8 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



Spanish Merino is equally celebrated, although through adventi- 

 tious circumstances, but chiefly political disturbances, its pre-emi- 

 nence has been lost to Spam, and other countries enjoy its fruits. 

 As civilization progressed stage by stage, and garments of man- 

 ufactured wool displaced those of skins, careful breeding began to 

 improve the fleece, and varieties among sheep became fixed in 

 type. Before the Christian era the fine wools of Italy were noted, 

 and the fineness of the fleece was cultivated to a degree unknown 

 to us of the present day. The sheep of that period were housed 

 and clothed, their skins were oiled and moistened with wine, and 

 their fleeces were combed and washed repeatedly, in order that 

 the quality of the wool might be refined as far as possible. Al- 

 though this excessive refinement destroyed the vigor and impaired 

 the constitution of the sheep, yet their descendants, inferior in 

 form, as might be expected, are still fine-wooled sheep. Thus far 

 the improvement in sheep operated only towards refining the 

 fleece, and the carcass was a secondary object, only cared for so 

 far as it could serve as a vehicle for carrying the wool. The lamb 

 of the flock was considered a choice morsel, but the mature sheep 

 was neglected as an article of food. It is only in recent times that 

 the excellence of mutton has been made an object hi the improve- 

 ment of sheep. At the present it is only in sparsely populated 

 countries that sheep are cultivated for wool alone, while in densely 

 peopled localities the production of mutton is of greater consider- 

 ation than that of wool, or at least is of equal value to it. At the 

 present time, proximity to, or distance from market, decides the 

 choice of breeds, and in fact this consideration alone has in some 

 cases been the moving influence in the creation of new varieties 

 or breeds specially adapted to certain localities. In a similar man- 

 ner the necessities of sheep-breeders have led them to make some 

 important modifications in their methods of agriculture, so that 

 while the character of their flocks has been changed for the better, 

 their agriculture has been improved, the product of the land in- 

 creased, and its value advanced, until profitable sheep culture has 

 become synonymous with the most profitable farming. In fact, 

 the character of the farm has been indexed by the character of the 

 flock reared upon it. This improvement has in greater part oc- 

 curred only in connection with the rearing of mutton sheep. To 

 feed these heavy bodied sheep profitably, it has been found neces- 

 sary to raise large crops of cheap roots and luxuriant green crops ; 

 and to raise these crops, the most skillful tillage, the cleanest cul- 

 ture, and the most liberal manuring have been requisite. In this 

 way the product of the soil has been vastly increased, and the 



