SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



169 



fleece. They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared with the im- 

 proved English breeds, and yielded vv^hen fully grown, from 10 to 14 lbs. 

 of a middling quality of mutton to the quarter. Tliey were usually long- 

 legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on the breast and back, al- 

 though some rare instances might be found of flocks with the short legs, 

 and some approximation to the general form of the improved breeds. The 

 common sheep were excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely des- 

 titute of care, and without shelter, one hundred per cent, of lambs, and in 

 small flocks a still larger proportion. These, too, were usually dropped iu 

 March or the earlier part of April. Restless in their disposition, their impa- 

 tience of restraint almost equaled that of the untamed Argali, from which 

 they were descended ; and in many sections of our country it was common 

 to see from twenty to lifty of them roving, with little regard to inclosures, 

 over the possessions of their owner and his neighbors, leaving a large por- 

 tion of their wool' adhering to bushes and thorns, and the remainder placed 

 nearly beyond the possibility of carding by the Tory weed ( Grjnoglossuvi 

 ojjicinale) and Burdock (Arctium lappa) so common on new lands. 



" The old common stock of sheep, as a distinct family, have nearly disap- 

 peared, having been universally crossed, to a greater or less extent, with 

 the foreign breeds of later introduction. The first and second cross with 

 tlie Merino, resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a variety 

 exceedingly valuable for the farmer who rears wool only for domestic pur- 

 poses. The fleeces are of uneven fineness, being hairy on the thighs, dew- 

 lap, &c. ; but the general quality is much improved ; the quantity is con- 

 siderably augmented ; the carcass is more compact and nearer the ground ; 

 and they have lost their unquiet and roving propensities. The cross with the 

 Saxon, for reasons which we shall hereafter allude to, has not been generally 

 so successful. With the Leicester and Downs the improvement, so far as 

 form, size, and a propensity to take on fat are concerned, is manifest." 



(361) 



MKRIXO KA5I. 



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