SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 217 



rivated loots. This is done by withholding salt from thenri, and then feed- 

 ing the chopped root a few times rubbed with just sufficient salt to V^luce 

 them to eat the root to obtain it; but not enough to satisfy their appetite 

 for salt before they have acquired a taste for the roots. 



It is customary with some of our flock-masters to cut down from time 

 to time, in the winter, and draw into the sheep-yards, young trees of the 

 hemlock f Abies canadensisj. The foliage is greedily eaten by sheep, af 

 ter being confined for some time to dry feed. I have known sheep, un- 

 doubtedly, I think, killed by overeating it. This browse is commonly used 

 for some supposed medicinal virtues. It is pronounced •' iiealthy for 

 sheep." The po2)uhir supposition is that it is a tonic and sx/miilant. If 

 this be true, which I will not pause to inquiie, of what ^ooc^ Uje are tonics 

 and stimulants to healtkij animals ] With sheep, as with horsjs. and even 

 with men, preventive medicines are productive of injury in a thousand 

 cases, where they are of benefit in one. There could be no objection, cer- 

 tainly, to sheep's eating the foliage of the hemlock, if it was constantly 

 accessible to them. Their instincts, in that case, would teach them 

 whether, and in what quantities, to devour it. But when entirely confined 

 to dry feed for a protracted {)eriod, sheep will consume hurtful and even 

 poisonous succulents — and of the most wliolesome ones, hurtful quantities. 

 As a mere laxative, an occasional feed of hemlock may be beneficial; but 

 m this point of view, a day's run at grass in a thaw, or a feed of roots, 

 would produce the same result. In a climate where grass is obtained 

 most of the time, I should consider browse for medicinal purposes entirely 

 unnecessary. 



Winter Feed of Breeding-Ewes. — Until two or three weeks pie- 

 coding lambing, it is only necessary that breeding-ewes, like other store- 

 sheep, be kept in good plump ordinary condition. Nor are any separate 

 arrangements necessary for them, after that period, in a climate when* 

 they obtain sufficient succulent food to provide for a proper secretion of 

 milk. In backward seasons in the North, where the grass does not stait 

 prior to the lambing time, careful flock-masters feed their ewes chopped 

 roots, or roots mixed with oat or pea meal. This is, in my judgment, 

 excellant economy.* 



Regularity in Feeding. — If there is one rule which may be consider 

 ed more imperative than any other in Sheep Husbandry, it is that the ut* 

 most regularity be preserved in feeding. First, there should be regularity 

 as to the times of feeding. However abundantly provided for, when a 

 fljck are foddered sometimes at one hour and sometimes at another— 

 sometimes three times a day and sometimes twice — some days grain and 

 some days none — tkcj/ cannot he made to thrive. They will do far better 

 on inferior keep, if fed with strict regularity. In a climate where they re- 

 quire hay three times a day, the best times for feeding are about sunrise in 

 the morning, at noon, and an hour before dark at night. Unlike cattle and 

 borfies, sheep do not eat well in the dark, and therefore they should have 

 time to consume their feed before night sets in. Noon is the common time 

 for feeding grain or roots, and is the best time if but two fodderingsof hay 

 ere given If the sheep receive hay three times, it is not a matter of 

 nsuch consequence with which feeding the grain is given, only that the 

 practice be uniform. 



It is also highly essentii. 1 that there be regularity preserved in the amcunt 

 fed. The consumption of hay will, it is true, depend much upon the 



' For the ".ffect oflhe various esculents on the quantity and quality of the mi^k, see Liebig'g Aaiinai Chaa 



2E 



