Essay on Sheep. 57 



feight of a flock of these poor lame animals, that 

 even a strong conviction of their superior utility 

 could hardly induce me to keep them. The 

 only advantage that can result from this defor- 

 mity, is, that they cannot pass over stone walls, 

 and are confined by slight fences. Whether 

 this will counterbalance the sufferings to which 

 they must be liable in a deep snow, the impos- 

 sibility of driving them to distant pastures or to 

 market, and the facility with which they may 

 be destroyed by dogs, is a matter of calculation 

 with economical farmers. Those, however, 

 who possess a grain of taste, who take a pleasure 

 in the sportive gambols of their lambs, and who 

 delight rather in perfecting than in maiming 

 the works of nature, will seldom be induced to 

 propagate, beyond what is absolutely necessary, 

 an infirmity which abridges the short enjoy- 

 ments of a useful and helpless animal. 



From these sheep I turn with pleasure to the 

 Arlington long-woolled sheep. These Mr. 

 Custis, who was the original breeder of them, 

 informs me were derived from the stock of that 

 distinguished farmer, soldier, statesman, and 

 patriot, Washington; who had collected at 

 Mount- Vernon whatever he believed useful to 

 the agriculture of his country; and, among 

 ether animals, a Persian ram, which Mr. Custr^ 



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