SHEEP. 



getting is hereditary : " Experience," he says, 

 " has satisfied me that a ram which may be a 

 twin would get double the number of twin 

 lambs than other rams." He advises that, just 

 previous to lambing-time, the ewes should not 

 be kept too well, but that their food should be 

 increased a few days after parturition. Clean- 

 liness in the lambing-yards he very properly 

 <ieems to be of the greatest importance. Lambs 

 are best castrated at from 8 to 12 days old. In 

 the performance of this operation it is calculated 

 ihat, when properly performed, the deaths do 

 not average 1 in a 1000. Mr. Ellman recom- 

 mends 80 to 100 ewes to each ram, or, when 

 lamb rams are employed, only 40 ; and that 

 they should remain with the ewes 3 weeks, in 

 separate lots. 



Statistics. The number of sheep in Great 

 Britain has long been gradually on the increase, 

 with the demands of an enlarging population. 

 To this the introduction of turnips and other 

 better supplies of winter food, which much in- 

 creased the facilities for their keep, has mainly 

 contn tinted. In 1698, Gregory King calculated 

 that there were 12,000,000 sheep in Great 

 Britain; in 1741 the number had increased to 

 16,640,000; in 1 774, according to Arthur Young, 

 the number was 25,589,754; in 1801, Mr. Ltic- 

 -ti mated them at 26,148,463. Mr. M-t'ul- 

 loch, in 1 834, states the number to be 32,000,000; 

 the value of the wool 7,000,000/.; and thai ..f 

 the manufactured woollen articles 21,000. OIHC. ; 

 and the number of persons employed in the 

 manufacturing of these goods about 332,000. 

 /.""' / . . /.:/., and Jtreedt 

 rJ ,/;;. Lib. : M'Culloch's 

 Com. Dit.} 



Of the many valuable papers upon sheep 

 dispersed through the British agricultural pe- 

 riodicals, I can, in this place, only give a brief 

 catalogue. There is a letter by Mr. T. Es- 

 O.ourt, Com. to Hoard of *Ji;r. vol. iv. p. 294, "On 

 keeping Sheep warm when feeding," which 

 shou.x very clearly the advantages of sheep 

 being kept dry and warm when feeding, a sub- 

 ject not nearly so well understood as is desi- 

 rable ; see also "On Sheep Stells (Timber 

 Clumps)," by Dr. Howson, Trans. High. Soc. vol. 

 vi. p. 332; "On Rain-proof Feeding Troughs," 

 by Mr. Buist, Quart. Journ. of Jar. vol.ii. p. 114; 

 " On Canvass Sheds for Sheep," by Mr. Munro, 

 Ibid, vol. xii. p. 290; "On Shed-feeding," by 

 Mr. Childers, Journ. Roy.Jlzr.Soc. vol. i.p. 169 

 407; " On the Improvement of the fine-woolled 

 Breed," Com. to Board of Jls,r. vol. vi. p. 65 ; 

 the Rev. Edmund Cartwright " On feeding 

 Sheep on Muscovado Sugar," Ibid. p. 405 ; 

 "On the Braxy in Sheep," Trans. High. Soc. 

 vol. i. p. 43; "On the Flesh Fly and Maggot," 

 by Mr. Hogg, Ibul. p. 325, and by Mr. Mather, 

 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 221, and Quart. Journ. of Agr. 

 vol. i. p. 210. "On Salving Sheep," by Mr. J. 

 Graham, I/>id. vol. ii. p. 243 ; this salve is com- 

 posed of 7 Ib. of rosin, 17 Ib. of butter, 16 Ib. of 

 palrn oil, 2 chopins of fish oil: and by Mr. 

