THE SHEEP. lYl 



THE ©O.TIESTIC SHEEP: 

 TIIEm BREEDS, MAKAGEMEKT, ETC. 



BREEDS OF SHEEP IN THE UNITED ST^ITES.— The principall.recds 

 of sheep in the United States are the Native sheep, the Spuni.^h and 

 Sa.mn Merinos, the I^ew Leicester, or Bakewell, the South-Down, the^ 

 Cotswold, the 'Cheviot and the Lincoln. 



The Native Sheep are the variously mixed descendants of those origin- 

 ally introduced by the first colonists. They yielded wool suited only to 

 the coarsest fabrics. They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared 

 with the improved English breeds ; and the weight of fleece, and quality 

 and quantity of mutton, were inferior to the improved English breeds. 

 They have now, however, become nearly extinct, by crosses with foreign 

 ■ breeds of later introduction. 



American Merinos. — Of these there are three classes, or varieties. The 

 first is a large, short-legged and hardy sheep, the wool ranging frojn medium 

 to fine, and without hair when well fed — rarely exhibiting gum exter- 

 nally — their wool thick, and comparatively long on the back and belly, and 

 whiter than that of the French sheep called the Rambouillets, and their 

 skin has the rich rose-color of the latter. The second general class of 

 American Merinos are smaller than the preceding — less hardy — wool as 

 a general thing finer — covered with a black pitchy gum on its extremi- 

 ties — fleece about one-fourth lighter than in cla.^s first. The third class, 

 which have been bred mostly South, are still smaller and less hardy — 

 and carry still finer and lighter fleeces, 'i'he fleece is destitute of ex- 

 ternal gum. The sheep and wool bear a close resemblance to the 

 Saxon ; and if not actually mixed with that blood, they have been 

 formed into a similar variety, by a similar course of breeding. Class 

 first are a larger and stronger sheep than those originally imported from 

 Spain, carry much heavier fleeces, and in well selected flocks, or indi- 

 viduals, the fleece is of a decidedly better quality.'* 



The Merino fleece is in vSpain sorted into four parcels. The following 

 cut, while it contains the portrait of a Merino ewe, points out the parts 

 whence the diff'erent wools are generally procured. The division can- 

 not always be accurate, and especially in sheep of an inferior quality, 

 but it is more to be depend(vi upon in the Merino sheep wherever found, 

 for the fleece is more equally good, and the quantity of really bad wool 

 is very small. 



Both Lasteyrie and Livingston agree in this division. The refina, or 

 the pick-lock wool begins at the withers, and extends along the back to 

 the setting on of the tail. It reaches only a little way down at the quar- 

 ters, but, dipping down at the flanks, takes in ail the superior part of 

 the chest, and the middle of the side of the neck to the angle of the 

 lower jaw. The fina, a valuable w^ool, but not so deeply serrated, or 



* Randall's " Sheep Husbandry." ; 



