120 



[MPEOVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. 



clean fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous 

 skin and coarse hairy wool from the knee and hough 

 downwards ; the breast broad and well forward, which 

 will keep his forelegs at a proper wideness ; his girth 

 or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind 

 the shoulders, that part by some called the fore-flank, 

 should be quite full ; the back and loins' broad, flat, and 

 straight, from which the ribs must rise in a fine circular 

 arch; his belly straight; the quarters. long and full, 

 with the mutton quite down to the hough, which should 

 neither stand in nor out ; his twist deep, wide and full, 

 which, with the broad breast, will keep his four legs 

 open and upright ; the whole body covered with a thin 

 pelt, and that with bright soft wool. The nearer any 

 breed comes up to the above description, the nearer 

 they approach towards excellence of form." As an 

 amusing contrast to this well drawn picture, I give an 

 extract from the work of that ancient agriculturist 

 Columella. 



" Therefore, the way to judge and approve of a ram, 

 is not only that of observing if he is clothed with a 

 white fleece, but also if his palate and tongue are of 

 the same colour with his wool ; for when these parts 

 of his body are black or spotted, there arises a black or 

 speckled offspring. And this, among other things, the 

 same poet I mentioned above, (Virgil, Georg. Lib. iii.) 

 has excellently pointed out in such numbers as these :" 



" Reject him, tho' the ram himself be white, 

 Under whose ousy palate lies concealed 

 A black or spotted tongue ; for with black spots 

 He'll stain the fleeces of his future race." 



After some amusing remarks on the same subject, de. 



