592 THE J'OME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPAEDIA. 



Short-woolled sheep, on the other hand, yield a lighter fleece, are lighter 

 in weight, supplying mutton of high quality. Their fat and lean are 

 better mixed, and they lay on much inside fat. The faces and legs are 

 usually brown. They are naturally fitted for high-lying lands, and will 

 bear confinement in folds. 



Under the general term of long-woolled sheep are the Leicester, Cots- 

 wold, and Lincoln ; under medium-woolled are the Cheviot and Oxford 

 Down ; and short wool led embrace the Hampshire, Lincolnshire, South 

 Down, and Merino. 



There is no other domestic animal upon which climatic influences are so 

 great. Pure-bred animals, of any of the distinct breeds, when removed 

 to a locality where the soil and climate are quite different, will in the 

 course of two or three generations gradually change their type. The 

 quality of the wool is dependent upon the climate and soil, not less than 

 upon the breed of sheep. Generally speaking, the native sheep of a district 

 have special qualities, the result of climatic influences, which render them, 

 improved by careful selection and breeding, or by crossing with some 

 other strain, more profitable to keep in that district than any other 

 breed. 



Irrespective of breed, there is now-a-days, a certain type of sheep that 

 we look for to fill the " general purpose " bill, and the intelligent reader 

 from the following description" of a ram will find how near it comes to 

 something between the Leicester and South Down : 



With respect to the Ram. His head should be fine and small ; his 

 nostrils wide and expanded ; his eyes prominent or rather bold and 

 daring ; his ears thin; his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but 

 tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which 

 should be very fine and graceful, and perfectly free from any coarse 

 leather hanging down ; the shoulders should be broad and full, and at 

 the same time joining so imperceptibly to the collar forward and the chine 

 backward, as not to leave the least hollow in either place. The muscular 

 development (or mutton as it is called) upon the arm and fore thigh must 

 .come quite to the knee ; the legs should be upright, with a clear fine bone, 

 and from the knee and hough downwards equally clear from superfluous 

 skin and coarse hairy wool ; the breast should be broad, and advanced 

 well forward, separating widely between the fore-limbs ; the chest should 

 be full and deep, with no falling in behind the shoulders ; the back and 

 loins should be straight, flat and broad; the ribs rising from the spine, 

 with a fine circular arch ; the belly should be straight, not bagging ; the 

 quarters long and full, well fleshed down to the hough ; the houghs should 



