BARNS AND STABLES. 205 



There is 110 necessity for expensive buildings, all that is re- 

 quired is shelter from the snow and rains of the Winter. 

 This is so important that the Scotch, and some of the Eng- 

 lish, shepherds take every precaution to protect the sheep 

 by the use of oiled jackets to shed the rain from the sheep's 

 back, which is the most vulnerable part of the body, as the 

 spinal nerve which runs along this part of the body may be 

 easily chilled, and this causes sucih serious disorders of this 

 nervous center of the body, as to produce the most fatal 

 diseases. It will be useful to refer to the chapter on diseases, 

 in which this most sensitive part of the sheep's anatomy is 

 fully described, and the effects of injury to this great 

 nervous center are particularly discussed. Besides this pre- 

 caution, these shepherds grease the fleece so that it will shed 

 the rain and prevent it from penetrating to the skin, and 

 thus by the severe chilling effects cause these spinal diseases. 

 These precautions are needed when sheep are fed out in the 

 fields, gathering for themselves the common root crops on 

 which the chief Winter feeding of the flocks consist, nnd es- 

 pecially in a climate where rain is so almost constantly 

 drizzling as in England and Scotland. 



There are serious difficulties in the way of our adoption 

 of this method of feeding our flocks, and thus we are obliged 

 to provide ample protection by means of sheds, or com- 

 pletely finished barns or enclosed stables. The mere shel- 

 ter is all that is needed, but provided in such a way that the 

 necessary conditions for health are secured. 



An excellent shed suitable for sheep may be built for 

 the small cost of fifty cents a foot in length, and length is 

 more important than width, for a wide building must have 

 stiff and heavy timber in the frame, while one of tw r enty 

 feet in width may be made wholly of the lightest framing 

 stuff. Indeed there need be no framing about it; the stuff 

 is put together with nails only, and with a double row of 

 studding in the center, where the feed racks are placed, will 

 serve to hold up the fodder stored above. The author has 

 built a substantial shed twenty feet wide and a hundred feet 

 long for fifty cents a running foot: and with extra fittings 

 and everything done in the best manner, the cost has been 

 under a dollar a foot for a well furnished lamb house, sepa- 

 rate pens and feed arrangements all included. 



