SOUTHAMPTON

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

BOOK NUMBER

CLASS MARK

SF 3>5

f&rfcurvS

*

A

UPON

BREEDING, REARING AND FEEDING

CHEVIOT AND BLACK-FACED

IN HIGH DISTRICTS.

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF— AND A COMPLETE
CURE FOR, THAT FATAL MALADY

THE .MOT*

TOGETHER WITH

OBSERVATIONS UPON LAYING OUT AND
CONDUCTING A STORE FARM.

BY A

LAMMERMUIR FARMER.

1823.

.. '\»
'VWV.i

-'C

PREFACE.

a time when knowledge of every
kind is so widely diffused, and all useful
information communicated tlnough the
most direct channels to the most remote
parts of the nation, it may be wondered
that one so obscurely situated as I am,
should attempt to bring myself into the
notice of the world. Publications upon
every subject in which the common bene-
fit of mankind is at all concerned are of
the most frequent occurrence in the present
enlightened age, when every thing which
it is of importance for us to know, is tieat-

VI

preface.

ed with the strictest accuracy. But this is
matter of no easy attainment, and accord-
ingly many works, which in a darker age
would have attracted public attention, are
either little inquired after, or after a tran-
sient glance are consigned to oblivion. If
the fate of the remarks which I have ven-
tured to present is to be determined by
the scrutiny of critical acuteness, I am a-
fiaid they too, unable to stand so severe a
test, will sink under the load, and be con-
demned to unheard of obscurity. As
they are not prepared for such a test,
however, I hope they will not be tried by
•it, and will be considered only with re-
spect to the utility which they may be
calculated to afford to that class of people,
to whom alone, if to any they team be
found of any practical value. And if I
bave at all succeeded in accomplishing
that end, I will consider myself as hav-

PREFACE.

vn

ing gained a compensation for the trou-
ble which I have been led to bestow,
and an equivalent for all subordinate de-
fects.

Important. as are the additions which are
successively made to our stores of practh
cal, as well as speculative knowledge, it
will be readily owned, by many at least,
that our acquaintance has been too li-
mited with several of the topics which
come under our present notice. This
will at once be granted by those who are
the most competent judges, and whose
opinion has received the support of their
own fatal experience. The consequences of
the prevalence of misguided judgment in
conducting highly situated farms, and our
real want of information concerning one
of the most destructive diseases that ever
spread desolation amongst the inferior
creation, have, of late years, been marked

PREFACE.

viii

in characters of blood. If I have in the
least contributed to the establishment ot
more perfect guides to store farmers, and
done any thing to banish that malady,
which has so repeatedly diffused carnage
among our flocks, I shall account myself
highly fortunate. But if by some, and
perhaps by all, it may be thought that I
have not been sufficiently careful in ad-
vancing opinions, which a fuller inves-
tigation would not have allowed me to
countenance, I would entreat their cle-
mency on account of the disadvantages
under which I have had to labour. The
tract in which I have travelled has been
hitherto but little trodden, and those
few that have journeyed along it, have
generally combated their way by the
weapons of controversy: Occasional slips,

which are to be found in works of almost
every stamp, and which are no where

PREFACE.

IX

more likely to be found than in the re*
marks which I have submitted, will not
then I trust be considered in so very
unfavourable a light.

To avoid, however, as much as pos-
sible the imputation of any material
mistake, I have attested the truth of
. the more important observations by the
evidence of unquestionable facts, and have
erected nothing upon unfounded specula-
tion. It may be, indeed, that in en-
deavouring to shun error from this source,

✓

I have run into the opposite mistake, and
have become tedious by the detail of many
facts. But facts when fairly adduced are
“stubborn proofs,” and substantiate con-
clusions which without them might be
looked upon as altogether hypothetical.
So that if in this respect I have laid
myself open to censure, the fault fortu-
nately lies upon the safer side,
b

X

PREFACE,

I may take occasion to remark that
the generality of my observations are
entirely confined to those two breeds of
sheep which are specified in the title-
page. About these I have been con-
versant dui-ing the whole of my life,
and consequently to them my attention
has been more immediately directed.
With respect to the manner, however,
of accomplishing the cure of that per-
nicious disease of which it is my design
particularly to treat, the method recom-
mended is equally applicable to the other
species that graze in more fertile dis-
tricts. In this, and perhaps in other
circumstances, I may have, in some mea^-
sure accidentally, accomodated myself to
those breeds, of which it was not my
object professedly to treat.

1 I am aware that a part of my obser-
vations will be considered as having been

PREFACE.

Xi

anticipated by the recent publication of
the honourable Captain Napier, and may
consequently look upon that part as su-
perfluous. My thoughts were, however,
all arranged, and the plan that I was
to pursue finally agreed to in my own
mind before this publication had reached
my hands ; and therefore, to have omit-
ted what had come under his notice,
would have made the observations which
I have to offer appear unfinished and
unconnected. Though, indeed, the mea-
sures, in the recommendation of which
I have had the honour to coincide with
that author, are illustrated in a far su-
perior manner to what I could have
made any pretensions.

And in the instances in which I have
taken it upon me to espouse a contrary
conviction from that to which this hon-
ourable author has yielded his assent,
b 2

Xll

PREFACE.

and wherein I have had occasion to dis-
agree from the opinions that Mr Hogg
has advanced on the diseases of sheep,
my conduct may perhaps be accused as
presumptive. It is, indeed, with feelings
of no small regret that I have perused
the passages in the works of these cele-
brated gentlemen which contain senti-
ments contradictory to those which have
received the sanction of my approval ;
and it is with reluctance that I submit
to the judgment of others the statement
of my dissonance. But as the subjects
on which we differ necessarily come un-
der my view, in my present plan, I have
thought it incumbent upon me, notwith-
standing the weight of such high author-
ity, to adhere to what my observation
has invariably determined me. For it is
only in those things wherein my actual
experience has confirmed different senti-

PREFACE. xiii

ments that I have given a decided dis-
sent from their opinions. And whether
of the two is supported by the clearest
evidence, and bears along with it the
most unequivocal marks of truth, it is
now for others to determine.

CONTENTS.

TAGS.

Preliminary Observations, xvii

Chap. I. The Danger of Extensive Plough-
ing in a High Country, - I

Chap. II. On Laying out and Conducting a

Store Farm, ' - - - 30

Chap. III. On Breeding Cheviot and Black-
faced Sheep, - - - 63

Chap. IV. On Rearing Cheviot and Black-

faced Sheep, 79

Chap. V. On Feeding Cheviot and Biack-

faced Sheep, - - - 116

Chap. VI. Principal Cause, and Descrip-

• tion, of the Rot, - - 124

Chap. VII. The best Means of Preventing

and of Curing the Rot, - 156

Appendix, - 187

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

«s the following treatise is confined
chiefly to Cheviot and Black-faced Sheep,
or such as are bred and reared in high
and upland districts j and as from the si-
tuation of the author, the remarks con-
tained in it are more immediately applica-
ble to these breeds in their relation to
Lammermuir, it may not be improper, for
the information of people remotely situ-
ated, to give a very brief account of that
district or tract of country. Though it
may appear uninteresting to those who
are themselves inhabitants of this uninvit-
ing region, or who are intimately acquaint-
ed with its various parts, there are yet many

c

xviii PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

whose distance precludes them from pos-
sessing the proper sources of information
concerning it, as a district appropriated
to sheep.

The county of Berwick naturally divides
itself into two great divisions, which
may be termed the high and the low-
parts of the county. The lower part
(generally called the merse) comprehends
all that fine and highly cultivated tract
of land from the banks of the Tweed
to where Lammermuir begins. This
division must necessarily be very arbi-
trary as great incroachments have been
made by the plough on lands w'hich, not
many years ago, were covered with
heath, and which, for their immediate
effects at least, had far better, in many
places, been lying to the present mom-
ent in all the waste and untaught rude-
ness of nature.

Lammermuir, or the high part of the
county, may be reckoned from St Abb’s
Head on the east, to Crookston burn a%

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. Xix

the foot of Clints-hill on the west ; a
distance of more than 30 miles. The
western part of Lammermuir is much
broader than the eastern, and justly ad-
mits of being compared to a cone, the
base of which resting on Soutra hill and
Lauderdale, thence stretches its irregular
form towards the German ocean, till it
is cut short at Coldingham and St Abb’s
Head.

Of the 285,410 English acres which
the whole county comprehends, 175,734
are included in Lammermuir. This,
though the most extensive, is by much
the least valuable part, and has been
subdivided into high and low Lammer-
muir. The latter forms a kind of mid-
dle district between the Merse, and the
highest hills in Lammermuir, and which
both from the favourable nature of pas-
turage and climate is in. general fully
qualified to support the Cheviot breed of
sheep. A good proportion of the land
has, at one period or another, been
c 2

XX PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

brought into a state of tillage, and the-
pasture hills are here and there inter-
spersed with patches of benty grass,
though heath is the most prevalent pro-
duction.

The range of hills that compose the
greatest and most upland part of Lammer-
muir are altogether covered with heath,
but intersected by numerous streams of
water, which occasionally with their tri-
butary rivulets form small but rather beau-
tiful glens, which are fertile enough to
yield grass pastures. The wildness of this
tract of country, the general barrenness of
the soil, and the continued inclemency of
the winter season, forbid any other breed
than the Black-faced from participating of
the produce of the unprolific land. In
some places, indeed, where with the heath
there is an intermixture of grass, the Che-
viot have been reared with no inconsider-
able success ; but the other more hardy
breed are better fitted for the barrenness,
and exposure of the mountains, can be

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, XXI

kept with much less expense, and in ge,
neral are ultimately productive of great-
er advantage in this high region.

There are few situations in Scotland
where the soil is more sterile and the
climate more rigidly severe, than in the
range of the highest mountains in Lam-
mermuir. Whatever improvements are
adopted, and whatever sheep graze on
them, will be attended with equal success
in almost any part of this island.
Though they are not so highly elevated
as many of those in the Highlands of
Scotland, and the cold consequently not
so intense, yet here there are none, at
least there are comparatively none, of
those fertile vales which add so much to
the beauty of these northern parts, into
which the flocks are brought at the com-
mencement of winter, and in which, shel-
tered from the storm by the surround-
ing mountains, they lie in all imaginable
security. The hills of Lammermuir, on
the contrary, are only occasionally inter-!

XXII PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

gected by a deep hollow, in which, on
account of its narrowness, it would
hardly be exempt from danger to put
sheep in a violent storm, for fear of
being overwhelmed in wreaths of snow,
and in which even in mild weather
they would sustain injury from the con*
fined nature of its limits. The stock
in the wild places of Lammermuir is,
therefore, exposed on the naked moun-
tains to all the severity which the sea-
son may inflict, (unless, when huddled
together, in these narrow glens on the
appearance of a storm,) and to with-
stand which the most hardy constitu-
tion is fully requisite.

The district of Lammermuir is alto-
gether compounded of hills ; some of
which rise to no small elevation. Cribb-
]aw raises its head more than lGOO feet
above the level of the sea, and Clints-
hill about 1544. These, however, and
all others in this ridge, are overtopped
•by Lammerlaw, which at the most ele-

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, xxiii

vated part is more than 171 6 feet above
the level of the sea.

It would appear that at some earlier
period, there were few or no continual
residing inhabitants in Lammermuir, and
that the lower and more fertile parts
of the county were previously occupied.
The possession of these occupiers would
gradually extend towards the more bar-
ren district, as they increased in num-
bers. And as at first property would
be very limited, they would have no
anxiety, neither perhaps Would they
dare, to live throughout all the incle-
mencies of the season, amidst the cold,
rugged, and unprolific hills of Lammer-
muir. It is exceedingly likely that they
would then continue to dwell in the
more fertile district, and would annually
on the return of spring remove their
flocks to graze on the hills, which to
them would then appear habitable. This,
the names of many places, which would
be erected as ' summer residences only

Xxiv PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

in a temporary manner, seem clearly to
indicate ; as they are still denominated
by the significant name of shiel, and
would in former years be called shiel-
ing-houses.

From the accounts that have been
transmitted of that early period, it ap-
p ears, that so late as the fourteenth cen-
tury, Lammermuir had been but very
partially inhabited and that then a great
part of it was occupied by deer and
wild cattle. These it is probable would
be gradually expelled from the frontiers
of the hills, as they became pasturage
for sheep, and would be driven to the
wilder and more remote places. It does
not appear, however, that, in the four-
teenth century, the ground appropriated
for sheep extended beyond the very skirts
of Lammermuir ; but as much as was ap-
propriated was sufficiently occupied, and
that the shepherds made no despicable ap-
pearance seems probable from the follow-
ing passage of Redpath’s Border History :

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. XXV

“In the year 1372 lord Percy, the Eng-
lish warden, to revenge some losses and
insults, entered Scotland at the head of
7000 men, and having crossed the low
country of the Merse through one of its
most fertile spots, encamped at Dunse.
But his farther progress was stopt by
a contrivance of the shepherds and pea-
sants in that neighbourhood ; who be-
.thought themselves of employing in de-
fence of their country, a very simple
sort of machine, which they commonly
made use of to frighten away from then-
corn the deer and wild cattle that then
abounded in Lammermuir. These wete
a kind of rattles made of pieces of dried
skin, distended around ribs of wood, that
-were bended into a semicircular form,
and fixed to the end of long poles.
The bags being furnished with a few
hard pebbles, and vigorously shaken by
a rapid motion given to the poles, made
a hideous noise : and an unusual num-
ber of them being thus employed on the
d

xxvi PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

tops of the adjacent hills, the horses
of the English took fright ; and break-
ing away from their keepers, ran wildly
up and down the neighbouring fields,
where they became a prey to the people
of the country. The army also, awaken-
ed with the strange noise, and finding'
themselves in the morning deprived not
only of their war horses, but also of
many of their beasts of burden, retired
on foot towards the Tweed in precipita-
tion, and disorder, having left their bag-
gage behind them.”

It would be uninteresting, and I trust
it will be unnecessary, to pursue our
observations farther upon this district.
We have seen that in the earlier ages,
the most extensive range of it was ac-
counted so extremely wild and altogether
so unfavourable, as to be a place unfit
both for the habitation . of man, and for

-y

pasturage to sheep. The improvements
of more civilized times, however, have,,
through the course of time, rendered

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. XXvii

it in a great measure adequate to both ;
and unproductive and. unsheltered, as the
hills still are, even the most unpromis-
ing of them, are capable of keeping
and of rearing Black-faced stock. The
Cheviot can only with propriety be kept
in the lower part of Lammermuir, or
where the pasture partakes a good deal
of grass ; but may with equal propriety
be kept in many places where the hills
rise to a higher altitude than those in
any part of Lammermuir, but where
there is the inestimable advantage of
extensive prolific glens.

It may now be a subject, of pleasing,
perhaps of instructive research, to extend
our observations for a little to the original
of sheep. This has at least some con-
nexion with the following treatise, as
being a treatise upon sheep, and a cer-
tain nourishing part of the food of many of
these original sheep, will be found to have
immediate reference to that cure which
it is our intention to prescribe for the
d 2

/

xxviii PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.'

Hot. That I may not incur the imputa-
tion of plagiarism, however, I may here
candidly acknowledge that the observa-
tions now to be offered, are chiefly
derived from the information on that
subject communicated by the celebrated
Dr Pallas, professor of natural history
in the Imperial academy of St Peters-
burg!)..

The ovis f era or wild sheep, according
to this author, is the parent of all our
domestic varieties of sheep, however
changed by servitude, climate, food, &c.
in the hands of man ; and this sheep he
found in all its native vigour, boldness,
and activity, inhabiting the vast chain of
mountains, which run through the centre
of Asia to the eastern sea, and the
branches which it sends off to Great
Tartary, China, and the Indies. This
animal is denominated by the Siberians
argali, meaning wild sheep ; and by the
Russians kamennoi barann, or sheep of the
rocks, from its ordinary place of abode.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, xxix

It delights in the rocky mountains of the
Asiatic chain above-mentioned, where it
is ever to be met with basking in the
rays of the sun ; blit it avoids the woods
of the mountains, and every other object
that would intercept the influence of the
great luminary. Its food is the Alpine
plants and shrubs, which it finds amongst
the rocks.

The argali generally prefers a temper-
ate climate, although he is to be found
in Asiatic Siberia, as it is there furnished
with its favourite bare rocks, sun-shine,
and Alpine plants. It even makes its
habitation in the cold eastern extremity
of Siberia and Kamtschatka, which evi-
dently demonstrates that nature has given
a most extensive range to sheep in a
wild state, equal to what has been allow-
ed to the intelligent creation ; a fact
which shows that the sheep is confined
to no certain latitude. The argali is so
extremely wild that it gradually abandons
a country as it becomes peopled.

XXX PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

The ewe of the argali brings forth
before the melting of the snow. Her
young resembles much a young kid ; save
Only that in place of horns, they have a
large fat protuberance, and that they are
covered with a woolly hair, frizzled, and
ot a dark grey. Notwithstanding that
the adult argali is wild and untameable,
the lamb may with little difficulty be
tamed when taken young, and brought
up like a domestic sheep.

The height of the argali is about that
of a small hart, but more robust and
nervous. Its form is less elegant than
that of the deer, and its legs anti neck
shorter. Its head is much like that of
a ram, but its ears shorter. Its horns
are very large, and weigh in an adult
l6lbs. The summer coat consists of
short hair, sleek, and resembling that of a
deer. The winter coat consists of wool
like down, mixed with hair, an inch and
a-half long, concealing at its roots a

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. XXXI

fine woolly down, generally of a white
colour.

Dr Pallas considers all the sheep that
abound in Siberia, and the pastoral na-
tions of Tartary, as belonging to the
argali or wild sheep, and subdivided into
four varieties. These are the long tailed,
the short tailed, the fat tailed, and a
mixed breed with longish tails, fat at the
base, with a species of lean bony appen-
dage tapering to a point. The fat tailed
is the most abundant and the largest
breed of sheep in the world, it is reared
throughout all the temperate regions of
Asia, from the frontiers of Europe to
those of China. All the Normade hordes
of Asia, the Turcomans, Kirguise, Cal-
mouks, and Mongol Tartars rear it. The
Persians and Hottentots also rear it in
abundance. It exists in the purest and
most unmixed state in the vast deserts of
Great Tartary.

The flocks, therefore of all the Tartar
hordes resemble each other by a large

xx xn PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

yellowish muzzle ; by long hanging ears j
by the large, spiral, wrinkled, angular
and bent horns of the adult ram. A
solid mass of fat is formed on the
rump, and falling down, supplies the
place of a tail, which being divided into
two hemispheres, takes the. form of the
hips, with a little button of a tail in
the middle, to be felt by the finger.
This fat protuberance amounts to from
20 lbs. to 4:0 lbs.

The southern Tartar flocks enjoy a
moderate winter with regard to cold,
though they pass it in the open air, liv*
ing mostly on dry stalks, especially those
of the half dry wormwood, which is a-
bundant in the more elevated situations.
There .is likewise every where found an
efflorescence of nitron with sea salt.

They are conducted by their masters
in the spring to pastures, rich in rising
plants and flowers ; and are brought into
a most palatable and favourite pasturage,
sprinkled with the above mentioned salt

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, xxxiii

efflorescence scattered by the wind, and
further impregnated by saline dews,
which frequently fall there during the
night. Their bulk is very considerably
augmented during summer, and is still
increased in autumn, by the pasturage
abounding in acrid herbaceous herbs.
So well do these saline pastures accord
with the constitution of the sheep, that
in those regions they very often weigh
no less than 200 lbs.

Some of the hordes on the banks of
the Volga, in the government of Casan,
rear a breed of the same sheep, but very
much diminished in size, both on ac-
count of the want of saline pastures,
and the scarcity of winter food. Those
of the Bouretes are also much diminished
from the coldness of their mountainous
regions, where their plants are crude,
without saline impregnation ; at the same
time that the country is devoid of saline
efflorescence, and where even water is
very scarce.

e

xxxiv PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

In the country of Spain, where sheep
are raised to a high state of perfection,
part of the country abounds with very
copious salt springs, and where they are
deficient, their want is supplied by the
care and activity of the shepherd. These
springs are found in some districts, not
merely in the low plains and little hills,
but also issue out from some as high
mountains as the whole inland country
of Spain contains. In those territories
where they abound, saline efflorescences
are also every where to be found, and
the soil partakes much of saline matter,
which rises in the vegetation of grass.
When the sheep derive salt from this
source, it of course, in a great measure,
supercedes the necessity of their receiv-
ing it from the shepherd. His giving it
them, however, has been always practis-
ed both in the territories which the saline
matter pervades, and. in which it is alto-
gether awanting. And of so superlative
value to sheep do these long-distinguished;

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. XXXV

breeders esteem it, and in so great abun-
dance do they afford it, that “the fear of
tempting the shepherds to stint them,”
has been assigned as “ the true reason
why the kings of Spain cannot raise the
price of salt to the height it is in France.”
We shall allude to it afterwards.

Enough has surely been advanced to
show the beneficial influence which salt
has in confirming the constitution and iu
magnifying the bulk of sheep. As it can
now be obtained in our country at so
reduced a price, it might perhaps here,
as well as in Spain fully repay the labour
and expence which might be required to
furnish our sheep with it ; there is little
doubt but it will do so. Whatever may
be the manner in which it operates upon
those in the countries above alluded to ;
— whether it acts as a preventative to
diseases by which they might be reduced,
and to which without salt, though un-
known to us, they might be subject, or
whether it immediately and directly affords
e 2

xxxvi PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

nourishment, or in whatever manner it
does so, I neither intend, nor do I profess
myself qualified to treat. Suffice it to
say, that it is either directly or indirectly
productive of the most observable effects,
and that the sheep which possess the ad-
vantage of it rise to a far superior value
to those whose pastures nature, and the
industry of man, has denied it. And
such being the case, we have at least no
reason to conclue that it will have no ten-
dency to remove disease ; but on the con-
trary we have every reason to suppose that
it will be highly instrumental in doing so.
For if the sheep which with the sole ad-
vantage of the nutriment which salt af-
fords, become so far superior to those
which derive it neither from the supply of
nature nor of art, we are surely justified
in concluding that the former are strangers
to any corroding disease, to which, for any
thing we can tell, may some time or other
waste the constitution of the latter, and
may perhaps form the greatest barrier

preliminary OBSERVATIONS. XXXVll

against their increasing in magnitude like
the other. At any rate, whether or not
the former are liable to disease, or to re-
ceive injury from any thing in the com-
position of their food, which also is a
sort of disease, a check is either formed to
it by the instrumentality of salt, or the
hurt of which it is effective, is more
than counterbalanced by the immediate fat-
ness which the other may yield.

