^^6 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P^rt III. 



for pulling it arrives, when it is plucked off along with the wool, and separated from it, at dressing the 

 fleece, by an operation called forsing. The scudda remains upon the skin of the animal as if it were a thick 

 coat, a fence against the inclemency of the seasons, which orovident nature has furnished for supplying 

 the want of the fleece. The wool is of various colors ; the silver grey is thought to be the finest, but the 

 black, the white, the maurat, or brown, is very little inferior, though the pure white is certainly the most 

 valuable for all the finer purposes in which combing wool can be used. {Sir John Sinclair on the different 

 Breeds of Sheep, Sjc. Appendix, No. 4. Account of the Shetland Sheep, by Thomas Johnston, p. 79.) In 

 the northern part of Kincardineshire, as well as in most other of the northern counties, there is still a rem- 

 nant of this ancient race, distinguished by the yellow color of the face and legs, and by the dishevelled 

 texture of the fleece, which consists in part of coarse, and in part of remarkably fine wool. Their average 

 weight in that county, is from seven to nine pounds a quarter, and the mutton is remarkably delicate and 

 highly flavored. {Kincardineshire Report, p. 385. Sup. E. Brit. art. Agr. 176.) 



6407. The Spanish, or Merino breed, bears the finest wool of the sheep species ; the 



674 males (Jig. 674.) usually have horns 675 



of a middle size, but the females 



(Jig- 675.) are frequently without 



horns : the faces and legs are white, i 



the legs rather long, but the bones 



fine. The average weight per quar- 

 ter of a tolerably fat ram, is about 



seventeen pounds, and that of ewes I 



about eleven pounds. The shape of 

 this race is far from being perfect, according to the ideas of English breeders, with whom 

 symmetry of proportion constitutes a principal criterion of excellence. The throatiness, 

 or pendulous skin beneath the throat, which is usually accompanied with a sinking or 

 hollow in the neck, presents a most offensive appearance, though it is much esteemed 

 in Spain, as denoting both a tendency to fine wool, and a heavy fleece. Yet the 

 Spanish sheep are level on the back, and behind the shoulders ; and Lord Somerville has 

 proved that there is no reason to conclude that deformity in shape is, in any degree, 

 necessary to the production of fine wool. 



6408. The fieece of the Merino sheep weighs, upon an average, from, three to five 

 pounds ; in color, it is unlike that of any English breed : there is on the surface of the 

 best Spanish fleeces, a dark brown tinge, approaching almost to a black, which is formed 

 by dust adhering to the greasy properties of its pile, and the contrast between this tinge 

 and the rich white color below, as well as that rosy hue of the skin which denotes high 

 proof, at first sight excites much surprise. The harder the fleece is, the more it resists any 

 external pressure of the hand, the more close and fine will be the wool : here and there, 

 indeed, a fine pile may be found in an open fleece, though this occurs but rarely. 

 Nothing, however, has tended to render the Merino sheep more unsightly to the 

 English eye, than the large tuft of wool which covers the head ; it is of a very inferior 

 quality, and classes with what is produced on the hind legs ; on which account, it does 

 not sort with any of the three qualities, viz. rafinos, or prime, Jinos, or second best, and 

 tercenos, the inferior sort, and consequently, is never exported from Spain. 



6409. Merinos were first brought into England in 1788, but did not excite much in- 

 terest before his Majesty's sales, which began in 1 804 : the desirable object of spreading 

 them widely over the country, and subjecting them to the experiments of the most emi- 

 nent professional breeders, has been greatly promoted by the institution of the Merino 

 Society in 1811, to which belonged some of the greatest landholders, and the most 

 eminent breeders in the kingdom. For some years past, this breed has been on the 

 decline. {Sup. .E. Brit. art. Agr.) 



Sect. 1 1. Criteria of Properties in Sheep. 



6410. The criteria of an excellent ram, as given by Culley, combines qualities which 

 ought to be found in every breed of sheep cultivated for its flesh and wool. His head 

 should be fine and small, his nostrils wide and expanded, his eyes prominent, and rather 

 bold or daring, ears thin, his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but tapering 

 gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which should be very fine and 

 graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse leather hanging down ; the shoulders broad 

 and full, which must, at the same time, join so easy to the collar forward, and chine 

 backward as to leave not the least hollow in either place ; the mutton upon his arm or 

 fore-thigh, must come quite to the knee ; his legs upright, with a clean fine bone, being 

 equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy wool, from the knee and hough 

 downwards ; the breast broad and well forward, which will keep his fore-legs at a proper 

 wideness ; his girth or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, 

 that part, by some called the fore-flank, should be quite full ; the back and loins broad, 

 flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a fine circular arch ; his belly 

 straight, the quarters long and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which 

 should neither stand in nor out ; his twist, or junction of the inside of the thighs, deep, 

 wide, and. full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright ; 

 the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, soft wool. 



