THE SHEEP. 



1 1. Cotswolds. This breed has been long raised 

 on the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and is 

 abundant in the fertile valleys of South Wales. 

 It possesses long open wool, and is perhaps the 

 largest sheep in the kingdom. It is valued for its 

 mutton, the lean meat being large in proportion 

 to the fat. It is used to some extent in crossing 

 -ewes of smaller breeds, for raising feeding-stock 

 or lambs for the butcher, but it is not equal to the 

 Leicester for early maturity. 



12. The Devonshire Notts, Romney Marsh, Old 

 Lincolnshire, Teeswater, and Old Leicester sheep, 

 There are two varieties of the Devonshire Notts ; 

 one is called the Dun-faced Notts, from the 

 colour of the face ; this is a coarse animal, with 

 flat ribs and crooked back, but it yields a fleece 

 weighing ten pounds, and when fat, weighs 

 twenty-two pounds per quarter when only thirty 

 months old. The second variety is called the 

 Bampton Notts ; it resembles the former in many 

 respects, but is easier fed, yields less wool, and 

 has the face and legs white. 



The Romney Marsh breeds are very large 

 animals, with white faces and legs, and yield a 

 heavy fleece, the quality good of its kind. Their 

 general structure is defective, the chest being 

 narrow, and the extremities coarse. The result 

 of their being crossed by the New Leicester is still 

 a. point in dispute one party alleging that, though 

 the quantity of wool has been lessened, and the 

 size of the animal diminished by the cross, the 

 tendency to fatten and the general form have 

 been much improved. On the other hand, some 

 well-informed breeders contend that, besides the 

 loss of the quantity and quality of the wool, the 

 constitution of the animal is rendered less fitted to 

 the cold and marshy pastures on which it feeds. 



The Old Lincolnshire breed are large, coarse, 

 ill-shaped, slow feeders, and yield indifferent 

 mutton, but a fleece of very heavy long wool 

 The Teeswater breed were originally derived from 

 the preceding, and pastured on the rich lands in 

 the valley of the Tees, from which they derive 

 their name ; but Professor Low remarks, that ' it 

 is entirely changed by crossing with the Dishly 

 breed, and that the old unimproved race of the 

 Tees is now scarcely to be found.' They are very 

 large, and attain a greater weight than almost any 

 other breed the two-year-old wethers weighing 

 from twenty-five to thirty pounds per quarter, and 

 yielding a long and heavy fleece. 



The Old Leicester is a variety of the coarse 

 long-woolled breeds. On rich pastures, they feed to 

 a great weight; but being regarded as slow feeders, 

 their general character has either been changed 

 by crossing, or altogether abandoned for more 

 improved varieties. 



1 3. The New or Border Leicester. Mr Bakewell 

 of Dishly, in the county of Leicester, has the honour 

 of forming this most important breed of sheep. 

 He turned his attention to improving the form 

 of feeding animals about the year 1755. The 

 exact method he followed in forming his breed of 

 sheep is not accurately known, as he is said to 

 have observed a prudent reserve on the subject 

 But we now know that there is but one way of 

 correcting the defective form of an animal 

 namely, by breeding for a course of years from 

 animals of the most perfect form, till the defects 

 are removed, and the properties sought for ob- 

 tained. Though the Border Leicesters have been 



bred from the New or English Leicesters, their 

 forms and chief characteristics are now widely 

 different, and they are frequently classed as a dis- 

 tinct breed. Forty years ago, the ewes of some 

 of the present flocks of Border Leicesters in 

 Scotland were then composed of English blood, 

 and rams from Mr Buckley of Normantonhill, 

 Leicesters, and others were regularly purchased 

 to maintain the desired purity of blood. At that 

 time, purchasers of rams for crossing began to 

 give larger prices for sheep of greater size and 

 bone than those lately imported from the south. 

 There can be little doubt this increased size and 

 activity were merely produced by the more ex- 

 tended fields and cooler climate of Scotland ; 

 while the stock was still fed on pasturage rich 

 enough to keep them in high condition. The 

 great properties for the farmer of the Border 

 Leicesters, as they are now called, are their 

 early maturity and disposition to fatten. They 

 are also of a most productive nature, three- 

 fourths of a flock have frequently twins, and 

 triplets are common. They have long open and 

 spiral wool; ordinary fleeces weigh about eight 

 pounds ; but ram fleeces often reach double that 

 weight At one time, Leicester wool was much 

 cheaper than the fine close wool of the South- 

 down and the Cheviot ; but now, as combing and 

 lustre wool, it fetches the highest price in the 

 market. Leicesters are now reared with great 

 success in almost every part of England, and in 

 the colonies of Australia, where they and the 

 South-downs were early imported. 



CHOICE OF BREEDS. 



If the farmer has rendered himself master of 

 the constitution and character of the different 

 breeds of domestic sheep already given, and with 

 the general and peculiar character of the climate, 

 soil, and pasturage of the locality on which he is 

 to settle, the selection of the breed that will, upon 

 the whole, yield him the highest profit, will not be 

 a matter of very difficult calculation. But should 

 an error be committed on this head in the first 

 trial, very slight experience would enable a prac- 

 tical farmer to correct it, unless he belong to that 

 class of persons unfortunately too numerous 

 to whom the lessons of history and experience 

 convey neither knowledge nor correction. 



The breeds best adapted to the soil and climate 

 of the different districts of Great Britain, are 

 arranged by Professor Low in the following 

 manner : ist, The sheep of the mountains, lower 

 moors, and downs ; and 2</, The sheep of the 

 plains. The sheep of the first class have some- 

 times horns, and sometimes want them. The 

 finest of them have no horns namely, the Cheviot 

 and South-down. One of them, the Black-faced 

 heath breed, has coarse wool ; another of them, 

 the Moorland sheep of Devonshire, has long but 

 not coarse wool ; and all the others have short and 

 fine wooL 



Of the Moorland and Down breeds, as they 

 may be called, the hardiest is the Black-faced 

 heath breed ; and this property points it out as the 

 most suitable for a high ana rugged country, 

 where artificial food cannot be procured. The 

 breed next to this in hardy properties, but sur- 

 passing it in the weight of the individuals, is the 

 Cheviot. Where the pasture contains a sufficiency 



MI 



