SHEPHERD. 
never fail to rise from their devotions with their 
spirits cheered and their confidence renewed, 
and go to sleep with an exaltation of mind of 
which kings and conquerors have no share. 
Often have I been a sharer in such scenes, and 
never even in my youngest years without having 
my heart daily impressed by the circumstances. 
There is a sublimity in the very idea. There we 
| lived, as it were, inmates of the cloud and of 
the storm; but we stood in a relationship to the 
Ruler of these that neither time nor eternity 
could efface.” 
A shepherd requires no small amount of per- 
spicacity and kindness and general excellence for 
the discharge of even his proper duties. ‘“ Much 
of the success in sheep-farming,” remarks Mr. 
Little, in his Practical Observations on Moun- 
tain Sheep, “depends on the skill and applica- 
tion of the shepherd. As his situation is one of 
considerable trust, he ought to be honest, active, 
useful, and of a calm temper ; for if at any time 
a shepherd gets into a passion with his sheep, it 
is attended with great disadvantage in herding, 
or in working among them. The qualification 
required in taking care of a hirsel, (or flock,) is 
not in running, hounding, and training dogs, or 
in performing a day’s work of any other kind ; 
but to direct them according to the soil, climate, 
and situation of the farm, in such a manner as 
to obtain the greatest quantity of food at all 
seasons of the year. Their health and comfort 
should be carefully looked after by the shepherd ; 
and if his exertions are made with judgment, 
they are of very great consequence to the far- 
mer. It is not by walking much, and doing a 
great deal, that a shepherd is a good one, but it 
is knowing where to walk so as to disturb the 
sheep the least, and by doing at the time what- 
ever is necessary to be done. There is not an 
experienced shepherd who has been any length 
of time on one farm, who does not, as soon as he 
rises in the morning, and observes the state of 
the weather, know almost to a certainty where 
to find every sheep on the hill, and will accord- 
ingly take his course to the places he knows his 
presence is most wanted. The object in looking 
over a hill every evening and morning, is to as- 
certain if there be no trespassers nor diseases 
among the sheep which require looking after. 
If any of your own or neighbour’s sheep have 
trespassed, it is very foolish to dog or abuse 
them ; for the more gently you can turn them 
back the better. If the boundary should be on 
the top of a height, to which sheep are apt to 
draw at night, it is better to turn your own a 
little closer to the boundary in the afternoon, 
than to turn back your neighbour’s,—and it will 
answer the same purpose ; and if the two flocks 
are gently divided in the morning, without dogs, 
they will become so well acquainted with their 
own side, that at the very sight of the shepherd, 
they will take to it without farther trouble. 
Those shepherds who dog, force, and shed much 
SHEPHERDIA. 
about a march, I consider them as bad herds for 
their masters as for the neighbouring farmer. 
When a sheep dies on the hill, or any disease 
appears among them, the dead or diseased 
sheep should be removed immediately, but par- 
ticularly so if the disease appears of an infectious 
nature. Looking regularly over a hill is of great 
consequence, also, in case of any sheep falling 
into a ditch, or a lamb losing its mother, or when 
they are annoyed by flies or maggots, or by foxes 
or dogs worrying them, or when they fall on their 
backs and cannot get up again. Knowing sheep 
by headmark often saves a shepherd much 
trouble, particularly in the lambing season, and 
at all sortings of the sheep; yet there are 
many good shepherds who do not know sheep 
by headmark, and there are some very ordinary. 
ones who have a talent in that way. Every in- 
dividual may be known by the stock-mark. To 
possess the knack of counting sheep readily is of 
no small service to a shepherd; for he ought 
always to be able to count his flock when he 
makes his rounds on the hill. 
shepherds who accustom themselves to count 
sheep, who cannot, whenever they meet with 
them on a hill, count 100 going at large, or 
even 200; and it seldom happens that a greater 
number than 200 will be found together in an 
open hirsel. To know the number in the dif 
ferent lots is of great. use in case of a hasty blast, 
as you can, in that event, know almost to a cer- 
tainty, whether or not any sheep are awanting, 
and from what part of the farm. A shepherd 
ought likewise to be able to do any kind of work 
about a sheep-farm, such as cutting lambs, smear- 
ing, slaughtering, dressing for the market, re- 
pairing stone-dykes, cleaning out drains, mowing 
grass, making hay, casting and winning peat-turf 
for fuel, &c.; but he ought at no time to neglect 
the sheep for such work.” 
SHEPHERDIA. A small genus of hardy, 
ornamental, North American shrubs, of the 
oleaster family.—The Canadian species, Shepher- 
dia canadensis—called by the old botanists Hippo- 
phae canadensis—was introduced to Britain in 
1759. It closely resembles the common sea-buck- 
thorn in general appearance, and attains about 
the same height, and has nearly the same dark 
brown colour of bark on its branches, and blooms 
at the same period, but may readily be distin- 
guished by its oval-shaped leaves. It thrives in 
any common soil, and may be propagated from 
suckers, layers, or cuttings.—The silvery species, 
Shepherdia argentea, abounds on the banks of the 
Missouri, and was introduced to Britain in 1818. 
It commonly attains a height of from 10 to 14 feet ; 
and is highly esteemed for the silvery splendour 
of its foliage; and may be readily propagated 
from layers; but is of slow growth, and some- 
times of a very dwarfish habit. Its leaves are 
petiolate, entire, oblong-ovate, obtuse, smooth, 
and covered with peltate silvery scales; its 
flowers, as also those of the preceding species, are 
There are few | 
