Gents Mag 1890 part 1 p.529

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	list, 4th qtr 19th century
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	Gentleman's Magazine 1890 part 1 p.529 own "Lot" is as follows: When a retiring tenant is leaving his farm, he is allowed to sell or take with him, say, three-fourths of his flock of 2,000 sheep, but the remaining 500 must be left on the old ground. It is imperative upon the retiring farmer that this nucleus be left, though sometimes the whole flock is taken by the incoming tenant, and so remains. In any case he must purchase the number to be left upon the "heaf" at a valuation by one of the dalesmen, mutually agreed upon by the landlord and himself. In each parish there still exists at some farm a "Shepherd's Guide," setting forth the tar-marks, smits, and ear-slits peculiar to the sheep of each farm in the township. This is in the keeping of some responsible person, and is used as a reference-book in cases of dispute. It sets forth the name of each farm, the number of its heaf-going sheep, a rough definition of their range, and, finally, the account of each flock illustrated by cuts. These show, to take an example, "J. B. on the near shoulder, a red smit down the flank, with the near ear slit down the middle. The "smits and slits" are essential, for although the initials of the owner may, and frequently do, become blurred and indistinct, the former are lasting, and, in cast the animals have strayed, they may be at once identified. With enclosure of the commons, this "Smit-book" is now rarely used, and no recent edition has been printed. Most of the sheep winter on the fells. On the highest of these in severe winter they have to be foddered through three or four months of the year. Hay is taken in peat "sleds," and bundles are thrown down at intervals. Failing this the sheep are expert in scraping away the snow to get at the buried herbage. This they do with their feet and noses, and as the sheep clear away the snow the grouse (though this applies only to the lower ranges) follow and eat the heather seeds from beneath the bushes. Sometimes a whole flock is buried deep and have to be dug out. Even taking it for granted that the whereabouts of the entombed flock is known, the task of rescuing them is one of great difficulty. In attempting it the shepherds have occasionally lost their lives. The animal heat given off by the sheep thus buried thaws a portion of the snow about them. Stretching their necks over this limited area, they devour every blade of green, even the turf itself. This exhausted, they eat the wool from each other's backs. under these circumstances the tenacity of life shown by the sheep is marvellous, and many have been rescued after being buried alive for twenty-eight days. When brought to the light these poor creatures are in a week and emaciated condition. During the long and terrible winter of 1886 the fell sheep suffered
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