Gents Mag 1891 part 2 p.127
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Gentleman's Magazine 1891 part 2 p.127
up by chance a few louk shoots, which the older ones recognise with pleasure as soon as they see them. The shepherd himself, if he be a considerate one, also pulls them up and strews them on the ground, because he is really anxious for the inexperienced to learn their value. The louk grass soon makes this value known by the increased healthiness which it imparts: the clear, bright faces, the good complexions are very soon to be noticed, and when once the flock have accepted the new food they begin to thrive and do well. The pulling-up of this grass is not a pulling-up by the roots, but a drawing out of a sheath - a process which is only possible after February. Birds, moor-game, and others understand this. Possibly the same sensations which occur to man from well-cooked asparagus are present with the sheep and birds; and Nature, being the most correct of cooks, will not serve her dainties up until they are ready for the palate. The wily shepherd therefore attempts to present the soft, juicy end to his saucy youngsters by the method referred to, and the smart way in which the old hands can draw out and nobble from the bottom upwards is worth observing. The moss-crops are the young flowers of the louk, which are bitten off at a time when the parent stem begins to be drawn out. Afterwards the bents succeed, and carry the nibblers through the summer, at the close of which an adventure awaits many of them, to which I must now refer. Those farmers who have not lower grounds suitable for wintering young sheep are compelled to make terms with others, who undertake the care of them at a certain price per head. This custon of "festing," "gisting," or "joisting" (all these terms I have found confirmed by Halliwell) seems to have been in use from early times. The period of agistment commences at Michaelmas, and ends in some places on the 6th, at others on the 24th, of April. The sending-away of the young flock is as pathetic and anxious a matter almost as sending lads away from home to school. The masters who supply nourishment at from six shillings to seven shillings per head are as varied in their characters as are the gentlemen of whose profession Dr. Arnold and Mr. Squeers are acknowledged types. Sheep are not to all Yorkshiremen mere representatives of wealth; the farmers take care of them from goodness of heart as well as from greed, and while they deeply regret the death of the poor dumb beasts, they can, when the money-sore is healed, laugh as heartily over their own mischances as over some humorous tale at another's expense. I knew one very careful farmer, so careful that his friends said that, if it were only sixpence which came into his possession, "it were a prisoner." This |
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