SHEEP HUSBANDRY. '121 



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sheep in Great Britain. In Oxfordshire the name was preserved 

 and applied to a variety that was in truth a mixture of two or 

 three kinds. The Cotswolds are represented as among the 

 larger varieties of the island, often weighing thirty and occa- 

 sionally forty or fifty pounds to the quarter, yielding a fleece of 

 from eleven to fourteen pounds weight, and usually producing 

 two lambs in a season. The wool of tiie Cotswold is long, and 

 that of the pure Southdown short and fine. By the crossing, 

 the Oxfordshire Down yields a heavier fleece and produces more 

 mutton than the pure Southdown. 



Before the improvements of the present century the pure 

 Southdown weighed from one hundred to one hundred and 

 forty pounds alive, and yielded two and a half pounds of wool 

 at a shearing, while the Cotswold, as then known, weighed fifty 

 per cent, more and produced a fleece of nine pounds, while the 

 average of the Lincolnshire was eleven pounds of longer and 

 coarser staple. 



In 1854, Mr. Fay exhibited two imported bucks at the Essex 

 fair that weighed over two hundred pounds each. 



The Merinos and the Saxonies, the latter descended from the 

 former, yield only a light clip of wool, a small weight of mutton, 

 and when brought directly from the continent, they are not 

 hardy enough for this climate. Although our climate is quite 

 different from that of Great Britain, it is a singular circum- 

 stance that domestic animals obtained from England thrive 

 better in America than those brought from the continent of 

 Europe. 



There can be no doubt of the adaptation of Massachusetts to 

 sheep husbandry. In some sections the business may not be 

 profitable, but in others it certainly is. All the hilly and 

 mountainous districts are adapted to sheep, and thus far they 

 have thriven upon the barrens of Plymouth and Barnstable. 

 It may be assumed that highlands are preferable to lowlands, 

 dry pastures to wet meadows, and short, sweet pastures to the 

 most luxurious vegetation. The downs of England, where the 

 variety of sheep above mentioned is found, are dry, sandy dis- 

 tricts on which sheep only can be supported. From the fact 

 that the sheep will feed upon four hundred different plants, 

 we may assume its fitness for any soil, however barren or 

 unpromising for other purposes. 

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