100 THE SHEEP. 



gimmers. Sometimes they are kept until they have yielded 

 a second fleece. All the old ewes which have borne the re- 

 quired number of lambs are disposed of before winter, and 

 not only such ewes as are old, but such as are of bad form, 

 or which it is wished for any cause to get rid of. The hogs 

 which are retained are treated in the same manner as the 

 breeding ewes, except that it is common to put them on 

 some grassy and sheltered part of the farm where they can 

 be best pastured. They receive hay in falls of snow, and, if 

 possible, turnips are supplied to them during the whole win- 

 ter, which may be done at the rate of a cart-load per day for 

 every seven or eight scores. 



The practice of smearing the skins before winter with tar, 

 was formerly in more general use in the case of this breed 

 of Sheep than it has since become. It is now chiefly con- 

 fined to the- more elevated districts, or the more northern 

 counties. The disuse of the practice has arisen, not on ac- 

 count of any experience of its inefficiency as a preservative 

 to the health of the animals, but on account of the injury to 

 the quality of the wool, occasioned by the tarry ingredient. 

 On this account, substitutes for the tar are now very gene- 

 rally employed. These are, olive oil mixed with turpentine, 

 impure naphtha, commonly called spirits of tar, or other 

 substances, which serve the purpose of destroying vermin 

 and removing cutaneous affections, but which are scarcely 

 so efficient for preserving health as the old mixture. 



In the modern management of these Sheep, a principle 

 observed is to suffer them as much as possible to pasture 

 undisturbed. On this account the dividing of the stock of 

 the farm into a number of flocks or hirsels, to each of which 

 is assigned a certain range of pasturage, is much less used 

 than formerly. The practice of folding Sheep at night, for 

 the purpose of manuring parts of the farm, is now abandoned 

 by all who are conversant with the proper management of 

 this kind of Sheep. The practice, too, of milking the ewes 