 Harkness, Ibid. vol. iv. p. 125. " On the Lou- 

 pingill," by Mr. Tod and Mr. Laing, Ibid. vol. iii. 

 p. 73 ; " On the Foot Rot," by Mr. Hogg and 

 the Rev. H. Riddell, Ibid. p. 307; by Mr. Dick, 

 Quart. Journ. of Agr. vol. ii. p. 852, and by Mr. 

 l.aek, Ibid. vol. iii. p. 654; " On Blindness in 



SHEEP. 



Sheep," by Mr. M'Farlane, Trans. High. -Soc. 

 vol. iv. p. 393; "On Rabies," by Mr. Dickson, 

 Ibid. vol. vi. p. 261; "On certain Diseases of 

 Sheep (the Pining, Scab, &c.)," by Mr. Hogg, 

 <l\ntrt. Journ. of jlgr. vol. ii. p. 697 ; "On the 

 Origin and Natural History of the Sheep," by 

 Mr. Wilson, Ibid. p. 354 536 ; "On drafting 

 (Sheep," Ibid. vol. iii. p. 1005; "On the acute 

 Dysentery," by Mr. Dick, Ibid. vol. p. 411 ; "On. 

 the Rot," Ibid.' p. 503; and vol. vi. p. 117; "On 

 the Physiognomy of Sheep," Ibid. vol. x. p. 298; 

 "On different Breeds, and on feeding and 

 dressing Tups," by Mr. Hogg, Ibid. vol. xi. p. 

 105 108; "On a peculiar Affection of the 

 Liver in Ewes," by Mr. Buckley, Journ. Roy. 

 slr. Sur. vol. ii. p. 116. See FOOD, MKAT, MUT- 

 TON, WOOL. 



All the best varieties of sheep known in 

 Europe have been introduced into the United 

 States, where the raising of sheep, both for 

 the profits of carcass and wool, is a highly 

 productive branch of agriculture. The num- 

 ber of sheep in the United States, in 1840, was 

 estimated at about 20,000,000. Immense num- 

 bers of these are raised in the high and cool 

 districts in Northern Pennsylvania, New York, 

 and the Eastern States. Various American 

 agricultural periodicals contain valuable ob- 

 x'rvation in regard to sheep in the United 

 States. Jonathan Roberts, Esq., a veteran 

 Turner of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, 

 who has taken much interest in this kind of 

 stock for the last half-century, has favoured us 

 with the fnl!o\vin'_r valuable observations: 



"Many of the diseases which prevail among 

 sheep in Britain are little known in this part 

 of the United States, where the air is drier. 

 Such air, associated with a broken and even 

 mountainous country, seems best adapted to 

 the breeds of this animal. Early in my experi- 

 ence I witnessed the renovation of a flock of 

 what we call country sheep, that had been too 

 long propagated in the same blood. This was 

 about the year 1789. An imported ram from 

 England, with heavy horns, very much resem- 

 bling the most vigorous Spanish Merinoes, 

 was obtained. The progeny were improved 

 in the quality of fleece and in vigour of constitu- 

 tion. On running this stock in the same blood 

 for some 12 years, a great deterioration became 

 apparent. A male was then obtained of the 

 large, coarse-woolled Spanish stock; improve- 

 ment in the vigour of the progeny was again 

 most obvious. A Tunis mountain ram was 

 then obtained, with a result equally favourable. 

 In this process, fineness of fleece or weight was 

 less the object than carcass. In 1810, a male of 

 not quite pure Merino blood was placed with 

 the same stock of ewes; and a change of the 

 male from year to year, for some time, pro- 

 duced a superior Merino stock. Wool of a 

 marketable quality for fine cloths was now the 

 object, and it was not an unprofitable husband- 

 ry, when it would sell in the fleece unwashed, 

 from 86 cents to 1. The Saxon stock then 

 became the rage, and the introduction of a tup 

 of that country diminished greatly the weight 

 of the fleece, without adequately improving its 

 fineness. A male of the Spanish stock would 

 give sometimes 9 Ibs., and the marsh graziers say 

 that they went so high as 15 Ibs. Saxon 



