170 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. 



to the hundred, given about once a week, is a prudeht qnan 

 tity at that time, and may be increased to four quarts after 

 the first of May, for every fourth or fifth day, during the re- 

 mainder of the pasture season. If coarse salt (St. Ubes) is 

 used, a quarter to one third less than of fine will be proper, 

 it being of a much stronger quality. 



Salting in troughs would be well enough, provided the 

 sheep could be stationary in one enclosure ; but the neces- 

 sity of their removal frequently for change of pasture, re- 

 quires the removal of the troughs also ; and the flock-master 

 with several hundred sheep will soon learn that that is quite 

 too troublesome. Again, troughs are thought by many indis- 

 pensable during, the season when the Estris Ovis, or sheep 

 gad-fly, is winging its tormenting career, for the reception of 

 the tar (upon which salt is sprinkled) as a defence against 

 its attacks. But this does not supersede 'their removal, and 

 if time and their expense' are considered, it will be found 

 cheaper to pound the flocks several times during the flight 

 of the fly, and with a common paint brush or swab, tarring 

 their noses can very quickly be performed, and far more 

 effectually than it can be done by themselves in the troughs.* 



The writer salts his sheep upoii the ground, before the 

 dew evaporates, selecting a place which is clean, and the 

 grass short, and divides a handful into two or three parts, as 

 a large quantity thrown upon one spot will not scatter suflli- 

 ciently the quantity used for the flock, and thereby the sheep 

 are afforded a more equal chance. Salt is a fertilizer of the 

 soil, and should any be left uneaten, which is not very like- 

 lyf of course its effects will not be lost. 



Many suppose that sheep, late in the fall, require little or 

 no salt. This is quite a mistake, it being the very period 

 when it will prove most useful to them, by, contributing to 

 extract the little nutriment left in the decaying herbage, as 

 well as causing its better relish. 



Salt is quite as necessary in the foddering season, if not 

 more so, than at any other time, for the reason that dry food 

 being harder of digestion than green, the stimulating proper- 

 ties of salt is requisite to aid the process. It is not impor- 

 tant that the hay, or whatever else may be fed, is salted, -if 

 the sheep have access to it in troughs or mangers. But if 

 the hay is salted when it is secured, none else will be re- 



* See chapter on diseases, Estris Otis, for further remarks. 



