SHEEP. 



f: 



mih the quantity and quality of the wool ; and alfo render 

 them lefs fubjeft to difeafes. In all thefe refpefts, it is al- 

 lowed by good judges, that 500 kept well, will return more 

 profit than 60c kept indifferently. To feleft the belt lambs, 

 -and fuch as have the fineit, clofelt, and whitett wool, for tups 

 and breeding ewes, and to cut and fpay the worlt. To get 

 a chjnge of rams frequently, and of breedmg ewes occafion- 

 ally. To put the beil tups to the bed ewes, which is con- 

 fidered as neceffary for brinn-ing any breed to perfeftion. 

 Not to tup their year-old ewes ; which, in bad feafons efpe- 

 cially, would render the lambs produced by them of little 

 value, as the ewes would not have a fiifficiency of milk ; 

 and would alfo tend to lelFen the fiz;e of the Hock. To 

 keep no rams above three, or at moll four years old, nor any 

 breeding ewes above five or fix. To feparate the rams from 

 the lothof Oftober, for a month or fix weeks, to prevent 

 the lambs from coming too early in fpring. To feparate the 

 lambs between the 15th and 25th of June; to have good 

 rafs prepared for them ; and, if they can, to keep them 

 cparate, and on good grafs, all winter ; that they may be 

 better attended to, and have the better chance of avoiding 

 difeafes. A few, whofe polleffions enable them to do it, 

 keep not only their lambs or hogs, but alfo their wedders, 

 ewes. Sec. in feparate hirfels ; by which every flicpherd, hav- 

 ing his own charge, can attend to it better than if all were 

 in common ; and each kind had the pafture that belt fuits 

 it. But in Linton, the following management, according 

 to the furvey of that dillrift, is obferved : in fummer the 

 flock is divided into three hirfels. In the firll are all the 

 hogs and yield fheep ; in the fecond, the milk ewes ; in the 

 third, the lambs. In winter tiiey are kept only in two hirfels. 

 In the one are the hogs, in the other the ewes and yield 

 "heep. The lambs are weaned about the end of June, the 

 ^ucs milked from the ift of July to the middle of Auguft, 

 and the milk made into cheefe. The (heep arc clipped from 

 tiie end of June to the end of July, according to the weather 

 •A condition of the flock. The tups are let to the ewes 

 );n the 1 jth to the end of November, according to the 

 iltuation of the ground, and the nature of the grafs. From 

 40 to 50 ewes are allowed to one tup. The breeding llock 

 is changed every five years, by felling off the fuperannuatcd 

 ewes. Some ewes, however, are kept longer than five years, 

 and fome (liortcr, according to their condition ; for they do 

 not all decline equally foon. In Eafl Lothian, fheep are in 

 much cilcem, and kept in confiderable numbers every where, 

 efpccially on the coait lands. Permanent flocks, however, 

 and regular (hcep management, may be laid to be almoft 

 confined ftill to the higher parts of the country. In the 

 low country they are kept chiefly to eat the turnips, and 

 fometimes fown grafs, which is permitted to lie a year or 

 two for paliure. Flying flocks therefore are generally kept, 

 and as foon as they are fattened for the market, which is 

 ufually within the year, they are fold off. A confiderable 

 number of lambs likewife are reared, only fo far how- 

 ever as to render them fit for the butcher, or to be fold fat. 

 But as the great objett, in the lower diilridls, is feeding, 

 little attention is paid to particular kinds ; every farmer 

 keeps thofc which he thinks are likely to pay bed for the 

 food which they confume. The black-faced, or Tweeddale 

 breed, are molt generally preferred for feeding on turnips, 

 becaufe they are mofl; elleemed in the market ; but many 

 of the Cheviot breed are likewife kept, and even fome of 

 the improved Leicelters. 



