610 



Ereagurg of flatttral ? 



the northern hills are occasionally too cold. 

 It is capable of enduring occasional short 

 keep and hard stocking equal to any other 

 Sheep ; and the flesh is finely grained and 

 of good flavour. The figure of this Sheep 

 was formerly inferior to that of many others, 

 but very great improvement in them has 

 arisen during the last few years (in the 

 figure and size of the animal, as well as in 

 the wool), not from crossing with other 

 breeds, but from the system of sorting the 

 flocks. These Sheep occupy the whole of 

 the upper and under hill-grounds of Sussex; 

 and they have also succeeded well in all the 

 southern districts of the kingdom. 



The Dorset breed. The Dorset Sheep has 

 a strong well-formed body and limbs, a 

 clear white fleece, and finely-curved horns ; 

 altogether presenting to the eye an animal 

 which, whatever its intrinsic merits may be, 

 must be considered handsome. The face is 

 long and broad, with a tuft of wool on the 

 forehead ; the shoulders low, but broad ; the 

 chest deep ; the loins broad ; and the bone 

 small. Their chief peculiarity is the for- 

 wardness of the ewes, which supply the 

 market with lamb when it fetches the highest 

 price. A very profitable variety is found in 

 a cross between the Southdown and the 

 Dorset Sheep ; the carcase being increased, 

 and the wool rendered more valuable. In 

 Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and So- 

 mersetshire, the old breeds, for which these 

 counties were once famous, have generally 

 yielded to cross breeds with the Southdown, 

 or been supplanted by the true Southdowns. 

 In short, we find the same breed either pure, 

 or materially improving the breeds of many 

 other counties, both westward and midland. 



The small hardy Sheep, called the JKt/e- 

 lands, are still met with in Herefordshire. 

 They are small, polled, with white faces, the 

 wool almost covering the eyes, and the car- 

 case round and compact : they have a ten- 

 dency to fatten quickly ; and they are par- 

 ticularly distinguished by the fineness of 

 their wool. The Cheviot breed, so called 

 from the Cheviot Hills, in Northumberland, 

 have no horns, and are mostly white-faced 

 and white-legged ; the body is long, with 

 fine, small, clean-boned legs ; the fleece fine, 

 short, close, and thick set. Wales, both 

 North and South, is celebrated for a small 

 and valuable breed of Sheep, principally used 

 for the supply of the London market, where 

 the Welsh mutton is always in request 

 The Lincolnshire Sheep are of a large size, 

 and afford a great quantity of wool, owing 

 to the rich marshes where they graze ; but 

 their flesh is coarser, leaner, and less finely 

 flavoured than that of the smaller breeds. 

 The old Lincolnshire Sheep was, however, 

 unrivalled in its wool, both as to quality and 

 quantity ; and since they have been crossed 

 with the Leicesters, which were always re- 

 marked for their disposition to fatten well, 

 the value of the carcase has increased, though, 

 in some measure at the expense of the fleece. 

 The Cotsivold Sheep, so called from the cots 

 or sheds in which they were housed, formerly 

 inhabited the counties of Gloucester, Here- 

 ford, and Worcester. They were a long- 

 woolled breed, yielding in the 15th century 



a description of wool much valued on ac- 

 count of the fabrics in the construction of 

 which it was employed. 



But of all the various breeds of Sheep, it 

 must be confessed that none have attained 

 such deserved celebrity as the New Leicester, 

 a breed brought to the highest state of per- 

 fection by the skill and perseverance of Mr. 

 Bakewell, of Dishley, Leicestershire, the 

 eminent agriculturist and improver of live 

 stock. It would not be consistent with the 

 nature of this work (even if our space would 

 permit) to describe the various means he 

 made use of ; but his principle was, to select 

 such kinds of Sheep as his experience told 

 him had an aptitude to fatten, and with 

 little bone and offal : he cared not about 

 near or distant affinities, but his object was 

 to increase every good point, and get rid of 

 every bad one. They were not different sorts 

 of Sheep that he selected, but the best of the 

 breed to which he had been accustomed. He 

 also introduced the practice of letting some 

 of his rams, which extended the benefit of 

 his system far and wide : and so great was 

 the desire for improvement when the Dishley 

 or New Leicester breed became known, that 

 it was calculated that 100,OOOZ. was annually 

 spent by the midland farmers in the hiring 

 of rams. There are few other varieties of 

 long-woolled Sheep which do not owe much 

 of their excellence to the new Leicesters, and 

 even some of the short-woolled flocks are 

 deeply indebted to the breed. The deficiency 

 of the fleece was formerly objected to ; but 



it has now not only considerably increased 

 in length, but improved in fineness and 

 strength of fibre, and averages between six 

 and seven pounds the fleece. In short, it has 

 been truly said, that it is difficult to select 

 any part of the kingdom into which the 

 Leicester and the Southdown Sheep have 

 not penetrated, and where they have not 

 materially improved the native breed 



" Different names are given to the Sheep 

 according to its sex and age. The male is 

 called a ram or tup. After weaning he is 

 said to be a hog, a hoggett, a tup-hog, or a 

 teg; and if castrated, a wether hog. After 

 shearing, and when he is probably a year or 

 a year and a half old, he is called a shear- 

 hog, or shearling, or dinmont, or tup; and 

 when castrated, a shear ing-wether . After a 

 second shearing, he is a two-shear ram, or 

 tup, or wether. At the expiration of another 

 year, he is a three-shear ram, &c. The fe- 

 male is a ewe or gimmer lamb until weaned ; 

 and then a gimmer, or ewe-hog, or teg. After 

 being shorn she is a shearing ewe or gimmer* 



