SHEEP. 



667 



contemporary of the sheep in every part of Europe 

 in which wild sheep ever existed ; and it is not a 

 little curious that, in most places, the two appear to 

 have become extinct in some localities at the same 

 time. Many of the old accounts mention that wild 

 sheep existed on the Scottish hills at an early period 

 of the history of that country. Hector Boece, who 

 wrote a history of Scotland in the early part of the 

 sixteenth century, mentions that there were then, in 

 the remote isle of St. Kilda, wild sheep larger than 

 the biggest goat, with tails reaching to the ground, 

 and horns larger than those of the ox. It is very 

 doubtful whether this most eloquent but highly ro- 

 mantic writer can be implicitly trusted in any matter of 

 history, and more especially of natural history ; and, 

 therefore, if the matter rested upon his authority only, 

 we should doubt, or even deny, the existence of these 

 long-tailed sheep in any part of Scotland, and, even 

 with the corroboration of the bas relief found near 

 Glasgow in the ruins of the Roman wall, we must 

 deny the existence of those sheep in the island of St. 

 Kilda. At the same time we are ready to admit that 

 there have been breeds of tame sheep in some of the 

 remote isles appended to Scotland, as, for instance, 

 the Shetland Isles, the origin of which it is no easy 

 matter to trace. In fact, the whole history of the 

 sheep as members of the animal kingdom in the wild 

 state, is a subject of the greatest uncertainty, and one 

 upon which Conjecture may be exercised without 

 almost any limit. This is the more to be regretted 

 as the animals, when in a state of domestication, or 

 rather semi-domestication for that is all which, in 

 general, is arrived at in the case of sheep are so very 

 useful and so very abundant to the hand of the cul- 

 tivator. 



We shall say a few words on the varieties of culti- 

 vated sheep by-and-by ; but we may mention, as part 

 of the general account of them, that they appear cal- 

 culated for performing a service in the cultivation of 

 the earth which cannot be performed by any other 

 domesticated animals. Sheep nip or nibble the 

 herbage, and thus never pull the roots out of the 

 ground. But they nibble it very close, and thus none 

 of the grasses upon a sheep-walk ever come into 

 flower. Now it is the habit of all the grasses, and 

 perhaps of the kindly and succulent grasses more 

 than any others, to "tiller" at the roots, and spread 

 upon the ground, if the flowering is completely pre- 

 vented. We believe that this is true not only of 

 those grasses which are perennial, but of the annual 

 grasses, and even of the cereal ones, which are in use 

 as the bread-corn of all civilised nations. In as far 

 as the last are concerned, it is, however, a matter of 

 minor importance, because there would probably be 

 but little profit in breeding them back to the wild 

 state, in which they should be valuable only as pas- 

 ture grasses. But, in the case of those members of 

 the grass tribe which are of little or no use to man 

 as food, the management so as that they form a carpet 

 or covering to the surface of the ground is of far more 

 importance. Now we have, in many parts of the 

 British islands, very convincing instances of the ad- 

 vantages that have resulted from the pasturage of 

 sheep. We do not allude to the value of the animals 

 themselves, in their wool, their flesh, and their skins, 

 though these have enriched many a man, and many a 

 district ; we allude to the advantage which the soil 

 itself derives from sheep, and the tendency which 

 sheep-pasturing has to bring land into a state fit for 



tillage, or any other sort of culture. Those who have 

 been for some time acquainted with those parts of 

 the Highlands of Scotland, where the climate is not 

 of so wet and dripping a character as to be injurious 

 to sheep, do not need to be told how much the pas- 

 ture improves under these useful and interesting crea- 

 tures. It is true that in some places, where the sides 

 of the hills are particularly bare and steep, the sheep 

 tracks have cut the surface to such an extent that it 

 has " peeled off" by the heavy rains, and left nothing 

 but the bare gravel or rock, both of which are equally 

 unfit for vegetation of any useful kind, or indeed of 

 any kind at all ; but situations in which this can hap- 

 pen are by no means fit for sheep pasture, not only 

 on account of their steepness, but on account of their 

 humidity, that is, of the habitual rainy character of 

 their atmosphere. 



In places which are sufficiently dry for being 

 wholesome for sheep, these animals are the means of 

 very great as well as of very speedy amelioration ; 

 and while, in those parts which are not pastured by 

 sheep, heath, moss, and lichen consume the little 

 grass that there is, and gradually convert the surface 

 into one of the most sterile and hopeless character, 

 in those which are pastured by sheep the grass ex- 

 tends, and the less valuable plants diminish. This 

 effect is visible on very many parts of the Scottish 

 hills, where sheep have been introduced for some 

 time ; and there is not a doubt that, after this kind of 

 stock has been upon the ground for a considerable 

 number of years, the soil may be, at very small ex- 

 pense, brought into use as tillage land ; and the food 

 of thousands may be obtained where but for the sheep 

 there would not have been the means of supporting 

 even one human being. Any one who chooses to 

 inspect those parts of the Highlands of Scotland that 

 have been for some time pastured by sheep will be 

 able to certify what has been here stated, as to the 

 effect of that kind of stock in ameliorating the con- 

 dition of the ground. Wherever they have been, the 

 heath, moss, and lichen are wearing away, and grass 

 is gradually coming in their stead. The advantages 

 which result from this are much greater than those 

 who have not attentively studied such subjects would 

 be apt to imagine. The heaths, mosses, and lichens 

 produce bad mould mould which is unfit for the 

 production of any kindly plant ; and their constant 

 tendency is to cover the surface with bog-mould, 

 which, when it once gets complete possession, is the 

 ruin of everything else, and actually cuts up the bet- 

 ter soil previously formed by the ot^er plants, which 

 it displaces. Any one who has examined, with even 

 moderate attention, one of the numerous deep peat 

 bogs which occur in the Highlands, and generally in 

 all the cold uplands of the northern parts of Britain, 

 must have been struck with the vast quantity of the 

 remains of forest trees of large size oaks, pines, 

 birches, alders, and others, the greater number of 

 which, the oaks especially, will not grow but upon 

 rich soils ; and yet, when the whole is examined 

 down to the clay or sand which forms the bottom in 

 such places, there is not one particle of the soil in 

 which an oak, or any other of these trees, could grow, 

 to be found. The top is spongy, and the bottom 

 more solid ; but there is not in the whole a single 

 particle of earth in which any kindly vegetable could 

 be grown. Yet, from what we know of the habits of 

 the trees which are found in those deposits, there 

 must once have been an abundance of rich soil ; and 