These observations we may now draw to
a termination, by remarking the importance
which should be attached to the raising
of stock, both as a private and national con-
cern. Many people not fond even of the
most promising innovations, content them-
selves with carrying on their affairs in the
old way, to which from their youth they
have been accustomed, though by their
backwardness they are only remaining
blind to their own interest. Mixed and
mutilated, and inadequate to their situation
as many of the breeds of sheep still aie
in our country, yet the breeders of them,

xxxviii PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

ignorant of the real nature of sheep, and
unwilling to give in exchange the profits
they draw from their present stock, for
what they might possibly draw from an-
other, continue to make no alteration,
either because their prejudiced minds
convince them of the decided superiority
of their own, or because they conceive
themselves acting upon the principle of
the proverb not to lose certainty for hope.
But every body who is at all acquainted
with sheep, does not need to be informed
of the superiority that a pure and proper
breed possesses over one that is imperfect
and improper. I would not be meant to
insinuate that there is an impropriety in
the mixture of any two breeds of sheep ;
for in this way a good and useful sheep is
sometimes obtained. But to obtain this
very mixture as much nicety is required,
as in choosing any acknowledged distinct
breed, and it is as necessary in the one
case as in the other, that the holding stock
be distinguished by the qualities of good

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS, xxxix

sheep. So that whatever species or
whatever mixture formed by the coali-
tion of any two species, may appear to
any one to correspond best with the
peculiar nature of his farm, the same
care and the same skill ought to be
evinced in the selection of both, as also
in their management afterwards.

But though for their own sakes and
for the better chance of their success, it
is an object of paramount importance
for every person in a store-farm to give
all diligence to be provided with stock as
suitable and as uncontaminated as possi-
ble ; it is at the same time an object of
general interest. In many countries the
flocks are looked upon as all the riches
of the inhabitants, and in Spain they are
denominated, the jewel of the crown.
Our country is, indeed, in a higher state
of cultivation than the pastoral countries
of the east, and of course our lands are
less appropriated to pasture ; and living
under happier auspices, we have the for-

xl PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

tune to be unencumbered by the re-
straints imposed by the servile inhabitants
of Spain, and on account of which so
much emolument acrues from the flocks
to the crown. Yet still in Britain the
sheep form no inconsiderable part of pro-
perty, and with the prosperity with
which affairs relative to them are con-
ducted, the prosperity of the state is not
a little involved. In the time of the
great king Edward III. who introduced
into England a more salutary scheme of
the woollen manufacture than had hither-
to been adopted, when the avooI was
valued to be exported, it was then found
to have brought into the kingdom
,£150,000 per annum, at the rate of
£% 10s. per pack. And in the present
improved period, when our woollen ma-
nufacture stands unrivalled by any nation
in the world, and when every method is
taken to prevent this valuable commodity
from being transported into other coun-
tries, the annual value of wool shorn in

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. xli

England alone, is computed at about
^£5,000,000 sterling ; and when manu-
factured with the imported Spanish wool,
amounts in value to about £20,000,000.

Every body, therefore, who has at
heart the welfare of the state to which
he belongs, will do whatever is in his
power to promote the advancement of the
concerns of stock farmers, and will give
every encouragement to this branch of
husbandry. And surely there are none
on whom he has a more equitable claim
for encouragement, and none who have
it more in their power to do so, than
the proprietors whose lands are pasturage
for sheep, and whose interest goes hand
in hand with the success and prosperity
with which they meet.

A WIBIBAl'aSia

UPON

**♦

CHAPTER I.

THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE PLOUGH-
ING IN A HIGH COUNTRY.

^Previous to entering into any discus-
sion concerning the proper management
of Sheep, in the various circumstances spe-
cified, it will perhaps be more advisable to
treat a little of the danger and the loss
attendant upon the method of keeping
much land in tillage in a high district, and
also of the most advantageous manner in
which a Store-farm may be laid out and
conducted.

There is perhaps, no plan that has in
most cases proved more ruinous to farmers
in situations, where the poverty of the soil
and the backwardness of the climate, admit

A

o

THE D \NGER OF EXTENSIVE

only of Cheviot, or Black -faced sheep being
kept, than that of ploughing whatever land
will plough. Of late years this unpro-
fitable plan has been by far too gene-
rally practised, and has undoubtedly con-
tributed as a principal cause in entailing
ruin upon many stock farmers. The very
high price to which corn was raised dur-
ing some years of the late war, w'as a
powerful inducement to every person in
the possession of land, to bring it into a
state of culture. But the prospects of
abundance which, in these years, gilded
the hopes of the husbandman, and the
avidity with which he grasped at the op-
portunity of participating in that abun-
dance, operated but as the means of
alluring him into that fatal security, which,
to many at least, laid the foundation of
ultimate misery. So great became the
rage for what at that time was called
improvement, and so widely, even in the
most unfruitful districts of our isle, did
the contagion spread, that every where —

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 8

The mossy plain, the mountain’s barren brow,
Were realiy tortured by the tearing plough.”

But the expenditurewhicli was requi-
site to accomplish this important change
in the sterile soil of a plain and open
country, was a sum to which the farmers
affixed too narrow an idea ; and to meet
which, the funds of many of them were
far from being adequate. To bring it
into any thing like a fair condition, a
consideiable quantity of lime was indis-
pensably necessary ; and to refund the
capital consumed in furnishing this heavy
article, together with payment of rent
and unavoidable expences, a long con-
tinuation of the most favourable seasons,
and reasonable prices, would have been
little more than sufficient. But the far-
mers who adopted this hopeful but des-
tiuctive plan, too big with splendid pros-
pects of future wealth, did not stop tp calcu-
late upon the precariousness of the climate
in which they lived, and the consequent
uncertainty of crops. The great risk
a 2

4

THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

which invariably accompanies the raising
of corn in a hilly region, should have been
the means of preventing all who held
farms so situated from reducing their lands
in subjection to the plough. But this
circumstance which ought to have wrought
thus upon their minds, tended rather to
invigorate them in the prosecution of their
schemes, and to excite them in making
every exertion to crop those lands with
success, for which as pasture they re-
ceived but a small return, and which if
brought into a proper state of cultiva-
tion, there was at least a possibility of
their yielding produce, a great part of
which the comparative smallness of their
rents would entitle them to consider as
clear gain. In this respect, however,
the Lammermuir farmers in general, ap-
pear to have very much mistaken the
proper line of husbandly pointed out to
them by the nature of the climate : and
by their extensive ploughing have not
only reduced their stock, to the necessity

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 5

of being kept on the most barren parts
of the farm, but have profusely squan-
dered away money on improvements
which, in the present state of things,
they can never hope to regain.

The experience of too many, I am
afraid, will afford a convincing proof of
the validity of these remarks ; but that
others who have fortunately been unaccus-
tomed to such disasters, may avoid the
rock, on which has been wrecked the
fairest of my prospects ; it may perhaps
give a happier bias to their minds, to
exhibit a clear statement of my agricul-
tural concerns, for such a length of time
as may enable them to form a proper
estimate, of the danger of attempting to
raise corn in a high district. And for
this purpose I select a period of seven
years, which will afford a sufficient illus-
tration of what I have not hesitated to
assert.

I commence my statement with the year
1811. This year I had 250 acres in crop,

6

THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

which, at the beginning of harvest, had
rather a flattering appearance. But the
lateness of our climate exposes us to many
disadvantages ; and is especially produc-
tive of this, in making our harvest opera-
tions generally three or four weeks later
than those in the lower parts of the
country, so that they have often their
corn brought safe into the stack-yard, be-
fore we have begun to that part of our
labour. It is this more than any other
circumstance that gives the low country
farmers the superiority over those of a
higher district ; for in point of quality in
the earlier parts of the season, the crops
frequently present as promising an aspect
in the one as in the other. But the great
difficulty lies in a remoter part of the sea-
son, and it is when the time of ripening
comes that we obtain a full proof of the
danger in trusting too much to an unto-
ward climate; which scarcely in one season
out of 10 will bring the crop properly
to maturity. The truth of this observa-

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 7

tion, I experienced in all its direful conse-
quences with the crop of the year of which
we speak. Out of the 250 acres of corn
on xny farm, only four stacks had been
secured, when the weather became so ex-
tremely wet, that all further operations
were suspended for three weeks. A large
proportion of the crop was still uncut, and
what remained in the field cut, seemed to
all appearance totally useless. When we
had almost despaired of turning it to any
account, the rain ceased and was quickly
followed by a tremendous wind, happen-
ing about the middle of October, which
completed the disaster.

That part of the crop which was cut
being in a soft loose state with the pre-
ceeding rains, was scattered over the fields
in the utmost confusion, and had to be
gathered like hay, with rakes : by which
means the straw was secured, but most of
the corn unavoidably left behind. With
respect to what was still to cut, it will
hardly be necessary to state, that, if possi-

8 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

ble, it was in a yet more wretched condi-
tion ; so that of the whole crop 1 did not
sell a single boll, but on the contrary had
the whole seed to purchase for the ensuing
spring of 1812, and also some bolls for the
support of my horses.

This year I prepared for sowing 10
acres more than I had done in the one
preceeding ; the land was in a high state
of cultivation, which gave me every reason
to expect a good return. I bought seed
of the very best quality from Tweed-side,
which in all cost e£300. But so ineffec-
tual were my efforts, and so delusive were
my hopes, that even before the seed was
committed to the ground, the cold hand of
misfortune seemed stretched out to nip it
in the bud. On the 21st of March, there
c^me a very heavy fall of snow, followed
by a most awful drift, and was upon the
whole the most stormy day ever recollect-
ed in Lammermuir, except the 25th of
January, 1794.

The snow continued on the ground dur-

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 9

ing the whole of March, and a good part
of April, so that

“ Winter lingering chill’d the lap of May.” '

The snow remained so long in the
hollows, and on the sides of ridges, that
m many places it was judged requisite to
plough and harrow it, to facilitate its
melting; and this unpromising labour
lasted till about the 7th of IVTay, when
the seed time was finished. Nevertheless
the crop looked very well throughout
the summer months, though late. The
barley harvest was completed a few days
before the end of September. The oats,
it was thought would require te.n days
or two weeks longer, until the earliest
of them would be ready for reaping.
Mith this view the shearers were dismissed
for the present: but misfortune was at
hand ; there came such a severe frost on
the night of the 24<th of September, and
the subsequent morning, that all was
ready for the sickle. For some time after

B

10 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

this the weather continued tolerably good,
and the oat crop was safely all lodged in
the stack-yard. There was plenty of
bulk, and prices being high, I still flat-
tered myself that it might turn pretty
well out. Samples of oats and barley
were accordingly prepared. The oats,
notwithstanding their premature ripening,
looked very well ; they were white ; and
not being dry, were still plump, and had
plenty of merchants. I had my own
suspicions, however, as to how they might
turn out in meal, and therefore refused
to deal with the country millers. With
this precaution, I sold a considerable
quantity both of oats and barley, to be
shipped for the London market, the for-
mer at SO s., and the latter at 39s. per
boll of six Winchester bushels. This
certainly exceeded my most sanguine ex-
pectations, and the dark cloud that had
hung over the horizon of my agricultu-
ral sphere, appeared now to be dissipat-
ed, before the bright lustre of noon-day

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. II

sunshine. The thrashing was immediately
commmehced and earned on with vigour.
The barley was a fair crop: but the
greater part of the oats in winnowing,
came out at the tail of the machine, and
had a full wind been given them, there
is not the smallest doubt, but. that the
whole of them would have landed there.
My hopes were again blasted, and I
found myself in an unpleasant predica-
ment. lor the article was already sold,
and the merchant no doubt looked for
the fulfilment of his bargain : and in
doing so I would have been very happy,
provided the stock should please as Avell
as the sample. This I easily foresaw to
be very unlikely, and was not a little
concerned. But to deliberate “ in cold
debates,” could promote no purpose, and
a few cart loads were accordingly sent
to the port, but alas ! they were “ weigh-
ed in a balance and found wanting.”
From the sad deficiency which was found
in weighing the oats, the merchant .caused
b 2

12 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

the whole of them to be set up until a
new bargain was made.

A considerable time afterwards I at-
tempted another sale which was hap-
pily effected with more comfort to my-
self and satisfaction to the merchant.
The oats were sold at 29s., and the
barley at 36s. With this transaction

there- were no reflections on either side,
at least I never heard of any.

As the shepherds and other servants
had to receive their dues, a few bolls of
oats were made into meal for that pur-
pose ; but they produced only five stones
per boll, and that very bad in quality.
This was evidently a losing concern, as
the oats could bring 30s. in the mar*
ket, and meal could be procured of
the best quality at 4s. per stone ; so

that by making them into meal the

price was reduced to 20s. per boll. I
therefore adopted the more profitable

method of celling the oats and buy-
ing meal.- They gradually advanced in

PLOUGING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 13

price, and bad as mine were, some of
them brought 36s. per boll.

In this way the crop paid the servants,
and other necessary expenses on the farm,
mostly incurred by the corn system, but
left nothing for rent. For though the
prices considerably exceeded the average
of years, there was very little corn to
the quantity of straw, as the severity of
the frost had* rendered a great part of
it totally useless. With such a result,
it is . scarcely necessary to inform the
reader, that the whole of the seed for
crop 1813 was of necessity to be bought,
and. as the markets continued to rise,
oats in the spring amounted to £2 per
boll. Requiring 200 bolls, I had of course
an outlay of £4*00. This year produced
a very abundant crop, and prices good :
being according to the fiars, I believe,
33s. 6cl. per boll for barley, and 215. for
oats. Besides paying all labouring ex-
pences, and affording plenty of good
wholesome food both for man and beast.

14 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

a clear profit remained more than sufficient
to pay what had been laid out the two pre-
ceding years ; which gave me great encou-
ragement to persevere in the corn system.

Crop 1814 fell far short of the preced-
ing one. . It was no doubt a pretty fair
crop, and wholesome, though in point of
quantity it was much inferior to the last
one, and prices were much reduced. Oats
and barley towards the end of the season
fell to about 16s. per boll. After pay-
ing all expences, a sum of £200 remained
in my hands, which was far below what I
had reason to expect, and by no means
adequate to meet the exigencies of such a
large concern.

Crop 1815 was a most abundant one,
but prices, as the year before, very low.
Barley at first about 17 s. per boll, but
afterwards reduced to 14s. Oats also suf-
fered a great fall from 18s. to 14s. This
crop paid all tear and wear, and left about
£300.

Crops 1816 and 17 were worse than

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 15

blanks, and like the lean kine in the vision
of Pharaoh, devoured the abundance of the
preceding years. In these two years I
had 500 acres in crop, in a high state of
cultivation, but instead of paying rent and
expences, £500 of clear outlay was re-
quired to purchase corn to carry on the
farming concerns.

During these seven years, then, of the
respective crops of which a sufficient ac-
count has been given, there were in crop
3750 acres — which were valued at from
20s. to 405. per acre, a small proportion
of it at the highest price : and taking
the average, the rent upon the whole
amounted to £2000 during that period.
But as the land would have been produc-
tive of corn only of very inferior value,
if destitute of manure, there was for five
years an annual expenditure for lime of
£400, amounting in all to a sum equiva-
lent to the rent: and which added toge-
ther make a grand total of £4000.

Now, from this large sum, nothing can

16 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

with justice be deducted. Whatever
money was received for my produce of
hay, was all consumed in payment of ser-
vants’ wages, and other necessary ex-
pences. And though the period which
has been selected contains years, which
were distinguished for their luxuriant har-
vests, yet taking one year with another,
the money that I received in return for
the crops of the prosperous years, was fully
required to compensate the loss of the un-
successful. So that in this attempt to ac-
quire a fortune, all my efforts did entirely
fail, and however splendid might be pros-
pects which at one time I entertained,
there remained in the end a balance against
my funds of not less than £4000. Alike,
I apprehend, was the fate of many, or per-
haps of all, who were then similarly situ-
ated, and though the loss which they actu-
ally experienced might be far inferior to
my own, yet it will probably be very near
in proportion to the extent of our con-
cerns.

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 17

It is some consolation — though a conso-
lation that could administer but little of
the relief which in these times was needed
— to meet with a brother in affliction, who
can take up the merits of your case with
sympathy and fellow-feeling, which cannot
be properly appreciated by a person placed
in dissimilar circumstances. In these
years of general sterility, there was no
want of this melancholy kind of comfort,
but as Burns says,

“ A man may tak a neiboufs part
Yet hae nae cash to spare him.”

There were not wanting however, many
instances of generosity among landlords, as
in the worst of times there are always some
to be found superior to every thing mean
and selfish. One curious case I shall re-
late, which will tend to confirm the remarks
that have , been submitted, and will shew in
what estimation the crops of Lammermuir
were held in these years of public calamity.
In a neighbouring parish to that in which

c

18 THE DANGER OE EXTENSIVE '

I reside, a certain tenant rented a consi-
derable farm, the lease of which was to ex-
pire in I8I7. As fortune had never smiled
very propitious upon this honest cultivator
of the soil, so this last effort seemed to
promise nothing that had been denied to
his former exertions- The year preced-
ing that in which he was to leave his farm
proved more unlucky than any that he had
yet numbered in the catalogue of his mis-
fortunes. The rot and other diseases had
carried off a large proportion of his flocks,
and to fill up the cup of his affliction, the
corn crop failed so completely, that, when
he sent 20 bolls of oats to the mill, they
did not produce as much meal as paid the
miller for grinding them. These circum-
stances- exhausted his funds, and he was
unable to buy seed for his next crop, which
caused him to apply to his landlord for aid,
who readily granted him money for that
purpose.

This being the tenant’s way-going crop,
the landlord was to be paid from the first

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 19

sales made, when the crop came off the
ground, but “where nothing is to be had
even the king loses his right,” and so also
must the landlord. The crop was so bad
that the tenant plainly saw it would not
pay the expense of cutting, and as he was
bound by his lease to leave the straw to the
in-coming tenant, he told the landlord to
look to the crop for his payment, and
that according to the tenure of his lease
he had left the straw upon the ground ! !
The upcoming tenant, on the other hand,
insisted on having the straw ready for use,
according to the custom of the country.
After much wrangling, the case was brought
before the sheriff, where the landlord him-
self happened to be judge ; but who, ac-
cording to the impartiality, by which he
has ever been characterised, would execute
justice, though, to the injury of his own in-
terest. In this case it is likely that some
compromise had been made between the
parties, as the result was never publicly
known $ but that neither of them would
q %

20 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

be taken advantage of, the following an-,
ecdote will shew.

The same worthy landlord had a tenant
who had paid no rent for two or three
terms : but at last by way of acknow-
ledgement, his wife went to the gentle-
man with a brace of chickens, of which,
after hearing the poor woman’s story,
lie accepted. This circumstance the gem
tleman related with the greatest good
humour, said he thought his tenant very
honest, and believed he would have given
him more if he could have done it.

Many cases might be produced of the
folly of trusting to corn in a high coun-
try : another shall suffice for the present.
A neighbour of mine in the beginning
of May, 1812, passed me on my farm
one morning, apparently on a journey ;
but he said nothing to me concerning
his destination. Some days after, how-
ever, falling into conversation with an
acquaintance, a farmer a little lower situ-
ated in the country, he told me my

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 21

neighbour, the person above alluded to,
had come to him in order to buy 10
bolls of seed oats, for which he was to
be paid when the other sold his hogs
in the month of June. I enquired what
might be the price, he said that as the
purchaser had a letter of credit, from a
respectable acquaintance, he had favoured
him with the oats at 43s. per boll (six
Winchester bushels.) The oats were
paid according to promise, which the
price of 27 hogs settled ; but as his
land was in good order, and as the oats
were of the best quality, my neighbour
expected a good crop. A friend of mine
on his way home from Dunbar, called
upon me one day about the beginning
of September, and enquiring concerning
the state of the country in that quarter,
he said he had seen a great variety in
the state of the crop ; for in East Lo-
thian the harvest was general, and the
crops good, but that my neighbour, above
alluded to, had a field of oats only ip

£2 THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

the shot-blade. In this backward state
in the month of September, it could
hardly be expected that the crop coukl
either be abundant or of good quality.
Happening to pass that way myself,
some time after the Martinmas, I was
curious to see what had become of his fine
crop of 435. oats, and to my great asto-
nishment, they were standing in the field
in small cocks, which were taken in to
the cattle as need required,

Many arguments and examples might
be produced against trusting to corn in
such a district as Lammermuir, but it
would be tedious, and, I trust, unneces-
sary to pursue -the train an)' further,
Every person that considers the subject
with any degree of candour, must see
the inconsistency and the unreasonable-
ness of that system, which the above re-
marks have been advanced to prove.
Some enterprising minds indeed, there
may be, who notwithstanding the clearest
evidence to the contrary, may attempt to

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 23

renew, in some future period, this dan*
gerous system, If ever any form the
foolish design, it will only be those who
fancy themselves possessed of superior
abilities, and every way better capacitat-
ed to conduct the farming operations,
than those who have before them at-
tempted it in vain ; and their own ex-
perience, after, perhaps they have sunk
a considerable fortune, will be the means
by which alone they will be brought to
lower the too lofty estimate which they
formed of themselves, and to listen with
a more willing ear to the voice of rea-
son.

