100 



The Journal of Heredity 



Air. Bell noticed traces of rudiment- 

 ary nipples on some of the sheep exam- 

 ined, and gathered confidence that by a 

 careful scientific process of selection, 

 these rudimentary nipples could be de- 

 veloped into functional milk-bags, se- 

 creting sufficient milk for the proper 

 rearing of a number of lambs at a 

 l)irth. 



In such manner began the exj^eriments 

 to create a many-nippled breed of 

 sheep, ultimately to be developed into 

 a true twin-bearing variety. These 

 were continued with varying degrees of 

 success, but never-failing interest on 

 Mr. Bell's part, to the end of his life. 

 A great amount of time, study and per- 

 sonal labor was bestowed upon them 

 every year. Whenever possible he was 

 at hand to welcome the lambs in early 

 spring, and to superintend the mating 

 in the autumn. On one occasion he 

 even crossed the Atlantic largely for 

 that purpose, returning to Europe af- 

 terwards. 



During the first years Mr. Bell paid 

 especial attention to the details of the 

 care of his sheep throughout the long 

 Northern winters. Believing that high, 

 dry pasturage was particularly bene- 

 ficial, and that the division of animals 

 into small groups made their protection 

 against epidemics more easy, he built 

 a veritable village of small sheep houses 

 on the top of Beinn Bhreagh. He 

 named this "Sheepville" and it had 

 regular main and cross streets, which 

 also had their individual names. Nearly 

 every day for some years he conducted 

 his sometimes rather reluctant family 

 up the mountain, often through deep 

 snow, to visit those sheep, and they 

 became personally acquainted with Gen- 

 erals Grant and Lee, the first sires of 

 the breed. 



It was not practicable, however, to 

 remain every winter at Beinn Bhreagh, 

 and gradually the personal care of the 

 sheep was left to shepherds, who un- 

 fortunately did not always deserve the 

 confidence reposed in them. On one 

 f)Ccasion the whole flock was almost 

 wii)ed out of existence by the indiffer- 



ence of a shepherd, who left it outside 

 the houses one night during a wild 

 March blizzard ; on another only three 

 sheep escaped the ravages of wild dogs. 

 Even when Mr. Bell went to the ex- 

 pense of importing a medical student 

 from Washington to supply his own 

 place during an enforced absence, he 

 can hardly be said to have been more 

 lucky, since the scientific interest of 

 this gentleman was so keen that he cut 

 open one of the crack ewes to see if 

 it really had twins ! It is perhaps per- 

 missible therefore to question whether, 

 with more intelligent understanding and 

 greater care on the part of his assist- 

 ants, ]\Ir. Bell might not have advanced 

 further in the establishment of his 

 variety of six-nippled, twin-bearing 

 sheep. 



However this may be, Mr. Bell him- 

 self never failed in the devotion with 

 which he conducted his own share of 

 the work. The scope of the investiga- 

 tion indeed narrowed. When Davidson 

 left his employ some years ago he dis- 

 continued the minute weighing of each 

 sheep before and after meals, and dur- 

 ing rain and sunshine, and the individ- 

 ual feeding of measured quantities of 

 food and observations on the influence 

 of greater or less food, or different 

 kinds of food on ewes during, and 

 after, or before pregnancy, which some 

 one protested was likely to weigh the 

 animals out of existence ! But there 

 never was any diminution in the 

 amount of care exercised in the selec- 

 tion of sheep for continued breeding. 

 The languor of illness was already on 

 him when he made the examination of 

 the sheep on which this last summary 

 was based, but there was not the small- 

 est deviation from the usual routine. 

 The sheep were gathered into one of 

 the barns, the mother ewe and her 

 lambs identified ; the ewe's number 

 looked up in the catalogue, holding it 

 there while Mr. Bell and the farmer 

 critically examined each nipple. Where 

 the animal examined was a ewe the 

 nipples were tested to ascertain whether 

 thev had functioned. 



