DISEASES OP SHEEP. 183 



respect tliat is wanted ; their mutton superior to any in the world ; 

 of a hardy constitution ; the wool good ; and no sheep will live on 

 shorter pasture. The South-down has a brown face and legs, or 

 dark grey. 



" I consider the Cotswold sheep a hardy animal well adapted for 

 this country ; but they want better keep than the South-down ; they 

 make great weight, and their fleeces are heavy. I had last year 

 eighteen Cotswold ewes whose fleeces averaged ten and a half 

 pounds, and one buck whose fleece weighed eighteen and a quarter 

 pounds. I sold a lamb to Mr. Haviland of Long Island, who had it 

 shorn at one year old ; the fleece weighed twelve and a half pounds 

 clean wool. I saw some of this breed of sheep slaughtered in Glou- 

 cester, England, which weighed seventy-five pounds per quarter. A 

 noted breeder there informed me that they often exceeded that weight. 



" Some may say that the South-down and Cotswold lambs cannot 

 weigh one hundred pounds at the age stated. If any doubt it, if they 

 will call on Bagg and Watt, of Montgomery, New York, they can 

 see lambs of five months old much heavier. 



''Montgomery, N. F., July 21, 1840." 



Those who have rich pastures and abundant food, and whose object 

 is to supply the butcher, would probably best adopt the Cotswold, 

 already spoken of by Mr. Bagg, of which we find, among other in- 

 ducements, great size and aptitude to fat, with more hardiness and 

 better constitution than the Bakewell. The following item in the 

 seventh volume of the Cultivator may prove interesting on some of 

 these points : — 



" I cannot leave this place without giving you some description of 

 six Cotswold wether sheep, bred and fed by Mr. Dunn, with refer- 

 ence to the whole inhabitants of Albany. Mr. Kirkpatrick, who 

 purchased them, says the heaviest sheep weighed two hundred and 

 ten pounds, and the fat on the ribs measured five and a quarter inches. 

 I saw the smallest; the thickness of fat from my own measurement 

 was four and a quarter inches; the price twenty-two dollars each; 

 and the meat sold in the market readily for twelve and a half cents 

 per pound. The fleeces from these sheep averaged about ten pounds 

 each; these are facts from the breeder and the butcher without dimi- 

 nution or addition. W. H. Sotham." 



" P. S. Perhaps it will be as well to observe that these lambs were 

 not thought sufiiciently good to reserve for breeders, and wxre the 

 culls of his males." 



An English paper stated that a fleece weighing twenty-three pounds 

 was taken from a Cotswold ram in 1840, owned by J. Gould of Pot- 

 more. 



Albany, Feb. 27, 1840. 



Later still, in 1843, a sheep of the Cotswold breed was slaughtered 

 in Albany; live weight, two hundred and sixty pounds; carcass, 

 dressed with head on, two hundred and ten pounds ; showing a differ- 



