678 
On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
yearlings  ; but  even  good  farmers  seem  contented  to  let  their  young 
bullocks  shift  for  themselves  on  any  rough  ground,  or  in  strawyards 
in  winter,  till  they  are  two  or  three  years  old.  “ What  will  that 
bullock  lose  between  this  and  March?”  is  aquestion  often  put  in  jest 
to  the  farmers  about  the  fall  of  the  year,  by  a good  friend  of  theirs 
from  the  north,  who  has  lived  among  them  for  many  years.  Bul- 
locks are  sold  off  younger  than  they  used  to  be.  Out  of  60  bullocks 
taken  in  to  graze  on  Bradley  Ham,  near  Withypool,  30  used  to  be 
full-grown  oxen  ; now,  hardly  any  are  more  than  two  years  old.  On 
the  other  hand,  even  the  smallest  farmers  are  learning  the  advan- 
tage of  fatting  some  animals  at  home  in  winter  for  the  sake  of 
making  better  dung,  and  contrive,  by  means  of  the  improvement 
in  the  growth  of  turnips,  to  finish  off  a barrenner  or  two.  I heard 
of  one  hill  farmer  who  sold  7 oxen  just  before  last  Christmas  for  30/. 
a piece,  but  then,  he  is  a farmer  who  would  be  in  the  first  rank  in 
any  country.  Let  us  hope  that  many  more  may  yet  do  as  well, 
according  to  the  prices  of  their  time.  Another  is  making  arrange- 
ments with  his  landlord  to  have  house-room  for  50  beasts.  He 
intends  to  feed  all  that  he  breeds;  but  he  thinks  it  the  best  plan 
in  the  hills  to  clear  the  yards  of  fat  oxen  by  Christmas  in  order  to 
be  able  to  keep  the  rearing-stock  well  through  the  spring. 
Sheep. — The  sheep  kept  on  the  hills  are  a native  breed, 
with  small  taper  horns,  known  as  the  Exmoor  or  Porlock  breed, 
called  in  the  country  Horned  sheep,  in  contradistinction  from 
Nott  sheep,  which  have  no  horns.  The  hill  country  farmer 
generally  keeps  a breeding  flock  of  horned  ewes  and  a flock 
of  wethers,  which  run  on  the  hill  summer  and  winter.  The 
number  of  his  ewes  will  be  limited  by  the  extent  of  his 
water-meadows,  on  which  he  relies  in  great  measure  for  the 
keep  of  the  couples  after  the  lambs  are  dropped.  The  number 
of  hill-wethers  depends  on  the  extent  of  the  common-right 
attached  to  the  farm.  About  the  20th  of  June  all  the  sheep 
are  gathered  for  sorting  and  shearing.  The  mouths  of  the  sheep 
are  examined,  and  those  whose  teeth  are  broken  are  drafted, 
and  kept  back  from  the  hill  to  be  sold  or  fatted  off.  The 
ewe  hoggetts  replace  the  draft  ewes,  and  the  wether  hogs  of 
the  former  seasons  are  shorn  with  the  hill  wethers,  and  turned 
off  to  the  hill  after  being  signed  with  some  large  mark  which 
can  be  known  at  a distance.  They  cost  nothing  but  the  trouble 
of  an  occasional  gathering  till  next  year ; and  the  only  profit 
they  yield  is  about  5 lbs.  of  wool.  In  their  fourth  or  fifth 
year  they  may  be  brought  into  grass.  They  are  also  used 
as  labourers  on  the  farm,  to  eat  the  grass  down  close  in  the  fall 
of  the  year ; and  are  sometimes  marched  in  close  phalanx 
up  and  down  a ploughed  field,  to  tread  in  the  wheat.  The  or- 
dinary sheep  of  the  country,  when  fat,  do  not  weigh  above  11  lb. 
