70 THE SHEEP. 



are of larger size and better form than the White-nosed 

 Breed, fattening to from 7 lb. to 9 Ib. the quarter. Their wool 

 is of the long or combing character, but, like that of all the 

 Sheep of Wales, is soft, and suited to the making of flannels. 

 It is to be observed that the modern Sheep of the district, 

 known commonly as the Radnor Breed, differ considerably 

 from the true Radnors, having been crossed with the Shrop- 

 shire and other breeds of the low country. 



A staple production of Wales being its Sheep, a question 

 of much interest is the manner in which the different breeds 

 may be improved. The people of Wales, with the attach- 

 ment to old habits which distinguishes them, are averse to 

 changes, and, in the case of their Sheep, there are obstacles 

 to improvement, independent of the habits of the people. A 

 great part of the whole mountain pastures is common. 

 Under such a system, it is difficult to introduce a beneficial 

 management of sheep. At present, the treatment of the 

 animals is defective in a high degree. No care is used in 

 the selection of the breeding parents, and no provision is made 

 for the proper feeding of the animals in winter : they are left 

 in a state of nature, and scarcely looked to but when they are 

 to be caught for divesting them of the fleece. It is not un- 

 common to shear the lambs in the first year, a practice highly 

 detrimental in a moist and elevated country ; but the still 

 worse practice exists of weaning the lambs at an early season, 

 in order to milk the ewes. The lambs born in March are 

 frequently weaned in May, and the ewes are milked night 

 and morning until the middle of September. This miserable 

 system is calculated to destroy the vigour of the Sheep, and 

 take away the means to produce and rear a healthy offspring ; 

 and, until it is abandoned, we may be assured that the Sheep 

 of the Welsh mountains will continue puny and degenerate. 

 The substitution of another breed would not remedy the evil, 

 if this destructive management were continued, and there- 

 fore, the primary improvement of the Sheep of Wales must 

 be a change of the system of management. 



