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Gentleman's Magazine 1891 part 2 p.126
clearly at the time, one class of herbage comes in as the
other dies out. There is on the edge of the brows of the
grit formation, in the early bloom of summer, a fine grass
called "mountain fesk," to which the young animals must be
brought to give them a start in life. They soon take to it,
but even when they have eaten the gound bare, and have
before them the prospect of starvation, they must be driven
off repeatedly and shown other food before they will
relinquish the old ground. Yorkshiremen are like their sheep
- a real native would almost prefer to die rather than leave
the old spot: once "earthed" you cannot drive him from his
home!
It is perhaps well for us that the silly sheep do not fancy
the ling during the summer, when we and the bees enjoy it so
much; but, when the "back-end" comes, we - the bees and
ourselves - are more indifferent, and they - the sheep -
less so. We might here, too, "point a moral": for do we not
often neglect, in its glorious beauty, that which we turn to
in its withered old age? "That harvest of amethyst bells;
what substance is there in it, yearly gathered out of the
mountain winds, stayed there as if the morning and evening
clouds had been caught out of them, and woven into flowers;
'Ropes of sea-sand' - but that is child's magic merely,
compared to the weaving of the heath out of the cloud. And
once woven, how much of it is for ever worn by the Earth?
What wieght of that transparent tissue, half crystal and
half comb of honey, lies strewn every year dead under the
snow? No one is less likely than Mr. Ruskin to forget the
sheep, and I need not therefore ask his permission to
disturb some of this snow. We shall have to bring up some
harrows, and with much labour draw them over the white
sheet; but fodder is scarce and dear, and if the sheep
starve their master is likely to pine too. So this dead,
ungathered "harvest of amethyst bells" is garnered under the
snow, to feed the hungry flocks and enrich the toiling
farmer, after it has performed the proud part of its task
for us and for the bees.
When the cold season sets in immediatly after the warm
weather it affects the sheep with blindness unless special
precautions are taken to shelter them in huts. It would be
well if in this matter it were more usual for farmers to
benefit themslves, while bestowing a greater boon upon their
charges, by arranging for some rude shelter to which the
flocks "might run and be safe." As soon as the frost and
snow begin to disappear the ling becomes drier and less
relishing, and we have to inquire what diet Nature provides
next. Accident, the old cock birds, and artifice, all
conspire to point out the newest dish. In working among the
ling the young sheep now begin to pull
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