40 riELD AND FERN. 



able weeks of excruciating thirst and unlimited suc- 

 tion at every roadside spring. 



The bullocks were generally shod on the inside of 

 the fore-hoofs, but very rarely behind. Holding the 

 leg was a science of itself; and only one man, a 

 blacksmith at the Bow of Fife, ever made nails that 

 suited them. No other man^s seemed to " drive/^ 

 and large dealers kept supplies ot them at points, 

 and sent a bag with each drove. When the roads 

 broke up after frost, it was terrible work for cattle, 

 but shoes well put on might last for six months, 

 though not as a rule. One " Rob,^' who was killed 

 last year by the train, was a wonderful slioer, and 

 once shod seventy cattle for Mr. M'Combie in a 

 forenoon. He knew well, too, what people meant 

 when they asked him if he had got any silk handker- 

 chiefs or Hallow five-pound notes to spare, and when, 

 he dressed last like a minister. 



Such were a few of the leading characters at Fal- 

 kirk, whose season begins with the August tryst. It 

 is principally for West Highlanders, of which from 

 five to seven thousand are shown. Most of them are 

 bought to go South into the Midland Counties, or 

 to gentlemen^s parks round London ; but a few go 

 to Cumberland, Northumberland, and Cheshire. 

 Cross-bred cattle are sent from the neighbourhood ; 

 as well as Irish two years old and stirks which come 

 over in the spring, and are sold off grass to put on tur- 

 nips in Fife and East Lothian, The September tryst 

 brings with it the first drafts of hill sheep from the 



