FOLD. 473 



FORD thus accoutred, work ail day, and not quit the busi- 

 ness till the darkness forced them to dinner. 



FOLD. 



I found in 1792, at Mr. Bevan's, what I had often re- 

 commended to the public; a yard well fenced in for a stand- 

 ing fold, in sight of the shepherd's windows, for littering and 

 folding in bad weather. 1802, he continues the practice, 

 and is well persuaded of the great advantage : he thinks it is 

 indispensable, and means in future to have his flock in 

 for yeaning, whether the season be good or bad ; and has 

 always 15 or 20 load of hay stacked in it for them to help 

 themselves : he finds this not attended with any waste. 



Near Brandon there is a pradlice introduced about tea 

 years ago, said to be from Kent, which is, to fold their 

 flocks for five or six hours in the middle of the day in hot 

 weather. 



In laying out the enclosures of the farm of Waterden, 

 from 15 to 50 acres each, much attention was paid in the 

 arrangement to have every field of the farm to open into a 

 lane, that leads through the whole, so that by dividing the 

 flock, for stocking, according to varying circumstances, 

 Mr. Hill can keep at least one-fourth more dian when 

 all the breeding ewes and lambs were in one flock, and 

 the food dirtied by driving to fold : by this means there h 

 not a bent on the farm, the stocking being equal. He is 

 not, however, entirely without a fold; when the lambs 

 are weaned (usually about old Midsummer) the ewes are 

 folded for about two months, principally to prevent their 

 breaking pasture, when the lambs are taken from them : 

 and while thus folded, he finds that it takes one-half more 

 land to feed them, than if they were left allotted, as through 

 the rest of the year. That folding lessens the value of the 



lambs. 