It may be noticed that it is, however, only in the Lam- 

 iner-mnir dillrid; that flicep hufbandry can be faid to be 

 regularly praftifed, the management of which is this, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Hay of Hopes. All ilore-farmers of any 

 3 



extent keep two flocks, wo. one of ewes, and another of 

 yield Iheep ; and this flock they fometimes divide, and have 

 a flock of what is called hogs, that is, lambs of one year 

 old. The common practice is to fold the ewes upon a 

 break of arable land, during the fummer: they cut the 

 lambs about tlie 26th of May, and they wean them in the 

 firll week of July, and then tiiey (hear the whole flock. 

 The lambs, after weaning, are fent to a healthy paliure, 

 called the birn, which has been kept for them, where they 

 remain till the end of Augull ; when tliey are moved down 

 to the b?(l low pafture, called the hog-fence, which has been 

 favcd from the weaning ; and here they remain during the 

 winter. The ewes are milked for about eight weeks after 

 the weaning, and fometimes longer, and then are put out 

 with the lambs into the hog fence, for the winter. All the 

 fheep are fmeared, that is lalved, immediately after the 

 harved, at the rate of two p'.uinds, tron weight, of butter, 

 to a Scotch pint of tar, which f'alves from fix to eight fheep, 

 at the expence of about five-pence each. The wool fells at 

 from five fliillings to eight fhiUings^rr done, tron weight; 

 and ufually takes from fix to eight fleeces to a ilone : fo, 

 deducing the expence of falving, the net proportion upon 

 the wool may amount to from eight-pence to ten-pence per 

 head, fometimes a little more or lels, varying according to 

 the price of wool. Upon dry heathy grounds, the ewes 

 are drafted, and fold to grazier-, in the month of March ; 

 but upon wet grounds, which are dangerous, and fubjeft 

 to the diftemper called the rot, they are drafted and fold 

 in Oftober. Few dore-mafters (tenants) in Lammcr-muir 

 breed as many fheep as keep up their dock ; fo they have 

 to buy yearly a parcel of hogs, which are modly wed- 

 ders. Linton, in Tweeddale, is the great market for 

 thefe weddcr hogs. Thefe wedders they keep for two 

 years, and fell them to the feeders. Some of the mod judi- 

 cious dore-mafters have totally given up the practice of 

 milking the ewes, after weaning ; and others milk for a 

 fhorter fpace than formerly ; and they now aliow the lambs 

 to fuck longer, which confiderably incrcafes their bone, and 

 is thought not fo pernicious to the ewes as the milking. 

 This practice, however, dill prevails in Wales ; the cheefe 

 made from ewe-milk being highly eileemed, fuch milk being 

 faid to be four times as rich as that of cows. The fheep 

 are ftated to give a quart of milk per day each, and being 

 milked three months, the return is dated at ten fhillings 

 per ewe. 



It is alfo further dated by the writer of the above Re- 

 port, that the method of managing the arable laud in that 

 didrift has been changed much for the better, within thefe 

 few years. When in grafs, it is folded ; and when taken 

 up, it gives three crops ; and is then fallowed, and fown out, 

 the fird crop with grafs-feeds ; and they generally follow 

 the fame pratlice with the new grounds taken in by fallow 

 and lime, which has now become a general praftice through 

 Lammer-iiQuir ; and lime, when applied to dry ground, is 

 certain of maknig a lading improvement upon the grafs, 

 which is, and always ought to be, the great obJL..'t upon 

 ttore-farms. However, fince this account was given, much 

 improvement has been made in this fort of hufbandry, which 

 is now carried on in a very Ivllematic manner, it is faid. 



It is worthy of notice, that the practice of f men ring or 

 falving is now, even in tiafe fit nations, much on tlie de- 

 cline ; and in the more fouthern parts of the illand, not at 

 all employed. Sec Salving rf Sheep. 



In the flieep didridls, in the more elevated and cxpofed 

 nonhern parts of the iflaiid, a flill inferior prafticc is iiad 

 recourfc to ; the flieep being niolUy left to provide for 

 themfclvcs, even in the mod fevcre and inclement feafons, 



when 



