242 FARM ANIMALS 



may also be accomplished by collecting seeds of 

 the native grasses and sowing them on the range. 



In the following paragraphs some of the charac- 

 teristics of the chief breeds of sheep with which we 

 have to deal in this country are outlined. In the 

 first place, there are two general types of sheep, 

 the mutton and the wool types. The mutton 

 type as ordinarily understood, includes such 

 breeds as Shropshire, Southdown, Hampshire, 

 Cotswold, Lincoln, Oxford, Leicester, while the 

 wool type is chiefly represented by the various 

 breeds of Merinos. The breeds of sheep are 

 frequently classified according to the quality of 

 the wool. When the classification is made on this 

 basis the coarse-wooled breeds include Leicester, 

 Lincoln, and Cotswold, the medium wooled include 

 the Southdown, Shropshire, Dorset, Cheviot, 

 Suffolk, Oxford, and Hampshire, and the fine 

 wooled breeds various kinds of Merinos. Nearly 

 all of the modern breeds of domestic sheep origi- 

 nated in Great Britain and have found their way 

 to this country and elsewhere from their original 

 home. The chief characteristics of the so-called 

 mutton type include depth, length and regular form 

 of body, a fleece of even length and uniform quality 

 and well formed shoulders and hips. In gen- 

 eral, the type of this sheep has been developed 

 so as to give a form in which the fine cuts of mutton 

 are highly developed and in this respect the form 

 of the mutton sheep corresponds in its purpose 

 with that of beef cattle. 



Merinos originally came from Spain, but have 

 undergone great modifications in the various 

 countries where they have been distributed. In 

 the United States we have the American Merino, 

 Delaine Merino and Rambouillets. In general, 



