first token. As the distemper advances, the agony which the animal is suffering 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. . . . The belly is prodigiously swelled, even so much that it sometimes bursts. All the different apartments of the stomach are inflamed in some degree."* Violent inflammation succeeds, with a tendency to mortification and sinking, so that, after speedy death, the touch of the viscera, and even of the carcass, is intolerable. Its effects are so sudden, that a hogg apparently well. in the evening will be found dead in the morning. Cure thus seems almost unavailable, and yet it may be effected, provided the symptoms of the disease are observed in time; when, if blood is drawn freely from any part of the body, such as by notches made across the under side of the tail, from the vein under the eye, and that behind the fore-arm, and a dose of salts administered in warm water, the animal will most probably recover. But the grand object is prevention of the disease by a timely supply of succulent food; and if turnips cannot be obtained, it may be worth the store-master's consideration whether oil-cake should not be given to the sheep along with hay, during a storm. The laxative property of oil-cake is well established, and its carriage to the remotest hill-farm comparatively easy. Mr Fairbairn recommends salt to be given to young sheep, when shifted suddenly from fresh to dry food; and no doubt, as a condiment in support of the healthy action of the stomach, it would prove useful; and more especially in the case of cattle and sheep, the structure of whose digestive organs renders them peculiarly liable to the effects of indigestion; and on this account it would be a valuable assistant to the more nutritious oil-cake. And instead of entirely acquiescing in the Ettrick Shepherd's recommendation "to pasture the young and old of the flocks all together,”- -as has been done in Peeblesshire, to the eradication, it is said, of the braxy, —as being in many cases impracticable and attended with no profit, Mr Fairbairn rather observes, "Let the pasture for a hirsel, as was observed before, be as nearly as possible of one soil. To overlook this is a mighty error, and the surest means of making the flock unequal. The heath should also be regularly burned, and the sheep never allowed to pasture long upon soft grass. And as a last resource in an attempt to eradicate the disease everywhere, he would have the sheep put on turnips, as "an infallible antidote against the progress of the malady;" and which he has “invariably found gives a settling stroke to the disease." This last remedy doubtless being effective, I would recommend its adoption rather as a preventive than a cure of the disease. (1380.) The Ettrick Shepherd mentions the existence of 4 kinds of braxy, namely, the bowel sickness, the sickness in the flesh and blood, the dry braxy, and the water braxy, all originating in the same cause, producing modified effects, namely, a sudden change of food from succulent to dry, inducing constipation of the bowels and consequent inflammation, and they are all a class of diseases allied in their nature to hoven in cattle, and flatulent colic or botts in horses. *Hogg's Shepherd's Guide, p. 32. The Mountain-Shepherd's Manual, p. 13. A Lammermuir Farmer's Treatise on Sheep in High Districts, p. 194. 33. OF DRIVING AND SLAUGHTERING SHEEP. "Pierced by Roderick's ready blade, Down his clogg'd beard and shaggy limb, SCOTT. (1381.) Although it is unusual for farmers who possess a standing flock-and most farmers who practise the mixed husbandry have oneto dispose of their fat sheep in winter, that is, before the turnips are all consumed; yet as farmers, who, having no standing flock, purchase a flying one every year, of sheep in forward condition, and in such numbers as to consume the turnips allotted to them in a short time, do dispose of their fat sheep in winter, it is proper that you should be made acquainted here with the driving of sheep upon roads, and the general practice of the mutton-trade. The sheep most forward in condition in autumn are yeld ewes and wethers, the tup-eill ewes being already fat and sold. (1382.) Sheep are purchased from farmers both by dealers and butchers. Dealers buy from farmers in wholesale, and sell to butchers in retail; so they constitute a sort of middlemen; but, unlike most middlemen, their avocation is fully as useful to both parties as to themselves, inasmuch as they purchase at once the whole disposable stock of the farmer, and they assort that stock, and present it at the markets which the different classes of their customers, the butchers, are in the habit of frequenting, in the most suitable form. They thus act the part which the wool-staplers do, in assorting the different qualities of wool between the grower and the manufacturer. They buy either at fairs, or on the farmer's own premises. In the former case they pay ready money, and lift the stock immediately; in the latter, they pay at the time the stock is lifted by agreement. In lifting their bargains, they appoint one time among all the places they have purchased, to make up their entire drove; for it is less costly for their people to drive a large one than a small. Dealers chiefly buy at the country fairs, where they have ample choice, and only purchase on the farmer's premises when stock happens to be scarce, and prices likely to advance. Butchers purchase chiefly in the market towns in which they reside, though they also attend fairs, and pick up a few fat lots which will not bear the long journeys of the dealers; and in this case, they pay ready money and lift immediately, as dealers do. But when they purchase on the farmer's premises, they usually lift so many at a time, according to agreement, and pay only for what they lift. Every farmer should avoid this practice, as every time the butcher comes for his lot the sheep have to be gathered, and the whole handled, that he may take away only those which suit his present purpose; and this commotion is made most probably every week, the whole stock being disturbed by the shouting of men and the barking of dogs, among whom those of the butcher are not the least noisy or the least active. Farmers take their stock either to fairs or market-towns, and there meet the respective sorts of purchasers, the dealers never appearing as purchasers in towns, the butchers there ruling paramount. (1383.) When a dealer purchases on the farmer's premises, he lifts his lot at any time of day that best suits his own arrangements. He begins to lift the first lot in the more distant part of the country, and proceeding on the road in the direction of their destination, he lifts lot after lot until the whole are gathered to the amount of many hundreds. In this way he may lift a lot in the forenoon on one farm, and another in the afternoon on another; and this is a much more satisfactory way for the farmer to dispose of his stock than the one he allows the butcher to adopt. But when a farmer is to drive his own sheep to market, he starts them at a time when the