1006 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



dollars per league per year will lease the same lands. Titles 

 are good for sales, and lease-contracts are honestly complied 

 with. Herders can be hired at $9 to $14 a month, to which 

 must be added $1.75 to $2.50 for keep. Ewes can be bought 

 at $1.80 to $2 a head. The shearer receives, for the light- 

 fleeced Mexican sheep, one and a half cents a head. The 

 principal drawback is the bad government, and the consequent 

 brigandage. 



In the selection of breeders there are several points which 

 are quite as important as purity of blood perhaps more so. 

 Constitution is of pre-eminent importance, arid those sheep which 

 have the distinctive race or breed characteristics best developed 

 have, generally speaking, the best constitution. These charac- 

 teristics should be carefully noted. 



The Representative Cotswold is an animal of a majes- 

 tic port, perhaps to an impartial layman the most beautiful of 

 the various breeds, whose only drawback is the "shortness of 

 space between the hip and flank." Here is the weak point in 

 the breed too light in the flank and too leggy; these are faults 

 which should be carefully avoided. There should be a broad, 

 bold breast, a short scrag or neck, of a spirited carriage, and a 

 small, clean, bony head, with bright, prominent eyes, and a 

 conspicuous foretop of wool, often nearly covering the eyes 

 this being the characteristic point which distinguishes the breed 

 from the Leicester; a broad back and good barrel well sprung 

 out; a broad, heavy tail; hind legs set somewhat under, both 

 they and the fore-legs standing wide apart, erect and strong, 

 with a heavy bone ; top and bottom lines straight. There has 

 been some difference of opinion as to the gray or mottled face. 

 It is agreed that it is an index of power and hardiness, and it 

 is now pretty well settled that it should not be held to throw 

 any suspicion of impurity on the blood. Wool, curly, long, and 

 lustrous, not dry and harsh to the feel, but with a slight amount 

 of yolk ; skin of a healthy pink. At maturity it ought to be 

 eight inches long, and the fleece averages six or seven pounds. 

 More than that should be obtained from a flock of twenty or 

 thirty. The male should be broad between the eyes. 



