ence fine each time he failed to bring in all
the cattle at night.

On Long Island and in Connecticut there were cowherds, calf-keepers, and
pound-keepers. The calf-keepers' duties were to keep the calves away
from the cows, water them, protect them, etc. In Virginia and Maryland
there were cow-pens in early days, and cowherds; but in the South the
cattle generally roamed wild through the forests, and were known to
their owners by earmarks. In all communities earmarks and other brands
of ownership on cattle, horses, sheep, and swine were very important,
and rigidly regarded where so much value was kept in domestic cattle.
These earmarks were registered by the town clerk in the town records,
and were usually described both in words and rude drawings. One of my
great-great-grandfather's earmarks for his cows was a "swallow-fork slit
in both ears"; another was a slit under the ear and a "half-penny mark
on the foreside of the near ear." This custom of herding cattle in
common lasted in some out-of-the-way places to this century, and even
lingered long in large cities such as Boston, where cows were allowed to
feed on Boston Common till about 1840. In Philadelphia until the year
1795 a cowherd stood every morning at the corner of Dock and Second
streets, blew his horn, tramped off to a distant pasture followed by all
the cows of his neighborhood, who had run out to him as soon as they
heard the familiar sound. He led them back to the same place at night,
when each returned alone to her own home.

Sheep-herds or shepherds in colonial days also took charge of the sheep
of many owners in herd-walks, or ranges, by day, and by night in
sheep-folds built with fences and gates.

Fence-viewers were men who were appointed by the town for common benefit
to take charge of building and keeping in repair the fences that
surrounded the "great lotts" or commons; that is, the enclosed fields
which were the common property of each town, in which all farmers living
near could place their cattle. The fence-viewers saw that each man
worked a certain amount each year on these "pales" as the fences were
called, or paid his share for the work of others. Each farmer or
cow-owner usually built about twenty feet of fence for each cow which he
pastured in the "great lotts." The fence-viewers also examined the
condition of fences around private lands; noted breaks and ordered
repairs. For if cattle broke through a poorly made fence, and did damage