SHEEP. 



8HEEP. 



the deep alluvial turnip lands of our rich ! tain their full growth : when between two and 

 arable farms, or to consume the succulent | three years of age, the two next incisors ore 

 grasses of our water-meadows: every shepherd ! shed; at three years old, the four central teeth 

 is aware that their natural instinct, after being are fully grown; at four, he has six complete 

 for ages domesticated, still leads them invaria- 

 bly unhe elevated portions of the field in which 

 they are placed. All these facts tell the farmer 

 in very intelligible language that it is change 

 of food, of pasturage, and, if possible, the giving 

 them occasionally aromatic food, that will best 

 conduce to the prosperity of his flock. With 

 this view parsley has been successfully culti- 

 vated. Then, again, the wild sheep are found 

 to frequent all those places where saline exu- 

 dations are to be found. In common with the 

 deer and other ruminating animals, they lick 

 the salt clay of some of the American uplands 

 to such an extent, that these places are denomi- 

 nated licks. Some of the most skilful of the 

 English flock-masters never allow their sheep 

 to be without salt. The female sheep goes 

 with young twenty-one weeks, produces one, 

 and rarely more than two at a birth ; her milk 

 yields abundance of strong-tasted cheese, but 

 a very limited quantity of cream. The sheep, 

 in temperate climates, is clothed with wool, 

 which is annually renewed, but in warmer 

 countries the animal is furnished with hair. 

 In its wild state it has generally horns, but 

 these have nearly disappeared in most of the 

 breeds of domestic sheep. The domesticated 

 sheep is known in England by different names, 

 according to its age or sex. "The male," says 

 Mr. Youatt, " is called a ram or tup. While with 

 his mother he is denominated a tup, or ram lamb, 

 a heeder, and in, some parts of the west of Eng- 

 land a pur lamb. From the time of weaning 

 until he is shorn he has a variety of names; 

 being called a hog, a hogget, a hoggerel, a lamb 



hog, a tup hog, or a teg ; and, if castrated, a 

 wether hog. After shearing, when probably he 

 is a year and a half old, he is called a shearing, 

 a shearling, a shear hog, a diamond, or dinmont 

 ram or tup, and a shearling wether when cas- 

 trated. After the second shearing he is a two- 

 shear ram or tup or wether ,- at the expiration of 

 another year he is a three-shear ram, &c., the 

 name always taking its date from the time of 

 shearing. In many parts of the north of Eng- 

 land and Scotland he is a tup lamb, after he is 

 salved and until he is shorn, and then a tup hog, 

 and after that a tup, or if castrated, a dinmont or 

 tcedder. The female is a ewe or gimmer lamb 

 until weaned, and then a gimmer hog or ewe hog, 

 or teg, or shceder ewe. After being shorn she is 

 a shearing ewe or gimmer, sometimes a theave or 

 double-toothed ewe, or teg; and afterwards a/tco- 

 shear or three-shear, or a. four or six-tooth ewe or 

 theave. In some of the northern districts, ewes 

 that are barren or that have weaned their 

 lambs are called eild or yeld ewes." (Youatt on 

 Sheep, p. 2.) 



The teeth of the sheep are in number the 

 same as those of the ox, viz., eight incisor or 

 cutting-teeth in the lower jaw, and six molar 

 teeth on each side, and in each jaw. 



When the lamb is born he has either no in- 

 cisor teeth or only two, but before he is a month 

 old he has eight. The two central teeth of 

 these are shed, and again at two years old at- 

 986 



teeth. That the primitive breed of sheep were 

 horned, we have direct evidence. (Gen, xxii. 

 13; Joshua vi. 6.) Immense flocks of this ani- 

 mal have in all ages of the world been kept by 

 man, but more universally for their wool and 

 skins than for their flesh : for that is yet to 

 many nations by no means a favourite meal. 

 The Calmucs and Cossacks still prefer that 

 of the horse and the camel ; the Spaniard who 

 can procure other flesh rarely eats that of the 

 Merino ; to many North Americans it is still 

 an object of dislike. Englishmen, perhaps, 

 consume more mutton than the people of any 

 other country, but the taste for this is certainly 

 of modern origin. It has rapidly extended, a 

 better breeds and sweeter kinds of mutton have 

 been produced. 



My limits will not allow me to describe the 

 great variety of breeds of sheep which belong 

 to various countries ; I shall, therefore, con- 

 fine myself to a brief notice of those which 

 tenant the British islands, referring those of 

 my readers who need further information on 

 the valuable work of Professor Youatt On the 

 Sheep, and to Professor Low's Illustrations of 

 the Breeds of Domestic Animals, from whence 

 this article is chiefly taken ; there is also an 

 excellent essay upon the sheep by Mr. Ellman 

 in Baxter's Library of Agricultural Knowledge. 



CLASS I. SHEEP WITHOUT HORNS. 



The new Leicester Sheep, says Mr. Youatt, 

 which comprehends the most excellent of 

 Bakewell's own breed, and of Culley's variety 

 or improvement on it, is precisely the form for 

 a sheep provided with plenty of good food, and 

 without any great distance to travel or exertion 

 to make in gathering it. It should have a head 

 hornless, long, small, tapering towards the 

 muzzle. Eyes prominent, with a quiet expres- 

 sion ; ears thin, rather long, directed back- 

 wards ; neck full and broad at its base, gradu- 

 ally tapering towards the head, particularly 

 bare at the junction with the head ; the neck 

 seeming to project straight from the chest, ao 

 that there is, with the slightest possible devia- 

 tion, one continued horizontal line from the 

 rump to the pole. The breast broad and full ; 

 the shoulders broad and round, no uneven or 

 angular formation, no rising of the withers, no 

 hollow behind the situation of these bones. 

 The arm fleshy throughout, even down to the 

 knee. The bones of the leg small, standing 

 wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, 

 and comparatively bare of wool. The chest 

 and barrel deep and round; the ribs forming a 

 considerable arch from the spine ; the barrel 

 ribbed well home ; the carcase gradually dimi- 

 nishing in width towards the rump ; the quar- 

 ters long and full ; the legs of a moderate 

 length ; the pelt moderately thin, soft, and elas- 

 tic, covered with a good quantity of white woo!, 

 not so long as in some breeds, but considerably 

 finer. The principal recommendations of this 

 breed are its beauty, and its fulness of form; 

 in the same apparent dimensions greater 

 weight than any other sheep; an early matu- 



