210 Report on some features of Scottish Agriculture. 
grounds, who keep them on grass during the winter, and take » 
crop of lambs from them the foHowing summer, after which both 
ewes and Iambs go to the butcher. These ewes cannot be kept 
another year because the grass in the low grounds generally pro- 
duces disease in the liver. 
Smearing or dipping, as the case may be, is commenced about 
October 20th, and should be finished in the course of a month, 
or sooner if possible, as the rams are sent with the ewes on 
the 25th November, and smearing should be finished at least 
a week beforehand. Smearing is done with a mixture of tar 
and grease- butter ; about 10 pints of tar, and 28 to 30 lbs. 
of butter being sufficient on an average to do about 26 sheep. 
Dips of various kinds are used, but smearing is considered safer 
in a wet climate, being the best preventive of scab, and a perfect 
antidote against vermin, to which lean sheep are very subject 
on high ground. Dipping costs from- 4c?. to l\d. per sheep, 
according to the quantity of grease or oil applied, and smearing 
with tar and butter from ^d. to \Qd. per head, including labour 
and cost of materials. A good hand will smear 24 or 25 sheep 
from Q A.M. till 7 p.m., being paid 2s. Gd. per day, and food. 
On hill-farms generally the tups are sent with the ewes about 
November 25th ; but in favourable localities very much earlier. 
They remain together until the latter end of December, tke 
shepherds being in constant attendance to keep the ewes as much 
as possible on the lower portions of the hirsell. Thirty ewes to 
each tup is the ordinary allo.wance, and not less than 90 rams are 
kept on the farm. 
After the tups are brought in from the moors at the end of 
December, they are kept on the low ground till about May-day, 
and fed on hay and oats, or cake, or perhaps some of both. 
Occasionally Indian corn is substituted, but whatever the food 
consists of it should be highly nourishing. Tups are bought 
as shearlings, and sold at four or five years old ; about 30 are 
bought every year at a cost of from 31. to 101. per head, partly 
to obtain a change of blood, and partly to make up for losses. 
There is a great proportion of deaths amongst the rams, espe- 
cially amongst those bought. About 2^ to 3 per cent, of the aged 
sheep die annually, thus making an average of 10 per cent, of 
deaths, taking the whole of the flock, male and female, of all ages, 
A large number of deaths on the high ground are never 
accounted for, as the carcases are carried away by floods and 
streams, over rocks, and into gullies and other sequestered or 
inaccessible places. During snowstorms it is essential that the 
shepherd's attention should be directed to keeping the sheep 
well together ; and in very severe weather he should take them 
down to the low ground to prevent their being blown into glens. 
