208 FIELD AND FERN. 



would put a sheep-walk into form/^ Hay-feeding 

 was not practised before ^99, but nothing can supply 

 its place in a fierce winter. " Partial feeding is worse 

 than no feeding, as the sheep listlessly wait on it, 

 and no longer, in the absence of fresh weather, search 

 after regular food. Giving it in handfuls may do 

 for calm weather, but sheep hecks will alone prevent 

 the wind pilfering, and save one-tliird of the hay. 

 Corn, beans, and bran, with hay, may enable the 

 flockmaster with a heavy purse and willing heart to 

 tide through the dreary time till verdure begins 

 again, and nature dethrones art on the hills ;" but 

 still, mountain hay must be his sheet-anchor. Mr. 

 Aitchison^s recommendation was that every hirsel 

 of thirty score should have four enclosures of a few 

 acres each (with sheep-houses and hecks), which 

 should be properly limed and cut, two and two, 

 in alternate years. " Go in for mountain hay,^^ he 

 concluded, " and the storms of winter may drift up 

 the valley, and tempests whistle over the hills in 

 vain.^^ 



Till after New-Year^s Day the Roxburghshire 

 flockmasters never dreaded storms, but between 

 Candlemas and the middle of April the heavy pinch 

 comes. Land that abounds in every variety of keep 

 of course makes the heaviest fleece. Towards Slet- 

 rig Head it is very good, and so it is towards Jed 

 Head and Rule Water Head. When you get to the 

 range of the Cheviots there are very few mosses to 

 be found, and the fine lea grass does not afl'ord 



