THE FARMER'S iMONTHLY VISITOR. 



13 



English Sheep. 



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[Fig. 3.] The New Leicester. 



As a lowland alicep, and destined to live on good pasture, tiie New Leices- 

 ter is without a rival — in fact he has improved, if he has not given the prin- 

 cipal value to, all the other long-woolled sheep. 



The head should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, 

 and projecting. horizontally forwards. The eyes prominent, hut with a qui- 

 et e.xpression. The ears thin, rather long, and directed backwards. The 

 neck full and broad at its base where it proceeds from the chest, but gradual- 

 ly tapering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the junction of 

 the head and neck ; the neck seeming to project straight from the chest, so 

 that there is, with the tlighte^t possible deviation, one continued horizontal 

 line from the ruinp to the poll. ' The breast broad and full ; the shoulders al- 

 so broad and re unci, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders 

 join either tiie neck or the back, particularly no rising of the withers, or hol- 

 low behind the situation of these bones. The arm tlcshy through its whole 

 extent, and even d )wn to the knee. The bones of the legs small, standing 

 wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of wool. 

 The chest and barrel at once deep and round ; the ribs forming a consiuerable 

 arch from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is 

 in good condition, to make the 'ipparent width of the chest even greater than 

 the depth. The I)arrcl ribbed well home, no irregularity of line on the back 

 or the belly, but, on the sides, the carcass very gradually dimini:ihing in 

 width towards the rump. The quarters long and full, and', as with the fore- 

 legs, the muscles extending down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and full. 

 The legs of a moderate length, the pelt also moderately thin, but soft and e- 

 lastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some 

 breeds, but considerably finer. 



This account combines the main excellences both of Bakewell'sown breed 

 and CuUey's variety or improvement of it. It is precisely the form for a 

 sheep provided with plenty of good food and without any great distance to 

 travel or exertion to make in gathering it. 



The principal recommendations of this breed are its beauty and its fulness 

 of form, comprising, in the same apparent dimensions, greater weight than 

 any other sheep ; an early maturity, and a propensity to fatten equalled by no 

 other breed; a diminution in the proportion of offal, and the return of most 

 money for the quantity of food consumed. 



The sheep wliose portrait is represented in the previous cut, belonged to 

 the Duke of Bedford. 



THE SOUTH-DOWN. 



The hill sheep is adapted to more elevated situations and shorter feed on 

 the natural and permanent pastures; able also to travel, without detriment, 

 a considerable distance to the fold and to the down. There can be no hesi- 

 tation in tixing on the South-Down as the model here. 



l^he following is the substance of the description of this sheep by Mr. Ell- 

 man, who, if he may not be considered, like Mr. Bakewell with regard to the 

 Leicester, as founder of the breed, yet contributed more than any other man 

 to it.-i present improvement and value. 



The head small and hornless ; the face speckled or grey, and neither too 

 long nor too short. The lip.s thin, and the space between the nose and the 

 eyes narrow. The under jaw, or chap, fine and thin ; the ears tolerably wide, 

 and well covered with wool, and the forehead also, and the whole space be- 

 tween the ears, well protected by it, as defence against the fly. 



The eye full and bright, but not prominent. The orbits of the eye — the 

 eye-cap, or bone, — not too jirojecting, that it may not form a fatal obstacle in 

 lambing. 



The neck of a medium length, thin towards the head, I'utenlarging towards 

 Ihe shoulders where it should be broad and high, and straight in its whole 

 course above and below. The breast should be wide, deep, and projecting for- 

 wards between the fore legs, indicating a good constitution, and a disposition 

 to thrive. Corresponding with this, the shoulders sh'uild be on a level with 

 the back, and not too wide above ; they should bow outward from the top to 

 the breast, indicating a springing rib beneath, and leaving room for it. 



The ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending far back- 

 ward, and the last rib projecting more than the others ; the back llatfrom the 

 shoulders to the setting on of the tail ; the loin broad and flat ; the rump long 

 and broad, and the tail set on high and nearly on a level with the spine. The 

 hips wide ; the space between them and the last rib on either side as narrow 

 as possible, and the ribs, generally, presenting a circular form like a bur.'.el. 



The belly is as straight as the back. 



The lees neither too long nor too short. The fore legs straight from the 

 breast to the foot ; not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart 

 both before and behind ; the hocks have a direction rather outward, and the 



twist, or the meeting of the thighs behind, being particularly full ; the bones 

 fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or dark color. 



The belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and 

 behind to the knee, and to the hock ; the wool short, close, curled, and fine, 

 and free from spiry projecting fibres. 



