BOOK VII. HI. 18-21 



closure ; afterwards, when it begins to be sportive, it 

 will have to be shut up with the lambs of its own age 

 in a pen fenced with osiers, so that it may not become 

 thin from what we may call too much youthful 

 frolicking, and care must be taken to separate a 

 more tender lamb from the stronger ones, because the 

 robust torments the feeble. It is enough to make this 

 separation in the morning before the flock goes out to 

 pasture, and then at dusk to let the lambs mingle with 19 

 the ewes when they return home after eating their 

 fill. When the lambs begin to get strong, they should 

 be fed in the folds with shrub-trefoil or lucerne, and 

 also ^vith bran, or, if the price permits, with flour of 

 barley or of bitter-vetch. Afterwards, when they 

 have reached their full strength, their mothers should 

 be brought about mid-day to the meadows or fallow 

 lands adjoining the farm and the lambs released 

 from their pen, so that they may learn to feed outside. 



Concerning the nature of their food we have 20 

 already spoken before and now call to mind what 

 was not mentioned, namely, that the vegetation which 

 is most acceptable is that which comes up when the 

 fields have received their first ploughing ; the next 

 best is that which grows in meadows which are free 

 from marsh ; boggy and wooded lands are considered 

 least suitable. There is, however, no fodder or even 

 pasturage so agreeable that the pleasure which it 

 gives does not grow stale with continuous use, unless 

 the shepherd counteracts this aversion of his sheep 

 by providing salt. This is placed in wooden troughs 

 during the summer to serve as a kind of seasoning in 

 their water and fodder and the sheep lick it up when 

 they return from the pasture, and the taste of it 

 makes them conceive a desire to eat and drink. But 21 



251 