To high districts both seasons are un-
favourable, the early and prolific, the
late and the barren. For in the latter
there is little or no crop at all ; the
expenses of seed and labour are all lost,
and often victual to purchase at a dear
rate, for the maintenance of servants
whose labour has been productive of no
leturn. And on the other’ hand, if at

24. THE DANGER OF EXTENSIVE

/

a time, a good crop may be obtained,
then the season must have been more
than usually favourable, and a great crop
must have prevailed over the whole
country ; so that even then it comes to
small account after the expenses are de-
ducted, as the extra abundance reduces
the markets exceedingly low, and the
little profit that in these years may re-
main, is more than swallowed up by the
scantiness of less favourable seasons.

From all my experience I come to
this conclusion, which, indeed, I have
bought at a dear rate, never to trust to
corn for rent, in a high district, and
never to have too fine a stock. Both
are unnatural to the climate. The stock
must always be looked to as the only
certain return to the farmer, and that
should always be suited to the situation
of his farm. The only thing which
excites my astonishment is, that numbers
of the old and experienced farmers, who
have been 'accustomed to the production

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 25

of corn, still continue stedfastly in the
same system, notwithstanding all the re-
peated losses . which they must often
have met. They cannot but have fre-
quently bewailed the uncertainty of the
seasons, the fruitlessness of their endea-
vours, and the inconsiderable sum, which,
in an average of years, they receive in
return for their produce of grain. The
praise, of which in my opinion they are
deserving, is what in such cases can
be attributed to unshaken perseverance
through unnecessary privations and hard-
ships. But would they only employ a
moment’s reflection, and seriously bring
themselves to make a candid comparison,
between the two plans, and of altering
that to which they have been inured, I
am confident they would find cause to
repent of their past measures, and to
pursue others in which the risk and ex-
penses are comparatively nothing, and
the return consequently much surer.

Before quitting the subject, I would

D

20 THE D ANGER OF EXTENSIVE

remark, that as the danger of ploughing,
in high situated farms, beyond a limited
proportion, is incalculable, and cannot
be estimated by any one, but such as
have had experience in that branch of
husbandry, landlords would do well to
restrict it to a certain quantity of acres,
and hot to leave it to the discretion of the
tenant, who, by ill-judged ambition,, may
both ruin himself and hurt the landlord.
Had I been restricted in my ploughing
to a small portion of land, it would
have been some thousands of pounds in
my pocket. Experience often costs the
tenant very dear, and arrived at that
point where he may suppose himself
entitled to some deference, he may ne-
ver have it in his power to profit by
his acquired knowledge. If tenants,
therefore, will be so foolish, landlords or
their men of business, ought to be bet-
ter informed, and regulate their farming
concerns by the accumulated experience
of what may have happened on their

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 27

estates for the space of many years.
And it may not be improper here to
remark, that it is incumbent upon every
factor when a tenant fails or falls back
in the payment of his rent, to investi-
gate the causes of his failure, and if
it has proceeded from any injudicious
though honest ill-judged management, he
is undoubtedly entitled to more lenity
than that tenant, who, by irregular moral
conduct may have ruined both himself
and his farm.

In this way would landlords acquire
knowledge by the experience of their
tenants, and learn in future on what
conditions they ought to grant their new
leases. Instead of this however, it is
too much the practise with factors to
take the most summary way of bringing
the tenants stock to the hammer, and
the farm to the market. And this in-
stead of being let again to a deserving
old tenant, is often given to some new
adventurer, perhaps, almost without a
d 2

28 THE DANGER OF ^EXTENSIVE

shilling that he can call his own ; and,
at a rent, no doubt, far above what
any man of capital would venture to
give. For this farce of ignorance and
folly, the factor congratulates himself and
his master, and exultingly exhibits the
rent roll, with a few hundreds a year
appended to it. The tenant, on the
other hand, views his bargain in no
other light than he would do a lottery
ticket, and as soon as he finds the chances
against him, takes every undue advan-
tage of his farm, till in a year or two,
the same scene be acted over again that
had been done with his predecessor.
Under such management the landlord
not unfrequently loses a term’s rent or
two, and the very constitution of his
farm being broken, he is reduced to the
necessity of either taking it into his
own hand for some years, or letting
it at a very considerable reduction of
rent to a tenant of capital, who, after
the first brush of expenses is over, is

PLOUGHING IN A HIGH COUNTRY. 29

in all likelihood sure to make his for-
tune. That such has often been the
-case will readily be granted by every
one who has paid the least attention to
what is going on, though like every
other general observation liable to many
exceptions ; and I would not do jus-
tice to my own feelings were I to lose
this opportunity of publicly acknowledg-
ing the liberality of conduct that has
been practised on the estate where I
have spent the most of my days.

CHAPTER II.

ON LAYING OUT AND CONDUCTING
A STORE FARM .

^Though, as the preceding remarks
amply testify, I would always give my
decided disapprobation, to the system of
cropping much cultivated land in a stock-
farm ; convenience, and even necessity re-
quire, that in almost all cases a few acres
should be kept in culture. In doing so,
however, particular care ought to be taken,
that this portion be so continuous as not to
be in any way separated by the interven-
ing of pasture land, and should also be sur-
rounded by a ring fence. It would be
altogether impossible to specify the certain
number of acres which should be reserved

ON LAYING OUT A STORE FARM. 31

for the plough, as this must be very dif-
ferent on different farms, and can only be
finally determined by the tenant, who is
acquainted with his own individual farm.
There are not many stock farms, however,
that cannot, (at any rate the generality of
them can,) with ease be conducted with
the agricultural produce of 80 acres of
land, in addition to the pasture ground.
When a farm, then, is so situated as to
admit, and of such extent as to require 70
or 80 acres for tillage, this would be most
conveniently divided into four equal
bricks : one fourth of which in rotation,
to produce turnips, two fourths corn, and
the remaining fourth hay. Twenty acres
of fallow on a corn farm, is perhaps too
large a portion for the occupation of only
one plough ; but as the corn, in the pre-
sent case, will, or at least nearly, be con-
sumed upon the same farm on which it is
raised, carriages to a distance will seldom,
if at all, be requisite, and the horses will of
course have leisure to work more fallow.

32

ON LAYING OUT AND

But if a farm cannot conveniently afford
more than 50 acres for the purpose of
cropping, these may be most profitably
cast into three divisions, which by turns
will grow turnips, corn and hay. And if
again a still less number of acres can with
advantage be laid out in tillage, such as 40
or somewhat fewer, then it should be com-
prised in two bricks, and these to bear
turnips and corn alternately. Some lea or
meadow must then be preserved in order
to obtain hay, and if both of these are
either awanting, or inadequate to the end
proposed, the only remaining method is for
the farmer to purchase the quantity of
which he may stand in need.

Turnips and hay are by far the most valu-
able, as they are the most necessary crops
that can be raised in a high country. The
food requisite for the preservation of the
life of man can be procured at a season
when it is difficult and even impossible to
provide sheep with any other meat than
what is immediately at hand. In consi-

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 33

deration of this the farmer ought to look
forward to what may await him throughout
the ensuing winter, and should lay up in
store at Martinmas three months’ provision
for his stock, as also for man ; so that he
may be in every respect prepared for brav-
ing the storm. And in proof of the advis-
ableness of which, it will be readily recol-
lected by many, that the severe storms
during the seasons of 1784 and 85 con-
tinued not less than 12 and 14 weeks ; in
all which time the sheep could not derive
the smallest benefit fiom their pastures,
and could subsist only, on the turnips and
hay with which they were provided. But
many farmers little suspecting, as they
were not accustomed to, such lengthened
blasts, were not in the possession of food
sufficient for their maintenance; and the
consequence was, that in the end numbers
of their sheep perished through mere scan-
tiness of supply.

If the few acres of arable land, which
on a stock-farm, ought always if possible to

E

Si

ON LAYING OUT AND

be reserved, are not, and perhaps cannot,
from want of stones or other inconvenient
circumstances, be enclosed from the pas-
ture, it must at any rate, lie undivided by
the pasture ground, so that the sheep may
not be impeded in their walk. Otherwise
they will be subject to the greatest dis-
advantage, will frequently be tossed about
by the shepherd and his dog, and in many
cases, incur a damage which a richer pas-
ture will hardly repair.

It will now be proper to turn from
general observations concerning the man-
ner in which it may be most proper to lay
out the arable land of a stock farm, to the
method in which the respective produc-
tions of the divisions ought to be man-
aged. Small as the space is, which we
have supposed those to occupy, the way
they ought to be conducted, is not, on that
account, of less importance. It is to the
crops of which they are productive that
the farmer has to look for the preservation
of his stock in a tempestuous season, and

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 35

in a great measure also, in every season,
for the number and the condition of his
annual cast. He may, indeed, in a year
remarkably mild be enabled to winter his
sheep without the assistance of hay, and
with a very few turnips, but such years
seldom occur, and are never to be expect-
ed in a country such as this. And even in
those seasons which are peculiar for their
mildness, it is of considerable advantage
toward confirming the constitutions of the
ewes, to give them a little well win hay, in
the mornings of a black frost. Wherefore
the mind of the farmer ought in some de-
gree to be turned to the cultivation of his
arable land, that he may allow no oppor-
tunity wilfully to escape by which he might
better the condition of his stock, and that
no storm may betake him when he is un-
prepared.

The turnips form not the least impor-
tant part of his crops. It hardly lies
within our province, and indeed it is
almost unnecessary to treat of the me-
£ 2

36 ON LAYING OUT AND

thod of rearing this crop, as almost
every body is acquainted with the man-
ner of pi'eparing land for turnips, and
of sowing, weeding, and bringing them
to a state of maturity. In a high
country if the dung is good, and the
ground managed in any thing like a
proper way, it should at an average
produce. 30 double cart loads per acre.
Now, the measure, which, at present, I
mean principally to recommend, is that
24 of these should be stored at, or be-
fore Martinmas. This manner of pro-
viding for the winter, by storing of tur-
nips is, in my opinion, worthy of every
farmer’s practice. It is of equal impor-
tance for the preservation of turnips, as
for potatoes. Could we, indeed, ensure
ourselves of the total absence of frost,
which is a direct impossibility, or of its
delay to a certain . distant period of the
season, which is equally impossible, then
surely the best method to preserve them
would be to allow them to remain on

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 37

the field as they grew, as long as there
is a continuance of mildness, and to
pull them as need may require. But
to trust blindly to the serenity of the
weather is the most palpable stupidity,
and runing the greatest hazard ; for be,
sides inconveniences in getting them up
during the time of a storm, they are
very liable to be injured, as they are
readily touched with frost. There are
none undoubtedly who have been ac-
customed to use them at table, who
have not perceived the most essential
difference in them at different times,
and felt an unpleasant sensation in eat-
ing them after having been exposed to
a piercing frost. And it cannot be
otherwise with the inferior animals whose
palate is as capable of delicate discern-
ment as that of man, and some of them
far more acute. Besides the disagree-
able change which with respect to taste
they invariably undergo by being exposed
to frost, turnips become liable to rot.

3S ON LAYING OUT AND

after this change, in which I have not
unfrequently had the unhappy experi-
ence, In consequence of this failure
there is naturally a scarcity of meat
during the latter end of winter, and the
commencement of the spring, which fails
not to reduce the condition of the ewes
and hogs, and is the ultimate cause of
a loss of lambs more or less extensive
according to the mildness or severity of
the weather. I would not, however, be
meant to insinuate that this rottenness
is always consequent upon allowing the
turnips to be exposed to the weather,
but when left open to the inclemency of
the winter, they are exposed to a risk
which endangers their soundness, and
with them the life of the stock. And
it would surely be a great measure of
folly in any farmer, to let this crop
lie unsheltered from the severity of the
season, when a safer method has been
devised, and without damaging the crop.
Storing of turnips possesses every ad-

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM.

vantage both in point of convenience
and safety. For besides being always
at hand, and uninjured by frost, they
may be taken out in the spring, in near-
ly as good condition, as those which are
standing on the field.

The Swedish and yellow kind of tur-
nips are by nature best adapted for stor-
ing, and four-fifths of the crop, leaving
the worst, ought to be taken up, and
stored in the following manner. After
cutting off the shaw and root, taking due
care not to injure the turnip, lay them
in a heap as long as may be thought
proper, but using sufficient precaution
not to make it so wide as to exclude
the air on each side, otherwise they are
in danger of rotting. The cart being
run back to the pit and emptied, one
should be employed in laying the turnips
neatly up, making the heap gradually
narrower as it reaches nearer the top.
dhen overlay them with a good cover-
ing of straw or coarse hay, roping it

40 ON LAYING OUT AND

tightly down, so that frost may be so
far prevented from entering, as not to
do any hurt. This done, you have the
turnips at your command, when the
snow deprives the sheep of their com-
mon manner of subsistence, alike ready
in the stormy and in open weather, and
beyond the reach of destruction by rot.

This plan, not altogether new, I have
practised for a considerable length of
time, and have found the greatest satis-
faction as well as advantage in pursuing
it. Before adopting it, indeed, I could
seldom, if ever, bring my stock to the
condition at which I constantly aimed,
and they were always inferior, after all
my efforts, to what, with much greater
ease, I can now raise them. As far as
my observation and experience extend, it
is the most profitable and advantageous
method which any farmer, in a high
district can follow ; and I doubt not will
be successfully practised by all after the
experience of a fair trial.

Conducting a store farm. 4<i

If the measures above recommended
meet with the approbation of others,
after their turnips are stored, there will
remain in the field about a fifth of them,
and these the most inferior in quality.
They are reserved as a portion for the
hogs during the earlier part of the season ;
but the manner in which they ought to
be eaten, shall be hereafter more par-
ticularly adverted to, when treating of
the Rearing of Sheep.

We have now terminated our few re-
marks respecting what concerns the pro-
duce of one of the divisions of the arable
land upon a stock farm. The crop
which stands next in importance, or
which is perhaps of equal value to the

stock farmer is that of ha-v. The man-

«/

ner of managing this crop is so much
alike in every district, and no new in-
novations having been attempted in this
branch of husbandry, it will be almost un-
necessary to dwell upon it. After
being cut, won, and put up in the

F

42

ON LAYING OUT AND

usual way, the farmer can only cause it
to be brought to such places of his
farm as may be considered most con-
venient, and reserved for any storm of
which the season may be productive.
In the event of which, the manner in
Which it ought to be distributed for the
support of the sheep, shall be taken
notice of in a subsequent page.

Should any hay, however, remain un-
consumed from a former year, it will
acquire an unpleasant taste, and will not
be eaten with desire by the sheep. That
this may be accompanied with no loss,
when it occurs to any extent, the new
hay ought to be stacked as green as
possible, and mixed with the old, by
which means both will be rendered agree-
able.

When the arable land in any farm is
of so limited a size, that it cannot possibly
afford any for the production of clover
hay, or if its disadvantageous situation
render it extremely inconvenient, other

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 43

measures must of necessity be had re-
course to in order to obtain it, as no
stock farm can be at all conducted, with
the least probability of success, without
that commodity. Perhaps in a case of
this sort, some corner, by allowing it to
lie during the former part of the year
unoccupied by any stock, may possibly
raise a quantity of natural hay, which will
supply the deficiency of the other kind.
If this hav be properly won, and have a
fine flavour, the sheep will eat it with
more fondness than even clover hay ;
and if it be the produce of a loam soil,
their fondness for it will be considerably
increased. When this also cannot be pro-
cured, meadow, or as it is generally
termed bog hay, is sometimes found
pretty good ; but always inferior to the
natural lea hay. If the field allotted for
the purpose of obtaining either of these
kinds of hay be not quite enough prolific,
overflowing it with water will add not a
little to its fruitfulness ; and if that can-
v 2

44 ON LAYING OUT AND

not be done, spreading it' with a suffici-
ent quantity of dung will also have a good
effect, which can be easily procured by
reducing a little surface ground to ashes,
if not by other means.

One other sort of produce to be raised
upon the arable land of a stock farm
only remains to be considered. If plenty
of land can be obtained, the corn should
occupy as much as the turnips and hay
together, that is two-fourths, but may be
varied with respect to extent, as the farm
is of larger or smaller size. Though
this crop to a stock farmer, is of inferior
value to any of the other two, yet a
certain quantity of it is in the highest
degree requisite, and cannot well be al-
together wanted. Were it not indeed for

O

the sake of turnips and hay, it would
perhaps be more advisable for the farmer
to let the whole of his land lie in the state
of nature, and purchase what corn he
needed. But as the two former crops
can by no means be dispensed with, that

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 45

the divisions of the cultivated land may
be regularly cropped, corn must also be
raised in rotation. Though comparatively
fewer hands are required to the manage-
ment of a stock, than of a corn farm of
the same extent, yet these few stand in
need of the means of comfortable sub-
sistence as well as if they were much
more numerous. A little corn will there-
fore, be absolutely necessary for the main-
tenance both of the persons employed in
carrying on the farming operations, and
also for the master’s own house and sta-
ble. Each shepherd and his family will
consume oatmeal at the rate of about a
stone per week, and this, together with
what may be used in support of the
master’s own family, domestics, horses,
&c. will not require so little as may
be supposed, were it all to buy. It will
always be found to be attended with less
expense and with far more convenience,
to grow at least as much corn as will
be destroyed upon the farm. And

ON LAYING OUT AND

4 >(>

should any remain after all demands are
satisfied, it will in most cases be useful
to have some bolls to expose to sale (as
the markets for stock are so few and so
distant,) that the wages of servants and
any small expenses necessarily incurred
may be readily defrayed.

Should any difficulty at times be found
in providing dung for fallow, the same
method must be had recourse to, which
was mentioned in the failure of hay,
that of burning surface ground. To
supply the deficiency of manure in this
manner, the easiest way in which it can
be done is, by ploughing the surface of
a piece of coarse ground with Mr Fin-
layson’s Rid plough, and afterwards col-
lecting it into heaps, and burning the
earth thus procured. Plenty of time
will always occur for this business dur-
ing the period that intervenes between
the finishing of the turnips and the com-
mencement of harvest. And by the a-
bundant application of these ashes to' the

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. \q

land, a good crop of turnips in ordi-
nary seasons will be insured.

This brings to a close our remarks up-
on the manner of laying out, and con-
ducting the arable land belonging to a
stock farm. The advantages which the
narrow scheme above recommended, may
possess above the more extensive one of
bringing into cultivation a great part of the
farm, will be greater or smaller according
to the state and situation of the different
farms on which it may be adopted. There
may be little difficulty in finding some
containing a great proportion of stock land
on which corn has been raised with toler-
able success. But such incidents are rare,
and ten perhaps may be placed in oppo-
sition to one, in which it has altogether
failed ; at least been so unprofitable that
stock might have been kept with much
greater advantage. It will be observed
that what I say refers only to farms in
Lammermuir, or to districts equally bar-
ren and hazardous, and without entering

4*8 ON LAYING OUT AND '

into any further detail concerning the truth
of the above remark, I would merely ap-
peal to the experience of those farmers
who have changed the method of conduct-
ing their farms from attempts at growing
corn, to the manner already described,
whether they have any wish to return to
their former system ? While to those who
persevere in their ploughing, I would sim-
ply ask them to calculate the profit which
they could gain by stocking that farm which
they have in tillage, and then to recur to
what, in an average of years they have
received for their productions ol corn,
after deducting all expenses in manuring
the land; loss of seasons, and other una-
voidable circumstances ; and after a fair
comparison of necessary expenditure and
annual gain on both methods, I am quite
certain, in most cases at least, that the ba-
lance of profit will arise, not from corn,
but from the keeping of stock.

But the most extensive part of a
stock farm still remains to be treated

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 49

of. Though more extensive, however, it
will hardly admit of as much discussion.
In such districts as that of Lammermuir,
the pasture land is generally of inferior
quality, and but a small proportion of it
is made up of grass. But poor though it
be, it differs no less in degree than does
that of corn. This circumstance renders
it necessary for the stock farmer to con-
sider with what kinds of sheep his farm
ought to be stocked. I allude not at
present so much to the different breeds
of sheep, as to the different ages and
kinds of the same breed. By inatten-
tion or ignorance in this respect,, it is
possible enough that loss to some extent
may soon be felt. Should, for instance,
ewes be put upon ground which is capable
only of maintaining hogs, this mistake
will subject the farmer to a loss of profit
which he might .have averted by a more
■skilful management. It is customary, I
am aware, in the Etterick forest to allow
the hogs to pasture with their mothers,

G

50 ON LAYING OUT AND

and to graze upon the pastures where
they were nourished antecedent to wean-
ing time. This it is thought, is of no
small benefit toward preventing the sick-
ness. But whatever may be the advan-
tages or disadvantages which it possesses,
and however well it may be adapted to
some farms, there are many on which
it could be practised not only with no
profit, but would also be followed by
an unfavourable result. And we may
almost lay it down as a general rule,
that whenever any farm, or part of any
farm, contains soft rough ground, this
would with most advantage be appro-
priated for hogs : and, on the other
hand natural bare land is more suit-
able pasture for ewes than for hogs.

But be the stock what it may, in
farms of large dimensions, it must be
divided into different lots, or, as they are
commonly called, hirsels, varying in num-
ber and size according to the particular
nature of each farm. The pasture allot*

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 51

ted for these respective hirsels, should
as much as possible .partake of the same
quality. For if there be in it a mix-
ture of fine and coarse, the sheep will
derive little or no benefit from the
latter, and will always have an inclina-
tion to run to the former. This, it is
evident, cannot fail to be productive of
injury to them, and to lessen in no small
degree the good which they would de-
rive from the more valuable ground. To
avert such an evil, the land ought to be
so proportioned, that the inferior pasture
exceed not in extent a fifth of the grassy
soil. This much, as affording a change,
might yield some advantage to a hirsel,
but more than this would, at least be
useless.

But should a large tract of inferior
land lie adjacent to what is of superior
quality, the one should be altogether
separated from the other by a tempor-
ary fence, and pastured by distinct hir-
sels, if necessary by different kinds of
g 2

52 ON LAYING OUT AND

sheep. By this measure it will not only
support a greater number than it would
otherwise have done, but will also keep
them in much better condition. This
observation has been confirmed by re-
peated experiments made in the course
of my grazing concerns.

