NATUEAL HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. 13 



latter, they may be divided into two great classes — tliose with 

 short and those with long wool. The short wool is undulated 

 and curled,. fine and soft; while the long wool is straighter and 

 coarser. Sheep having short, fine wool are more slenderly hu»lt, 

 but resist the changes of the weather better than the others, 

 and even become quite fat on moist, low pasture-grounds. The 

 merino sheep belongs to the first, and the common German 

 sheep, the Bergamo sheep, etc., to the second class. 



The finer breeds of sheep are chiefly raised for their wool, 

 which is shorn usually once a year, but sometimes twice, and it 

 is manufactured chiefly into cloth. The coarser sheep are kept 

 as much for their meat, suet and milk (from which a fatty cheese 

 is made) as for their wool. The excrement of the sheep is, as is 

 well known, an excellent fertilizer; the hides are made into 

 morocco or worked up with the .wool into furs; the tallow is 

 used for burning ; the intestines are manufactured into strings 

 for musical instruments; and the horns, hoofs, bones, etc., put 

 to the same uses as those of the horse, ox and other animals. 

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