SHEEP- 



provcinent as having taken place in the reign of 

 Tiberius. Fine rams were at that time sold at 

 Truditania, part of Bcetica, for a talent, or about a 

 thousand dollars a price which, considering the 

 value of money at that period, is immense. When 

 the Roman empire was overrun, and almost all 

 traces of civilization swept away, the Tarentine 

 stock in Greece and Italy being very tender, and 

 requiring the greatest care, became extinct; but 

 the regenerated stock of Bcetica the Merinos 

 being able to live in the mountains, survived the 

 conquest of Spain by the Goths and Vandals; and 

 from these Merinos are descended those animals 

 which supply all the manufactories of fine cloth in 

 Europe. Care was early taken in Spain that the 

 improved sheep should not mix with the coarse 

 native sheep. The government soon took this im- 

 portant branch of national industry under its pro- 

 tection, and established particular courts to have 

 jurisdiction over all subjects connected with sheep, 

 wool, shepherds, pastures, &c. 



The way in which the improved sheep is gene- 

 rally bred in Spain is the following: Whilst the 

 common sheep remains always on the spot where 

 it was born, and is housed in winter, the fine- 

 woolled sheep is kept the whole time in the open 

 air, in summer chiefly in the mountainous part of 

 Old Castile, or the Montana, and in the lordship of 

 Molina, in Arragon, which are the highest parts of 

 Spain, containing the finest pasture. The former 

 affords aromatic plants, which the latter does not; 

 these mountains are covered with oaks, beeches, 

 birches, hazel-bushes, &c., besides producing all the 

 plants which grow in Switzerland. When a shep- 

 herd has driven his flock to the place where they 

 are to remain for the summer, he first gives them 

 as much salt as they are willing to lick. The 

 estimated consumption during the five summer 

 months is 20 cwts. of salt for 1000 sheep (per- 

 haps, however, this estimate is too high). Towards 

 the end of July, the rams are admitted to the ewes, 

 from five to six rams to one hundred ewes; before 

 and after, they remain separated. The rams yield 

 more wool than the ewes, but not of so fine qual- 

 ity; three rams or five ewes afford twenty-five 

 pounds. In the middle of September, the sheep 

 are marked on the thigh. Towards the end of 

 summer, the sheep are driven in flocks, comprising 

 10,000 individuals, divided into bodies of 1000 

 1200, from these mountainous districts into the 

 southern plains of La Mancha, Andalusia, and es- 

 pecially Estremadura. The journey begins at the 

 end of September, and, during its continuance, 

 they enjoy great privileges. Sometimes they 

 tiavel as much as twenty-five or thirty miles a 

 day, in order to reach a convenient place for halt- 

 ing. The whole journey from the mountains to 

 the interior of Estremadura is reckoned at about 

 690 miles, which occupies forty days. The shep- 

 herd conducts them to the pasture which they 

 occupied the previous winter, and where most of 

 the lambs were born. Here folds are constructed 

 for the sheep, and huts made of branches for the 

 shepherd. Shortly after their arrival in the winter 

 pasture, the birth of the lambs takes place. The 

 barren ewes receive the poorest pasture, the preg- 

 nant the next best, and the ewes which have lambed 

 the best. The lambs born latest are put into the 

 richest pastures to acquire strength for their journey. 

 In March, the shepherds have much to do to the 

 lambs cut the tails, mark the nose with a hot 

 iron, saw off the points of the horns, and emascu- 



late those intended for wethers. In April, they 

 return to the summer pastures. The flock at this 

 time shows by its restlessness its wish to migrate ; 

 some sheep escape, &c. an interesting fact, con- 

 sidering the restlessness of migrating animals at 

 certain seasons. On the first. of May the shearing 

 begins, if the weather is not cold. It is per- 

 formed under cover. Before shearing, the sheep 

 are put into a building consisting of two apart- 

 ments, from 400 to 800 paces long and 100 wide. 



As many of the sheep as are to be sheared the next 

 day, are taken on the evening into a narrow, long, 

 low hut, called the sweating house, where the sheep 

 being much crowded, perspire freely. The wool 

 thus becomes softer, and is more easily cut. This 

 practice was also pursued by the Romans. The 

 wool is sorted and washed before being sent away. 

 The sheep are carried to another place and marked, 

 and those which have lost their teeth, are killed 

 for mutton. There are now in Spain only about 

 4,000,000 of fine-woolled sheep. Sweden early 

 imported Merinos, and greatly improved some of 

 her sheep. 



In Germany, the first improvement of native 

 flocks by Merinos took place in Saxony. In the 

 Erzgebirge, Hungarian rams had been previously in- 

 troduced ; but as early as 1765, above 200 Merino 

 rams and ewes, accompanied by two Spanish shep- 

 herds, were imported into Saxony. In 1778, ano- 

 ther importation of the finest Merinos, from the 

 best flocks of Leon and Castile, took place, and im- 

 portant sheep farms were established. On that of 

 Stolpen, the first established in Saxony, particular 

 care has always been paid to the sheep, and it still 

 affords extremely fine wool. It is said that Spain 

 itself has at present no sheep equal to the stock im- 

 ported in 1765 : and the finest German wool, brings 

 a higher price in London than the best Spanish wool. 

 The establishment at Stolpen has contributed greatly 

 to the improvement of the Saxon sheep, and thereby 

 to the promotion of industry in the country. From 

 1779 to 1811, more than 10,000 rams and ewes 

 were sold there at moderate prices. The original 

 German sheep is at present found hardly any where in 

 Saxony, and a new, fine-woolled race has originated 

 from the mixture with Merinos, which is called 

 electoral sheep, and its wool electoral wool, as the 

 present kingdom of Saxony was, before 1806, the 

 electorate of Saxony See Von Ehrenfels, OH the 

 Electoral Sheep and Electoral Wool (Prague, 1822, 

 in German). Beside the royal breeds, which always 

 have been kept entirely pure, other farmers in 

 Saxony have imported genuine Merinos. At Rochs- 

 burg, in the Erzgebirge, the sheep are fed the whole 

 year round in stalls ; and the lambs, at the age of 

 one year, are almost full grown, and therefore yield 

 a considerable amount of very long and strong 

 wool. Prussia has lately made uncommon progress 

 in the breeding of fine sheep, and some of the Prus- 

 sian wool, particularly that of the Mark and Silesia, 

 competes in the market with the electoral wool. 

 Flocks of genuine Merinos have been imported into 

 Prussia, and the government, some time since, un- 

 dertook the establishment of a school for shepherds, 

 where young men were to be instructed, at the 

 public expense, in the care of sheep, in health and 

 in sickness, made acquainted with the history of the 

 improvements in the mode of raising them, &c. A 

 similar school was formerly established in Sweden. 



The Spanish breed of sheep was first introduced 

 into Great Britain in 1787- Some individuals of 

 the black and spotted kinds had indeed been pro. 



