AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 229 



that are without horns. Any one who has had the manage- 

 ment of sheep in the winter can testify to the injury which 

 large-horned sheep do in crowding after fodder and running 

 through gates, &c. Horned rams kept with pregnant ewes 

 do great mischief. In many parts of Spain they amputate 

 the horns of their rams, for which there are various proces- 

 ses : some use a large chisel ; others a saw, which is the 

 most expeditious way, and is preferable. There are other 

 serious objections to the keeping of horned sLeep, which I 

 cannot better exemplify than by quoting the following words 

 from Henry Cline, an eminent surgeon. 



' " Horns are useless in domestic animals. It is not diffi- 

 cult to breed animals without them. The breeders of horn- 

 ed cattle and horned sheep sustain a loss more extensive 

 than they may conceive, for it is not the horn alone, but also 

 much more bone in the skulls of such animals to support 

 their horns ; besides, there is an additional quantity of liga- 

 ment and bone in the neck, which is of small value. The 

 skull of a ram with its horns weighed five times more than 

 another skull which was hornless. Both these skulls were 

 taken from sheep of the same age, each being four years old. 

 The great difference in weight depended chiefly on the horns, 

 for the lower jaws were nearly equal, one weighing seven 

 ounces and the other six ounces and three-quarters ; which 

 proves that the natural size of the head was nearly the same 

 in both, independent of the horns and the thickness of the 

 bone which supports them. In a horned animal the skull is 

 extremely thick, in a hornless animal it is much thinner, 

 especially in that part where the horns usually grow." 



' To those who have not reflected on the subject, it may 

 appear of liule consequence whether sheep or cattle have 

 horns ; but, on a very moderate calculation, it will be found 

 that the loss in farming stock, and also in the diminution of 

 animal food, is very considerable from the production of 

 horns and their appendages. A mode of breeding which 

 would prevent the production of these, would afford a consi- 

 derable profit in an increase of meat and wool and other valu- 

 able parts.' 



Sheari7Lg Sheep, <f*c. Deane's New England Farmer 

 states, that ' we shear our sheep in general too early in this 

 country. In England, where the spring is more forward 

 than in this country, the approved time of shearing is from 

 the middle to the latter end of June. They should be wash- 

 ed in a warm time ; after this they should run three or four 

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