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when it is wished to make a ewe that has lost her own lambnurse that of another ewe that has had twins, or that hasperished in lambing, or is from any cause incapable of rear-ing her lamb. The ewe, after being shut up for a few hourswith the stranger lamb, usually admits it to the teat, and everafter treats it as her own; though sometimes a little deceptionis necessary, such as covering the stranger with the skin ofher own lamb.
11. At this important season, an inclosure of rich earlygrass, near the shepherd’s cottage, is of vast advantage. Thi-ther he carries the ewes and twins,—such as have little milk,— those that have been induced to adopt another’s offspring,
■—and generally, all that need to be frequently inspected, andare in want of better treatment than the rest of the flock.It will give a sufficiently distinct idea of the dangers whichattend the lambing season on the Cheviot hills to mention,that in the spring of 1799, a third part of the lambs on manyfarms perished; and in every late .spring, there is a consider-able loss even upon the best farms;—so far is it from beingtr ue, that the Cheviot sheep are bred on low fertile lands only,aud highly fed with turnips and hay.
12. As soon as the weather is favourable, after a consider-able number of the ewes have lambed, they are collected intoa fold, and all the male lambs are castrated, except a few ofthe best, reserved for rams. The ewe lambs are never spayed.-~An assistant holds up the lamb with its back towards hisbreast, and the operator, commonly the principal shepherd,c «ts off a part of the scrotum, and gently starting the tes-ticles, seizes them with his teeth, and draws them out, withl he ligaments attached to them. The tails of ewe and we-ther lambs are usually shortened at the same time, anda small tar-mark is put on the latter, particularly on suchas have but one testicle in the scrotum, which are called)l & a nds, and afterwards chacers and teazers, and should bealways carefully distinguished. It is advisable to performthe severe but necessary operation of gelding, when the lambs
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