A subject deserving of much more
weighty consideration, however, from the
stock farmer, is the attention which he
ought to bestow on having his farm well
provided with shelter. In high districts
this is frequently in a great measure
supplied by the works of nature. Ranges
of mountains, and hollows surrounded by
ridges of hills, are to be found in most
Highland farms, which are of inestimable
benefit for the preservation of the sheep
in winter. There is no doubt a danger
attending a storm, when they are lyin
in the covert of a hill side serened from
the severity of the blast, of their being
overwhelmed under an accumulating heap
of snow. If, indeed, in a heavy fall ac-

Cf= ■

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 53

companied with drift, they be lying near
the brow of the sheltered side of the moun-
tain, they are sure of being suffocated
under the pressure of an insupportable load ;
but if towards the bottom, provided the
hill be sufficiently steep, the}' will rest in
a place of safety whilst the storm scowls
above their heads. Much loss has, how-
ever, been sustained from the circum-
stances of their being improperly situated
on the hills, and also, in many cases, from
these being inadequate completely to de-
fend the flocks in time of danger. In
consequence of this, the 25th of January,

! proved fatal to thousands, as have
several other years, though seldom ever to
such a dreadful extent. The misfortune
is that many trust too much in this sort of
shelter, and expose their stock to a risk
which a very moderate expense would
divert. For however well some farms may
be provided with natural, there is almost
always a need, more or less, of artificial
shelter ; even in those farms which have

54 ON LAYING OUT AND

every advantage from the fortunate position
of lulls, a limited provision after this man-
ner is safer, and will generally be of much
use in a storm.

Undoubtedly the best artificial shelter
that can possibly be made, is by strips or
clumps of plantations. But on account
both of the expense attendant upon finish-
ing these in a proper manner,, and the
time which the trees necessarily require to
come to any degree of perfection, it can
never be advisable for a farmer to store his
farm with these out of his own funds.
Shelter of this sort should in every instance
be afforded at the expence of the pro-
prietor, and is an object worthy the most
serious attention of every landlord, as in
all high farms it would increase the value
of his property nearly at the rate of 10 per
cent. The manner in which they ought to
be constructed, that they may be found of
equal value from whatever quarter the
storm rages, is to plant with spruce and
larch firs an extent of from two to four

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 55

acres at suitabledistances, and with four
sides each in the form of a crescent or
half circle bending inwards. This, if
properly executed, is the most valuable
shelter that can be procured upon a stock-
farm after the trees have arrived at a
sufficient length.

But important as this acquisition would
be both to the proprietor and to the
occupant, there are many farms that are
utterly destitute, or rather there are few
that can properly be said to possess them ;
and since this is so much neglected by
the landlord, it is the object of the tenant
to employ such means as he has in his
power, for accomplishing the same end.
The easiest method to which, in these
circumstances, he can have recourse, is
the erection of stells. These can be
built at a very small expense, and can be
wanted upon exceeding few stock farms
only, if upon any, that are unfurnished
with plantations. But in cases where
little or no advantage arises from the

56

ON LAYING OUT AND

situation of hills, a considerable number
of them must be built to be productive
of the good intended, so that sheep may
not be to drive to any distance at the
commencement of a storm, which in
many instances could not be done. A

calculation has been made in a late work
by an ingenious author though, with all
due deference to the honourable gentle-
man, I must state it as my opinion, that
the number which he considers as neces-
sary, are more than sufficient. There are

* A Treatise upon Practical Store Farming by
the Hon. Captain Napier. The great advantage
of steils is shown by powerful facts in a chapter
upon “ steils and storm feeding.” In a letter
inserted in the above work, subscribed by a
shepherd, Alexander Laidlaw, the convenience
and the large profit accruing from steils, is
clearly stated by a comparative examination of
the loss and condition of the stock upon two
neighbouring farms, the one well provided with
steils and hay, and the other in a great measure
destitute of both. The decided superiority of
the former is proved in a clear though rather
sarcastical manner by this Etterick Shepherd.

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 57

many farms, even the generality of them,
will have food quite enough to support,
taking into account both good and bad
land, 1000 sheep Upon 1200 acres. Now
it does not appear to me, that on the
approach of a storm, there could be
much inconvenience in getting 1000
sheep into 16 stells, which is one to
every 7 5 acres of land. And that
if they are properly situated, and the
shepherd diligent in the performance of
his duty, the blasts of winter will arrive
without any deadly consequence. It is,
indeed, better to err on the safe side, but
in general there can be little risk at that
proportion, and if the expense that would
be required to erect an additional third,
can with propriety be avoided, the farmer
in these times, at least, would do well to
retain it. But as I would differ only with
reluctance from the opinion of the author
above alluded to, I shall leave it to the
private determination of every farmer what
number of stells he may consider most

H

58

ON LAYING OUT AND

proper, as it may be somewhat varied,
according to the peculiar nature of each
farm.

In place of stells sheepcotes have
sometimes been substituted, to which I
must give my decided disapprobation.
These are far too confined and warm
for sheep, and make them unwilling to
go out in days when they might derive
much advantage ■ from their pasture.
Stells possess the superiority in every re-
spect, and ought to be constructed,
neither in a square nor circular form as
is most customary, but in the form which
I shall describe. Every stell ought to
occupy at least half an acre of ground.
Similar to the plantations it should be
constructed with four sides bending in-
wards in the form of a crescent or half
circle. A dyke should also be brought
from every corner, and continued for the
length of 10 yards or so. If this is to
be done at the farmer’s expeuce the first
three feet may be built with stone, and

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. 59

othex* three with good substantial sod;
which, if done by contract, should not
cost more than 2s. per rood.

The sheep, however, ought not in a
storm to lie in the area of the stell, as
-is done with those which are of common
construction ; when in these cases, in-
deed they are in the inside, there is
little danger of their being blown up ;
but whilst the snow continues falling,
and when it is drifting, there is such a
suction in the stell that they cannot re-
main there with any comfort. This cir-
cumstance has not surely escaped the
observation of any who have had occa-
sion to witness sheep in stells during a
stormy day. The advantage of the par-
ticular structure which I have recom-
mended, is so far good, that it is free
from this disadvantage. Instead of put-
ting the sheep, therefore, within the stell,
they ought to be laid into the circle
of the opposite side from that of which
the wind blows. The two dykes and
H 2

CO on LAYING OUT AND

area of the "stell, detain the snow so
completely that the outside, where the
sheep should lie, must remain quite clear,
and they will consequently rest there un-
exposed to the severity of the weather.
And if this plan be adopted, the pro-
vision of hay for convenience’ sake, may
be stacked in the beginning of the sea-
son within the stells, and not at the epd
as Captain Napier recommends.

It was at one time a very common,
but, I believe, now an almost abandon-
ed plan, to keep up a steil or two for
the nearly exclusive purpose of holding
the sheep throughout the course of the
night. The advantages arising from this
manner of foldings the sheep, as it was
termed, are too trifling ever to be com-
pared with the great injury which they
sustained by it. That it is now left off
being practised is a proof that the nature
of sheep is better understood, and to a
person possessed of the • most limited
knowledge of them, it would be super-

CONDUCTING A STORE FARM. Gj

fhious to point out the defects of that
method.

It may also be remarked in treating
of shelter, that patches of whins or furze
ought to be sown where the soil is
adapted to their growth, and of broom
too ; the former affording food as well
as shelter in a storm. Besides these
there are other shrubs and plants which
ought in some places to be cultivated
as antidotes against disease as well as
for food and shelter.

In an open stock farm it will always
be found requisite to have a park or two
in reserve for diseased sheep, tups, &c.
Four are mentioned, by the honourable
author lately referred to, as necessary, and
for the various purposes of a <( lambing
park, a hay park, a twin and tup park,
and an hospital park.” If the system be
adopted with respect to the raising of
hay in rotation with other crops, which
was pointed out towards the beginning
of our observations, the necessity of a

63 ON CONDUCTING A STORE FARM.

park for that purpose will be superseded.
And as the invalids may be classed either
with the twins and tups or with the young
lambs, it seems to me that two enclosures
will be sufficient. Perhaps the tups may
graze during the greater part of the sea-
son with the hirsels upon the best pastuie .
and as any common park dyke will be too
low to confine them, towards the latter
end of the year, they might be put into
s tells for a month before they are to be
used, and fed with hay and turnips.

With another remark we quit the sub-
ject, and conclude by recommending the
method of surface draining, as a very ef-
fectual one for improving wet ground.
For this kind of land, it is the most impor-
tant improvement that can possibly be made,
and wherever it has been performed, its hap-
py consequences have always been felt.
But as this is one of the most effectual
means for preventing the rot , we shall
defer treating of it at present,

CHAPTER III.

ON BREEDING CHEVIOT AND BLACK-
FA CED SHEEP.

^There is perhaps no department to
which the attention of the stock farmer
ought to be more carefully directed, than
to the breeding of sheep. For however
skilfully he may conduct his other farming
concerns, if he considers this as subordi-
nate and inferior to the rest, he will fail
in obtaining a desirable stock. Yet not-
withstanding its manifest importance, the
regard which has generally been bestowed
upon it, is far from being commensurate
to what it deserves. There is indeed an
observable improvement in this, as in
almost every other branch of farming ; but

64i ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

there is still much room for further pro-
gress, and to heedlessness in this respect
may still be traced, in a great measure
at least, that deficiency in point of beauty
and usefulness which strikes too forcibly
upon our notice in the general exhibitions
of stock at our public markets. Since,
therefore, it is a subject which is appa-
rently not sufficiently understood, and as
the Border farmers by whom it seems to
be more fully comprehended, and more
practically attended to, have not furnish-
ed the public with their opinions con-
cerning it, it may not perhaps appear im-
proper that I have laid hold on the pre-
sent occasion, of submitting the few cur-
sory remarks which my observation has
Collected on breeding Cheviot and Black-
faced Sheep.

The first great object that demands the
attention of the farmer who wishes to be
successful in breeding sheep, is to make
the specific breed which he possesses,
correspond with the respective nature of

^ND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 65

his farm. For as certain constitutions
only are fitted to inhabit climates of a
certain temperature, so also there are
different kinds of sheep which are by na-
ture constituted to subsist fn different dis-
tricts. A large catalogue of distinct
breeds have been enumerated, each as
possessing some quality not common to
any other, but the three to which the
pastures of this part of our island are
almost entirely confined, are the Dishley
or Leicester, the Cheviot, and the High-
land or Black-faced. These differ very
widely in their constitutions ; the first
answering only the low-land, the second
the mid-land, and the third the high-land
districts. And it is at once evident to
every one who is in the least acquainted
with what is peculiar to these breeds,
that it would be a glaring absurdity to
transfer the Leicester breed, naturally
fitted for mild weather and fertile fields,
to a higher region, where they would
experience an unaccustomed severity of

6G ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

cold, and where the soil bears the stamp
of barrenness and poverty. It is also evi-
dent that the sheep inured to a cold
climate and unprolific pastures, would
produce comparatively small profits in
luxuriant fields, to what would arise from
the large growthy sheep, which with the
same food could be brought to a far
superior value, and which acquire for
their support our finest pastures. A
certain degree of discrimination, it is,
therefore, necessary to observe, in choos-
ing what breed of sheep is best suited to
the peculiar state in which the farm, with
regard to soil and' climate, may be situat-
ed. For if any one, without due de-
liberation, proceeds to stock his farm
with such sheep as are not fitted for his
soil and climate, he will in all probability
very soon feel the heavy consequence of
his inexperience ; especially if he at-
tempt to keep those for the support of
which his pastures are incompetent. And
in this case, with whatever diligence and

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 67

activity he may provide every conve-
nience and every advantageous circum-
stance that may tend to better their con-
dition, he is only making an effort that
exceeds his strength, and the likelihood
of his success would be much greater
were he to confine his endeavours to a
level with his capacities.

Of the truth of this, my own affairs
have unfortunately furnished me with suf-
ficient corroboration. The farm which I
at present occupy, has been rented by
our family for nearly half a century.
Upon entering it at first, the Cheviot
stock was the object of our choice ;
which species was selected on account
of the farm being situated in what may
be called a mid-land district. So long
as we continued in possession of this
breed, every thing proceeded in an even
manner, and with considerable success.
But in a time when almost every body
was in admiration, and if possible in pos-
session of the Dishley or Leicester breed,

1 <2

68 ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

we also, influenced by the same spirit,
conceived a distaste for the Cheviot,
cleared our farm of them, and with more
flattering prospects, as we supposed, pro-
cured the more fashionable stock. Time,
however, convinced us of the mistake in
the most decisive manner ; our coarse
and lean pastures vere unequal to the
task of supporting such heavy-bodied
sheep, they gradually dwindled away into
less and less bulk, each generation, was
if possible, inferior to the preceeding one,
and when the spring was severe, seldom
more than two thirds of the lambs could
survive the ravages of the storm. The
ewes, indeed, fed well, but could never
exceed the small weight of 1 Qlbs. or
13 lbs. per quarter. A manner of con-
ducting the farm, so unsatisfactory and
so unprofitable, was, after some years,
abandoned as fruitless, and I formed the
resolution of stocking it anew with the
Cheviot breed, which I got from a dis-
tinguished breeder on the Border, These,

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 69

as formerly, correspond entirely with the
nature of the farm, feed with the great-
est facility, to a weight surpassing that
of the former stock, not less than 3lbs.
or 4 lbs. per quarter, and bring up lambs
at least equal in number to the ewes,
except in the most disastrous seasons.
Some, howevei, still remain blind to this
manifest advantage, and here, as in the
corn system, I am not a little astonished
to see a few farmers, even in my own
neighbourhood, retaining to this day the
Leicester breed, though it has degenerat-
ed in the most obvious manner, to a
paltry, trifling size, and though one
hour’s reflection, upon the comparative
success of others, might convince them
of their, error. But these, I am afraid,
are too wise to receive instruction, and
I would advise such as are willing: to
take advice, and would consult their own
advantage, to learn from the affairs of
others, not hastily nor with premature de-

70 ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

termination, to stock their farm, without
attentively regarding its situation.

But this, though not the least impor-
tant, is not the only circumstance worthy
of the special care of the breeder. The
qualities of the sheep which he selects
from a particular breed ought to be no
less the object of his attention. For if the
original stock, from which, he is to raise
his annual cast, be inferior to what he
wishes their produce to be, he will never
attain the end he has in view. His first
care ought to be to examine with minute-
ness into their form, and provide himself
only with those, in which he can trace
the lineaments of good and well propor-
tioned sheep. And with the view of af-
fording some aid toward the accomplish-
ment of this, it may not be unnecessary
to give a general description of the pro-
perties of a good Cheviot sheep.

This breed is “ hornless, their face
and legs in general white ; the best
kinds have a fine open countenance, with

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 71

lively prominent eyes, and body long ;
fine clean and small boned legs, and thin
pelts.” They ought also to have a
large ear, and to be long from the ear
to the nose. The true kind are well
proportioned in their quarters, and have
a good thick cover of wool extending
over their whole body. It ought to
come well forward behind the ear, but
not at all to reach over the face. The
mutton and wool should likewise fall
well down toward the knee, and although
the wool is, and should be, rather coarse
upon the thigh, that is productive of no
loss to the farmer. The deficiency in
point of quality, is fully compensated by
the abundant growth which takes place
upon that quarter. This circumstance
also renders the sheep better fitted to
withstand the cold weather and rough
blasts peculiar to high districts.

One other distinguishing mark of good
sheep respects their countenance when
lambs. Their eyes and ears should then

72

ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

be discriminatingly examined, and such
as are red may be considered as strong
indications of a weakly constitution. The
lambs that are stamped with these un- '
favourable marks are always the most
delicate, and if able to escape the hazard
of the spring, come to smallest account
in an open country.

The selection of tups is of the high-
est importance, and of late years appears
in general to be more particularly at-
tended to. They should of course be
possessed of every mark which is ex-
pressive of beauty in a sheep. To them
as well as to ewes may be applied the
above short description. Farmers ought
to be especially careful in examining
whether they have a close coat of wool,
as a deficiency in this respect will hard-
ly be overbalanced by an assemblage of
other good qualities. They should also
be full behind the shoulder, have a
long straight back, round in the rib, a
clean face, and full of action.

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 73

The exact period at which tups ought
to be put to the ewes cannot be alto-
gether determined, as this may vary
according to the situation and circum-
stances of each farm. The variation,
however, in almost every farm, where
the Cheviot breed is properly kept, is
very small, and the time at which the
tups ought to be let in amongst the
ewes may perhaps be restricted to the
days between the 15th and 22d of
November. Whether about the first or
the last of these days may be chosen, as
most suitable for the respective nature of
different farms, a few days longer should
always be allowed to elapse, before they
are put amongst the gimmers. The ad-
vantage arising hence is, that the latter
being less able than ewes to endure the
hardships of lambing and of giving suck,
should have a little longer before the
commencement of their lambing season,
that the weather may become somewhat

K

74

ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

milder, and the pastures beginning to
yield more nourishing food.

The proportion of tups to ewes will,
in almost every case, require to be very
nearly the same. One tup will ge-
nerally be found quite sufficient for-
th ree score of ewes, and to lessen the
number of tups below this proportion,
will always be found dangerous. But
if the hirsel contain a larger than com-
mon number of ewes, and the pasture
on which they graze more than ordi-
narily steep, this proportion will pro-
bably be too small, and can only be
properly determined by the experience
of the farmer. From this number,
however, I never suffered any loss.

There is a measure concerning the
tups that I would here recommend,
which is, not to retain the same ones
for any length of time upon the same
farm. That the contrary practice is pro-
ductive of any hurtful consequence is,
indeed, disallowed by some, but from

AND BLACK- FACED SHEEP. 7 5

my own observation, I am rather in-
clined to think, that when they are
continued from season to season without
alteration, the breed gradually degener-
ates, and becomes more and more weak.
To prevent the stock from incurring any
injury at all on this account, one half of
them should if possible be annually ex-
changed, provided other ones of supe-
rior or of equal value can be substitut-
ed in their room. If this cannot be
done ; it would certainly be folly to
part with better ones for worse, merely
for the sake of making a change. But
some, however few, should, if possible,
be yearly exchanged.

With respect to the breeding of the
black-faced sheep, what has been advanc-
ed concerning Cheviot, is, with little al-
teration, also applicable to them. Their
form, however varies much from the
Cheviot. They have for the most part
horns, black faces arid legs ; “a fierce,
wild-looking eye, and short, firm, hand-
le 2

76

ON BREEDING CHEVIOT

some carcases, covered with long, open,
coarse, shagged wool.” This breed is
undoubtedly better adapted and more
profitable than the other species for moun-
tainous districts. None have ever yet
appeared of a constitution so hardy, and
so favourable for the highest grounds
in our country, particularly where that
is covered with heath. With this breed
there is generally little loss in lambing
time, when compared wilh what usually
takes place among the Cheviot ; and
they are much easier maintained when
hogs. Their wool being exceedingly
coarse sells always about a third below
the price of Cheviot. But the weight
of the former is somewhat heavier than
the latter, bearing to each other the
proportion of about five to six. The
tups of the black-faced breed are com-
monly let to the ewes about, or a little
after, the 20th of November : one tup
as with the Cheviot serving for three
score of ewes.

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 77

Iii breeding from black-faced sheep,
they ought never to receive a tup of
a different breed, either of the Leicester
or Cheviot. A good sheep is never
produced from their being crossed, but
is always ugly and ill-shaped. From
Cheviot ewes, however, and a Leicester
tup, a very good, well-made sheep may
be obtained ; it can be raised to a great
weight, and well fitted for the butcher.
A mongrel breed thus formed is indeed
very seldom bred from again ; but in
my opinion it may, in some places, be
attended with as much, even with more,
success, than any other breed. There
are many situations that are rather .too
highly situated for keeping sheep of the
Leicester breed, and are perhaps more
than qualified for' those of the Cheviot,
on which they may be reared to great
advantage. And as there may very pro-
bably be some difficulty in finding a
good market for the ewe lambs, they
will be most favourably disposed of in

78 ON BREEDING CHEVIOT, &c.

the butcher market as fat. If the weth-
er lambs can be continued till they have
become dinmonts, they will be accom-
panied with more profit, than if they are
sold when lambs.

CHAPTER IV.

ON REARING CHEVIOT AND BLACK-
FACED SHEEP.

treating of the rearing of sheep,
we shall commence at the period of
their separation from their mothers, and
trace them through the various stages at
which they successively arrive, till they
have reached a state of maturity. In
pursuing this natural course, I may, per-
haps, have occasion to recommend mea-
sures which it may not be expedient
for some to practise ; but these may be
considered as exceptions to the general
rule, and, avoiding every thing of a par-
ticular nature, I have endeavoured as
much as possible to state only what is

80

ON REARING CHEVIOT

applicable to the above-mentioned stock in
high situations, which is their proper
sphere. Some of the remarks contained,
however, have only a reference to sheep
belonging to the Cheviot breed alone.

