THE SHEEP. 167 



region. Within certain limits it depends pardy 

 upon the elevation of the various farms and 

 the amount of exposure to which the flocks are 

 subjected, and partly upon feeding. One large 

 flock with which I am well acquainted (that at 

 Saddlescombe, near the Devil's Dyke) is always 

 shorn, if possible, on midsummer day, because 

 at that time, and scarcely a day earlier, the 

 wool is " up." Now why should this feeble 

 attempt at shedding the coat occur in the 

 South of England at midsummer ? By that 

 time all the other farm animals have long cast 

 their extra winter covering ; and, as a rule, 

 the heat in May and June is very consider- 

 able. I think we must go for our explanation 

 far away from the smooth grassy Downs to the 

 rugged alpine heights of Central and Southern 

 Europe. There we find that midsummer marks 

 approximately the time when the mountain 

 pastures are open, and when the herdsmen 

 drive their cattle from the valleys to their high 

 feeding - grounds. The alpine summer comes 

 suddenly, and the sun, as every one who has 

 climbed the Swiss mountains knows, soon at- 

 tains a power which renders heavy clothing 

 unbearable. We have thus, in our domestic 



