FOOD. 
601 
but oil of tar may be substituted for the turpentine, being 
considerably cheaper. 
The method employed in sheep-shearing is so well known 
that a detailed account of it is unnecessary. 
FOOD. 
It is considered prejudicial to change the food of sheep 
frequently, as it has a tendency to derange the regulai 
action of the bowels, and to induce disease. Sudden 
change from one kind of pasture to another is certain to 
affect sheep, more particularly in the spring and autumn. 
In the summer and winter, when mountain-pasture is nearly 
dried up, the animals enjoy good health. It is, however, 
more dangerous to change suddenly from poor to rich diet, 
than the reverse. 
Sheep thrive best where there is a tolerable uniformity of 
pasture all the year round. If the ground is wet, with the 
water standing on it here and there, that is quite unfit for 
pasturing sheep. Peat-ground is far less objectionable. 
Strong, rank grass is exceedingly liable to produce rot in 
sheep. 
There is no better spring food for sheep than rye-grass 
and red clover ; the former comes in most appropriately 
after turnip feeding. Cole, tares, and rye are likewise of 
much consequence as spring food. 
For winter feeding, nothing is better than turnips, which 
should be accompanied by hay, or the straw of peas, beans, 
or wheat, chopped or cut. Swedish turnips are most ap¬ 
proved of in most parts of England. Cabbages come in 
well late in the season, and sheep fatten quickly upon them. 
Some, however, consider potatoes better and more nutritive 
than turnips. 
