OF SCOTLAND.

117

sufficient, in this place, to notice the outlines and points ofdifference, reserving a more particular account for the fol-lowing section.

The period of gestation with sheep being twenty-oneweeks, the general term of the admission of the rams to theewes, is from the 15 th to the 22d November, so that the lamb-ing season may commence about the 11th or 18th April.The ewes are not allowed to have lambs till they are twoyears old, and in some situations, not till three. One ranjserves from 40 to 50 ewes.

The lambs intended for wedders are castrated as late ascan be hazarded, that they may show better in the forehandand in the horn *. After the lambs were weaned about the mid-dle of July, (though in several places they are allowed tosuck much longer), it was the common practice to milk theewes for six, seven, or even ten weeks; but in some farmsmilking is totally discontinued, and in others the period ismuch shortened. The old ewes, sometimes called crocks ,crones, and slack ewes, are drafted from the flock, andsold when from five to seven years old, commonly in au-tunin, but sometimes in the spring before dropping theirlambs, when they are denominated great ewes. At both timesthey are purchased by farmers or graziers in the low coun-ty, who fatten the lambs first, and the dams afterwards, inthe course of the following summer.

These sheep are shorn from the end of June to the mid-dle of July, beginning with the rams, wedders, and hogs.•They are not in general washed before being shorn, as is thePase with the Cheviot and Leicester breeds. They are almostffil smeared in November with a mixture of tar and butter; 12Scotch'pints, (about 21^. English quarts) of Norway tar, with2 stones avoirdupois of butter, suffice for 50 lambs, or for 60^neared for the second time. The same quantity of tar, with33 lbs. of butter, smears 80 older sheep f. Different propor-

* IVcbles-sliire Report, p. 189,

f Ibid. p. 190.