Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/430

Rh 39(5 AGRICULTURE [LIVE STOCK wall be corresponding rank spots in the grain crop that follows. On light dry soils it is usually most profitable to con sume the whole turnip crop where it grows by sheep, and to convert the straw of the farm into dung by store cattle kept in suitable yards, to which a daily allowance of rape or cotton cake is given, with wholesome water con stantly at their command. But it may at times be more profitable to use young sheep instead of cattle for this purpose, and it is quite practicable to do so. In the winter of 1865-66, in consequence of the prevalence of rinder pest, we had recourse to this expedient with entire success. A lot of 200 hoggets was put into two contiguous yards, of a size which ordinarily had accommodated 15 cattle each; the hoggets were fed on hay cut into chaff, which was served to them in troughs so placed as to be protected from rain. Along with this chaff they received 2 ft&amp;gt; each daily of mixed cakes and grain, and a constant supply of water. A coveied passage by which the yards communicated was coated with quicklime, which was stirred up daily and added to twice a-week. Care was taken to drive the whole lot of sheep over this limed passage once every day, with liberty to them to pass and repass as much as they liked at all times. The yards were kept clean by being thinly covered over with fresh straw every day. By this means, and by an occasional paring of the hoofs when seen to be necessary, their feet were kept perfectly sound. In other respects they throve well, and the death-rate was unusually small. To clear the ground in time for the succeeding grain crop a portion of the turnip crop is usually stored on some piece of grass or fallow, where the flock is folded until the pas tures are ready to receive them. As the date of this varies exceedingly, it is well to lay in turnips for a late season, and rather to have some to spare than to be obliged to stock the pastures prematurely. If corn or cake has been given in the turnip field, it must be continued in the pasture. Hoggets that have been well managed will be ready for market as soon as they can be shorn, and may not require grass at all. They usually, however, grow very rapidly on the first flush of clovers and sown grasses, especially when aided by cake or corn. When the soil is of poor quality, it is expedient to continue the use of such extra food during summer. The best sheep are generally sent to market first, and the others as they attain to a proper degree of fatness. Store sheep or cattle are then purchased to occupy their places until the next crop of lambs is weaned. Lowland flocks are for the most part shorn in May, although many fat sheep are sent to market out of their wool at a much earlier date. Indeed railway transit has made it practicable to forward newly-shorn sheep to market so quickly that there is now little risk of their suffering from exposure to bad weather, and accordingly few fat sheep are now sent to market rough after the 1st of April. But in the case of nursing ewes and store sheep of all kinds it is highly inexpedient to deprive them of their fleeces until summer weather has fairly set in. Accordingly, the latter half of May and the first half of June are, in average seasons, the best shearing time, beginning with the hoggets and ending with the ewes. This practice of shearing a portion of the flock so early as April renders it necessary to make a change on that mode of sheep-washing so well described by the author of the Seasons. Artificial washing-pools are accordingly now pro vided by damming up some small stream of clean water. The bottom is paved and three sides faced with bricks set in cement, with a sluice to let off the foul water when necessary. The most accessible side of the pool is formed of strong planks, securely jointed, behind which the men engaged in washing the sheep stand dry, and ac complish their work much in the way that a washer woman does hers at her tub. A sloping passage at the upper end of the pool allows the sheep to walk out, one by one, as they are washed. One such pool is often made to accommodate several neighbouring farms. Section 3. Management of Mountain Sheep. We have already taken notice of the extent to which Cheviot sheep have of late years been introduced in the Highlands of Scotland. Many of the immense grazings there are rented by farmers resident in the south of Scot land, who only visit their Highland farms from time to time, and intrust the management of their flocks and shepherds, which rival in numbers those of the ancient patriarchs, to an overseer, whose duty it is to be constantly on the grounds, to attend in all respects to the interests of his employer, see his orders carried into effect, and give him stated information of how it fares with his charge. The following pertinent remarks we quote from an extensive and experienced Highland sheep-farmer : &quot;The management of flocks in the Highlands is much the same as on high and exposed farms in the higher districts of Roxburgh- shire, Dumfriesshire, and Selkirkshire, as regards the ewe hirsels ; the ewe lambs either not being weaned, or that only for eight or ten days, so that they may continue to follow their mothers. The wether lambs are sent to the wether ground about the beginning of August, and herded on the part of it considered most adapted for their keep till about the middle of October, when they are sent to turnips mostly in Ross-shire, where they remain till the middle of March or beginning of April. This is one of the heaviest items of expense in Highland farming, amounting to fully 4s. per head ; and thus, upon a farm eqxially stocked with ewes and wethers, adds just about one-third to the rental of the farm. On the return of the wether hogs they are put to particular parts of the wether ground, at large amongst the other ages of wether stock, where they remain until drawn out when three years old at the iisual season to send to market ; with this exception, that the year follow ing (when they are dinmonts), the smallest of them, those that are not considered capable of wintering at home, say to the extent of two or three to the score, are again drawn out and sent with the hogs to turnips. &quot;Mr Sellar, in his Report of the County of Sutherland, gives a very minute and detailed account of the mode of management as practised on his farms. This, however, does not apply to extensive West Highland farms, which have no arable farms attached, no fields to bring in the diseased or falling-off part of the stock to, nor Is it ever practicable to shift any part of the stock to different parts of the farm from that on which they have been reared.&quot; Slieep Farming on the hills drained ly the Tweed. Until quite a recent date the grassy hills enclosing the upper valley of the Tweed and its numerous tributaries were stocked almost entirely with Cheviot sheep, and the highest and most heathery portions of the Lammermuir hills with the blackfaced breed. Since about the year 1850, under the stimulus of a growing demand and rapidly advancing price for cross-bred lambs, a great change of practice has been going steadily on. Formerly, on such hill-country farms, cultivation of the soil was restricted to a very small scale indeed, but latterly it has been extending up the valleys and hill-sides at a rapid rate. Large areas of rough natural pasture are yearly being converted into fields, which are well enclosed by substantial stone walls, and by draining, liming, and the liberal application of portable manures, are made to produce luxuriant crops of turnips, oats, and the cultivated clovers and grasses. As this pro cess of reclamation goes on, half-bred sheep (Leicester- Cheviots) are substituted for pure Cheviots, the lambs of this cross breed being at weaning-time worth from 10s. to 15s. more per head than Cheviots, their fleeces heavier by 2 Ib each as well as more valuable per Ib, and the draft ewes also more valuable in about the same proportion as the lambs. These half-bred sheep must be kept almost exclusively on the reclaimed lands, which, however, will keep about double the number of this more valuable breed of