60 



we may conclude answer to the owners of them, or they 

 would not be kept. A few are occasionally wanted for 

 exportation to different parts of the globe. Among those 

 who retain their Merino flocks, are Lord Western, and John 

 Bennett, Esq. M.P. for Wilts. As persons probably will 

 look into this book, who know little about sheep and cattle, 

 it may be necessary to explain how the ages of them may 

 be ascertained by examination of the mouth. I conclude 

 that no one who has ever owned a sheep is not aware that 

 they have no front teeth in the upper jaw ; but to my 

 surprise [ have lately found that some who have long kept 

 cows, and others who have fed bullocks, were not aware 

 thai cattle also had no teeth in the upper jaw, except 

 grinders. The ordinations of nature, in all cases, are most 

 wise. Front upper teeth, for ruminating animals, would be 

 most inconvenient, if not a preventative, for chewing the 

 cud. Sheep and cattle, at their birth, or soon after, have 

 eight small sucking teeth.* When one year old, the two 

 middle ones fall out, and two larger come up in their place. 

 At two years old, two more large ones come up ; at three, 

 two more ; and at four, the last two of the sucking teeth 

 fall out, and the last two of the broad teeth come up, and 

 the animal is then called full-mouthed. Sheep, kept on 

 stony land, are apt to break some of their teeth, and thus 

 lose them earlier, but naturally they would retain them till 

 they were about seven years old. Favorite ewes are often 

 kept on for breeding, when they have no teeth but grinders 

 left : it appears extraordinary that their gums should be 

 strong enough so to bite the grass as to enable them to get 

 as much of it into their stomachs as is necessary for their 

 supporting lambs, and afterwards to get marketably fat. 



Beasts do not lose their teeth as sheep do ; they wear 

 down, but clo not commonly drop out. I once bought a 

 lot of aged Highland Scots, that had been working in a 

 coal-pit for some years, without once seeing the light of 

 day ; some of them, I was afterwards informed, were two- 

 and-twenly years old. They throve well in the stalls, and 



* One part aniseed, nine parts wheat Sour, made into stiff balls with 

 lipseed oil, put dowu the throat, after sucking, helps greatly to fatten 

 sucking calves. 



