SHEEP 



5342 



SHEFFIELD 



very popular. The Hampshire is somewhat 

 larger than the Southdown, and the face and 

 legs are darker, in some instances being almost 

 black. The Shropshire also resembles the 

 Southdown, but the body is larger and the 

 wool longer. The Cotswold is noted for its 

 long, coarse wool. The size is about the same 

 as that of the Southdown, and the face and 

 legs are white. Two other large white-faced 

 breeds are the Leicester and the Lincoln, but 

 these are not common in the United States. 



All breeds of the wool type have sprung from 

 the Spanish Merino. These breeds are char- 

 acterized by small bodies, with large folds of 

 skin or wrinkles about the neck and shoulders. 

 The wool is short, fine and compact, contains, 

 a large percentage of oil and covers the face 

 and legs. These sheep will not thrive on low- 

 lands nor in a damp climate, but they are 

 raised in large numbers in the arid grazing 

 regions of the Canadian Northwest, and in 

 Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico. The 

 original Merino has been modified by cross 

 breeding until a somewhat larger and more 

 hardy animal has been produced. The Merino 



THE SHEEP OF THE WORLD 

 The ten countries showing greatest production. 



is also raised in large numbers in Australia, 

 New Zealand and Argentina. The Ram- 

 bouillet, imported from France, is larger than 

 the Merino and is becoming very popular 

 among American sheep growers. 



Diseases. Sheep are subject to many dis- 

 eases, but scabies, or scab, is by far the most 

 prevalent and the most destructive. The dis- 

 ease is caused by a mite which lives next the 

 skin on those parts of the body where the wool 

 is thickest. The mites bore through the skin 

 and cause the scab. The disease is highly con- 

 tagious, since the mites crawl from one animal 

 to another. The remedy consists in dipping 

 the sheep in a bath prepared by using one 

 pound of tobacco and one pound of sulphur to 

 six gallons of water, and allowing the mixture 



SHEEP TICK 



to stand for several hours before using. Scab 

 has become so prevalent that the United States 

 government has enacted stringent laws for its 

 treatment and prevention. Other common dis- 

 eases are grub in the head, caused by a fly, 

 and lip and leg ulceration. 



Sheep Ticks. The sheep tick is a wingless fly 

 which lives on the bodies of the animals, ob- 

 taining its nourishment by boring through the 

 skin and sucking the blood. The wound causes 

 a slight swelling which itches and burns worse 

 than a mosquito 

 bite. Sheep in- 

 fested with ticks 

 do not thrive, 

 and the loss 

 caused by them 

 is loss in the pro- 

 duction of flesh 

 and .wool, since 

 the animal sel- 

 dom dies. The 

 sheep-grower de-' 

 stroys ticks by 

 dipping the sheep in the same solution as is 

 used for the scab. The tick has a short body, 

 flattened above and below, a tough brown 

 skin and six legs, each provided with two sharp 

 claws. The mouth is a tube armed at the end 

 with teeth, which are used in piercing the 

 skin. W.F.R. 



Consult Shaw's Management and Feeding of 

 Sheep; Wing's Sheep Farming in America; 

 Clarke's Modern Sheep: Breeds and Management. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes: 

 Bighorn Mutton 



Mange Wool 



Meat and Meat Packing 



SHEEP LAUREL, law'rel. See KALMIA. 



SHEFFIELD, shej'eeld, a city in Yorkshire, 

 England, 165 miles northwest of London, cele- 

 brated for 200 years as the manufacturing cen- 

 ter of the world's finest cutlery. To-day other 

 parts of the world equal it. The city is pleas- 

 antly situated on wooded slopes surrounding 

 the point where the River Sheaf meets the 

 Don, and is a progressive, well built munici- 

 pality of over 450,000 inhabitants. The work- 

 ing people are excellently provided for in Shef- 

 field, with its public baths, free libraries, parks 

 and technical schools. The city owns and oper- 

 ates its tramways, electric lighting plant and 

 markets, and has numerous churches and trade 

 and art schools, and a university founded in 

 1905. Among its interesting buildings are the 