As there are few or no natural dis-
eases incident to lambs, the principal
object of the farmer is to employ every
means in his power to free them from
external danger, and to accomodate them
with a sufficient supply of milk. As
the gimmers, with the same treatment,
will generally be unable to nurse their
lambs to so much advantage as the
ewes, that they may be brought to
something near an equal footing to
them, and that they may be the better
enabled to bring up lambs capable of
being classed with those of the latter,
they ought to be separated from them
about a month before the commence-
ment of their lambing time, in order
to receive turnips. These > should be
daily laid down to them at the rate of

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 81

a double-cart load to every five or six
score. This additional supply of food,
will assist them in undergoing the .hard-
ships which as mothers they have to en-
dure ; and this much will be found ab-
solutely necessary to qualify them for
supporting lambs of equal value to those
which are nourished by the ewes*

At the end of this period, and when
they are beginning to lamb, they should
then be re-joined to the hirsel from
which they were taken, and eat turnips
in common with the rest. The stores
of these may, indeed, by this time be
almost exhausted, but there should still
remain a sufficient quantity for the
whole hirsel to receive them, during
some length of time, at the allowance of
a cart load to each eight score. If
theirs be a hilly pasture, the great ad-
vantage of turnips should be prolonged
to the same extent throughout the sea-
son of lambing time, and should be
given them in a place either naturally

L

S2 ON REARING CHEVIOT

or artificially sheltered. Perhaps in a
mild and early spring the continuance
of them might be somewhat abated ;
but such happening very unfrequently in
a high country is never to be depended
upon ; and as it is the duty of a farmer
to make provision, not for a mild, but
for a severe spring, when he knows the
latter may very probably prevail, the
turnips for which he has wisely provid-
ed, and part of which he might want
in a season of the former kind, will not
be mispent when given to the ewes a
little longer than absolute necessity
might require. Upon the whole, this
method as above recommended, will be
found in' high districts the most profit-
able in the end, as it will be the means
of preserving alive a great number of
lambs which, in unfavourable years,
would, but for turnips, have been swept
away in the blast, and of raising them
to a condition, which, but for them*
they could not have attained.

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 83

The lambing season is above every
ether to the stock farmer, the most im-
portant, It may very appropriately be
denominated his harvest, and in it as in
that busy period, he should approve
himself more diligent than in any other.
To the shepherd also it is a time of the
hardest trial, and during which he is
entrusted with the heaviest charge. But
his duty exceeds what he has ability to
perform, if he be entrusted with the
care of more than 400 sheep, and in
some cases, perhaps, even with a more
limited number than this. And when
this bound is overstepped, as it occa-
sionally will, one shepherd being more
than able to tend in many places, du-
ring the rest of the year, a larger hir-
sel, he ought to be provided with an as-
sistant, in this perilous time. Nothing
more should be required of him than to
fulfil unassisted his office during the day,
whilst another should be entrusted with
the execution of it in his absence dn-
l 2

84< ON REARING CHEVIOT

ring the night. It is then for this ad-
ditional person to watch them with the
care and attention which the occasion
demands, they being put, if possible,
into a convenient place of shelter, by
the shepherd himself, on the close of
each succeeding day. Hither should the
assistant oftentimes repair throughout the
night, visiting it at the distance per-
haps of every two hours, to assist any
ewes that may require help in bringing
forth, or to carry any weakly lambs
into a house ; one for which purpose
should be prepared at hand, dhe lives
which this man might spare in one
night alone, might more than discharge
the expenses which his attendance would
incur.

Whatever precautions may be taken, how-
ever, some cause unforeseen or inevitable,
will, unless in extreme cases, in spite of
every effort, deprive certain ewes of their
lambs ; in which case it will be proper to
substitute another in its stead. If the

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 85

ewes are in any thing like, what may be
called, good condition, there will in all
probability be as many twin lambs, as will
supply the place of those that suffer by
deatb. In some instances the mothers that
have been deprived of their own lambs,
will take another with astonishing; fond-
ness ; but should any difficulty be found
in this, skinning the dead one, and cov-
ering with it the one that is to be substi-
tuted in its stead, would be attended with
a good effect j shutting both up, at the
same time, in a small dark corner, for the
space of 24 hours. This method will con-
vert the most stubborn aversion into at-
tachment ; but the latter measure, of con-
fining them in any small corner for the
length of time specified, will generally be
found successful without having recourse
to the skin of the deceased lamb.

I have already had occasion to touch
upon the measure of a park being re-
served for the purpose of containing the
twin lambs. There are, no doubt, many

86

ON REARING. CHEVIOT

farms on which this would be kept up with
advantage, and on which it could not with
propriety be dispensed with. But in a high
district similar to that of Lammermuir, any
enclosure for that purpose will be found
totally superfluous. So far from any thing
of this kind being needed, it is accounted
very fair, and beyond which even, the
hopes of farmers in situations such as this
seldom extend, if they can, by every en-
deavour on their part, bring up to be weaned
lambs equal in number to the ewes.. Twins,
indeed, there may be, but these are, gen-
erally fully, and often more than fully, re-:
quired to compensate the loss unavoidably
sutained by the ravages of storm and dis-
ease. And I am certain the experience
of highly situated breeders sufficiently
proves, that the necessity of a twin park,
is too truly superseded, both by the real
scarcity of twins, and the want produced
by occasional deaths.

After the season of lambing has elapsed,
the first circumstance of importance that

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 87

regards the treatment of the latnbs, is that
of gelding the males. This operation,
though exceedingly simple, should be pro-
ceeded to with great caution. The opera-
tor should, by all means, abstain from
spiritous liquors of any sort, and the lambs
lifted with as much gentleness as possible.
The knife with which the operation is per-
formed ought to be sharp and smooth-
edged. To prevent any death by mortifi-
cation, it was once a common custom, and
by some farmers is still retained, to anoint
the wound with turpentine. This, as Mr
Hogg expresses it, is a sure, but a severe
remedy ; having such an injurious ten-
dency, that no less than 14 days are
requisite for the recovery of the lamb.
This is, indeed, a terrible preventative,
and every means should be tried to ren-
der unnecessary so hurtful a remedy. The
danger, I believe, is in some measure
dependant upon the condition of the
lambs themselves, and the peculiar nature
of the ground on which they pasture.

88 ON REARING CHEVIOT

When they are fat there is more to he
dreaded : what pasturage is unfavourable, .
experience will best determine. If the
accompanying circumstances, however, are
duly attended to, and the operation itself
performed with sufficient caution, theie
will be little damage sustained upon any
farm ; less than is generally experienced
by the application of turpentine. The
day, in the first place, should not be finally
resolved upon long before the measure is
intended to be put in execution, as the
weather in a few days may undergo a
considerable change* If the atmosphere
be sultry, it is an unfavourable season to
geld lambs : and when such is the state
of the weather, that business ought to
be postponed until it is again purged of
electrical matter. But more danger is
consequent upon the lambs being heated
to any excess. If great care in this re-
spect be not taken the most deadly ef-
fects will not fail to ensue, as to geld
them when they are violently heated is

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP.

89

the sure engine of death. They should
be put into a fold, erected for this and
other similar purposes, the night preced-
ing, where they may be ready for the
opei’ation being performed at an early
hour the following morning. This fold,
or whatever place is assigned" for that pur-
pose, should also be carefully prepared,
cleaning it from every kind of foul dirt or
nuisance that may in the least tend to in-
flame the incision. If these precautions
are all attended to, and if the operator
be acquainted with the proper manner of
procedure, few deaths, if any, will suc-
ceed. During the practice of many
years, I can hardly say that ever I
have suffered any loss on account of
this operation, neither will it be other-
wise upon most other farms, if properlv
conducted.

Immediately after this operation another
one of inferior importance and beyond
the reach of danger, may be carried on,
that of ear-marking the lambs. A person

M

90

ON REARING CHEVIOT

should, be appointed for this exclusive
purpose,, that both may be done before
they are again placed upon their feet.
Two instruments are necessary to accom-
plish it aright, the one making a circular,
the other a triangular hole. One of these
may be appropriated for marking the ewe,
the other the wether lambs. The marks
may be varied from one ear to another,
and to different parts of the same ear,
that the distinction may be fully kept up.
This measure is only thus far of conse-
quence, that it serves to distinguish the
ewe from the wether hogs, should any
accident mingle them together, or in cases
where they graze in one hirsel. And as
it is necessary to know the respective
ages of the ewes to determine which are
to be sold for draft, the ear-mark will be
the simplest and the most decisive me-
thod of becoming acquainted with, pro-
vided care be taken to remember how
the lambs are' marked every year. Or
should they be carried away by stealth.

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 91

or accidentally stray to an adjoining farm,
the ear-mark will be further of use, as
it will furnish an additional proof of their
identity.

Betwixt this and weaning time, nothing
occurs of which it is of importance to
speak. During this while nothing lies in
the way to interrupt them in their regular
course. If they are to be continued as
hogs, the period at which they are com-
monly weaned is near the middle of
July ; as, they ought always to suckle
three months. This length of time under
the nourishment of milk is essentially ne-
cessary to confirm their constitutions, and
to lay a steady foundation for their future
increase. It is not likely, however, that
a farmer in a high district will be able
to wean a lamb for every ewe- There are
generally some ewes that have no lambs at
all ; and what from this, the inclemency
of weather, and adventitious circum-
stances are awanting, will generally be
found to lessen the proportion of lambs
M 2

92

ON REARING CHEVIOT

to 19 for every score of ewes. It is the
object of improvements to preserve at
least this number, but where these are
overlooked a much greater short-coming
may be expected.

With respect to the treatment of ewes
upon the deprivation of their lambs, far-
mers seem, in practice at least, to dis-
agree. The method of milking them is
not now so generally pursued, and seems
to be discountenanced by many of our
most respectable farmers. The different
situations and nature of some farms, no
doubt, renders it less prejudicial to the
stock than on others ; but upon all farms
I am rather inclined to think, that it is
not productive of any considerable sum.
After much toilsome drudgery, indeed a
great quantity of cheese may be obtained,
and these disposed of on very equal
terms ; yet the remote consequences afford
a counterbalance, at any rate nearly so,
for the gain thus painfully acquired. Be-
sides the outlay for wages and milking

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 93

utensils, the ewes are damaged in no
trivial manner. Huddled together and
driven to the same place twice every day,
where they are accustomed to the harsh-
est treatment, the injury which they
must sustain is easily conceived. In
consequence of which a deficiency both
in point of the number and strength of
their lambs unavoidably follows; together
with the reduction which it causes in
the weight of every fleece of wool. With
such unhappy results it can scarcely be
expected that any benefit will in the end
accrue from this system, and in my opin-
ion it may almost be ranked amongst the
unprofitable methods that have been em-
ployed by farmers for amassing wealth.

As soon as the lambs are taken from
their mothers, some people have been in
the habit of sending them to a different
farm for the space of six or eight weeks.
This plan, not very generally followed,
is, I believe upon the whole, x'ather a
good one, and which it would be better

94 >

ON REARING CHEVIOT

for many to adopt. Their own pastures,
during the interval occasioned by their
absence, acquire an abundant growth,
which their continuance on them must
have prevented. It is, no doubt, attend-
ed with expenses, but these are not great
when compared with future advantage.
There is sometimes difficulty in obtaining
proper pasturage for lambs ; but it is
generally got at three-half-pence a week
for each lamb, and which lor eight weeks
amounts to one shilling. This will not
appear of much importance if we take
into consideration the great benefit which
they cannot fail to derive from returning
to pastures well grown, and raising them
to a full condition for the winter season.
But it is not every kind of food by which
when away they will be profited ; it should
bear some resemblance to that of which
their own pastures consist. For if it is
of a finer quality they will fall away, in-
stead of improving on their return ; and

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 95

if much inferior they will suffer too rapid
a decline when away.

This plan, however, will on some farms
be unnecessary, while on others it will
be unprofitable. They are occasionally
to be found with an extent of heath in
the most remote parts, which is of little
other service than as it may be appro-
priated for lambs immediately after wean-
ing. In these cases no pasture need be
taken in a different quarter, and there is
another in which it might be attended with
a serious loss. I allude to the farms on
which the disastrous disease called Braxy
or sickness is prevalent. It appears that
the growth which the pasture acquires
while the hogs are away, tends to en-
courage, or is rather the principal cause
of the disease. It is indeed better to
have a death by this than by poverty,
but, if left to itselfj in a short while it
may be like a destructive blast spreading
desolation all around. Before proceed-
ing to any great length, however, it may

96 ON REARING CHEVIOT

receive an effectual check from certain
sorts of food, to the application of which
I refer the reader to the end of the
volume.

Befoi’e the commencement of winter,
and about the latter end of autumn, the
next circumstance that demands atten-
tion is that of salving the sheep with a
mixture of tar, butter and milk. This
manner of covering them is more com-
monly known by the name of smearing
them. In high districts it is a measure
that is absolutely necessary for the good
preservation of the sheep, as they im-
mediately fall away and cease to thrive
when it is neglected. The greatest be-
nefit, perhaps, of which it is productive,
is that it effectually destroys the vermin
by which sheep are infested. It indeed
lessens very much the value of wool, but
without it sheep are unable in hilly re-
gions to withstand the storm as it rages
and is felt there, and is also the means
of preserving a great deal of wool which

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 97

would otherwise have been lost. The
proportion of tar to butter is in differ-
ent parts of the kingdom far from being
alike ; but according to the general man-
ner of salving here, one pint of tar
and 3lbs. of butter, compounded with
as much milk as will render it soft
enough to endure being laid on without
breaking, will be sufficient to go over a
half score. Care should also be taken
that the divisions be not far separated,
as the vermin will then collect between
them, and, besides other effects, will very
likely scab the sheep.

Having arrived at the period when
vegetation retires from the earth, our
observations must now have relation to
the treatment of stock during the ha-
zardous season of winter. The mildness
and serenity of some seasons, indeed,
renders in a great measure unnecessary
any assistance and provision from the
careful hand of man, but such may be
considered as deviations from the usual

N

98

ON REARING CHEVIOT

course of nature. And even in those
that are unmarked by any rueful blast,
the feebleness of hogs require some sort
of compensation for the general sterility
and roughness of winter. We have al-
ready in a former page had occasion to
recommend to the practice of every
stock farmer the plan of storing four-
fifths of his turnips towards the middle
of November. The gleanings that are
left upon the field, and which are sup-
posed to constitute a fifth, are only to
remain there on purpose of being eaten
by the hogs. Immediately after the
others have been deposited in the pits,
they should have the privilege of con-
suming the remainder, that they may
not beforehand lose a single ounce of
condition. In high situations, however,
they should never be confined too close-
ly on turnips, as instead of increase,
their bulk will be liable to diminution.
So very hurtful does this sometimes prove
that I have put a very fine lot of hogs

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 99

upon a field of turnips at Martinmas,
keeping them there without the least in-
termission in hopes of raising them to
full condition, and have seen them, to my
great mortification, dropping off through
pure poverty in the beginning of Feb-
ruary. This was not owing to any
lack of food, but altogether in conse-
quence of the barrenness and exposure of
the situation, which with hogs, when they
are bound down to turnips in an open
unsheltered 'field, will always be found
to destroy in some degree at least, the
good which they might otherwise derive.
In being afforded the gleanings, there-
fore, hogs should only be confined on
them during the former part of the day,
and drawn off each afternoon to their
pastures until they are again returned
the following morning. When the glean-
ings have been all consumed after this
manner, the hogs must continue to be
supplied from the stores. These should
be led to places of shelter in convenient

N 2

100

ON REARING CHEVIOT

parts of their walks, that after having eaten
them they may fall on to their natural pas-
ture. Turnips should in this way be laid
down to them at the rate of a double-cart
load for every eight score. To consume
these about four hours will be requisite,
after which they may a little before noon
return to their common food. Such treat-
ment should hogs continue to receive, till
at least the beginning of March, and longer
if the backwardness of the weather ren-
der it necessary.

If hogs are furnished with turnips in
such quantities as are above specified, and
for such a duration, they will be nothing
reduced before the revival of spring. The
small sum which has been expended or
which might have been gained but for the
sake of obtaining these turnips is not to
be brought in comparison with the advan-
tage they yield. Besides the superior
value to which they raise the hogs in
other respects, they are a security against
death by certain diseases, and at any

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 101

rate by poverty, and I also experiment-
ally know that by the advantage of
them every fleece will weigh one pound
heavier than it would have done with-
out them, which has always been equal to
half the value of turnips consumed by
each sheep.

Hitherto we have been advancing upon
the supposition of the absence, (and our
observations have consequently had no re-
ference towards averting the horrors) of a
storm. It is a hope which the farmer in
a high district ought ever to banish from
his mind, the hope of the winter passing
away without as much as can be called a
storm ; at least it would be the utmost mea-
sure of folly for him, in expectation of
the fulfilment of that hope, to make no
provision for one. The chance runs high
against him, as past experience justifies
the contrary conclusion. A storm is what
may be looked for, more or less severe,
every season before the winter months
have elapsed ; and as the greatest difficulty

102

ON REARING CHEVIOT

by way of provision for stock, is then to
be encountered, preparation somewhat pro-
portionate to the demands of a storm,
should also every year be renewed. And
we ought especially to beware of setting
too narrow limits to what we suppose the
continuance of the storm in the ensuing
winter may be, lest we thereby regulate the
extent of our provisions. Many of us have
witnessed storms, — not sudden overwhelm-
ing blasts, the loss occasioned by which,
it is in our power to avert, only by means
of shelter, — but storms, whose protraction,
much longer than we expected and pre-
pared for, has scattered the arrows of death
amongst our flocks, and left the impress of
want and starvation upon others that re-
mained. Such mistakes of low calculation,
have frequently produced the most mem-
orable effects ; and our preparations should
be made, not for what generally is, but
for what we have seen to be, the duration
of the storm. Our sheep pastures are
very commonly blocked up, first and last.

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 103

for the space of six weeks, but then they
are also occasionally and entirely covered
for double that space. So that it is better to
run no risk by laying up for three months,
than to run the hazard of losing lives by
a more partial provision. How much
will be needed in the continuance of so
long a storm, it is easy to determine, the
quantity which every sheep will consume
being accurately known ; and if the snow
dissolve in a shorter time, what remains
untouched can be reserved for another
year.

It will be found the safer arid more con-
venient plan, as the Hon. Captain Napier
recommends, to have the hay beforehand laid
up at each stell, wherever stells are erected
for shelter. According to the construc-
tion, of stells, which I have formerly de-
scribed, the hay, as was also then mention-
ed, should be contained in the area of the
stell. Perhaps it would also be advisable
to store a few turnips in some of the
stells belonging to the hog pasture, as a

104

ON REARING CHEVIOT

heavy storm might prevent for a while
all kind of communication with the dif-
ferent parts of the farm, and the hogs
thereby deprived ot their accustomed
supply of turnips ; which loss would be
felt more severely in a storm than at any
other time.

If the sustenance of sheep is to be al-
together dependant upon what is laid
down to them, ewes to be kept in
good condition, will eat every day at
least Wlb. of hay. Nothing less than this
can be allowed them, or they will im-
mediately begin to fall away. Hogs with
this food alone will be kept upon lib.
each. But if they are to be regularly
supplied with turnips, as unquestionably
they should be, at the rate of a double-
cart load to every eight score, which
will afford half support, half the quantity
of hay also will then suffice, or nearly
hst. to every eight score.

On such liberal allowance stock will
never fall in condition. They will not

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 105

present, on the restoration of their pas-
ture, a wan and languid appearance, as
if they had had to struggle with the
hardest difficulties, and been supported
on the meanest fare. They will not
present that shattered and emaciated
form, to which they could only have
been reduced by beggary and starvation,
and look as if they had been but newly
emancipated from a scene of wretched-
ness and misery. With such repulsive
exhibitions we have been but too often
familiar, and if the treatment above de-
scribed be punctually observed, they shall
be familiar to us no more. Our stock
at the departure of the storm, will not
seem as if they had been long encom-
passed with barrenness and steiility, but
with the freshness and condition of a
happier season, they will appear as it they
had been accustomed with the verdure
of spring.

Before taking leave of the storm, I
have somewhat to remark respecting the

o

106

ON REARING CHEVIOT

manner of feeding sheep with hay.
Hecks are undoubtedly the best means
that can be made use of for that purpose,
provided there are as many as to allow
the whole flock of sheep to be eating at
once. But to eat by rotation is at least a
dangerous, and often a very destructive
plan. Of the truth of this I have been
furnished with many examples, out of
which I select the following.

A most respectable proprietor in my
neighbourhood having some anxiety to
try his skill in farming, took some of his
farms under his own management. With
what success he conducted his farming
operations, save only the unfavorable one
which I am about to relate, it is no busi-
ness of mine to speak. As he intended
to approve himself an exemplary farm-
er, he provided every convenience, and
amongst other things hecks, for contain-
ing hay, out of which during the storm the
sheep were to eat by rotation. Accord-
ingly a storm came and that of no short

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 107

continuance. The hecks were regularly
supplied with plenty of good hay, but
came far short in accomplishing the end
for which they were obtained. Many of
the sheep that were more modest, or who
did not wisli to push themselves forward
by force to get their meat, were most
miserably supplied ; and out of a thou-
sand ewes not less than ten score ab-
solutely perished. But the ruinous effects
survived the storm, and out of the eight
hundred that remained, upwards of the
half were unable to nurture their
lambs.

Such a dreadful example as this it
may perhaps be difficult to find, of the
evil attendant upon eating by rotation.
I doubt not that there may be instances
produced in which few or no deaths have
been occasioned, but still the evil is not
obviated. Sheep that derive their sus-
tenance thus, are subject to great dis-
advantage, and cannot but be very
irregular in their manner of getting it.

108 ON REARING CHEVIOT

If there are not a sufficient number of
hecks to let them all eat at once, or
at least nearly so, the hay had far
better be given them upon the ground,
or upon the snow after it becomes hard.
In this way they will be kept in far
better condition than eating by rotation ;
for though by the latter method it may
be possible to escape absolute starvation,
yet by it sheep can hardly avoid being
reduced in their condition.

It may further be worthy of remark,
that the farmer should beware of chang-
ing the food which he gives his sheep
in a storm from better to worse. It
would prove productive of injury to
them were they first plentifully nourished
with turnips, and after these were finish-
ed to have their food changed entirely
to hay. If these different crops are to
be given them at all, they should either
be given them in conjunction, or the
hay consumed before the other are
applied to.

AND BLACK-FACF.D SHEEP. 109

These are the most important obser-
vations that I have been enabled to col-
lect concerning the treatment of sheep.
We have now conducted them through
every season of the year, and have again
arrived at the place whence we set out.
During the course of the summer they
become dinmonts or gimmers, according
to their sex, upon the simple process of
clipping. If, by the assistance of every
tiling which has been mentioned as be-
ing productive of advantage, the ravages
of storm and disease have only depriv-
ed us of one since their separation from
their mothers, to every two score, we
have been very fortunate ; and if, in
more perilous seasons, one to every score,
we have notwithstanding done pretty
well.

