Book VII. VARIETIES OF SHEEP. 993 



6386. The long-wooled British sheep are chiefly the *Teeswater, the *old and *new 

 Leicester, the * Devonshire nots, Exmoor, and the Heath sheep. 



6387. The short-wooled sheep are chiefiy the Dorsetshire, * Hereford or Rye! and, the 

 * South Down, the Norfolk, the * Cheviot, the * Shetland sheep, and the * Merinos. 



6388. The hornless breeds are those in the above classes marked (*), the others have 

 horns. Tliese breeds, and their subvarieties, may be further arranged according as they 

 are suited to arable or enclosed lands, and to open or mountainous districts. 



6389. The sheep best suited to arable land, an eminent v^riter observes, in addition to 

 such properties as are common in some degree to all the different breeds, must evidently 

 be distinguished for their quietness and docility ; habits which, though gradually ac- 

 quired and established by means of careful treatment, are more obvious, and may be 

 more certainly depended on m some breeds than in others. These properties are not only 

 valuable for the sake of the fences by which the sheep are confined, but as a proof 

 of the aptitude of the animals to acquire flesh in proportion to the food they consume. 



6390 The long-ivooled large breeds, are those usually preferred on good grass-lands ; 

 they differ much in form and size, and in their fatting quality, as well as in the weight 

 of their fleeces. In some instances, with the Lincolns or old Leicesters in particular, 

 wool seems to be an object paramount even to ttie carcase ; with the breeders of the Lei- 

 cesters, on the other hand, the carcase has always engaged the greatest attention : but 

 neither form nor fleece, separately, is a legitimate ground of preference ; the most valu- 

 able sheep being that which returns, for the food it consumes, the greatest marketable 

 value of produce. 



6391. The Lincolnshire, or old Leicestershire breed, have no horns, the face is white 

 and the carcase long and thin; the ewes weighing from 14 to 20 lbs., and the three- 

 year-old wethers, from 20 to 30 lbs. per quarter. They have thick, rough, white legs, 

 bones large, pelts thick, and wool long, from ten to eighteen inches, weighing from 

 eight to 14 lbs. per fleece, and covering a slow-feeding, coarse-grained carcase of mutton. 

 This kind of sheep cannot be made fat at an early age except upon the richest land, such 

 as Romney-marsh, and the richest marshes of Lincolnshire ; yet the prodigious weight of 

 wool which is shorn from them every year, is an inducement to the occupiers of marsh- 

 lands to give great prices to the breeders for their hogs or yearlings ; and though the 

 buyers must keep them two years more, before they get them fit for market, they have 

 three clips of wool in the meantime, which of itself pays them well in those rich marshes. 

 Not only the midland counties, but also Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, can 

 send their long-wooled sheep to market at two years old, fatter in general than Lincoln- 

 shire can at three. Yet this breed, and its subvarieties, are spread through many of the 

 English counties. 



6392. The Teeswater sheep (Jig. 666.) differ from the Lincolnshire in their wool not 

 being so long and heavy; in standing upon higher, though ^_^^^ ^^ 66 

 finer boned legs, supporting a thicker, firmer, heavier 

 carcase, much wider upon their backs and sides ; and in 

 affording a fatter and finer-grained carcase of mutton : the 

 two year old wethers weighing from 25 to 35 lbs. per quar- 

 ter. Some particular ones, at four years old, have been fed 

 to 55 lbs. and upwards. 'J'here is little doubt that the Tees- 

 water sheep were originally bred from the same stock as the 

 Lincolnshire; but, by attending to size rather than to wool, and constantly pursuing that 

 object, they have become a different variety of the same original breed. {Culletj on Livelsiock, 

 p. 1 22. ) The present fashionable breed is considerably smaller than the original species ; 

 but they are still considerably larger and fuller of bone than the midland breed. They 

 bear an analogy to the short-horned breed of cattle, as those of the midland counties do 

 to the long-horned. They are not so compact, nor so complete in their form, as the 

 Leicestershire sheep ; nevertheless, the excellence of their flesh and fatting quality is not 

 doubted, and their wool still remains of a superior staple. For the banks of the Tees, or 

 any other rich fat-land county, they may be singularly excellent. 



6393. The Dishley,ox new Leicester breed {Jig. 661.), is distinguished from other 



gg^ long-wooled breeds by their clean heads, straight, broad, flat 



backs, round barrel like bodies, very fine small bones, thin pelts, 

 and inclination to make fat at an early age. This last property 

 is most probably owing to the before-specified qualities, and 

 which, from long experience and observation, there is reason to 

 believe, extend.s through every species of domestic animals. 

 The Dishley breed is not only peculiar for its mutton being 

 fat, but also for the fineness of the grain, and superior flavor, 

 above all other large long-wooled sheep, so as to fetch nearly 

 as good a price, in many markets, as the mutton of the small Highland and short-wooled 

 breeds. The weight of ewes, three or four years old, is from 18 to 26 lbs. a quarter, 



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