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elves till they are three years old, instead of two. To supplythe place of the old ewes sold yearly, there must therefore betwo ages of females, one of them shearlings or gimmers, andthe other two shear or young ewes. The wethers were for-merly sold at 34- years old, but of late frequently a year soon-er. In the latter case, a flock of 2500 sheep at smearingtime, after allowing a deduction from the numbers of theyoung stock, for inferior lambs or hogs drafted and sold, andfor casualties, may consist of the following proportions:
Ewes to firing lambs in the ensuing spring,
-
1000
Ewe hogs, .....
400
Gimmers, (once shorn), ...
350
■ 750
Wether hogs, ....
400
Dinmonts, (once shorn), -
350
• 750
2500
The proportion of different ages is, however, entirely de-pendent on the circumstances of every farm, which prescribethe most profitable arrangement. On some of the lowerfarms, for instance, the ewes bring their first lamb at twoyears old; and on a few of the higher situations, it may be ad-visable to keep the wethers till 3-4- years old. If the pasturesare so much diversified, as to require that both these arrange-ments should be combined, a stock of 2500 sheep at smear-ing time would consist of different proportions from thosestated above; a lot of wethers twice shorn would have to beadded to the one side, and the gimmers withdrawn from the°ther. By the above arrangement, the ewes are supposed tohe sold when they have brought lambs for three years, or atfile age of five and a half, and their place is supplied by thegimmers, which are then a year older.
Each of these five descriptions of stock, is kept in a sepa-ratc hirsel , if the number is not too small for employing ashepherd; and in the course of the following summer, a sixth