|
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
|