SlIElir-UEAltlNO.] 



AND Til Hill VMMors BREEDS. 



LhHEEl'-UEAlilNU. 



England. AVitli tlio exception of tiio small 

 mountain slieop, its mutton has ft lii^luT repu- 

 tation than any otlicr; and those ipialitifs, 

 with the wool it produces, have enabled the 

 breed, also, to lioKl a foremost place in the 

 favour of tho publie. »Yitli these two valuable 

 breeds, each adapted to dill'erent pastures, it 

 may bo asked, what need is there for any 

 other ? It will, however, be found that, in 

 tho marshes of Kent, and many other places, 

 tho superior hardihood of tho native breeds 

 Las rendered them more profitable than the 

 Leicester ; though, unquestionably, crosses with 

 the latter have much improved their value. 

 Notwithstanding the valuable qualities of the 

 Soutlidowns, however, they have been found 

 insufficiently hardy to endure the severities 

 of the Grampian hills, or the "Welsh moun- 

 tains. They have been tried, and found want- 

 ing. In these bleak situations, vast numbers 

 of them have fallen victims to the inclemency 

 of the weather ; and the losses which many 

 speculators have sustained, have been the 

 cause of discouraging others from following 

 their steps. 



T\"here breeding is the object of tho farmer, 

 the first rule to act upon is to breed from 

 the best ; but this has its limitations and re- 

 strictions, as will be seen in the following 

 illustrations of Mr. Milburn : — " A man may 

 easily ruin liis flock by adhering to this rule, 

 without attending to its antecedents and ad- 

 juncts. There are two modes of effecting it. 

 One man will scour the whole country to 

 obtain the best ram, or to buy a few prize gim- 

 mers. From these he will select the most pro- 

 mising, and insure better alliances for his flock. 

 The result will be a set of nondescript mongrels. 

 Some distant impurity of breed manifests 

 itself; some tendencies, far back in the genea- 

 logy of the race, break out, which are modified in 

 one case, and fostered in another, until the flock 

 shows signs of indiscriminate and injudicious 

 dabbling. Another man, better acquainted 

 with the rules that regulate vitalism, takes 

 his own flock ; and, having selected the best, 

 he takes only those which he Icnoics to be of the 

 same breed ; and thus goes on steadily aiming at 

 giving breadth to the animal. He knows that 

 the sheep, in order to thrive, must have a large 

 lymphatic system. It must have a capacious 

 chest and loins, and a frame on which to secrete 

 5 a 



fat, with lightness of oflul. Henco bo does not 

 select, at first, that wliich has tho most of the.so 

 qualifications, but which hiw, perhaps, tho 

 widest form, and most unlike liis own flock : ho 

 also takes such as show a tendency to pervade, 

 in one uniform direction, not an individual, 

 but tho whole of tho flock ; and this ho takes 

 to mend his own. liy this means all arc a 

 little improved in tho direction ho requires ; 

 and all keeping alike in their general contour, 

 there is a kind of permanency and uniformity 

 in tho main features of tho improvement. 

 Hence, if we look at the flock of the first- 

 named breeder, we shall have breeds both large 

 and small, 'bony' and 'bloody,' rough and 

 fine, white faces and blue, coarse and tender — 

 in fact, a set of mongrels, none of which are 

 of sufllcient value wherewith to form a flock, 

 and none to be depended upon for any future 

 breed. The other breeder, by his cautious and 

 judicious course, has a uniform JlocJc — a mark 

 both of purity and of skill; for no unskilful 

 man ever kept a flock long in a state of any- 

 thing like similarity to each other. Uniformity 

 is as important to the jobber and the butcher 

 as it is to the grazier. The merit of being 

 ' even' is always appreciated in a market, 

 because it always suits the same class of 

 customers. One butcher buys a large fat 

 animal ; it suits his friends : another, a light, 

 thin one (wool being required by one, and 

 mutton by another) ; one requires fat, and 

 another muscle ; and to make an uneven lot 

 of sheep sell for all they are worth in a market, 

 they must be judiciously sorted." 



"Whatever may be the breed selected, it 

 should be suitable, and, in its management, 

 be tended with the greatest care and atten- 

 tion. Theory and practice have clearly shown 

 that health and thrift are intimately con- 

 nected in the breeding of sheep ; that tho in- 

 fluence of cold has such a deteriorating effect; 

 upon the body, that it contracts its proportions, 

 and renders a greater supply of food necessary 

 to support it. Therefore, to a certain extent, 

 warmth is a substitute for food. This, then, 

 suggests tho great importance of the covering 

 of fleece during the winter. It preserves the 

 temperature of the sheep, and prevents waste ; 

 and shows us the reason why animals thrive 

 better in the summer than the winter, except 

 during the verv hottest period. The usual 



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