380 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Mitchell. I move that the Secretary be requested to purchase another book 

 and complete the record, as near as may be, from the published Agricultural re- 

 ports. Carried. 



S. W. Dungan read the following paper on 



COTSWOLD SHEEP. 



THEIR ORIGIN, TOGETHER WITH THEIR ADAPTATION TO THE WANTS OP 

 SHEEP-RAISERS OF INDIANA. 



BY S. W. DUNGAN, FRANKLIN, IND. 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Indiana Wool Growers' Association : 



Sheep are of very remote origin; in fact, they claim the honor of an antiquity 

 coeval with man. We imagine that when the flowers first bloomed and the trees 

 first donned their rich foliage, the world was not without this beautiful emblem of 

 innocence and purity. Dr. Navin, in his introductory remarks on sheep, uses the 

 following beautiful and expressive language: "Abel was a keeper of flocks. It has 

 been honorably meniionecl by prophets and seers of old, and lent to the inspiration 

 of the songs of bards through a eye e of six thousand years. The lamb has been 

 made, and appropriately too, the emblem of meekness and purity. Its blood has 

 even flowed as a libation when man would draw very near to commune with God. 

 The character of the Savior lo.«es no ray of its lustre when seen through that tri- 

 umphant rhapsody: 'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the 

 world.' As the sheep has been honored, so also has the shepherd. From Abel 

 down the shepherd's office has been honored by patriarchs, prophets, priests, and 

 kings. Abraham, Job, Isaac, .Jacob, and hs son.s, Moses, Jeihro, and David, the 

 poet, prophet, warrior, lawgiver, and king, were shepherds. To a company of shep- 

 herds, when attending thtir flocks by night, was sent a band of angels from the 

 courts of heaven with songs more sweet than ever mortal ears had heard, to an- 

 nounce to them the messages intinile love had prepared for the cheerless millions 

 of our race. ' Behold I bring you good news, glad tidings of great joj, which shall 

 be to all people.'" May I not, with propriety, congratulate my brother-shepherds 

 to-day in being engaged in that high and noble avocation, which has divine prece- 

 dence and holy origin and sanction? 



Now to the consideration of the subject assigned me. Cotswold Sheep: Their 

 Origin, together with their Adaptation to Indiana. 



T have sought help from various sources in order to be able to give a true and 

 impartial history of this breed of sheep, and the most satisfactory and complete 

 history I have found is from the pen of Henry Stewart, whose work on Sheep Hus- 