I cannot conclude without cautioning
farmers to beware of overstocking their
pastures. For besides diminishing the
profits which would accrue from being
more partially stocked, it is also one of

110

ON REARING CHEVIOT

the most hazardous, and generally most
destructive plans, into which it is pos-
sible to fall. It has often been the
means of sweeping away greater num-
bers, than the most protracted storm.
It is indeed, the remote cause of some
of the most desolating diseases, which
have been known to prevail amongst our
flocks. It abates both of the quantity
and quality of wool, and in all is so in- -
jurious to the sheep, that, even were it
not the fosterer of disease, it would be
attended with a considerable decrease of
profits to the farmer.

Shepherds should also particularly be-
ware of driving their flocks to and fro.
Sheep thrive best when allowed to graze
undisturbed throughout their pastures.
If they are collected together and post-
ed about from one place to another, in
order to be brought to where the shep-
herd has assigned as their breakfast and
their dinner lares, they will never, in the
world, rise to good condition. And he

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. Ill

ought too to be cautious not to over-
heat them ; as when they are violently
heated it gives rise to a dangerous and
the most epidemical disease to which
sheep are liable.

As the remarks that have been made
on the rearing of sheep are all as gen-
eral as possible, and as their treatment
during the winter forms a very impor-
tant pait, it might probably be of some
practical utility to subjoin an exemplifi-
cation of what has been stated concern-
ing the provision necessary for stock,
and the proper manner of distributing it,
by the example of a particular farm,
lo make this of a respectable extent,
we may suppose it capable of supporting
1000 ewes and 17 score of hogs ; as this

112 ON REARING CHEVIOT

number of hogs will be requisite to fur-
nish about 16 score of good gimmers, to
fill up the place of as many draft ewes.
We may also allow 70 acres of land to
be kept in tillage, and this to be divided
into four bricks, producing in regular
rotation, turnips, corn and hay. By de-
ducting two acres for potatoes for house
and servants, there will of course be rais-
ed annually 151 acres of turnips. Tak-
ing an average crop, every acre will pro-
duce about 30 cart loads. Twenty-four
of the best from each of these must be
stored at Martinmas, or perhaps before
that period, constituting in all 372 cart
loads. This will all be performed in the
manner formerly described. The hogs
will then be put upon the fifth part that
remains in the field. In them they will
find an abundant supply for six weeks, by
taking them off to their pasture during
each afternoon and night. These being
all consumed, two cart loads should be
led to them every day from the stores, to

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 113

the most convenient places of shelter in
their pasture for at least two months fol-
lowing. By this time 120 cart loads will
have been finished, supposing them to
have been laid down fair weather and
foul. On this allowance the farmer will
be enabled to rear a very good lot of
hogs, and at the cost of about seven
acres of turnips ; which in a high dis-
trict cannot be reckoned worth more
than three guineas per acre. This comes
to something less than 1 6 d. for each hog,
which over and above being a preventa-
tive from many diseases and poverty, is
half regained by the additional pound
of wool, which I have always found
occasioned by turnips.

There still remains in store 250 cart
loads of turnips, and the produce of 171
acres of hay ; which by allowing 120 st.
per acre, a wide enough calculation
for a high country, is in all 21005/.
In mild winters this will be little
needed, and is mostly requisite for a

p

114- ON REARING CHEVIOT*

storm. In the event of a storm the
1000 ewes will require about 68sA
each day (22/5s. to the stone.) In
addition also to their two cart loads of
turnips, the hogs will also consume about
SsA per day. The hay at this rate will
serve for a month, which indeed is
much shorter than many storms.- A
much larger provision should, therefore,
be laid up at first, and if the above
quantity of hay be annually raised, it
will prove sufficient, as the average con-
tinuance of storms will not be more than
a month, and what is saved one year
can be reserved for another.

If the 252 cart loads of turnips can
be saved, as in all probability they will,
they must be given to the ewes in the
spring. The 16 score . of gimmers
should always be separated from the hir-
sels about a month previous to lambing
time, and three cart loads given them
every day. At the end of the month
84 will have been done. The whole

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 115

Mumber of ewes and gimmers should
then receive the remaining 168 cart
loads, at the rate of six per day. I
leave it entirely to experience to justi-
fy the reasonableness pf these measures.

CHAPTER V.

ON FEEDING CHEVIOT AND BLACK-
FACED SHEEP.

£!s it is only my intention to offer a few
cursory remarks on the mode of feeding-
sheep by turnips, our observations must
necessarily be confined within very nar-
row limits. I wish not to say any thing of
the other methods that are sometimes made
use of to fatten sheep, as they are not of
such common practice and are not so ap-
plicable to stock belonging to a high coun-
try. There are perhaps few articles that
would tend more directly and more ef-
fectually to accomplish that end than
salt given them at proper times and in
proper quantities, along with their other

ON FEEDING SHEEP. U7

food. The fattening effects of salt may-
be seen by turning to.- other, parts of
the treatise, and I leave it to others to
make the experiment.

Those stock farmers who make a prac-
tice of feeding the sheep which they
rear, must either themselves possess land
in a more fertile district, or purchase
turnips from those who do possess such
lands. In stock farms of upland situ-
ations there are no turnips, at least there
should be none, adequate to feed for
the butcher even a small number of
sheep. Land of good quality indeed,
may be found in some of them, on which
it may be possible to raise more turnips
than are absolutely necessary for the
maintenance of the ewes and hogs, but
these if given at all to feed sheep, can
only be given during the former part
of the winter, as the rigorous colds that
are customary in such exposed situations
are very injurious, especially to sheep pre-
paring for the butcher, and in a great

118 ON FEEDING CHEVIOT

measure destroy the nourishing effects
of the turnips. Whenever in such
cases a few acres can be spared, they
should either be appropriated for better-
ing a little, in the beginning of the
season, the condition of sheep intended
for the butcher or led home for fatten-
ing oxen,

Sheep for fat ought to be put upon
turnips about the middle of October,
or rather at an earlier period, if they
are then making no advancement in
condition. And when they are granted
them, one lot should never exceed in
number 20 score.

Whatever quantities of turnips may be
obtained in a high situation, and at how-
ever cheap a rate, unless they possess
every advantage of shelter, the sheep
should be removed to the low country,
if not in October, at longest in the be-
ginning of December. The field to
which they are taken should by all
means be day, for if it be of a wet nature

AND BLACK FACED SHEEP. 119

it will prove of a hurtful tendency. Its
size should also be proportionate to the
number of sheep by which it is to be
eaten, as it is undoubtedly a disadvan-
tage for them to be changed from one
field to another.

Care should also be taken not to give
them too much scope over the field amongst
the turnips, for in this case they will
injure them very much, and the latter
will become before they are consumed
dirty and not fresh. One brick should
occupy no more space than will suf-
fice for food during one week. And
in being afforded a new brick, their
liberty should also be extended over the
ground they have already broken. The
gleanings upon that brick to which
they were last confined should not be
picked until the sheep are let upon
another one, and they will then naturally
fall back and eat up the shells which
they had left behind.

Sheep upon turnips though not so

120

ON FEEDING CHEVIOT

liable to sustain hurt from a storm as
those that have only pastures, are not
yet altogether exempt from any evil
being occasioned by that cause. In a
storm of long continuance, turnips that
remain in the field get so excessively
hard as to render them in a great
measure incapable of being eaten by the
sheep, at least not near so readily as
they are accustomed to be in fresh weather.
Sheep, in a long unmitigated frost, may
thus have many a hungry day ; many not
so plentifully supplied at any rate, as in
the absence of frost. To avert any
damage being incurred in this manner,
a few turnips should be stored before
any storm has arrived, and laid down
to them when they cannot derive so
much benefit from those in the field.
If some measure of this kind be not
adopted, sheep will never feed fast in
a storm.

Hay is an advantage to sheep feeding
upon turnips too considerable to be

AND BLACK FACED SHEEP. 121

overlooked. If it can be found good
they will relish it and eat a little of it
every day, being a change. It should
be put into becks, and these placed at
convenient distances throughout the field.
Natural well win hay will answer the
purpose as well, probably better than
any other, and can be furnished at a
cheaper rate. Perhaps it might be advis-
able to sprinkle this hay with a little
dissolved salt ; the sheep might then
consume it with an increased fondness,
and undoubtedly it would yield them
more nourishment.

I have invariably found that sheep feed
faster upon turnips as they grow, than
when pulled and led into a different field.
They will improve more speedily in con-
dition by eating them in the former way,
than if they were to be brought to them
even in a grass field. When laid down
pulled they lie in such a loose and un-
firm state that by their rolling about
the sheep can never obtain a substantial

122 ON FEEDING CHEVIOT

hold of them, and more especially when
they are hardened by frost. Sheep also
acquire an unsettled habit by continually
running after the cart by which the
turnips are conveyed to them, which is
in some degree prejudicial to them.

There appear to be few other remarks
on this subject worthy of notice. With
the manner of feeding sheep small differ-
ence seems to prevail, and the usual
way is pretty fully understood. Weth-
ers of the Black-faced breed are sel-
dom raised above 1 3 lbs. or 14 lbs. per
quarter, and are more commonly below
that weight than above it. Those of
the Cheviot generally feed to the weight
of 1 5lbs. or 1 (Mbs. per quarter, though I
have very frequently brought them to a
pound or two more. Once, indeed, I
had them of an amazing weight, and
what they never equalled with me either
before or since. Five wethers I retain-
ed to exhibit for the premium at Cold-
stream, in the year 1818, for which I

AND BLACK-FACED SHEEP.

123

obtained as many guineas. They had
been fed upon turnips alone during
winter, and were sold to a Berwick
butcher at the high price of £4 10s.
each, which together with the premium
amounts in all to £ 5 11s. for every
wether. They averaged 30lbs. per quar-
ter upon being killed, and one of
them weighed no less than 32 libs. Very
few instances of young Cheviot wethers
being raised to such an astonishing
weight, and being sold at such a high
rate, can perhaps be produced.

CHAPTER VI.

PRINCIPAL CAUSE , AND DESCRIPTION ,
OF THE ROT.

*£& GREAT many diseases have been
enumerated by writers as incident to
sheep. Many of them, however, are
either altogether foreign to Lammermuir,
or appear so slightly that they are seldom
dreaded. But though few, there are
some that have appeared with the ut-
most vigour and the most unabated force,
and with which we have unhappily been
but too much familiarized. To the
most formidable of these (which are chiefly
three, the Braxy or sickness, the Sturdy
or water in the head, and the Rot)
and that the most destructive disease

DESCRIPTION OF THE ROT. 125

that perhaps ever desolated our flocks,
I mean at present to confine my ob-
servations. As this, namely the Rot,
has unfortunately come more immediately
.under my own inspection, in treating of
it, I shall be guided by facts that
mostly occurred on my own farm, or
should I at times step beyond this
boundary, the materials shall be col-
lected from among my neighbours or
other genuine sources, and none shall
be produced that are not perfectly legiti-
mate, and can be well authenticated.

The fatal experience of many will
justify me in saying, that there is no
other disease more worthy of the most
scrutinizing research and diligent investi-
gation, than the one concerning which
our remarks are now to be directed.
There are none whose terrifying ravages
have more extensively and more univer-
sally prevailed, and none which has tend-
ed more readily to disburden farmers
of the profits that they had laboured to

126 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

accumulate. It is to be dreaded as a
pestilence and every means, which it
is in our power to employ, must be used
either to prevent it altogether, or if
possible, when these are neglected or are
ineffectual, to cure it when it makes its
appearance.

Much has been said and written on
this important subject, and not en-
tirely without effect ; but there is still a
wide field left for the exertions of those
who by unwished for experience have
known too well its afflicting consequences.
Amongst this class I am sorry to state
that my loss will place me if not al-
together, at least very near the head of
the list.

In 1810 my stock consisted of 2000
ewes, hogs and dinmonts, out of which
I lost, by rot, during the winter and
spring following above 800.

In 1817 I lost 900 of the same com-
plaint, and as a number of them were
ewes, I found a deficiency of 400 lambs

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 127

at the time of weaning. Many years
preceding the above I had severe losses,
though never to such a ruinous extent. I
have, therefore, mentioned these years
as being the most destructive of any in
all my experience.

After having endured heavy strokes like
these, it is hardly necessary to observe
that I was led to try many things to
check the wild impetuosity of its career,
and to prevent the recurrence of such a
calamity. And I am now happy in an-
nouncing that I have been enabled to
bring foe ward a cure, which if rightly
acted upon will prove of essential service
to breeders in general. In stating this
I lay claim to no original discovery ;
I have only brought here more fully
into notice, and ascertained by actual
experiment what has frequently been
mentioned before, but never fully, in
Britian at least, brought into action.

Before entering more at large on this
subject, it will be proper first to enquire

128 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

into the origin of the Rot, ere we point
out the means of preventing, and pre-
scribe the cure bv which it will be
quickly made to disappear.

Concerning the causes that tend to
produce the rot, a diversity of opinion
seems to prevail. Mr Hogg, tire Etter-
ick shepherd, in his treatise upon the
diseases incident to sheep, enumerates
several causes which are mentioned by
others as being conducive, and which he
either combats with the view of establish-
ing his own theory, or resolves them into
it. With a sweeping conclusion he at
last ascribes it to the want of food and
shelter, and “ holds as an incontrovert-
ible fact, that a sudden fall in condition
is the sole cause of the rot.” With all
deference, indeed, to such good authori-
ty, 1 presume I shall be able by a plain
statement of facts to make it not only
controvertible but also to disprove it, at
least as being the sole cause. Hunger
and cold, no doubt, are the parents of

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 129

many dreadful calamities among the hu-
man species, and I would be inclined
to allow them their full preponderancy
in the diseases of bther animals, but as
many of our own species are liable to
diseases and death who are altogether
exempt from • both, so ' among sheep I
have known many hundreds die of rot,
where these causes could never be
brought, in the most remote manner, to
have any share in the account.

In 1816 and 17, the Lammermuir farm-
ers, and I may say breeders in gener-
al, suffered in many respects from the
severity of the seasons, and I believe the
latter was the most general rot ever
known in Britain. Now if we can be
able to lay hold of any circumstance pe-
culiar to these seasons, it may lead to a
reasonable conclusion as to the cause of
this complaint. And surely every one
concerned in the management of stock
at that time does not need to be told

R

130 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

that both seasons were wet even to a
proverb.

The year 1816 besides being wet was
also extremely cold, and many store
farmers dreaded the rot would be the
consequence, but at that time were hap-
pily disappointed. The reason undoubt-
edly was, that though the season was
wet, it was below the average tempera-
ture of seasons which fortunately pre-
vented any after-growth of grass. Had
the rot then been prevalent it would
have given force to Mr Hogg’s theory,
but the contrary being the case it un-
doubtedly invalidates the strength of his
reasoning.

The year 1817 was again very wet,
rather more so than the one preceding,
but then the average temperature of the
season was several degrees higher than
the other, which produced a very abun-
dant growth of grass in the months of
September and October, and the ultimate
consequence of which was that one of

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 131

the greatest fatalities by rot followed to
which the memory of man bears evi-
dence. Now I hold it almost amounting

to certainty that the after-growth of
grass in the months of September and
October is the great or chief cause oh
the rot. No doubt many things may co-
operate as predisposing previous to this
exciting cause, and it may even be said
that the cold and wet of 181 6 may have
laid the foundation of the fatal rot of
1817. This I shall not positively deny,'
though, had the seeds of the complaint
then been scattered undoubtedly some
symptoms would have appeared, and
though my experience rather goes to
prove the contrary, and as I am more
inclined to abide by plain matters of
fact, than enter on any visionary theory,

I shall content myself with merely stat-
ing the grounds of my dissent from this
opinion.

All my sales made in 1816, were per-
fectly sound, and in the year following
r 2

132 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

down to the month of August, not the
least symptom was present that could in
the smallest degree justify the suspicion
of any complaint being among them.
In June, 1817, I sold a lot of about
1000 hogs and dinmonts to one gentle-
man in the county of Roxburgh, all of
which gave the greatest satisfaction.
They were kept by the same gentleman
for two years, and afterwards sold in the
finest condition to the butcher. This
was well for both parties, but the sales
that I made in October were all tainted,
and from that time they consisted more
of skins than carcases.

Here then the facts bear me out in say-
ing that in 1817 no rot had taken place
among my stock in the month of Au-
gust, and the whole calamity that follow-
ed must have taken place subsequent to
that period. Had any latent seeds of
the disease been among them, the sales,
that I made in August must have turn-
ed out as bad to the purchaser as those

DESCRIPTION, OF THE HOT. 133

that were retained did to myself, which
was not the case, and which clearly de-
monstrates that the cause had been on
mv own farm ; of this I entertain not the
smallest doubt, and after the most minute
investigation can attribute it to nothing
but an unusual luxuriant growth of grass
occasioned by the mild soft weather dur-
ing the months of September and Oc-
tober, more especially during the first.

This tender but destructive sort of
grass is also sometimes produced by other
means, such as by horse, and cattle dung
dropped during the preceding months
of summer. And here by the way I
would strongly condemn the practice of
allowing sheep and cattle to pasture
promiscuously together ; for in many
cases it may be cause of rot where none
would have appeared.

The rot may also be occasioned by
the succulent herbage that grows upon
flooded water sides, after shaken corn,
and recently improven wet-bottomed moor

134

PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

producing a soft and rapid growth.
This Mr Hogg opposes upon the faith
of a correspondent who considers their
eating this as the consequence not the
cause of the rot.

It is a curious and important fact
that the fluke-worms are found in the
livers of all rotten sheep, and I have
no doubt of these insects being the
immediate cause of death ; but how they
come there has never yet been properly
accounted for. We cannot suppose that
they form part of the original median,
ism of the animal, inherent in its consti-
tution and only called into existence by
certain fortuitous circumstances ; this I
think would be venturing too far upon
hypothetical ground. It would be more
consonant with the operations of nature
to suppose the eggs of these animal-
culm taken in with the food and car-
ried along the alimentary canal till they
are again taken up (in conjunction with
the chyle) by the lacteal? and conveyed

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 1 35

through the mesentery into the thoracic
duct, whence they are sent into and mixed
with the blood. They may thus be trans-
mitted by the circulating fluid through its
various conduits, till they arrive at the
liver. To this viscus the blood is sent
in great quantities from the spleen, me-
sentery and stomach ; the vessels from
each of these uniting form one large vein
which enters the liver, and thence divides
into innumerable branches, which at their
very minute ends form an immense num-
ber of vessels arranged like the hairs of
a pencil brush, and hence called (in the
human subject) penicilli. These penicilli
constitute the glandular fabric and bulk
of the liver. Here the capillary vessels
obstructing their further progress, and af-
fording a proper situation for hatching,
the worms may be produced and bring
on that fatal disease called rot.

The above is only brought forward as
a probable conjecture, and has been men-
tioned by others in a somewhat similar

136

PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

manner. Though the passage of these
efff'S into the liver seems to be beset with
difficulties, and apparently hardly possible
for them to escape without their being
injured, yet this appears to me to be the
most seemly way of accounting for their
getting there at all. After having reach-
ed the liver it is no improbable thing for
the eggs to be hatched there, for we have
the authority of the great naturalist Spal-
lanzani, who says, “ If vegetable seeds ger-
minate without exception in confined air,
what are we to think of animal semina or
the eggs of insects, which according to
Boerhave, and the' general opinion of phi-
losophers, should remain sterile, even when
the operation of circumstances the most
favourable to their production occurs ?
Here I thought it better to consult nature
than to trust to the sentiments of others. I
therefore made experiments on many eggs :
on those of beetles, flies, flesh flies, noc-
turnal and diurnal butterflies, worms and
others, and scrupulously observed what

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 137

happened to each kind. I foresee the read-
er’s anxiety to learn the result of these
experiments ; and in two words his curio-
sity may be satisfied, by learning that the
whole different species were produced
equally in confined as in open air.”

But in whatever way these worms are
produced the fact is unquestionable that
they are always swarming in the liver of
every rotten sheep ; and that in proportion
as a sheep is far gone in the disease, the
more numerous do they become, most cer-
tainly the two have some connection vvith
one another, and that no small one, but
whether they are the cause or the conse-
quence of the rot, remains yet to be deter-
mined. As Mr Hogg says “ it is a curious
circumstance, that of all other diseases of
sheep, the greatest variety of opinion pre-
vails with respect to the real cause of this j
and among such a number, it may reason-
ably be expected that it is very difficult to
alight on the right one.” This great di-
versity of opinion he has I think accounted

A-

s

1S8 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

for in another part of his treatise ; “ That
the diseases of sheep are numerous and
complex is too well known ; yet from their
extraordinary fewness on some farms com-
pared with others of the same nature, and
on the same farms under a different man-
agement, I am often tempted to conclude,
that they are naturally as free of them
as the hawk or raven ; and were I able
to define the various parts of the animal
frame, their connection with one another,
with the influences of climate and regi-
men upon each of them, I have no doubt
but I should make it appear that the whole
of the diseases to which this useful animal
is subjected, might be traced to have ori-
ginated in accidents proceeding from im-
proper usage or inattention in their keepers
or managers. .Soils and seasons have their

A

influences, and that to a degree so exten-
sive, as that they will never be en-
tirely bettered ; yet still they may in a
great measure be guarded against.” The
difference of soils, seasons and manage-

description, OF THE ROT. 139

ment, thus elegantly stated by the Etter-
iek shepherd, accounts fully for the dif-
ference of opinions concerning the dis-
eases to which sheep are liable, and he
thus elegantly concludes 5 “ For my part
I anticipate with exultation, the ap-
pioaching happy era in the history of
farming, when the Rot and Braxy, which,
in their respective districts, have raged
like a pestilence among the woolly tribes,
and buried the hopes of the husband-
man with his bleating flocks, shall be as
much eradicated as the small-pox is, at this
day, among the human race. For to what
an extent has their rigour been abated,
even in our remembrance ? On many
farms, where they cut off annually about
a sixth of the stock, their baneful
influences are now scarcely felt.’* And
I hope it will not be deemed presump-
tion in me when I add, that I trust
the happy era on the contemplation of
the arrival of which Mr Hogg dwelt
with increasing pleasure, respecting the
s 2

I

140 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

rot at least, only waits for opportunity
and proper application.

