168 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



FEEDING LAMBS IN A CORN FIELD. 



There are many wastes on a farm that may be gathered 

 up by a flock of sheep. All these count then to account of 

 profit. One of these wastes that is worth many dollars, not 

 only for the feed gained, but for the comfort and shade iin 

 the latter days of the Summer, when the sun's burning rays 

 bear hard on the wooly coats, is the sprouts from the roots 

 of the corn, the suckers as they are commonly termed. 

 These are eagerly gathered up by the lambs, newly de- 

 prived of the company of their dams, and being weaned. 

 These lambs wander in the comfortable shade, nipping here 

 and there, and feeding well on this agreeable and sweetly 

 succulent food. It is well to bell a few of the lambs, for 

 the old rule of the shepherd, careful against accident, to 

 "count your sheep at least once a day, and every time you 

 see them," and this soon becomes such a fixed habit that 

 one spontaneously complies with it without thinking of it, is 

 to be followed constantly. For one lamb or two may be- 

 come loose behind and the flies may blow them, and this is 

 so almost hopeless a case if neglected, that the lamb, or the 

 ewe either, may perish miserably before it is suspected, 

 becoming a living prey to those devouring pests. Lambs 

 on this account should invariably be docked when two 

 weeks old. This is done with the greatest ease, as well as 

 their emasculation at the same time, by the use of a pair 

 of sharp shears. The lamb is taken under the left arm and 

 held so that the skin, being drawn back, the tail may be 

 clipped off at one cut. Then the lamb being taken between 

 the knees and the scrotum being held conveniently is wholly 

 clipped off, the rather rough cut being a preventive of bleed- 

 ing. A pinch of blue-stone, finely powdered, carried in a 

 pouch at the shepherd's side applied to keep off the flies, and 

 stop any bleeding, and heal the wound, completes the opera- 

 tion, which is done several times in the time the lines are 

 written. 



If the lambs bite one of the lowest ears of the conn it 

 will do no harm to it, and the owner will never miss it, 



REARING HOUSE LAMBS. 



Of late years a large market has been made in the large 

 cities for early lambs. Formerly these were not able to be 



