SHEEP. 



675 



their dispositions, and prevent them from fattening so 

 well as they would do on their own pastures, if they 

 had more full range. The rough-woolled sheep are 

 of a still more robust and energetic character, and can 

 be reared and kept to advantage only where there is 

 a wide range for them. They are bold and daring 

 animals as compared with the other sheep, and they 

 defend themselves stoutly against foxes and other 

 predatory animals. Their wool is long, thin, and 

 coarse in the staple ; and although their flesh, when 

 in good condition, is finely flavoured, they are by no 

 means profitable sheep, unless in places where none 

 of better quality can be introduced. Their chief 

 recommendation is their hardihood both against the 

 weather and in ranging about ; and Burns mentions 

 two of their bad qualities 



" Muirland rams, 

 Wi' woo* like gaits, an' feet like trams." 



In the north of England and the south of Scotland 

 \\e believe that this breed has been almost entirely 

 replaced by other and more valuable ones, but it was 

 once common on the hills ; and the Lothian proverb, 

 " As bold as a Lammermnir Lion" is not wholly 

 ironical, but alludes to the fierce looks and daring 

 character of the hill-sheep on Lammermuir as com- 

 pared with the more gentle ones which had been 

 introduced on the low grounds. The mixed-woolled 

 sheep are a very hardy, but a very diminutive race, 

 and yet there is reason to believe that they could be 

 greatly improved by rich pastures ; and, from their 

 power of bearing rain with comparatively little injury, 

 they might probably be introduced with advantage 

 in many pl.ices where more delicate sheep cannot be 

 kept in health. 



Repeated crossings have produced a great many 

 varieties in all these kinds of sheep, so that they 

 approximate each other, and every sheep farmer that 

 has the requisite knowledge of his business can readily 

 iind the stock that is best adapted for his farm, what- 

 ever may be its character. Not a little has been 

 done by amateurs and societies for the improvement 

 and adaptation of the breeds of sheep ; but there 

 have been occasional evils arising from the same 

 source, as there always are in cases where men 

 follow the dictates of authority instead of the judg- 

 ment of experience ; and there are few cases more 

 likely to be mischievous in this respect than those 

 that relate to sheep, where a very slight difference 

 in the soil and climate demands a difference in the 

 kind of stock. 



The leading named varieties of the long-woolled 

 Mieep adapted to the rich pastures are the Lincoln, 

 the Tees-water, and the Dishley ; but, in addition to 

 these, there are many others. 



The Lincoln breed have no horns ; their faces are 

 white, their bones large, their legs rough and stout, 

 their skin thick, and their wool very plentiful and 

 1 >im, varying from a foot to a foot and a half. 

 Twelve pounds, which is more than that of any 

 other sheep, is about the average weight of the 

 c, and the length makes the wool in much 

 request for those fabrics which are not felted, or 

 have a nap on them, and also with the frarnc-knittcrs. 

 These sheep are accordingly bred in a great measure 

 for their wool. Their flesh is, however, of coarse 

 fibre and inferior flavour, and the animals cannot be 

 fattened except on the rich meadows near the sea, 



which are wholly or partially irrigated at certain 

 seasons of the year. Lincolnshire especially, Romney 

 marsh, and the other pastures which resemble these, 

 are the best places for this breed when wool is the 

 object. In places which are more dry and less rich, 

 the carcasses can be fattened for market a year 

 earlier than in those richer districts ; but still the 

 fleeces, of which there are three in the one case and 

 only two in the other, and the greater age and 

 weight, make the pasturing of them on the rank 

 ground by far the more valuable. There appear to 

 be many breeds which have originally proceeded from 

 the Lincoln, and among these, in all probability, we 

 must include 



The Tees-water. They are shorter and lighter 

 in the fleece than the original Lincoln, but they are 

 more handsome, and very much superior in the 

 carcass ; their legs are longer, but more clean made ; 

 their bodies are thicker, broader in the back, and 

 heavier, and the flesh is finer both in grain and in 

 flavour. They are much better mutton-sheep than 

 the Lincoln, though inferior for wool, at least 5n so 

 far as quantity and length of pile are concerned. 

 The two together are examples of breeding two 

 races out of the same stock, and breeding each of 

 them with a separate object in view the Lincoln for 

 the wool, and the Tees-water for the carcass. 



The Dishley breed, called also the New Leicester 

 and the midland sheep, is, at least appears to be, a 

 breed from the Lincoln through the Tees-water. 

 The method of obtaining these improvements con- 

 sists, of course, in repeated selection of those indivi- 

 duals that have the wished-for quality in the greatest 

 perfection ; and whether the wool, the fineness of the 

 fibre, or the disposition to fatten, be the chief object 

 aimed at, it may in time be obtained without any 

 positive crossing. The bones, the skin or pelt, and 

 the wool, appear to go together, and an increase of 

 them is accompanied by coarsenesss of fibre and 

 difficulty to fatten. The increase of the wool is 

 chiefly in the length, but that of the bones and the 

 skin is in strength and thickness ; but the long wools 

 appear to have more strength than the short, that is, 

 they afford more lasting fabrics, though not so soft 

 and warm. The midland breed are very handsome 

 sheep ; their heads are clean and neatly formed ; 

 they are broad on the backs, and the body is cylin- 

 drical and very compact ; their horns are slender ; 

 they fatten easily, and the flesh is excellent, not so 

 high in the flavour as that of some of the hill breeds, 

 but more juicy ; their fleeces, not being naturally so 

 oily as those of the short-woolled sheep, do not 

 harbour much dust upon ordinary pastures, and thus 

 they appear beautifully white. 



There is another variety of long-woolled sheep, 

 called Devonshire AW,s, which have some resemblance 

 to the midland breed, but are inferior to them in 

 several respects. Their wool is coarser, their bones 

 larger, and, though they make well up at the sides, 

 they are ridgy in the back. This is their general 

 character upon the richer pastures, but they are 

 different on those which are bleak and elevated. On 

 Rxmoor they are less by one-third, with the bones 

 very small, and the flesh of good quality, but the 

 shape of the body is not good ; and, though these 

 sheep answer well where the land is of no great 

 value, they would not be profitable in the agricul- 

 tural districts. There are several other varieties 

 of long-woolled sheep, but those which have been 

 U U2 