journey will do them the least injury. Sheep should not begin their journey either when too full or too hungry; in the former state they are apt to purge on the road, in the latter they will lose strength at once. The sheep selected for market are the best conditioned at the time, and to ascertain this it is necessary to handle the whole lot and shed the fattest from the rest, and this is best done about midday, before the sheep feed again in the afternoon. The selected ones are put into a field by themselves, where they remain until the time appointed them to start. If there be rough pasture to give them, they should be allowed to use it, and get quit of some of the turnips in them. If there is no such pasture, a few cut turnips on a lea-field will answer. Here all their hoofs should be carefully examined, and every unnecessary appendage removed, though the firm portion of the horn should not be touched. Every clotted piece of wool should also be removed with the shears. The sheep should also be marked with keil, or ruddle, as it is called in England, the ochry-red ironstone of mineralogists, which occurs in abundance near Platte in Bohemia.* The keil-mark is put on the wool and on any part of the body you choose, the purpose being to identify your own sheep in case of any being lost in the * Jameson's Mineralogy, vol. iii. p. 245. fair. The parts usually chosen for marking Leicester sheep are top of shoulder, back, rump, far and near ribs. The mark is made in this way;-Take hold of a small tuft of wool at any of the above parts with the right hand fingers, and seize it between the fore and middle fingers of the left hand with the palm upwards, then colour it with the keil, which requires to be wetted, if the wool itself is not damp. Shortwoolled sheep are usually marked on the head, neck, face, and rump, or with a bar across the shoulders, and generally too much keil is put upon them. The sheep being thus prepared, should have food early in the morning, and be started on their journey about midday, the season, you will remember, being winter. Let them walk gently away; and as the road is new to them, they will go too fast at first, to prevent which the drover should go before them, and let his dog bring up the rear. a short distance they will assume the proper speed, about 1 mile the hour. Should the road they travel be a green one, the sheep will proceed nibbling their way onwards at the grass, along both sides; but if a turnpike, especially a narrow one, the drover will require all his attention in meeting and being passed by every class of vehicle, to avoid injury to his charge. In this part of their business drovers generally make too much ado, both themselves and their dogs, and the consequence is, that the sheep are driven more from side to side of the road than is requisite. On meeting a carriage, it would be much better for the sheep were the drover to go forward, instead of sending his dog, and point off, with his stick, the leading sheep to the nearest side of the road, and the rest will follow as a matter of course, while the dog walks behind the flock, and brings up the stragglers. Open gates to fields are sources of great annoyance to drovers, the stock invariably making an endeavour to go through them. On observing an open gate before, the drover should send his dog behind him over the fence, to be ready to meet the sheep at the gate. When the sheep incline to rest, let them lie down. Before night-fall the drover should inquire of lodging for them for the night, as in winter it is requisite to put them in a grass-field, and supply them with a few turnips or a little hay, the roadsides being bare at that season. If turnips or hay are laid down near the gate of the field they occupy, the sheep will be ready to take the road in the morning; but before doing this, the drover should ascertain whether the road is infested with stray dogs, if which be the case, the sheep should be taken to the safest spot and watched. Many dogs that live in the neighbourhood of droveroads, and more especially village dogs, are in the habit of looking out for sheep to worry, at some distance from their homes. The chief precaution that can be used under such an apprehension is, for the drover to go frequently through the flock with a light, and be late in retiring to rest, and up again early in the morning. This apprehension regarding dogs is not solely in regard to the loss sustained by worrying, but when sheep have been disturbed by them, they will not settle again upon the road. The first day's journey should be a short one, not exceeding 4 or 5 miles. Upon drove-roads farms will be found at stated distances with food and lodging for the drover and his flock at a moderate charge. Allowing 8 miles a day for a winter-day's travel, and knowing the distance of your market by the destined route, the sheep should start in good time, allowance being made for unforeseen delays, and one day's rest near the market. (1384.) The farmers' drover may either be his shepherd, or a professional drover hired for the occasion. The shepherd knowing the flock makes their best drover, if he can be spared so long from home. A hired drover gets 2s. 6d. a-day of wages, besides travelling expenses, and he is intrusted with cash to pay all the necessary dues incidental to the road and markets, such as tolls, forage, ferries, and market custom. A drover of sheep should always be provided with a dog, as the numbers and nimbleness of sheep render it impossible for one man to guide a capricious flock along a road subject to many casualties; not a young dog, who is apt to work and bark a great deal more than necessary, much to the annoyance of the sheep, but a knowing cautious tyke. The drover should have a walking-stick, a useful instrument at times in turning a sheep disposed to break off from the rest. A shepherd's plaid, he will find to afford comfortable protection to his body from cold and wet, while the mode in which it is worn leaves his limbs free for motion. He should carry provision with him, such as bread, meat, cheese, or butter, that he may take luncheon or dinner quietly beside his flock while resting in a sequestered part of the road, and he may slake his thirst in the first brook or spring he finds, or purchase a bottle of ale at a roadside ale-house. Though exposed all day to the air, and even though he feel cold, he should avoid drinking spirits, which only produce temporary warmth, and for a long time after induce chilliness and languor. Much rather let him drink ale or porter during the day, and reserve the allowance of spirits he gives himself until the evening, when he can enjoy it in warm toddy beside a comfortable fire, before retiring to rest for the night. The injunction to refrain from spirits during the day I know will sound odd to the ear of a Highland drover; but though a dram may do him good in his own mountain-air, and while taking active exercise, it does not follow that it will produce equally good effects on a drove-road in the low country in winter, in raw and foggy weather. I believe the |