12 



Management of Sheep, 



they rank amongst the most valuable breeds for the purposes 

 assigned to them, and are shown in great perfection at the Lin- 

 coln, Caistor, Boston, &c., great spring fairs, at each of which 

 full 20,000 lamb-hogs usually change hands, from the heath 

 and wold breeders to the graziers and dealers from the surround- 

 ing grazing districts. But they are principally shown in condition 

 for the butcher ; and, instead of representing the old coarse breed, 

 to be fattened when two or three years old, they now combine to 

 a great extent the properties of the Leicester, upon a larger scale, 

 with a longer and heavier staple of wool ; in this they have been 

 much aided by the judicious selection of males, from time to 

 time, by the spirited ram-breeders in the different districts in the 

 county, amongst whom I may mention Mr. Clarke, of Canwick, 

 near Lincoln; Mr. Kirkham, of Hagnaby, near Boston; Mr. 

 Dawson, of Withcall, near Louth ; Mr. Brice, of Risby House ; 

 Mr. Richardson, of Northlands, near Barton- upon-Humber; 

 Mr. Thomas Casswell, of Pointon House ; and Mr. G. Cass- 

 well, of Laughton, near Falkingham. The mode of feeding 

 and fattening the store- flocks depends entirely upon the soil and 

 situation in which they are kept. No breed of sheep vary more in 

 their character and management, from the circumstance of their 

 beins: bred to suit the marsh-land or arable districts. The flocks 

 suited to the former districts are most commonly bred in the 

 north and north-eastern parts of the county, and possess more the 

 character of the old style of Lincolns. The breeders of this 

 description of sheep make it their study, in setting their flocks, to 

 select those females that possess the longest wool, strong bone, 

 and largest size, their leading object being to raise a thick-fleshed, 

 hardy animal, suitable to their soil and climate, which, from its 

 coldness during the spring months, is only considered suitable for 

 lambs coming rather late in the season. Their plan of manage- 

 ment during the lambing season varies but slightly from the Lei- 

 ceister, with the exception of their having good grass reserved to 

 place them upon after lambing. The lambs are allowed to re- 

 main with the ewes until the 1st of August : they are then placed 

 upon clover eddish, and subsequently upon coleseed, and finish 

 with cut swedes. Corn is rarely given in this district; the study 

 of the breeders is to turn out large long-woolled lamb-hogs for 

 the purpose of grazing, when (unless sold to the graziers) they 

 are run very thickly upon their clovers, or middle descriptions 

 of grass-land, during the summer. 



From the bleakness of the district, they are not shorn until the 

 beginning of July ; and, as these breeders and graziers look more 

 to quantity than quality of wool, it suits their system. 



During the month of August they are thinned out to other 

 parts of the farm ; they are afterwards placed in their winter- 



