354 REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 



good quality, especially of fineness of texture, goodness of sta- 

 ple, and softness. Some attention was devoted to sheep hus- 

 bandry and the improvement of wool in this country for a few 

 years preceding the revolutionary war; at that time the finest 

 wool was obtained in New Jersey, which, according to an ac- 

 count laid before Parliament, contained one hundred and forty- 

 three thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine sheep; a much 

 larger number than was found in either of the other colonies. 

 The same report which str.tes the number of sheep, adds that 

 specimens of wool from all the Provinces of North America 

 having been submitted to the wool staplers and connoisseurs 

 of the article, there was but one opinion, namely, that the tex- 

 ture or fineness of the wool from New Jersey, was not only 

 superior to that from the other provinces, but much superior, 

 in almost every point of excellence, to that raised in Great 

 Britain. The specimen from Long Island, New York, ranked 

 next to the Jersey. The reader will, however, bear in mind, 

 tli A since the period here referred to, very great and astonish- 

 ing improvements were made in this branch of husbandry in 

 Great Britain, while in this country the reverse was the case, 

 and little or no attention was paid to the improvement of the 

 various breeds until within a few years past. The reasons for 

 this, and the effects produced, are tox> well known to require 

 further notice. 



There are a great variety of breeds of sheep, all probably 

 derived from one parent stock; each possessing some peculiar 

 quality by which it is distinguished from all others: to de- 

 scribe them all, with any show of justice, would require a 

 volume of no small dimensions. In Great Britain, where the 

 greatest improvements have been realized in the culture of this 

 animal, they are divided into two classes, by most authors, the 

 long-wooled and the short-wooled. Mr. Low, and others 

 equally eminent, divide them into two classes also, namely, 

 the sheep of the mountains, lower moors, and downs, and the 

 sheep of the plains. The sheep of the first class have some- 

 times horns, and sometimes want horns. The finest of them, 

 the South-down and Cheviot, have no horns. One of them, the 

 black-faced breed, have coarse wool; the Dartmoor and Ex- 

 moor have long but not coarse wool; and all the others have 

 short wool. We can only refer to the principal breeds. 



The pure breed of the Shetland and Orkney sheep, which 

 exist in the islands from which they derive their name, is of 

 the variety of short-tailed sheep which exist in Norway, and 

 other parts of the north of Europe. They are a hardy race, 

 adapted to the exposed country in which they are reared; but 





