SHEEP. 



*e deep alluvial turnip lands of our rich 

 arable to consume the succulent 



grasses of or water-meadows: every shepherd 

 is aware thai their natural instinct, after being 

 for ages don> -till leads them invaria- 



bly to the elevated portions of the field in which 

 Ihey are placed. All these facts tell the farmer 

 intelligible language that it is change 

 of food, of paslu rage, and, if possible, the giving 

 nally aromatic food, that will best 

 condu. aisperiiy of his flock. With 



w parsley has been successfully culti- 

 vated. Then, again, the wild sheep are found 

 icnt all iho.se places where saline exu- 

 dations are lo be found. In common with the 

 deer and other ruminating animals, they lick 

 the salt clay of some of the American uplands 

 lo such an extent, that these places are denomi- 

 nated fa**. Some of the most skilful of the 

 flock-masters never allow their sheep 

 without salt. The female sheep goes 

 .'ung twenty-one weeks, produces one, 

 and rarely more than two at a birth ; her milk 

 abundance of strong-tasted cheese, but 

 limited quantity of cream. The sheep, 

 .perale climates, is clothed with wool, 

 which is annually renewed, but in warmer 

 countries the animal is furnished with hair. 

 la 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, 

 i:r !. UN age or sex. "The male," says 

 is called a ram or tup. While with 

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

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

 land a p*r lamb. From the time of weaning 

 unit! he is shorn he has a variety of names ; 

 being called a hog, a hogget, a hosgerel, a lamb 

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

 wftkrr kog. After shearing, when probably he 

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

 a tktarliitg, a $htur hog, a diamond, or dinmont 

 ram or fp, and a shearling wether when cas- 

 trated. After the second shearing he is a two- 

 $ktar ram or tup or uxther ; 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 

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

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

 wtMtr. The female is a ewe or gimmer lamb 

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

 or ttf, or tkttdtr etce. After being shorn she is 

 a taring CKV or gimmer, sometimes a t heave or 

 do*bU~t<M*htd ewe, or teg ; and afterwards a two- 

 fccor or !hrte~thtar, or a four or six-tooth ewe or 

 tkftvt. In some of the northern districts, ewes 

 that are barren or that have weaned their 

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



eth of the sheep are in number the 

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

 -teeth in the lower jaw, and six molar 

 leeth on each side, and in each jaw. 



When the lamb is born he has either no in- 

 cisor teeth 01 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- 



SHEEP. 



tain their full growth : when between two and 

 three years of age, the two next incisors are 

 shed; at three years old, the four central teeth 

 are fully grown ; at four, he has six complete 

 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, as 

 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, so 

 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, ijo 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 wool, 

 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 main- 



