WILD SHKKI' 



LIVE STOCK 

 Shoep 



> ..:,:. --:; . 



Breed*. 



! ..- T. 1 . ! ::. .:j 



WOOL 



aininalH have contributed to the breeds of Indian sheep, o. HH< Mem* to have 



[t ft] I- a small |ini|i.,rti,,ii ,,( the patAm known a* /Ao*A, 



and In. in tli.- lu< l,r\ n.al MIIU^ a thick K''"""V xiihtttaiiee is <>' much 



valued in cn-n.-iii- n.ft.il |..ck-. .Mr I >rimiiii. .in I iiitc.miH n.e that pure or 



..ivebeen crowed with this \M!<I *he-p .u,,i thai the progeny ex hi hit, 

 whil<- > .nut'. MM under- fleece similar to pathm. But according to local belief thu* 

 Mined if dumba 8toc-k he employed. 



Breeds of Domestic Sheep. Sheep are met with throughout the 



- and lower hills of India and up the Himalaya to the sub-arctic zones. 



Tin- brccd> of Indian sheep are quite as extensive and diversified as those 



(I Kurope. Some are tropical, thriving in swampy regions or on dry, 



tr.u-ts. others warm temperate, still others temperate or even arctic. 



re has, however, been even less of an authoritative character written 

 of the Indian sheep than of the goats. Most writers have discussed the 

 Patna, Dumba, Meywar, Madras, Mysore, etc., breeds without having con- 

 sidered it necessary to detail their characteristic features. Shortt (Manual 

 i Indian Cattle and Sheep), if his illustrations can be viewed seriously, 

 would seem to establish for South India certain well-marked breeds, and 

 doubtless extensive diversities exist among the sheep of other provinces. 

 But, speaking generally, it may be said of perhaps more than half 

 the breeds found on the plains of India, that they afford a kind of 

 hair rather than a wool. They are reared chiefly on account of mutton, 

 their fleece, like the hair of the village goat, being, comparatively 

 speaking, valueless. 



But although many of the sheep of India yield a fleece of hair rather 

 than of wool, certain breeds give fairly good wool. Of this class may be 

 mentioned the black-headed sheep of Coimbatore, the woolly sheep of 

 Mysore, the sheep of large portions of the Deccan, of Rajputana, of the 

 Pan jab, and, in Bengal and the United Provinces, the so-called Patna 

 sheep. Although there are possibly several very distinct breeds of large 

 fat-tailed sheep (all designated dumba), these should be classed as wool- Dumba steep, 

 yielding breeds. They have been crossed with the Patna, the Merino 

 and other imported sheep, and apparently with satisfactory results, 

 though the improvement effected cannot be said to have been lasting. 

 Some of the fine wools imported from Afghanistan and Persia are obtained 

 from breeds of dumba sheep, and this fact having been ascertained 

 many years ago, effort was put forth to secure stock for breeding 

 purposes. So far the result, however, has been unsatisfactory, for 

 when conveyed to the moister tracts of India, the fat tail has proved Fat TIL 

 a source of danger. It is liable to disease, so that unless a breed could 

 be produced, in the natural habitat of this animal, that would preserve 

 its merit as a wool-producer during successive crosses in which it was 

 gradually developed into a condition suitable to the plains of India gener- 

 ally, it is not likely to be of much value to future breeders. It may, in 

 fact, be said in conclusion that, so far as past experience goes, the breeds cuief wooi- 

 of most value, as Indian stock for improvement, are the Coimbatore, b**" * ^^ 

 Mysore, Rajputana and Patna. But it may be added that perhaps the 

 majority of persons who have given this subject anything like careful con- 

 sideration seem to incline to the view that except in certain tracts, there is 

 very little hope of India as.a whole becoming of much greater moment than 

 at present as a country of wool-supply. Interest is far more keenly di- 

 rected towards facilitating importation from the mountainous countries 

 bordering on India, than in any material improvement of the wools of the 



747 



