SHEEP. 671 



their mothers till they become large and vigorous. As one ram is 

 able to impregnate a good many ewes, only a small proportion of 

 the male lambs are permitted to retain their organs of generation 

 unmutilated. Wedders are less vicious than rams; and their flesh 

 has a better flavour and relish. In summer, before being shorn, 

 sheep are commonly washed, to improve the whiteness of the wool. 

 Where sheep are not shorn, they change their fleeces annually ; and 

 the best time for shearing is, when the fleece is just ready to fall off 

 of itself. The time of the sheep-shearing is always a period of fes- 

 tivity with the shepherds. It was such in ancient times among the 

 shepherds of Judaea, 2 Sam. xiii. 23. In Scotland, and in other 

 northern countries, sheep are usually smeared with a mixture of 

 butter and tar about the end of autumn, to fortify and protect them 

 against the severities of winter. It seems a necessary precaution, 

 where the flocks cannot be sheltered in sheds, and fed with hay 

 and other suitable food, during the inclemency of the severe sea- 

 son. But this mixture of tar and butter is often so injudiciously 

 laid on, as to injure the health of the sheep, and even to render its 

 fleece less warm than it would otherwise be. It greatly contami- 

 nates the whiteness of the wool; but if the butter be in due pro- 

 portion, is, perhaps, rather favourable to its fineness. In the sheep 

 countries of Scotland, it is often necessary to remove the flocks in 

 winter from the hills on which they usually feed, to low lands, 

 where they may find some herbage, and be protected from the seve- 

 rity of the season. Could the practice of folding sheep in sheds, 

 and feeding them with hay, or leaves of cabbage, common green 

 kail, or turnips, during the storms of winter, be conveniently 

 adopted through Scotland, it would possibly prove highly advanta- 

 geous to their proprietors. Even in the mildest winters, consider- 

 able numbers perish under the present modes of management. 

 Crawford muir, in Clydesdale, is one of the chief sheep countries 

 in Scotland. The management of sheep there is well understood. 

 The natives of Clydesdale have, of late, attempted to teach the in- 

 habitants of the Highlands how to manage their sheep better, and 

 to derive greater profits from them. 



Even in Britain we have a good many different breeds of this 

 animal. Linnaeus distinguishes the breed peculiar to England, as 

 destitute of horns, and having its tail and scrotum depending to the 

 knees. This is thj fine, large breed for which Warwickshire and 

 particularly Lincolnshire, is noted. They have, in the course of 



