Book VII. VARIETIES OF SHEEP. ]04y 



milk long sweet for skim-milk cheese. Buttermilk is used more or less bv the labouring classes in 

 all parts of Scotland, and in particular in the city of Glasgow ; on the authority of the secretary to the 

 Board of Agriculture, it is adjudged to the pigs in England ; but in the western counties of Scotland 

 as well as in Ireland, it is used to a vast extent as human food. It is used as drink, and is certainly far 

 superior to the miserable table-beer generally drank in England. It serves as kitchen to pottage, bread 

 ]x>tatoes. &c. ; and when a linen bag like a pillow-slip is rilled with it, and hung up till the serum drop' 

 and a small quantity of sweet cream is mixed with what remains in the bag, and a little sugar when 

 the milk is too sour, it forms a dish that might be placet! on the table of a peer of the realm. 



7110. The method of making butter and buttermilk in Holland is somewhat different from the mode in 

 the vicinity of Glasgow. After the milk is cold it is put into a pan or vat, and well stirred with a wooden 

 spoon or ladle two or three times a day, to prevent the cream from separating from the milk ; and t! 

 of stirring or partial churning is continued till the milk becomes so thick and clotted that the ladle or 

 spoon stands erect in the milk : after which it is put into the chum, and beat or churned for one hour or 

 so. Cold water is poured in, to help to collect the butter and separate the milk from it ; after which the 

 butter is washed in cold water. By this method the Hollanders imagine they obtain more butter from the 

 milk than they can do any other way. They also say, that both the butter aiid buttermilk are better when 

 made in that way than when churned as is done in England. 



Till 11'hey, when neu- and of a pale green colour, forms an agreeable beverage, and with oatmeal makes 

 an excellent gruel or porridge. Left till it gets sour, it undergoes the vinous fermentation as readily is 

 buttermilk; and man, who in every state of civilisation feels the necessity of occasionally dissipating the 

 cares of his mind, w hen he cannot find tobacco, opium, malt liquors, or ardent spirit, has recourse to sour 

 whey. 



Chap. VI. 



The Sheep- — OVs AVies L. ; Mammalia Pecora L , and Ruminalea: Cuv. Brebis, Fr. ; 

 Schaf, Ger. ; Oveja, Span. ; and Pecora, Ital. 



7112. The sheep is an inhabitant of every part of the globe, from Iceland to the regions 

 of the torrid zone. The varieties of form and clothing necessary to fit it for existing in 

 so many climates are of course numerous. In most of these countries it is cultivated for 

 its wool or flesh, and in many for both ; but it is most cultivated in Europe, and espe- 

 cially in France, Spain, and Britain. In the latter country its culture has attained an 

 astonishing degree of perfection. Besides the 0. A^nes, or common sheep, there are 

 three other species ; the 0. A'mmon or Siberian sheep, the Pudu or South American, 

 and the Strepsiceros or Cretan sheep. By some these are considered mere varieties. The 

 Cretan and Siberian are cultivated in Hungary and Siberia. 



7113. The common sheep in a wild state prefer open plains, where they herd together in small flocks, 

 and are in general active, swift, and easily frightened by dogs or men. When completely domesticated, 

 the sheep appears as stupid as it is harmless. It is characterised by Buffon as one of the most timid, im- 

 becile, and contemptible of quadrupeds. When sheep, however, have an extensive range of pasture, and 

 are left in a considerable degree to depend on themselves for food and protection, they exhibit a more 

 decided character. A ram has been seen in these circumstances to attack and beat off a large and formid- 

 able dog. Sheep display considerable sagacity in the selection of their food ; and in the approach of storms 

 they perceive the indications with accurate precision, and retire for shelter always to the spot which is 

 best able to afford it. The sheep is more subject to disorders than any of the domesticated animals ; gid- 

 diness, consumption, scab, dropsy, and worms frequently seizing upon and destroying it. That popularly 

 called the rot is the most fatal, and is supposed to arise from the existence of animals called fluke worms, 

 of the genus Fasciola, which inhabit the vessels of the liver. Other parasitic animals attack and 

 injure them, as the hydatids within the skull, producing symptoms called sturdy, turnsick, staggers, tec. 

 Frontal worms, deposited by the sheep fly, in some cases prove very injurious also. 



7114. Of all the domestic aniynals of Britain, Brown observes, sheep are of the greatest consequence, both 

 to the nation and to the farmer ; because they can be reared in situations, and upon soils, where other 

 animals would not live, and in general afford greater profit than can be obtained either from the rearing 

 or feeding of cattle. The very fleece, shorn annually from their backs, is of itself a matter worthy of con- 

 sidaration, affording a partial return not to be obtained from any other kind of stcck. Wool has long been 

 a staple commodity of this island, giving bread to thousands who are employed in manufacturing it into 

 innumerable articles for home consumption and foreign exportation. In every point of view, sheep hus- 

 bandry deserves to be esteemed as a chief branch of rural economy, and claims the utmost attention of 

 agriculturists. For many years back it has been studied with a degree of diligence and assiduity not 

 inferior to its merits ; and the result has been, that this branch of rural management has reached a degree 

 of perfection favourable to those who exercised it, and highly advantageous to the public. 



Sect. I. Varieties of Sheep. 



*7115. The varieties of the O. AYies, or common slieep, dispersed over the world are, 

 according to Linnanis, the hornless, horned, blackfaced, Spanish, many-horned, African, 

 Guinea, broad-tailed, fat-rumped, Bucharian, long-tailed, Cape, bearded, and morvant; 

 to which some add the Siberian sheep, cultivated in Asia, Barbary, and Corsica, and the 

 Cretan sheep, which inhabits the Grecian islands, Hungary, and Austria; by Linnauis 

 considered as species. 



7116. The varieties of British sheep are so numerous that at first sight it appears almost 

 impossible to reduce them into any regular classes. They may, however, be divided in 

 two ways • first, as to the length of their wool ; and secondly, as to the presence or 

 absence of horns. A third classification might be made after the place or districts in 

 which such species are supposed to abound, to be in greatest perfection, or to have 

 oriirinated. 



