NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



173 



and ewe descended immediately from ancon pa- 

 rents on both sides. The fleece of the former 

 weighed four pounds and a half; those of the two 

 latter somewhat rising three pounds each. 



The ancons have been observed to Keep togeth- 

 er, separating themselves from the rest of the 

 flock, when put into enclosures with other sheep. 

 The lambs are remarked to he less capable of stand- 

 ing up to suck without assistance, when first 

 yeaned, than others. Although they arrive some- 

 what later at maturity, the sheep are said to live 

 as long as those of our common breeds ; unless in 

 some cases, where by reason of their debility and 

 decrepitude, their health is impaired and their lives 

 shortened. 



To whatever cause this may be attributed, wheth- 

 er arising from defect in vertebrae, muscle, joint, 

 or limb, it is certain they can neither run nor jump 

 like other sheep. They are more infirm in their 

 organic construction, as well as more awkward in 

 their gait, having their fore-legs always crooked, 

 and their feet turned inwards when they walk. 

 According to some information, the rams are com- 

 monly more deformed than the ewes. 



Sprung from an individual, remarkable for what 

 might be called a caprice of nature, it is not one 

 of the least extraordinary circumstances, that this 

 misshapen and feeble race should propagate their 

 own deformity and decrepitude until these charac- 

 teristics have become constitutional and hereditary. 

 It may be asked with reason, why such a breed 

 should have been continued ? The expectation of 

 advantage, particularly in one way, doubtless pre- 

 vailed over slighter considerations. We cannot 

 boast of being such neat farmers, or of being so 

 much attached to fine shapes in animals, as the 

 more skilful graziers and breeders in Europe ; con- 

 sequently the prospect of gain in some useful qual- 

 ity, or even of exemption from inconvenience, 

 would more readily recompense us for the want of 

 beauty, or reconcile us to the sight of what, to 

 more acute or fastidious spectators, might be con- 

 sidered its opposite. The unfavorable appearance 

 of Merinos, according to the generally received 

 ideas of handsome proportions in sheep, is under- 

 stood to have operated considerably in retarding 

 their spread in France and England, as well as in 

 a smaller degree in the United States of America. 



The breed of ancons was expected to be a valu- 

 able acquisition, on account of their being less able 

 than others to get over fences. 



In New England, beyond which they have rarely 

 migrated, there are few commons, no hedges, no 

 shepherds, no dogs whose business it is to watch 

 flocks. The small freehold estates are enclosed 

 by fences of wood or stone. These are frequently 

 too low to prevent active sheep from breaking out of 

 pastures, into meadows or grounds under culti- 

 vation. Crops are injured, farmers discouraged. 

 Hopes were entertained that this evil would be 

 remedied. It has been in part. 



To countervail this advantage, the drovers have 

 complained of the great difficulty of driving these 

 cripples to market ; and the butchers, that the 

 carcass is smaller and less saleable, than that of 

 our common breeds. Perhaps, it is commonly not 

 so fat. I have perceived little difference in the 

 taste of the mutton ; and presume, if served at 

 table in equal condition, it would hardly be distin- 

 guished by better judges. They have been re- 

 marked not to fatten so easily, possibly owing to 



less facility or industry in gathering food, or to 

 some fault in the organic system. 



Since the introduction of Merinos, which are 

 equally gregarious, quiet, and orderly, probably 

 better feeders, and witli greater disposition to take 

 fat, and more highly recommended by their fleeces, 

 the ancon breed seems in danger of becoming al- 

 most extinct. They have so much declined, that for 

 many months, it was not an easy matter for me to 

 procure one for dissection in Boston. That oper- 

 ation was performed by the ingenious Dr. Shattuck, 

 who makes the following remarks. "The sheep 

 weighed just before it was killed, forty-five pounds. 

 The most obvious difference in its skeleton from 

 the skeleton of the commonsbeep, so far as any su- 

 perficial observation has extended, consists in the 

 greater looseness of the articulations, the dimin- 

 ished size of the bones ; but more especially in the 

 crookedness of its fore-legs, which causes them to 

 appear like elbows, while the animal is walking. 

 I have taken the liberty to call them ancon, from 

 the Greek word which signifies elbow. On dissect- 

 ing the sheep, I could not forbear noticing the 

 flabby condition of the subscopularic muscles ; 

 this may partially account for the great feebleness 

 of the animal, and its consequent quietude in pas- 

 tures." 



This skeleton will be presented to the President 

 of the Royal Society, by the gentleman who is so 

 obliging as to charge himself with the delivery of 

 this letter. 



I have been the more particular in the state- 

 ment, because I deemed it important the point 

 should be settled, so far as evidence can be ad- 

 duced, that the preservation of different breeds, 

 once clearly designated, in whatever manner ob- 

 tained, whether from casualty, as in the present 

 instance, or from calculation and cultivation, as in 

 that of the new Leicester breed, depends more on 

 some inherent quality in the blood, than in climate, 

 food, or any other circumstance. Although it is 

 allowed that these have no inconsiderable influence, 

 paticularly the first, on the fleece, in the torrid 

 zone. In all temperate regions and even in high- 

 er latitudes, where extreme cold prevails, flocks 

 may be improved by care, or deteriorated by the 

 want of it. 



The settlement of thi3 point would not fail to 

 have a tendency to eradicate the remains of the 

 pernicious prejudice, that the Merinos of Spain can- 

 not be bred out of that country, without degener- 

 ating and losing their essential character for wool. 



The beneficent Creator having ordained "that 

 all creatures shall increase after their kind," has 

 still left much for man to do, in regard to those 

 which are made more immediately subservient to 

 his use. 



We are not ignorant how much the agricultural 

 nations of Europe and America are indebted for 

 meliorations in their husbandry to modern research- 

 es and discoveries in chemistry, natural history, 

 and other branches of philosophy ; as well as to 

 experiments of eminent farmers, and especially 

 breeders of cattle. 



My experience has been too limited for me to 

 flatter myself with being able to add to the stock 

 of materials for investigation and improvement, 

 except by becoming in some degree the medium of 

 communication between the agriculturists of the 

 two continents. 



I have formerly exerted myself to enable my 



