THE CHEVIOT BREED. 



101 



for several weeks after the lambs are weaned, is now very 

 much given up, experience shewing, that the exhaustion and 

 disturbance of ewes render them less fitted to withstand the 

 privations and severities of winter, and to nourish their 

 young when the season of parturition arrives. It is usual, 

 however, to milk the ewes after weaning for a few days, so 

 as to run them dry by degrees. In cases where the practice 

 of milking for several weeks is adopted, the milk is churned 

 for the use of the farm; and twenty ewes will yield five 

 pounds of butter in the week. 



The number of Sheep assigned to the care of one shepherd 

 is from 400 to 500. When the flock consists wholly of ewes, 

 this number is as much as one man can conveniently manage, 

 but when the flock consists of hoggets and shearlings, one 

 shepherd may manage 700 or 800. An average allowance 

 for one shepherd is 400 ewes and 200 hoggets. 



To the shepherd of these mountainous countries, the ser- 

 vices of the Dog are indispensable. Without this faithful 

 creature, his individual labour would be insufficient to collect 

 the animals from distant parts, drive them in flocks, or per- 

 form the other innumerable services required. The breed 

 of Dogs used in the mountains of Cheviot, and the pastoral 

 districts of Scotland, is of small size and homely exterior, 

 but adapted in an eminent degree to the services to be per- 

 formed. For sagacity and fidelity, these humble Dogs cannot 

 be surpassed ; they understand the language of their master, 

 and almost seem to divine his thoughts. Their whole habits 

 seem fashioned to the life they lead. When taken from their 

 natural pursuits, their spirit seems to droop, or at least they 

 never manifest, in other situations, that matchless sagacity 

 which distinguishes them in the occupation of the shepherd 

 life. 



The entire management of these and the other mountain 

 Sheep of the northern part of Britain, has no parallel, it is 

 believed, in the same latitudes in Europe. In no other 



