing them before the fire for an hour or more, until 

 animation is restored. When lambs are separated from 

 their dams under such circumstances, care should be ob- 

 served not to have them wrapped or touched with anything 

 that is offensive, as its scent, when very young, is the prin- 

 cipal source of recognition by the mother. A clean blanket 

 or woollen cloth will be best, if swaddling should be found 

 necessary. 



It is proverbial that the Merino and Saxon varieties are 

 not as good nurses as the English breeds, and nature there- 

 fore rarely overtasks, by supplying them with twins. When 

 this occurs, however, if the ewe is in her prime, condition 

 good, udder large, and her keep good, it will be proper to let 

 both of the lambs run with the mother ; but if the reverse of 

 this, let one of them be brought up by hand, or, as is the 

 Spanish custom, be destroyed. A different course will 

 probably cause runts of both, and is one of the means by 

 which many flocks, in process of time, are sadly deterio- 

 rated. 



When the ewe loses her offspring, it is followed by a 

 distension, and frequently an inflammation, of the udder. 

 But such cases will be found by the reader fully treated of, 

 in the chapter of diseases, under the head of garget. 



During the period of lambing, continuing as it does for a 

 fortnight or more, the pasture for the ewes, if they are in fair 

 flesh, should not be luxuriant ; but when it is passed, then 

 they may be removed to better keep ; and in all cases the 

 situation should be dry, and free from too great exposure. 

 If the season has been unpropitious for early grass, and 

 consequently the keep during parturition too low, the flock 

 should have the run of two lots, which should adjoin, and 

 the communication between them at all times kept open. 

 The adoption of this course prevents the confusion incident 

 to changing the whole flock at once. 



The number of ewes herding together at this important 

 period should not exceed one hundred, and a still less 

 number will result advantageously to both the flock and mas- 

 ter. He should at all seasons keep before him the fact, that 



