8 RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN 1G41. 



course for the space of 2 dayes (till such time as the lainbe be- 

 ginne to dunge out the milke which it hath gotten of her,) yow 

 may easily cause her to take the lambe. 



It is usuall with some allsoe (when a lambe dyeth) to flea 

 the same immediately, and to take the skinne and sowe it on 

 the backe of another lambe, and then to hopple the ewe and to 

 make a dogge lye downe before her, as often as yow putt the 

 lambe to her to sucke ; and the skinne neede not bee upon the 

 strainge lamb's backe above a day and a night ; at the ende of 

 which time yow may take it of, and the ewe (if shee bee any 

 thinge kindely) will take the lambe and make on it as her owne. 



It is goode to admonish the shepheard to pluck the woUe 

 away from the yower of the ewe, thereby to make more way 

 for weake lambes to finde the pappe and to sucke. 



It is a goode way to give cowe-milke to lambs that are 

 pained in their beUyes, thereby to make them scoure and soe 

 to cure them. 



It is a goode way (when a loftie ewe chanceth to loose a 

 lambe) to take her and putt her into some Httle close by her 

 selfe, thereby to suckle weake lambes as they fall, and alsoe aU 

 such lambes, whose dammes att the firet wante milke. 



When a lambe is lost, and a neighbour chance to have a 

 lambe wan tinge a damme, they wiU usually buy such a lambe 

 conditionally for Is. if it live, and 6f/. if it dye; or perhapps 

 for Gd. if it live, and Sd. if it dye. 



Of Geldinge of Lambes. 

 Tusser^ admonisheth to gelde lambes when they are about a 

 fortnight olde ; yett the shepheardes affirme that many lambes 

 att theire first lambinge have wide coddes and noe stones to bee 

 felt ; whearefore they say that oftentimes such lambes have 

 theire stones lyinge in the thigh hole neare unto the codde, 

 which aboute a moneth or sixe weekes after ^\^ll fall into the 

 codde : whearefore the usuall time heareabontes is \\'hitsimtide, 

 yett some defeiTC theire geldinge of lambes till betwixt tlie two'' 

 Lady-dayes, alledginge that then their stones are come to s^me 

 perfection, and bignesse, .and therefore the more easy to deale 

 withalL 



■ There are several quotations from Tiisscr, one of the most popular authors on a 

 most popular subject. Yet so good a theorist could not satisfactorily carry out into 

 practice his own rules; for we know that his fanuinp; turned out a dead loss, lie 

 was likely to be much studied in the county t)f Essex, because that was the scene of 

 his experiments. Of that county was our author's wife ; and ho speaks, incidentiUly, 

 08 though Essex farming was familiar to him. 

 , March 25, April G. 