But to return to the cause of the rot.
The one assigned by Mr Hogg is very
far, I regret to state, from according
and is actually at variance with my ex-
perience. In no case that has hitherto
come under my observation has a sudden
fall in condition, in the smallest degree
contributed to bring on that mortal ra-
vager ; nay, in many cases with which I
have been most intimately acquainted, it
could neither be traced, with the strict-
est scrutiny, to this source, nor did this
follow even as the consequence of the

disease.

Once, indeed, that opinion had also
gained my assent, and in conviction oi
its truth I acted upon it for many years.
It is undoubtedly the farmer’s interest to
have his flocks at all times in the best
possible condition, as in that state they
can always be turned to the best ac-

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 141

my experience, it can never form a bar-
rier against the rot. In the lower parts
of. Berwickshire, where they were treat-,
ed with the most scrupulous attention,
and where food and shelter abounded, I
have known many scores of sheep fall
victims to this disease. I am not at
liberty to mention names : but one fam-
ous instance I would bring forward, of
one of the most distinguished breeders
in this fertile district, whose sheep pos-
sessed every mark of the prevalence of the
disease, and which, though never known
to have been reduced through the whole
term of their lives, were yet dying of
the rot, in the greatest numbers and in
the highest condition. The proprietor’s
anxious hope that the ravages of the
disease would quickly be at an end, and
his unwillingness to part with his stock,
which notwithstanding were in the finest
order, made him keep them on much
longer than he should have done : till at
last seeing his hopes defeated and hia

142 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

sheep rapidly disappearing without any
return, he was obliged to kill them by
scores and cart them over the country
to be disposed of for what they would
bring.

My own affairs also yielded abundant
confirmation of the insufficiency of food
and shelter. In 1810, 1 put a fine lot
of dinmonts upon turnips before the
Martinmas, though all in very favourable
condition, as I was rather beginning to
suspect that they were affected ; and
under the idea that meat and shelter
would provide against every exigency I
sent them from my own farm, to a fine
dry, well sheltered situation in the mid-
dle part of Berwickshire, where I ex-
pended no less than £100 upon turnips;
but before the month of March there
were few qf them remaining in their
skins, and I did not realise as much as
defrayed the expenses laid out upon the
turnips.

In the month of October the same

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 143

year I bought a lot of wethers in fine
condition, from land of a good sound
bottom, where the rot was altogether a
stranger. They came on my farm about
the middle of the month, and in a short
time I observed they were ail affected.
The stock on the farm whence they were
taken, continued all sound, so that the
complaint must have originated with
myself: not, in any sudden fall of con-
dition, however, as I conceive, for none
was observable, but in the soft luxuri-
ancy of this part of the season. But
though the whole were evidently tainted,
my loss in this case was unexpectedly
small. I put them on good grass early
in the spring, and sold them to a but-
cher in the month of August in very
tolerable condition. This case may seem
to favour Mr Hogg’s hypothesis a little,
inasmuch as sheep in high condition
and health will be able to hold out
longer by mere strength of stamina.
But I would rather be inclined to con-

144 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

sider it in a different light-, and as one of
the most forcible examples that could be
adduced in opposition to his theory. For
as in my opinion frost always puts a check
to the extension of the disease, prevent-
ing the further growth of soft grass,
the only circumstance in the above case
that could tend to abate its destructive
consequences, was that the infection was
not caught till the middle of October.
In so late a period of the season
there could be no continuance of soft
rainy weather without frost, so that the
seeds of the distemper would hardly be
engendered until they were again depriv-
ed of nourishment. For had it happened
at an earlier period, and during the
month of September, which is the most
dangerous month, and when frost is less
to be expected, the whole flock would
undoubtedly have been consumed,- as my
experience since leads me to conclude.
From that time 1 have invariably found
that when there tiiis a continuation of

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 145

weather favourable for producing it in
September* and when it is then fairly be-
gun, it bears along with it every thing
that opposes its progress and melts down
the most robust constitution.

In 1817, my stock was in good con-
dition at the end of August, and the
first that died of the rot was in a high
state of condition considered as hill-
stock. And in the lower part of the
county the same year, a great many
farmers sold their whole stock to the
butcher, when they saw them effected.
I knew several of them who sold their
ewes at 30s. and upwards, so that we
cannot suppose there had been any
great or sudden fall of condition in their
case.

One other instance more shall, for the
present, suffice. A friend of mine who
had a pretty extensive concern, though
rather in a high situation, but the land
all improved and well sheltered. His
holding stock consisted generally of 300

T

14-6 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, ANI>

ewes, and ISO ewe-hogs. He began to
suspect their being unsound early in the
season. Under this impression, but not
till after he experienced considerable loss,
he began driving them to the Edinburgh
market. Many of them dropped doAvn
dead upon the road ; what survived of
them were sold, the ewes at from 26 s.
to 27 s., the hogs at 18s. and 19 s*
Here again the want of condition seems
to have had nothing to do in the
matter..

To carry on this train any longer
would be both tedious and unnecessary.
To any candid inquirer it will surely
have appeared that, in whatever the rot
may originate, a sudden fall of condition
has no share. And if any person can
come forward and prove that it is not
caused by an over-abundant growth of
grass about the middle and the latter end
of Autumn, either occasioned by the
state of the weather or any of the other
circumstances formerly specified, I shall

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 147

freely grant that, with our present know-
ledge, the true cause still lies hid in
the dark recesses of nature.

It remains now for us to give a des-
cription of the most evident symptoms
by which the rot on its appearance may
be easily discerned. This has already been
done by Mr Hogg in a more distinct and
comprehensive manner than it was possible
for me to have done. And I trust I will
therefore be excused for inserting here the
most important part of his treatise con-
cerning the symptoms of the rot, and also
a little from the appearances on dissection.

“ The first symptoms of this malady
among the flocks should be guarded a-
gainst with the utmost care and perseve-
rance, which are as follows: — When a
severe storm of snow covers the ground,
and locks up the herbage, so that they
cannot attain nearly a sufficient quantity
of food for some length of time ; or when
the weather is so boisterous that they can-
not stir abroad to shift for food, or when

148

PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

they receive any bad usage ; if subsequent
'to any of these, or indeed on whatever
occasion, a lethargy prevails among them ;
if they grow dull and careless of feeding,
the rot is certain to make its appearance
by-and-by ; if this lethargy be general,
’yj&the rot will also be general ; if it prevails
only with certain individuals, these are
they which the rot will affect,” or as I
should say are already affected.

“ The next symptom that is discernible
jr after this lethargy is in the shape ; the

' belly being shrunk, and dinged up for

some time ; they then fall to their meat
with great voracity, and as long as their
. bellies continue light, they are not quite
fallen a prey to the disorder. After this
clungness, the belly falls down, and the
flanks fall in, which is a worse symptom,
as is natural to suppose, the disease being
then a stage farther advanced.”

“ When a shepherd, or farmer, is en-
ueavouring to discover such as are un-
sound in a fold, let him feel the heck, or

description, of the rot. 149

small of the back ; and if the ewe be
firm there, and the skin refuse to slide
on the flesh, it is a good sign, and if she
be not too old, is safe to keep. Lean-
ness on the brisket, or ribs, is not so bad
an omen of the rot; but a lean back is
ever dangerous where the rot prevails, or
is suspected. When he lays his hand
first upon the sheep’s back, or ribs, let
him do it very softly, and press it still
harder by degrees, a n d if he feel a slight
crackling, as if there were small dry
bladders betwixt the skin and flesh, that
sheep will invariably turn out 1 often,
and is indeed so far gone, that she
is past redemption to all intents and
purposes unless, he might have said,
some restorative of great efficacy be im-
mediately applied.

“ Recourse must next be had to the
eye, which is an invariable rule to judge
of the state of the liver, and fountain
of life. Let the corner of the eye, next
to the nose, be turned out with the thumbs

/&

<kJ2r*

150

PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

Pressing gently on each side, and if it
be streaked with beautiful red veins branch-
ing to and fro, the sheep is safe and
sound : the redder that the eye is the
better ; but as grass-fed sheep’s eyes are
nevei led, if they are free of a watery gilt,
not too thick, and above all streaked with
led veins, there is no fear : But, on the
contrary, if the eye is' yellowish, clear
with water, and no red veins branching
through it, the sheep is certainly un-
sound.”

As to the poke which they acquire be-
low their coops, it is certainly a sign of
the prevalence of watery fluids over the
vitals at that present time ; but it is not
a certain sign that the animal is lost ; for,
on the contrary, a very lean rotten sheep
is most apt to overcome the rot ; and such
sheep as, by mere oppression, are rotten
on hard heathery lands, very generally
have the poke : yet these will frequently,
in a great measure, get the better of it ■
and all ewes that are visibly affected by it,

<• ■

Description, of the rot. I5t

are better with lambs sucking on them
than eild, for if they are eild, they are at-
tacked by a lingering dysentery, which
gradually brings them to their end,

“ The next thing whereby to judge is
the mouth ; for if the tongue be red and
clean, it is a good sign : but the teeth
must also be minutely judged ; because if
they are kept a year or two over old,
they are apt to decay before next year’s
draft ewes go away. Now, the age of a
sheep is very easily known by its teeth ;■
for in its second year it hath two broad
teeth in the middle ; when in its third
year it hath four broad teeth ; and,
while rising its fourth year, it hath six
broad teeth ; next year its teeth are
all cast, and consequently are all of
those called broad teeth ; and when it
is five years old, and rising six, they
grow as narrow ' at the top as at the
root, while, as before, each tooth spread
at the top.” But much of the trouble
requisite to examine the teeth of sheep,; .

152 PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

in order to determine their age, may be?
spared by ear-marking them.* It is dan-
gerous and unprofitable in more respects
than one to keep ewes after they are
live years old.

“When a sheep is killed during the
early stages of the disease, about the
time when the flanks fall in, the fluke-
Worms are only to be found in the ducts
of the liver, but often in great numbers.
The liver itself is by this time swelled
a full third larger than its natural size,
and seems to have undergone a consi-
derable inflammation ; its coat is thick,
and of an opaque colour, resembling a
pale clouded flint, or pebble. Nothing'
can be seen to ail the lungs. The tal-
low that covers the bowels and kidneys
is loose and flabby ; and looks as if
part of it were melted, or its surface
greased over with melted butter. One
half or at least one third of this tallow

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 153

will not melt by any force of fire, and
such of it as is refined, and made into
candles, wastes and runs excessively.”
“When flaying them, the fell is so
loose upon the back, that it will not se-
parate from the skin ; on all other parts
of the body, the skin comes easily off ;
appearing as having, in a great measure,
been separated from it before. The skin
is tenderer than that of a healthy sheep ;
and the wool, though not yet loose, comes
more easily off. The fell about the short
ribs, and ribs, which, in a healthy sheep,
is a bright red, in them is pale, and bor-
dered with a tincture of yellow. Their
mutton when cold, does not grow stiff j
and when boiled does not grow tender,
but shrinks amazingly. Their blood is
thin, frothy, and light coloured ; and
their heart, though perfectly sound, ap-
pears to be somewhat larger. As the
disease advances, all the other symptoms
eontinue to increase save this ; for the

u

154

PRINCIPAL CAUSE, AND

heart is often larger in the first stages of
the disease than in the last.”

“ When they die of the rot, the skin
and entrails are perfectly rotten, and the
whole body of a dirty pale colour. The
carcase has no peculiar smell ; and although
when killed in the last stages of the dis-
ease, a large quantity of frothy blood
frequently flows ; yet when they die of
the rot, very little blood is to be found
in any part of them. When the poke
below the jaws, is opened, the skin is
thick, and a congealed substance within
it ; and within that a quantity of clear
water. The liver is the most horrible
mass of corruption and disease that can be
conceived. It is increased to two or three
times the size and weight of that in a
sound sheep ; all its ducts and vessels-
are crammed with flukes, and many over-
grown ones often on its surface : it is
half covered with hard white lumps of
various sizes, which, when cut, have a
grisly appearance ; part of these are like-

DESCRIPTION, OF THE ROT. 155

wise mixed through all its interior, as are
also long layers of sand, so that it is often
hard to cut. The spaces, where none of
these intervene, have quite lost their con-
sistency, and are flaccid and gory. When
it is boiled in water, it grows perfectly
friable, and breaks in pieces of itself, while
that of a healthy sheep grows firm and
solid.”

CHAPTER VII.

THE BEST MEANS OF PREVENTING AND
OF CURING THE ROT.

$T is evident that in treating of the
cause of this complaint, every thing that
was then mentioned as in any way con-
tributing to bring it on, must be avoided
in our endeavours to prevent it. This
part of the subject, therefore, has been
partly anticipated. But the great remote
cause which we have all along pointed
out as being the most universal is a great
fall of rain in Autumn, accompanied by a
mild softness, which together produce a
luxuriant growth of grass. The great
means for preventing the rot, therefore.

MEANS OF PREVENTING THE ROT. 357

must be to destroy the immediate effects
of this weather.

There has perhaps been no greater im-
provement in modern husbandry than sur-
face draining upon soft and wet lands ;
and still more, if any part of the pasture
is liable to be flooded by the overflowing of
small burns and streams of water, after
heavy falls of rain. In these cases the
surface drains collect the water that would
otherwise cover a large space, and carry
it off in a few hours, where it must have
stood for many days or weeks in a stagnant
state, till it had either been absorbed by
the ground or evaporated by the sun.
By these surface drains the land admits
of a very high improvement ; the grass of
which it is afterwards productive is of
better quality, and has no tendency to
cause diseases, that would in all likelihood
be the consequence of the land remaining
in its natural state. Such bogs, however,
as produce deer-hair and ling, should not
be drained 5 as the wetter the ground is,

158 MEANS OF PREVENTING

the more do these herbs grow, and of
both the sheep are particularly fond.
They are also very wholesome.*

Care should be taken that drains be
properly laid out, so as - to answer the
purpose intended. It would undoubtedly
be proper to take a general survey
of the piece of ground to be drained as
to its bearings and declivity ; after which
the course of the drains may be mark-
ed out, taking care at the same time,
to avoid as much as possible all quick
turns, as at these places the water is
ready to run over, and defeat the
object intended. The drains them-
selves should be about two feet wide at
the top, and fourteen inches deep, with
a gentle slope from top to bottom. Such
drains are generally done in this neigh-
bourhood at one penny per rood, and

* See Mr Hogg’s treatise upon the means of
preventing the rot. See also the Honourable
Capt. Napier’s treatise on Store farming.

AND CURING THE ROT.

159

even at that small price the workmen
make very good wages. The sods are
taken out the whole depth at once, with
an instrument for the purpose, and should
be laid down on the side of the drain
with the grassy side uppermost, as the
grass in that case will continue to grow,
whereas if they are turned upside down,
they will produce no grass for some
years, and there is . consequently a loss,
of twice the breadth of the drain. They
would also require to be occasionally
cleaned out, more or less frequently as the
particular nature of the ground may
render necessary.

I have been the more minute on
this head, as I consider it one of
the most effectual methods that can be
devised to meliorate coarse and soft pas-
ture land, and as tending to improve
the stock both in constitution and con-
dition. With this improvement too, a
greater quantity of stock may, in most
instances, be kept.

160 MEANS OF PREVENTING

It must be evident to every one that
where the system of surface draining is
adopted, no cattle should be allowed to
pasture ; for besides being hurtful to the
stock, and if numerous may themselves
be the cause of rot, they very soon tread
down all the sides • of drains, and in a
great measure render them useless. The
shepherd’s cow is undoubtedly one too
many, but in many cases that cannot
be avoided.

It may not be improper to take no-
tice here of Mr Hogg’s hypothesis.
“ Some tell me,” says he, “ that there
are two kinds of rot : the black rot,
and the hunger rot, the one occasioned
by foul food, and the other by getting
much too little food ,of any kind.” The
black rot he treats as altogether chim-
erical, and asserts that hunger and
cold are the only causes of rot. If
this be really correct, the means of pre-
vention are obvious and need not be

AND CURING THE ROT.

161

mentioned. Whether or not, indeed,
hunger and cold are in any measure
conducive to the rot, they ought to be
especially provided against by every store
farmer. But I again repeat that I can-
not acquiesce in the opinion of these
being the causes of rot ; for throughout
the whole range of my experience I have
never found a single instance that could
in the least tend to countenance the
suspicion of these being the ultimate
and principal causes. I have lost from
time to time a great number of hogs by
poverty, and I could certainly trace their
death to “ want of meat and shelter”
alone, but there were none of those
diagnostic symptoms apparent, which in-
dicate the complaint called rot. Cold
and frost are always severe on hunger-
stricken hogs, but I have uniformly
found, that frost prevented the rot, and
that if the disease had not taken place
previous to the arrival of frost, it never
followed that kind of weather. Change-

x

162 MEANS OF PREVENTING

able weather too, which is always hurt-
ful to the condition of sheep, when it
partakes of a considerable* proportion
of frost, is seldom, if ever, known to
produce it.

The state of the weather is, no doubt,
altogether beyond our controul, and all
the efforts we are capable of employing
to prevent its consequences, must in
many cases be feeble and insufficient.
Drainage and shelter however cannot
be too highly recommended, whether
considered merely as antidotes against
the evils that result from the extremes
of weather, or simply as preventatives
of the rot. For though cold may not of
itself be the source of the disease, it
may yet rapidly increase it, after it has
commenced, and greatly accelerate its
baleful effects.

These measures, however, effectual as
one of them at least has been, I would
only consider as auxiliary means for pre-
venting the rot. It may happen, and it

AND CURING THE ROT. l63

actually has been found, that where these
precautions have been taken, the rot,
though unquestionably very much dimin-
ished in severity, does not cease occa-
sionally to appear. And if further mea-
sures be not adopted, it will never cease
altogether to appear on many farms, in
those seasons which have the greatest
tendency to give rise to it. There is
another preventative which I would rank
still higher than any other that has yet
been employed ; which, if properly put
into execution, will, I trust, totally anni-
hilate the rot, and on the efficacy of
which 1 shall now enlarge.

The use of salt has been long known
as contributing most essentially to the
health and condition of quadrupeds in
general. In many instances, where the
industry of man could have no concern,
nature seems to point out the utility of
it, and in following her dictates we are
never led astray from the true path of
knowledge. In the interior of America!,
x 2

1(54. MEANS OF PREVENTING

where the undomesticated animals roam
at large, without being at all restricted
by the controlling hand of man, they re-
sort for hundreds of miles from all quar-
ters, to those mountain sides where the
rocks contain salt, in order to lick the
saline efflorescence which is extracted
from them by the influence of the sun.
The avidity with which they lick this,
and the nourishment which it affords, is
easily conceived from the exertions which
they make to obtain it;' and the same
having been done for many centuries, by
thousands of animals every year, and
that in a wild uncultivated country, the
tracts leading to these rocks are so beat-
en for miles round, and the places them-
seves trodden, and even excavated, to
such a remarkable degree, that they are
noticed by travellers as land-marks in
exploring these extensive regions.

That sheep in their natural or wild state,
following their own instinct, have recourse
to such means for their preservation and

AND CURING THE ROT. 165

proper support, we have the authority or
the learned Zoologist Dr Pallas, to whose
reports on these subjects we have already
had occasion to refer, and therefore, our re-
marks shall now be more confined. V, hen
treating of the Argali or wild sheep of Si-
beria, he says, “ The argali purges itself
in the spring with acrid plants of the
anemonoide kind, till milder plants spring
up, and shrubs begin to sprout, which,
with alpine plants, constitute its usual
-food. It likewise frequents the salt
marshes, which abound every where in
Siberia; and even licks the salt efflor-
• escence that rises on the ground, a re-
gimen that fattens them up very quick-
ly, and fully restores the health, vigour,
and flesh they had lost during winter,
and during the purging course, so won-
derfully dictated to the sheep species,
together with the restorative, by the Al-
mighty, whether in a wild or tame state
if left to roam at large where the ne-
■ pessary plants are to be found.” Here

166

MEANS OF PREVENTING

we have the very highest testimony, and
the more to be depended upon, as lie
had no favourite theory to support, but
merely relates the facts as they were
witnessed by himself.

There are also many places where
people, seeing the manifest advantage and
nourishing effects of salt, use means to
supply their flocks with it, where nature
has not furnished it in their pastures.
This practise, I believe, is no where
more generally and more carefully attend-
ed to, than in Spain ; and of the man-
ner in which they there give it, we have
the following account in a letter includ-
ed in the Scots’ Magazine for 1764.

“ The first thing the shepherd does

when the flock returns from the south
to their summer downs, is to give them
as much salt as they will eat. Every
owner allows his flock of 1000 sheep,
100 aroves or 25 quintals of salt;

which the flock eats in about five

months. They eat none in their jour-

AND CURING THE ROT. T67

ney, nor in their tvinter walk.— The

shepherd places 50 or 60 flat stones

at about five steps’ distance from each

other, he strews salt upon each stone,
he leads the flock slowly through the

stones, and every sheep eats to his lik-
ing.” Here follows a curious remark, -
viz. “ That the sheep in Spain never
eat any salt when feeding on lime-stone
land, whether it be on the grass of the
downs, or on the little plats of the corn
fields after hearvest-home.” The writer
attempts to acount for this peculiarity in
rather an unsatisfactory manner, which
it is unnecessary to mention here. “ The
shepherd nevertheless,” he continues,
“must not suffer them to remain too
long without salt, and he therefore leads
them to a spot of argilaceous (clayey)
soil, and in a quarter of an hour’s feed-
ing they march to the stones and devour
the salt. If they meet a spot of the
mixt soil, which often happens, they eat
salt in proportion.”

