The Farming of Westmorland. 
15 
old, as thoy then begin to get weaker in constitution, and give less 
and worse wool. 
Each flock has its distinctive mark of ownership, registered in 
a printed volume, particularising every owner in Westmorland, 
Cumberland, and Lonsdale North. A meeting is held annually 
at Kirkstone Top for the exchange and rectification of " the 
sheep who have gone astray " during the preceding season, some 
of which occasionally ramble across the mountain in an unac- 
countable way to long distances. 
The " hoggs " are mostly sent away from October till April to 
be wintered in low allotments and inclosures. Such allotments 
as produce little beyond "ling" and coarse bents are purposely 
not grazed in summer, so as to secure " roughness " for wintering. 
Since more attention to good management has been awakened, 
the low-country farmers are not so willing to turn a penny in this 
way as formerly. These little animals have keen noses and 
appetites for " fresh fields and pastures new," and are as " lish " 
(nimble) as cats, so that scarcely any fence can turn them. 
The price of wintering a few years ago was from 2s. 6d. to 3.v. 
each, but now is about doubled. 
In the fall of the year it is customary to salve the Fell sheep 
with a mixture of tar and butter, the notion being that not only 
is the animal kept warmer and drier, but that the fleece will 
weigh heavier. Mr. Irving of Shap Abbey, one of the largest 
stockowners and most spirited and intelligent farmers, prefers 
dipping his sheep, and after sixteen years' experience adheres to 
it, in prefence to salving. The apparatus costs only 31. 10s. ; 
Biggs' preparation being used for aged sheep, and M'Dougall's 
for the hoggs. Five hundred sheep can be dipped in a day, at a 
cost of l}sd. each, salving being estimated to cost Sd. He recom- 
mends as essential that the dipping should be performed in dry 
weather, and that each sheep should remain in the bath at least 
one minute, a mere plunge being useless. He has adopted the 
same plan with the Herdwick stock at Wythop Hall with equal 
success, and considers the opening of the sheep's coat, as by 
salving at the commencement of winter, to be injurious and 
against nature. The dipped wool commands from l^d. to 2d. 
per lb. more in the market than the salved. 
" Fell wethers," at three and four years old, when the Fell is not 
overstocked, come therefrom weighing 14 lbs. per quarter ; ewes 
10 to 12 lbs., the mutton being unsurpassed in flavour. Large 
numbers go to be fatted on turnips on arable farms in the 
valleys, and on such farms a considerable breadth of turnips is 
provided annually for this purpose, and let off to the owners of 
the sheep at from 6d. to Id. per sheep per week, with great ad- 
vantage to the fertility of the land. 
