100 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



excess of yolk answers any good purpose. This is considered at 

 some length in the Chapter on Wool, where it naturally belongs. 

 When it is in such excessive quantity as in a fleece which weighed 

 19^ Ibs. before washing, and only 4 Ibs. afterwards, it is decidedly 

 objectionable, except in the case of a ram chosen to impart greater 

 yolkiness to a flock which is deficient in this respect. In general, 

 as wool is the object sought, no more yolk is necessary than the 

 quantity required to promote the growth of the fleece and to keep 

 it in good condition, soft, pliant, and thoroughly well lubricated. 



FOREIGN BREEDS. LONG- WOOL SHEEP. 



Long-wool sheep are properly natives of the rich low-lands of 

 England, which are productive of abundant, succulent, nutritious 

 pasture. But there have been great improvements in agriculture 

 during the past century, which have enabled farmers to produce 

 enormous crops of clover, artificial grasses, and roots, and to pur- 

 chase large supplies of rich concentrated foods, such as the various 

 oil-cakes. As one result of this improved agriculture, the long- 

 wool sheep have been taken from the alluvial lands where they 

 originated, to the uplands, where they have greatly increased in 

 number, and also improved in character. The fact that these large 

 bodied, heavy fleeced sheep have been found far more profitable 

 than the lighter short-wool sheep, has been the all-sufficient cause 

 of this adaptation of the race to new conditions, for profit is the 

 moving power in every industry, and what is, is simply because it 

 is profitable, and for no other reason in this day of eager search 

 for increased comfort and wealth. The profit of long-wool sheep 

 consists not only in their weight of meat and fleece, but in their 

 rapid growth and early maturity. In the change of locality allud- 

 ed to, and from circumstances of feed and management, some of 

 the ancient breeds have disappeared altogether, and other breeds 

 have been much changed by extensive crossing with the most popu- 

 lar and highly bred of them. The long-wool sheep of the present 

 time may be divided into two classes ; one of which still remains 

 localized in low rich alluvial soils, and drained marshes of certain 

 parts of England ; this, includes the Lincoln and the Romney 

 Marsh breeds. The other class belongs to dry arable plains, or 

 farms devoted to grain, grass, and root crops, and other specialties 

 of mixed farming. This class includes the Leicester, Cotswold, 

 and Oxford-down breeds. 



THE LINCOLN is the heaviest bodied sheep in existence. In 

 1826 a three- shear sheep of this Dreed, (40 months old, ox about 



