SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. T39 



ed with but one hundred and ten. They were from nearly all the different 

 flocks of Spain, but principally the Escurial — and were considered decided- 

 ly superior to the first importation. In addition to the establishment at 

 Stolpen, already founded, others were now commenced at Rennersdorf, 

 Lohmen, &c. ; schools were established for the education of shepherds; 

 publications were distributed by the commissioners to throw information 

 on the subject before the people ; and the Crown tenants, it is said, were 

 each required to purchase a certain number of the sheep." 



Mr. Spooner* states that there are two distinct breeds of the Saxon Me- 

 rino sheep, the first " having stouter legs, stouter bodies, head and neck com- 

 paratively short and broad, body round. The wool grows most on the face 

 and legs — the grease in the wool is almost pitchy." The other breed call- 

 ed Escurial have longer legs, with a long, spare neck and head, with very 

 little wool on the latter, and a finer, shorter and softer character in its 

 fle^e, but less in quantity. The fleece in the Escurial averages from one 

 and a half to two pounds in ewes, and two to three pounds in rams and 

 wethers, while in the others it is from two and a quarter to three and a 

 quarter in ewes, and from four to six pounds in ram and wethers. These 

 varieties cannot be amalgamated successfully. 



The preceding portrait is a favorable specimen of the Escurial Saxon, 

 copied from a cut, after a drawing by Harvey, in Mr. Suooner's \vork. 



That the German shepherds have sacrificed the hardiness of the Merino, 

 and indeed almost everything else, for fineness of staple, there can be but 

 little doubt. Their method of managing the sheep and its effects are thus 

 described by Mr. Carr, a large sheep-owner of Gertnany :t 



" They are always housed at night, even in summer, except in the very finest weather, 

 when they are sometimes folded in the distant iiiUows. but never taken to pasture unlil the 

 dew is ort' the grass. In the winter they are kept within doors altogether, and are fed with a 

 small quantity of sound hay, and every variety of straw, which has not sutfeied from wet, 

 and which is varied at each feed ; they pick it over carefully, eating the finer parts, and any 

 grain that may have been left by the threshers.- Abuadance of good water to drink, and rock- 

 salt in their cribs, are indispensables They cannot thrive in a damp climate, and it 



IS quite necessary that they should have a wide range of dry and hilly pasture of short and 

 not over-nutritious herbage. If allowed to feed on swampy or marshy gi-ound, even once or 

 twice, in autumn, they are sure to die of liver coftiplaint in the following spring. If they 

 are permitted to eat wet grass, or exposed frequently to rain, they disappear by hundreds 

 with consumption. In these countries it is found the higher bred the sheep is, especially the 

 Escurial, the more tender I'' 



Such are the common views of the sheep, and their treatment over 

 Germany, Prussia, and Austria, Various statements of the methods adopt- 

 ed by Baron Geisler, Graf Hunyadi, and other eminent flockmasters, will 

 be found in Dr. Bright's Travels in Iiower Hungary, Paget's Travels in 

 Hungary and Transylvania, Jacob's Travels in Germany, &c. 



The qualities of the Saxons as breeders and nurses, may be inferred 

 from the following regulations, for the management of his flock, by Baton 

 Geisler.| 



" Duruig the lambing period, a shepherd should be constantly day and night in the cote, 

 ill order that ho may place the lamb, a soon as it is cleaned, together with its mother, in a 

 separate pen, which has been before prepared. The ewes which have lambed should, 

 during a week, be driven neither to water or pasture; but low troughs of water for this pur- 

 pose are to be introduced into each partition, in order that they may easily and at all limes 

 Juench their thirst. It is also very useful to put a small quantity of barley-meal into the water, 

 ."or by this means the quantity of the ewe's milk is much increased. When the lambs are so 

 strong that they can eat, they are to be separated by degrees from their mothers, and fed 

 svith the best and finest oats, being suffered at first to go to them but three times a day. 

 early in the morning, at raid-day, and in the evening, and so to continue till thej can travel tt 

 pasture, and fully satisfy themselves." 



r, p. 57 t Quoted by S{ -v ner, p. 58. t JMd., p. 3«. 



