SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

 THE EFFECTS OF DOMESTICATION. 



THAT our domesticated animals are more or less related to 

 certain wild forms is evident ; but it is also true that in many 

 cases we are unable to trace any close resemblance between 

 a highly-bred domesticated specimen and its wild relations. 

 It is not our intention at present to dilate upon this topic, 

 except to indicate the fact that similar variations are to be 

 found wherever a wild form has been domesticated. Nay 

 more, a similar diversity of type, brought about by cultivation, 

 is to be noted in the products of our gardens, whether among 

 ornamental flowers and shrubs, useful vegetables, or fruits. 

 Varieties are endless, and in many cases can be traced to 

 changes in one normal or aboriginal type. Roses, dahlias, 

 pansies, and begonias among flowers ; cabbages, broccolis, 

 cauliflowers, and potatoes among familiar vegetables ; apples, 

 pears, and peaches among fruits ; each appears to have been 

 originally descended and improved from more or less un- 

 promising prototypes. Taking a similar general view of our 

 live stock and domestic pets, we see many different descrip- 

 tions of dogs, cats, and pigeons, or even of mice or rats, when 

 bred in confinement. Wherever, indeed, the hand of man 

 has been laid upon an animal or a vegetable we witness a 

 strange metamorphosis, not only in the form of varieties 

 already in existence, but in the easy formation of new ones. 

 This liability to vary when animals are domesticated, or 

 plants cultivated, is an accepted fact by all naturalists and 

 all breeders of fancy stock, and in its light it is not difficult 



