1052 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



varieties, produced by peculiarities of situation, and different' modes of management, and by occasional 

 intermixture with other breeds. We may, therefore, distinguish the sheep of the mainland of Scotland 

 from those of the Hebrides, and of the northern islands of Orkney and Zetland. 



7136. The Hcbridean sheep is the smallest animal of its kind. It is of a thin, lank shape, and has usually 

 straight shorn horns. The face and legs are white, the tail very short, and the wool of various colours; 

 sometimes of a bluish grey, brown, or deep russet, and sometimes all these colours meet in the fleece of one 

 animal. Where the pasture and management are favourable, the wool is very fine, resembling in softness 

 that of Shetland ; but, in other parts of the same islands, the wool is stunted and coarse, the animal sickly 

 and puny, and frequently carries four, or even six horns. The average weiglit of this poor breed, even 

 when fat, is only 5 or 5a lbs. per quarter, or nearly about 20 lbs. per sheep. It is often much less, only 

 amounting to 15 or 16 lbs. ; and the price of the animal's carcass, skin and all, is from 10. to 14s. Fat 

 wedders have been sold in the Long Island at 7*. a head, and ewes at 5s. or Qs. The quantity of wool 

 which the fleece yields is equally contemptible with the weight of the carcass. It rarely exceeds one 

 pound weight, and is often short of even half that quantity. The quality of the wool is different on dif- 

 ferent parts of the body ; and inattention to separating the fine from the coarse, renders the cloth made 

 in the Hebrides very unequal and precarious in its texture. The average value of a fleece of this abori- 

 ginal Hebridean breed is from M. to 1*. sterling. From this account it is plain, that the breed in question 

 lias every chance of being speedily extirpated. {Macdunald's Report of the Hebrides, p. 447.) 



7137. Of the Zetland sheep it would appear that there are two varieties, one of which is considered to 

 be the native race, and carries very fine wool ; but the number of these is much diminished, and in some 

 places they have been entirely supplanted by foreign breeds ; the other variety carries coarse wool above, 

 and soft fine wool below. They have three different successions of wool yearly, two of which resemble 

 long hair more than wool, and are termed by the common people/o?s and scudda. When the wool begins 

 to loosen in the roots, which generally happens about the month of February, the hairs, or scudda, spring 

 up ; and when the wool is carefully plucked off", the tough hairs continue fast until the new wool grows up 

 about a quarter of an inch in length, then they gradually wear off; and when the new fleece has acquired 

 about two months' growth, the rough hairs, termed fors, spring up and keep root until the proper season 

 for pulling it arrives, when it is plucked off along with the wool, and separated from it, at dressing the 

 fleece, by an operation called forsing. The scudda remains upon the skin of the animal as if it were a thick 

 coat, a fence against the inclemency of the seasons, which provident nature has furnished for supplying 

 the want of the fleece. The wool is of various colours ; the silver grey is thought to be the finest, but the 

 black, the white, the mourat, or brown, is very little inferior, though the pure white is certainly the most 

 valuable for all the finer purposes in which combing wool can be used. {Sir John Sinclair on the different 

 Breeds of Sheep, S(c. Appendix, No. 4. Account of the Shetland Sheep, by Thomas Johnston, p. 79.) In 

 the northern part of Knicardineshire, as well as in most other of the northern counties, there is still a 

 remnant of this ancient race, distinguished by the yellow colour of the face and legs, and by the dishevelled 

 texture of the fleece, which consists in part of coarse, and in part of remarkably fine wool. Their average 

 weight in that county is from seven to nine pounds a quarter, and the mutton is remarkably delicate and 

 highly flavoured. {,Ki7icardineshire Report, p. 385. Sup. E. Brit. art. Agr. 176.) The Highland Society 

 of Scotland have offered premiums for the improvement of this breed, and some experiments are now in 

 progress. See vol. vi. of their Transactions ; and for a particular account of the breed itself, and its 

 management, see Shirreff's Survey of Orkney and Shetland. 



7138. The Spanish, or Merino breed, bears the finest wool of the sheep species ; the 

 889 males [jig. 889.) usually have horns 



of a middle size, but the females 893 



ifiS' 890.) are frequently without 

 horns ; the faces and legs are white, 

 the legs rather long, but the bones 

 fine. The average weight per quar- 

 ter of a tolerably fat ram is about 

 seventeen pounds, and that of ewes 

 about eleven pounds. 



7139. The shape of this race is far from being perfect, according to the ideas of English breeders, with 

 whom symmetry of proportion constitutes a principal criterion of excellence. The throatiness, or pen- 

 dulous skin beneath the throat, which is usually accompanied with a sinking or hollow in the neck, pre- 

 sents a most offensive appearance, though it is much esteemed in Spain, as denoting both a tendency to 

 fine wool, and a heavy fleece. Yet the Spanish sheep are level on the back, and behind the shoulders ; 

 and Lord Somerville has proved that there is no reason to conclude that deformity in shape is, in any 

 degree, necessary to the production of fine wool. . . 



7140. Thefieece of the Merino sheep weighs, upon an average, from tliree to five pounds ; in colour, it is 

 unlike that of any English breed : tnere is on the surface of the best Spanish fleeces a dark brown tinge, 

 approaching almost to a black, which is formed by dust adhering to the greasy properties of its pile ; and 

 the contrast between this tinge and the rich white colour below, as well as that rosy hue of the skin which 

 denote* high proof, at first sight excites much surprise. The harder the fleece is, the more it resists any 

 external pressure of the hand, the more close and fine will be the wool: here and there, indeed, a hne 

 pile may be found in an open fleece, though this occurs but rarely. Nothing, however, has tended to 

 render the Merino sheep more unsightly to the English eye than the large tuft of wool which covers the 

 head : it is of a very inferior quality, and classes with what is produced on the hind legs ; on which 

 account it does not sort with any of the three qualities, viz. rafinos, or prime ; finos, or second best ; and 

 tercenos, the inferior sort ; and, consequently, is never exported from Spain. 



7141. Merinos were first b) ought into England in 1788, but did not excite much interest before his 

 Majesty's sales, which began in 1804 : the desirable object of spreading them widely over the country, and 

 subjecting them to the experiments of the most eminent professional breeders, has been greatly promoted 

 by the institution of the Merino Society in 1811, to which belonged some of the greatest landholders, and 

 the most eminent breeders in the kingdom. For some years past, this breed has been on the decline. 

 (Sup. E. Brit. art. Agr.) A considerable importation was made by Colonel Downie, of Paisley, which 

 distributed the breed throughout different parts of Scotland. See the Renfreioshire Survey. It is not 

 understood that they have answered the expectations that were once formed of them ; and 1 am not aware 

 that there are any flocks in the possession of rent-paying farmers. The only successful experiment in 

 Scotland seems to have been that of the late Mr. Malcolm Laing, in the Orkney Islands ; and it is not the 

 pure race, but crosses into other breeds. See the General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. 



Sect. II. Criteria of Properties in Sheep. 



7142. The criteria of an excellent ram, as given by Culley, combines qualities which ought to be found 

 in every breed of sheep cultivated for its flesh and wool. His head should be fine and small ; his nostrils 

 wide and expanded ; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or daring; ears thin ; his collar full from his breast 

 and shoulders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the nock and head join, which should be very 