The South-Down is adapted to ahnost any situation in the midland part of 

 England ; it has a patience of occasional siiort keep, and an endurance of 

 hard stocking, ef[ual to any otiier sheep; an early maturity, scarcely inferior 

 to that of the Liecester, and the flesh finely grained, and of peculiar good 

 flavor. 



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[Fig. 4.] The Cheviot. "^ ' "^ 



The Cheviot Hills are a part of that extensive and elevated range which 

 extends from Galloway through Northumberland into Cumberland aiid West- 

 moreland, occupying a space of from 150 to 2U0 square miles. Tiie majority 

 of them are pointed like cones ; their sides are smooth and steep, and their 

 bases are nearly in contact with each other. The soil, except on the very top, 

 is lertile; and from the base to the summit of most of them there is an un- 

 broken and rich green-sward. 



On the upper part of the liill in Northumberland, which is properly term- 

 ed Me Cheviot, a peculiar and most valuable sheep is found. They have been 

 there almost from time immemoriah Tradition sa3's that they came from the 

 border district of Scolland ; but they are totally different from the black-fac- 

 ed sheep and bear but little or no resemblance to the original dun-faced Scot- 

 tiali stock. How two breeds so totally different from each other, came to in- 

 habit the neighboring hills of Ettrick forest and the Cheviot hills, neither 

 history nor tradition has attempted to explain. 



The Lanimermuir farmer, an ardent admirer of them, says, that they are 

 hornless; the face and legs generally white ; tlie eye lively and prominent; 

 the countenance open and pleasing ; the ear large, and with a long space from 

 the ear to the eye; the body long, and hence they are called "long sheep," 

 in distinction from the black-faced breed. They are full behind the shoul- 

 ders, they have a long straight back, Ihey are round in the rib, and well pro- 

 portioned in their quarters ; the legs are clean and small boned, and the pelt 

 is thin, but thickly covered with fine short wool. The wool extends over the 

 whole of the body, and forward behind the ear, but leaves the face uncover- 

 ed — a circumstance that gives a very pleasing appearance to the face and 

 head. The muscle and the wool fall well down toward the knee ; and altho' 

 on the thigh the wool is somewhat coarse, the farmer is compensated by the 

 abundant growth of it on that part. 



Sir John Sinclair's description of them in 1792, and before they were thus 

 changed by the admixture of the Leicester, is here given in a somewhat con- 

 densed form: "Perhaps there i.i no part of the whole Island where, at single 

 sight, a fine woolled breed of eheep is less to be expected than among the 

 Cheviot hills. Many parts of the sheep walks consist of nothing but peat 

 bogs and deep morasses. During winter the hills are covered with snow for 

 two, three, and sometimes four months, and they have an ample proportion 

 of bad weather during the other seasons oi the 3'ear, and yet a sheep is to be 

 found that will thrive even in the wildest part of it. Their shape is excel- 

 lent, and their fore quarter in particular is distinguished by such justness of 

 proportion, as lo be equal in weight to the hind one. Their Imjbs are of a 

 length to fit them for travelling and enable them to pass over bogs and snows, 

 through which a shorter legged animal could not penetrate. They have a 

 closer fleece than the Tweedale and Leicester breeds, which keeps them 

 warmer in cold weather, and prevents either rain or snow from incommoding 

 then). Their fleece is shorter and consequently more portable over moun- 

 tainous pastures. They are excellent snow travellers, and are accustomed to 

 procure their food by scraping the snow off the ground with their feet even 

 when the top is hardened by tVost. Thc-y have never any other food, except 

 when it is propnjcd to fatten tlieui, than the grass and natural hay produced 

 on their own hills. Their weight, when fat.^ is from 17 to 20 lbs. per quarter ; 

 and when fed on heath and kept to a proper age, their meat is fully equal in 

 flavor to any the Highlands can produce.'' 



Old times — ueAv times. 



The Farmer's Cabinet notices the fact tliat, eighty -eight years ago (in the 

 3'ear 1751) the exports from the port of Pliiladelphia, when the then Province 

 of Pennsylvania contained sixteen thousand families numbering less than one 

 hundred thousand souls, were 12i*,i'G0 barrels of flour; 8G,UU0 bushels of 

 wheat; r;U,74o bushels corn ; 5I*I.Miogsheads, 812 tierces, 28,338 barrels, 7,- 

 588 quarter casks of bread, besides 2-19 tons of the same in bags and sacks ; 

 925 barrels of beef; 3,431 barrels of pork ; 9,8(35 hogsheads, 454 half hogs- 

 heads, 39 tierces and 221 barrels of flaxseed ; 4,912,943 staves ; 4,491 bars of 

 iron ; 205 tons of pig iron ; 320 rhestH of furs ; 112 barrets, 6 boxes and 2 

 tierces of gin.seng. 



