SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



131 



fleece. They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared with the im- 

 proved English breeds, and yielded when fully grown, 'from 10 to 14 Ibs 

 of a middling quality of mutton to the quarter. They were usually long- 

 legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on the breast and back, al- 

 though some rare instances might be found of flocks with the short legs, 

 and some approximation to the general form of the improved breeds. The 

 common sheep were excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely des- 

 titute of care, and without shelter, one hundred per cent, of lambs, and it 

 small fl }cks a still larger proportion. These, too, were usually dropped ic 

 March 3r the earlier part of April. Restless in their disposition, their impa- 

 tience of restraint almost equaled that of the untamed Argali, from which 

 they were descended ; and in many sections of our country it was common 

 to see from twenty to fifty of them roving, with little regard to inclosurer*, 

 over the possessions of their owner and his neighbors, leaving a large por- 

 tion of their wool adhering to bushes and thorns, and the remainder placed 

 learly beyond the possibility of carding by the Tory weed ( Cynoglossum 

 vfficinale) and Burdock (Arctium lappa) so common on new lands. 



" The old common stock of sheep, as a distinct family, have nearly disap- 

 peared, having been universally crossed, to a greater or less extent, with 

 the foreign breeds of later introduction. The first and second cross wi^h 

 the Merino, resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a variety 

 exceedingly valuable for the farmer who rears wool only for domestic pur- 

 poses. The fleeces are of uneven fineness, being hairy on the thighs, dew- 

 lap, &c. ; but the general quality is much improved ; the quantity is con- 

 siderably augmented ; the carcass is more compact and nearer the ground ;: 

 and they have lost their unquiet and roving propensities. The cross with the- 

 fcraxon, for reasons which we shall hereafter allude to, has not been generally? 

 so successful. With the Leicester and Downs the improvement, so far a 

 form, size, and a propensity to take on fat are concerned, is manifest." 



MERINO HAM. 



{Defiance. I months old, bred bj- and the property of HVnry S. Randall.) 