ICS

MEANS OF PREVENTING

Thus in Spain salt is considered a most
essential requisite to sheep, and we find
that in some parts of America the same
method, though after a different manner,
is also practised. A letter from a gentle-
man in America, included in the above
work, clearly points out the great bene-
fit of salt, not to sheep only, but also to
other cattle. “I do not find,’’ says he,
“that the farmers in England know the
great advantage which may be derived from
the use of salt, in the business of fattening
cattle ; whereas in America we think it in
a manner absolutely necessary ; and ac-
cordingly give it to almost every kind
of cattle : and those with parted hoofs
are . particularly fond of it.

“There cannot be a greater instance
of this fondness, than the wild cattle re-
sorting to the salt-licks, where they are
chiefly killed, we give this name to the
salt springs, which in various places,
issue naturally out of the ground, and
form each a little rill.

169

and curing the rot.

« Horses are as fond of salt as black
cattle; for with us if they are ever so
wild, they will be much sooner brought
to a handful of salt, than any kind of
corn whatever.

“ We also give salt to our sheep ; and
to this practice it is generally ascribed,
that the American cattle in general, are
so much more healthy than the same ani-
mals in England : certain it is that they are
subject to much fewer diseases.

“There is one very advantageous prac-
tice we have, which I cannot enough re-
commend to the notice ol the farmers
here in England, it is mixing salt witli
our hay ricks when we stack it, which
we call brining.

“ Just before I left America, I had a
crop of hay which was in a manner
spoiled by rain, being almost rotted in
the field; yet did this hay spend as
well as if it had been got in ever so fa-
vourably. — When my servants were mak-
ing up the stack, I had it managed in

Y

170 MEANS OF PREVENTING

the following manner : as soon as a bed
of hay was laid about six inches thick, I
had the whole sprinkled over with salt;
then another bed of hay was laid, which
was again sprinkled in like manner ; and
this method was followed till the hay
was stacked. When the season came for
cutting it to the cattle, I found that so
far from refusing it, they ate it with sur-
prising appetite, always preferring it be-
fore the sweetest hay that had not been
in this manner sprinkled with salt.”

The fattening effects of sea marsh is
also universally known; and sheep both
feed on it with great desire, and also
with the greatest benefit. So, wonderful-
ly nourishing is it, that Dr Johnson in
his work on quadrupeds confirms it by
saying “ that sheep become fatter in the
maritime salt marshes of Italy, than on
any other kind of pasture.”

To avoid prolixity, we here cut short our
remarks on this subject. We have already
detailed at sufficient length the nutritious

AND CURING THE ROT. 171

effects of salt and saline pastures. Hap-
py is it for the owners of stock, where
nature has provided the latter, and for-
tunate also for them, where art has
thought of devising the former. No des-
ponding accounts have been transmitted
to us of the prevalence of disease

k

amongst their flocks : there the Braxy
and Rot are never heard of, and are so
entirely unknown perhaps, as never to
have been designated by any appellation.
Those marshes, which, had the herbs pro-
duced in them been uncompounded of
salt, might have been favourable toward
the excitement of such diseases, not
only form a rampart against their ad-
mission, but are over and above the
readiest food for increasing the condition
of the stock by which they are pastured.
Nay, even in those places where their
pasture bears every resemblance to those
in this country, and where they are in
every respect similarly treated, except
that salt is considered an essential part

172 MEANS OF PREVENTING

of their provender, we are positively in-
formed that they are subject to far few-
er diseases than those in this country,
and that the complaints which prevail
here, make no fearful inroads there.

Though these facts are fully accredit-
ed and have, for many years, been
known, and though our nation is able to
vie with almost any other in her im-
provements, it is matter of astonishment
that salt has not, prior to this period,
been considered of inestimable advantage,
to the improvement of stock, although
its effects as a cure of disease might
have been overlooked. It admits not of
the smallest degree of doubt, that sheep
in every season, whether it may be fa-
vourable or unfavourable for producing
the rot, would be materially benefited by
salt, as tending highly to strengthen
their constitution, and to better then-
condition. The extravagant price of that
article, indeed, of late years, has put it
in a great measure beyond the power of

AND CURING THE ROT. 1?3

farmers to use it in ordinary seasons,
merely as a means for improving stock :
though it might undoubtedly have been
employed in extraordinary ones, to put
a check to the destructive consequences
of disease. At the present reduced rate,
however, the sum that would be required
to provide sheep with it, would, besides
the security it affords against loss, be
fully repaid, by the superiority of the
returns which they would make.

But to speak more immediately to the
purpose. Whatever profit may result
from salt being every year regularly
given to sheep, I consider that it is
both a preventative and a cure for the
rot, whatever may be the originating
cause of that disease. And as in almost
every case, so perhaps also in this, it
is easier to prevent than to cure, if salt
is to be employed at all with the view of
averting the rot, it will undoubtedly be
proper to administer it at an early pe-
riod of the season. To those who

174 MEANS OF PREVENTING

choose the safer method of allowing? it
to their flocks on the return of every au-
tumn, which practice I would strongly re-
commend, it is not necessary to enquire
whether the season have a tendency to
generate the complaint, as if it have this
tendency the effects of the salt will
never suffer it to obtain any firm hold;
and if it have not, the effects of the
salt in improving the stock become the
more obvious and profitable.

But where this plan is not thought
worthy of practice, or where it would
be attended with inconveniences to do
so, however we may succeed in curing,
I am afraid it will hardly be possible
to prevent the disease. Every change
that takes place in the state of the wea-
ther throughout the month of September
and till the middle of October, must be
carefully attended to, observing if it have
a tendency to excite the rot. If any
suspicions are entertained of its being the
consequence of the then prevalent state

AND CURING THE ROT. 175

of the weather, the application of the
preventative should not be a moment
delayed.

It will only be on those farms where
sheep are easily collected, that the pre-
sent measure can be taken to prevent
the rot ; for unless they are assembled
together in considerable numbers, I can
conceive no proper manner, in which they
can be supplied with salt, without sustain-
ing less or more injury. The easiest
method for accomplishing this purpose,
is as follows : — Let a small piece of
ground, about an acre perhaps for 20
score of sheep, and more or less in pro-
portion to their number, be set apart
and inclosed with nets or in any other
way the farmer may think proper, about
the latter end of August or beginning
of September. The ground thus appro-
priated, must be occasionally sown over
with salt ; 20 bushels, of 5 6 lbs. each,
I should think would be perfectly suf-
ficient for one acre. Or the half of

176

MEANS OF PREVENTING

that quantity of salt may be sown and
the other half dissolved and sprinkled
upon the grass after it has sprung to a
considerable height. Or it may be ap-
plied in any other manner in which the
farmer may think it will more readily rise
in the vegetation of the grass. When
the piece of ground has been thus pre-
pared, and saved for about three weeks,
the sheep should be put on it, and kept
there for 24 hours, or to such time as
they have eaten up the grass ; after
which they may be turned out, and the
grass allowed to grow for two or three
weeks longer, when the same thing may
be repeated as circumstances may re-
quire.

Or what would perhaps serve the pur-
pose better ; two inclosures may be
made, if for the same number of sheep,
each half the size of the above, and
pastured alternately, each inclosure, after
its being first eaten, remaining at rest
for two weeks ; and thus the sheep would

AND CURING THE ROT. 177

have the salted pasture every week, which
might be continued for any length of
time, that the owner may deem proper.
And it may be observed, that if any
of these measures are adopted from year
to year, the same ground should always
be appropriated.

If all this be rightly done, I should
be little inclined to dread the approach
of rot. For should the disease begin to
form before the application, or during the
intervals between the application of salt,
the disease being only incipient, the salt
conveyed through the medium of the
grass, will immediately counteract it while
it exists only in embryo. Though it is
evident that by these means the rot can
easily be prevented, taking for granted
the efficacy of salt, which is well known
to be destructive of insects, I cannot
state this as the result of my own ex-
perience, as no rot has been of general
occurence, since the destructive year of

z

178 MEANS OF PREVENTING

1817, when such a preventative was not
then applied by me.

If the above method of administering
salt, which is found to be attended
with such evident advantages to the
flocks in a sound state, should be deem-
ed either impracticable, or inefficient, there
is no insuperable difficulty in the way of
their being supplied with it, in the same
manner as obtains in Spain. When the
state of the weather will admit of it,
let hollow stones, placed at proper dis-
tances on the sheep walks, have a pro-
per quantity of dry salt laid on each,
and let the sheep, one parcel after an-
other in proportion to the number of
stones, be trained to lick it, and after
tasting it once, they will return of then-
own accord as often as it may be neces-
sary to treat them in this manner.
This may be done at any time when
the weather sets in dry between the
beginning of July and the end of Oc-
tober. If it be objected that this pro-

AND CURING THE ROT.

179

cess is attended with too much labour and
expense, even to be attempted, the same
objections were once made to the smear-
ing of sheep, and to their being sup-
plied with hay and turnips in the storms
of winter. As the causes of rot have
not yet been sufficiently developed, it
is presumed that if the salt be admini-
stered before the beginning, or at least
before the middle of September it will
prove the more efficient preventative of
the disease, as it is better to check it
in the bud than to combat it when it
has assumed a formidable appearance.
In this way too they will have the full
use of the whole of the salt, as no
portion of it will be lost by evaporation,
as will be the case when it is sown
upon the pasture and moistened by the
dews of the night, and as it will reach
the stomach in the full possession of all
its natural qualities.

I have only to regret that these means
of prevention and cure, in their applica-
z 2

I

iSO MEANS OF PREVENTING

tion on some farms, must necessarily be
obstructed by almost insurmountable diffi-
culties. But supposing their impractica-
bility in some instances or even their
inefficiency where not properly or in due
time applied, I trust I have , proof enough
of the possibility of curing sheep of
the rot, after the disease has really begun,
by virtue of salt.

In the year 1817, one very active shep-
herd in my neighbourhood who had the
charge of 200 ewes, observing them
tainted with rot, bethought himself of
trying the experiment, and conducted it
in the following way : — whenever he saw
any one or more of them shewing une-
quivocal symptoms of rot, he brought
them into a dry court yard or empty
house, and fed them with hay, turnips,
or a few oats ; to every two of them he
gave twice a day a handful of salt, which
he dissolved in water, and putting the so-
lution into a tea-pot, it was poured down
their throats. This was repeated for se-

AND CURING THE ROT.

1SI

veral successive days, and continued till
some improvement in the condition of the
sheep was discernible, after which they
were turned out to the field. If the re-
appearance of symptoms did not justify

c-

their continuance with the flock, they were
again conducted home and the salt was
as before administered. Few of them
required more than two such courses ; but
a great proportion of the flock was treat-
ed in this manner, and the shepherd de-
livered the whole of them alive at Whit-
sunday, except one ewe which had died
in lambing.

Another unquestionable instance of the
efficacy of salt as a cure for the rot, 1 can
also produce. In the above year, to which
I have had occasion so often to refer, I
sold a lot of SO ewes, for a trust con-
cern on a neighbouring farm, in the be-
ginning of October. They went to the
lower part of the county, where they got
an abundant supply of wholesome food.
The purchaser disposed of 10 of them at

MEANS OF PREVENTING

182

a fair run, to a friend of his whose farm
lay along the sea coast. The 70 that re-,
mained were soon discovered to be in-
fected with rot, and the only means of
restoration that were applied, was a plen-
tiful allowance of the best food. The
event proved, however, as has but too
often happened, that in trusting to the
powerful tendency of this, the farmer
trusted to a broken reed ; for during the
winter and spring more than half of them
died, and only a few of what survived
.were able to nurse their lambs. They
were killed in the following Autumn, and
were all found far gone in the rot.

The 10 that went to the sea coast
never shewed any outward symptoms of
the complaint, but on the contrary got
into excellent condition, and each of
them brought up a lamb in great order,
Had our proof extended no farther than
this, there would have been a presump-
tion that the salt spray upon the sea
coast had prevented the rot from making

AND CURING THE ROT. 183

any greater progress, if it really liad been
begun. But the result leaves not the
least shadow of doubt ; for when these
were killed in Autumn, the ravages that
the fluke worms had made on the liver,
were perfectly visible, the worms them-
selves were dead and the parts healed
up ; nothing but the scars remained,
shewing where they had been.

Both these examples will undoubtedly,
to every unprejudiced mind, afford the
most undeniable evidence of the truth of
salt being a remedy for the rot. To the
experience of those mentioned, I can
scarcely add that of my own. I have,
indeed, sometimes selected a sheep from
amongst the flocks, of which I have had
a pretty well grounded suspicion of its
being affected by the disease, and have
by salt restored it to an equality with
the rest. But I have not as yet had
any fair opportunity of effecting a ge-
neral cure, neither do I at all long for
one, though I am perfectly convinced

184 , MEANS OF PREVENTING

that, did the disease again appear it
would be quickly removed by the use of
salt properly applied, and in sufficient
quantity.

In taking measures to slop the further
progress of rot, after it has evidently be-
gun, I would recommend the method
of brining hay, which the Americans em-
ploy. When the hay is to be stacked in
Autumn for winter feeding, I would have
a small stack appropriated for the pur-
pose of being sprinkled with salt. This
stack to contain as much hay as would
serve the, sheep for a fortnight, half feed-
ing, which to old sheep will be about
a half pound per day. . Provision will of
course be made according to the num-
ber of sheep. When the hay is stacked,
it may be sprinkled after the manner
which the letter from an American, form-
erly quoted, points out 5 and I would al-
low about two bushels of salt to every
ton of hay, which will amount to a very
small expense. This ought to be given

AND CURING THE ROT.

185

them in any frosty morning, should any
symptoms of the disease appear ; and
would greatly increase their value were
it given any time during the winter,
though we were quite sure of the total
absence of rot. In every season this is
a practice which I would earnestly re-
commend.

If this plan prove unsuccessful, of
which I trust there will be little danger,
there remains only one other resource,
and that is, by administering dissolved
salt to those sheep that still seem to be
affected, by means of a tea-pot, or any
other convenient instrument. One sheep
may be allowed nearly half a pound of
salt evety day, and to be given at two
different times. Or one half of this quan-
tity may be dissolved and given in the
above manner, whilst the other half may
be sprinkled upon hay. But if the salt
be administered in any way, it is a mat-
ter of indifference, I believe, after what
manner it is done ; provided it be con-

186 MEANS OF CURING THE ROT.

tinuecl till the sheep has made a manifest
improvement in its appearance, which is
presumptive evidence that the disease no
longer preys upon it.

If these measures, then, are carried
into execution, I may affirm with some
degree of confidence, that our flocks
will not henceforth be carried away by
this baneful malady. A w'all of defence
is erected against the batteries, with
which it has assailed them, which will
repel its severest attacks. Its pestilen-
tial influence, which has so long haunt-
ed and ravaged the fields on which our
herds delighted to graze, may now stalk
abroad without striking terror and dis-
may into our breasts. Still it may in-
jure, but it cannot destroy ; its arrows
being stript of their venom, wdl inflict
wounds only to be healed.

APPENDIX.

£|fter having treated so fully of
the cause, the means of prevention and
cure for the rot, it may be wondered
why I have been silent upon that other
very destructive disease, called Braxy or
sickness ; this being the next most com-
monly known, and most fearful malady,
that prevails on the generality of
stock farms in this country. As I con-
sider it, therefore, to stand, by many
degrees, nearest in importance to the
rot, and as it does not fall within the
body of the treatise, I have here affixed
the thoughts that I have been enabled
to collect concerning it.

a a 2

188

appendix.

Perhaps it may be thought, that it is
at least unnecessary for me to offer any
remarks upon this subject, since Mr Hogg
has already treated it at considerable
length. There are none who will more

O

readily allow the value and superiority
of his treatise upon this disease than I
do ; but as many of my readers may
have never had any opportunity of ex-
amining Mr Hogg’s work, and as my
own experience with this disease has
been pretty extensive, too much so indeed,
it may not be improper to state in a
cursory manner what is of weight con-
cerning it. To those, however, who wish
to have a more minute acquaintance
of it, I refer them to the work allud-
ed to.

It is not at all my design to enter
into any description of those different
species of Braxy on which Mr Hogg has
exercised his powers, both as he has con-
ducted bis observations with acute re-
search, and as I intend to make my limited

APPENDIX.

ISO

remarks entirely ot a practical nature.
With that species which so frequently
pervades districts such as this, and which
proceeds from indigestion, I mean to
be altogether confined.

The remote cause of sickness is gen-
erally considered to take its rise in the
hogs eating too voraciously of soft herb-
age in Autumn, and after the consumption
of which, they are obliged to betake
themselves to harder and less easily di-
gested food. This bears very much the
semblance of truth, and appears farther
true from this circumstance, that I have
known hogs die of it, which had come
from a coarser to a finer pasture, whilst
those that had been bred and reared
upon the same farm were never infected.
Such as had been accustomed to less
valuable pasturage, would naturally devour
with greater avidity the more desirable
food to which they were transferred, and
would thereby bring on the disease of
which we speak.

190

APPENDIX.

To attribute the complaint wholly to
this cause, however, does not seem to
be altogether free from embarrassment.
For being at one period very much an-
noyed by it, and experiencing many very
heavy losses, I was led to try the experi-
ment, amongst the many other preventa-
tives and cures that have been prescribed,
of changing the pasture of the hogs. I
have put them upon a field of very good
young clover, which was, indeed, attended
with the effect of giving a temporary check
to the disease ; but after their continu-
ance of a few days, returned with un-
abated violence. This instance appears
to be rather at variance with the cause
above mentioned, but if fully investigated
might perhaps be found to accord with
it, as I never made any minute enquiries
into the matter.

Hogs generally die very rapidly of this
distemper, and are not unfrequently found
lying dead in the morning, without any
symptoms having been observed, in the

APPENDIX.

191

preceding evening. If any means are
to be taken to prevent its effects, the
flocks should be occasionally looked to dur-
ing the course of the night. The first
symptom of the disease as mentioned by
Mr Hogg, is the animal’s ceasing to chew
the cud. “ As the distemper advances,
the agony which it -suffers becomes more
and more visible. When it stands it
brings all its four feet into the compass
of a foot ; and sometimes it continues to
rise and lie down alternately every two
or three minutes. The eyes are heavy
and dull, and deeply expressive of its
distress. The ears hang down, and when
more narrowly inspected, the mouth and
tongue are dry and parched, and the
white of the eye inflamed.”

There is no disease perhaps, undoubt-
edly there is none to which sheep are
subject, for which as many preventatives
and cures have been prescribed, and with
more flattering promises, than the one
under consideration. The powers of tar

APPENDIX.

132

and mustard and such nonsensical stuff
have been set forth in a wonderful light,
as being infallible cures for the sickness,
but which rather hasten than prevent the
death of the animal. Those recommend-
ed by Mr Hogg, are, first upon its being
discovered the shepherd should give the
hog a severe heat by running ; next bath-
ing it amongst warm water for eight or
ten minutes, giving it at the same time
water gruel, mixed with butter. These
are simple experiments and are at least
worthy of trial.

There is something of a different cast,
which I would recommend to the trial of
those who are troubled with the braxy,
as for many years I have happily not
been troubled with it on my own farm,
and which for aught I know, has never
been singly administered for this disease,
and that is salt. As the disease pro-
ceeds more immediately from indigestion,
it is exceedingly likely that salt if given
in sufficient quantities may dispel it, as

APPENDIX.

193

we know that has a laxative tendency.
If a large doze of this were granted the
animal as soon as it was observed to be
affected, we are from the ordinary ef-
fects of salt led to conclude that the
result would be favourable.

But whether salt may not, from the
rapidity with which the disease increases,
produce the end desired, could it be
given in small quantities to the whole
flock of sheep among which it begins
to prevail, there is little doubt that it
would be effectual in preventing it.
Such sheep as pasture upon the sea
coasts and have the inestimable ad-
vantage of marsh, are not at all sub-
ject to the braxy, being regularly purged
by the salt which is impregnated in the
marsh. And we have every reason also
to suppose, that if our hogs, immediately
upon the commencement of the disease,
were to be daily allowed a little salt or
saline pastures, there would be small loss
occasioned by the braxy.

b b

194

APPENDIX.

. In some districts, especially in the Et-
terick forest, the farmers have in a great
measure banished the sickness, by “pas-
turing the young and old of their flocks
all together.” This plan wherever it can
be practised without much inconvenience,
should always be carefully attended to,
as the young reap advantage in various
ways from thus living in common and
sharing the experience of the old. But
this is in many cases almost impracti-
cable, at least would be attended with no.
profit. On such farms, as was before
observed, let the pasture for one hirsel
be as nearly as possible of one soil ; to
overlook this is a mighty error, and the
surest means of making the flock un-
equal.. The heather should also be re-
gularly burned, and the sheep never al-
lowed to pasture long upon soft grass.

There is one other measure only which
I intend to recommend, and which I
consider to be an infallible antidote against
the progress of this malady. If the

APPENDIX.

395

above attempts to prevent it, either fail
or cannot be practised, the next and the
last method to which recourse can be
had, is to put the hogs upon turnips. If
it continue to destroy them rapidly, they
should be immediately inclosed in a small
portion of a field of turnips ; for if their
bounds are too wide, the disease will for.
some time continue, until they begin to
eat the body of the turnip. This I have
invariably found gives a settling stroke to
the disease. It may indeed, commence
its ravages so early, as to occasion the
loss of a few turnips ; but this will be
comparatively small to what might other-
wise be sustained.

Besides these, I know of no other
antidotes against this disease. If it can-
not be put a stop to by any of these
means, it will baffle all our efforts.
But if these are carefully applied, I
conceive that I have sufficient grounds
to warrant me in stating, that the braxy,

39 &

APPENDIX.

like the rot, will no longer deprive us
of the best of our flocks, and that it
will henceforth be known by little else-
but its. name.

JTinis.

errata.

PAGE xxiii, LINE 11,

10 , 2 ,

" 25, „ — . 3 (

~~ 2 6 t 1 5,

27, 5,

25 , rmvfyy 5 ,

FOB would be, read would not be
" safely all, read all safely

losses which, read losses with which
— and arrived, read and when arrived

runing, read running

(m tome copies ) for commencerant, read
commencement