SHEEP. 



M/emoer Breed or Variety. — This is a fort of (heep which 

 is charafterized by having horns, white faces and legs ; by 

 being very delicate in the bone, neck and head, or what ii 

 fometimes denominated deer-necked ; by the form of the 

 carcafe being indifferent, narrow, and flat-fided. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. CuUcy, the weight per quarter in wethers at two 

 years and a half old, is from ijlbs. to iSlbs. ; and the weight 

 of wool much lefs than in the Devonlhire breed. It is a 

 fmall breed of long-woolled (heep, principally produced on 

 or in the neighbourhood of the moor from which it takes its 

 name, which is in the northern extremity of the above county. 

 Mr. Lawrence fuppofes that in their prefent ftate they are 

 by no means to be confidered as a profitable fort of flieep- 

 fiock, either in what relates to flefh or wool ; on which ac- 

 count it would be for the interell of the county to change 

 them for the befl fine-woolled breed. It is remarked by Mr. 

 Billingfley, that this breed of fneep is frequently kept two 

 or three years, merely for the annual profit of their fleeces, 

 which often do not exceed more than four pounds in weight ; 

 and that from their being kept upon very bare and indiffer- 

 ent paftures while young, they are fuppofed by many fheep- 

 fai'mers to be a very profitable fort of ilock. 



This horned breed has a moderately long ftaple of wool, 

 which formerly, before the cloth manufafture of the county 

 of Devon fled into Yorkfhire, was much in demand by the 

 clothiers of feveral different places. The fattened wethers 

 of this breed, at three years old, will uiually weigh about 

 f5lbs. the quarter, and average 4ilbs. of wafhed wool to the 

 fleece; which is worth at prefent about i.'i^d. the pound. 

 Attempts have been lately made in different places to im- 

 prove the wool of this breed or fort of (heep, by a crofs 

 with the Merino or Spanifh ram, and the relults of the trials 

 thus made are as below : 



Quantity and value of 1 ,,, ' , ,, 



native fleece - | ''^^- ^' ''• "^- P'' '^- 4^' 



Firft crofs with the I 



Merino - | ^ " ^ "■ "° 



Second crofs on this 1 



produce - J ^ 9 *" 



Third crofs on fame 5 — 3 5 — 



lo\d. 



13 



17 



In which improvement of the fleece the carcafe is faid to 

 he rather advanced than the contrary. 



In the crofs of the old Leicefter upon the Exmoor breed, 

 the wethers, which are the produce at three years old, ave- 

 rage about 24lbs. the quarter, and carry 6ilbs. of yoak wool 

 to the fleece. The Exmoor (heep have alfo been croifed with 

 the new Leicefter ; the wether produce of which, at tw» 

 years old, will weigh i81bs. the quarter, and yield 61bs. of 

 UBwafhed wool to the fleece : the price of the two latter 

 §</. the pound. Much lofs is often, it is faid, fuftained in this 

 laft crofs at the time of yeaning, in confequence of the great 

 fize of the fhoulders of the lambs retarding or preventing 

 their exclufion. This will, however, be remedied in the 

 produce of this crofs. 



The Exmoor breed is a hardy fort of (heep on wet cx- 

 pofed land while young. The ewes under fuch circum- 

 ftances, in lambing, are alfo fuperior to the Bampton nott 

 kind. 



Corn'ijh Breed or Variety — The true breed of this fort 

 is faid to have grey faces and legs, coarfe fliort thick necks, 

 flanding lower before than behind, narrow backs, flattifh 

 fides, a fleece of coarfe wool, weighing about two or three 

 pounds, of eighteen ounces each ; their mutton, which is 

 leldom fat, from eight to' ten pounds the quarter. 



However, from the various croffes which have been intro- 

 duced into the county at different timea, in confequence of 



I 



the ufe of rams of the Exmoor, Dartmoor, North and 

 South Devon, Dorfet, Gloucefter, and Leicefter kinds, the 

 pure breed of this defcription is, it is faid, now become rare, 

 but that, from the inferior nature and value of its properties 

 the total extinftion of it need not be lamented. The dif- 

 trift is now capable of fupporting a much better and more 

 improved breed of this fort of animal. 



Black-faced Heath Breed cr Variety. — This is a kind or 

 breed of Iheep which, according to Mr. Culley, have large 

 Ipiral horns, black faces and legs, a fierce wild-looking eye, 

 fhort firm carcafes, from I2lbs. to l(>Vai. per quarter, covered 

 with long, open, coarfe fhagged wool, fleeces 3lbs. or 4lbs. 

 each, wool worth at prefent about %d. per pound. They are 

 an active hardy fort, running with amazing agility, and befl 

 adapted, of all other breeds, to expofed, heathy, and moun- 

 tainous dillrifts ; feldom fed until three, four, or five years 

 old, when they feed well, and make the fineft mutton, having 

 a high-flavoured gravy. The fheep of this wild-looking 

 breed are natives of the north-weit of Yorkfhire, and of 

 that mountainous traft of country adjoining the Irilh fea, 

 from Lancafhire to Fort William : they have been of late 

 years introduced into the Weltern highlands of Scotland. 



And the writer of the " Treatife on Live Stock," fuppofes 

 the black-faced Linton, or fhort fiieep of Scotland, to be a 

 variety of the Heath fheep. They have been crofTed with 

 the Cheviot breed, and Mr. Culley, it is noticed, recom- 

 mends a Difhley crofs, meaning, doubtlefs, for the ufe of 

 the low lands. If he may be allowed to give an opinion, he- 

 would, for upland fituations, recommend a Spanifh crofs, 

 with good winter management, in preference to all others. 

 It is difgraceful, lie contends, to the rural economy of Bri- 

 tain, that lo excellent a breed of fheep fhould be needlefsly 

 compelled to brave the rigour of the feafons, in fuch loofe, 

 ragged, and beggarly clothing, when they might, with a 

 few years' pains, and without any deterioration of the car- 

 cafes, produce a fleece of high value and confequence to the 

 manufaftures of the country. And he adds, that Mr. Henry 

 King, falefman of Newgate market, and an eminent gra- 

 zier, informs him, that he once fed a lot of thefe northern 

 heath fheep, and made excellent mutton of them, about 

 l61bs. a quarter ; but that their wool hanging down their 

 quarters like goat's hair, was fo execrably bad, that it could 

 be fold only for mop yarn. 



But what are termed black-faced, orfiort Jheep, are faid to 

 have been originally (hort-wooUed, the prefent length of it 

 having proceeded from crofling ; and it is not well afcertained 

 whether they are a native Scotch breed, or have been intro- 

 duced from the moor-lands of Yorkfliire. Belides the ob- 

 jeftion to thefe black-faced fheep, on the ground of the coarfe 

 loofe nature of their wool, they are faid to be fubjeA to the 

 braxy, a difeafe that was unknown in the Higlilands be- 

 fore their introduftion. And it is remarked, in the able 

 Agricultural Survey of Eatl Lothian, that the kindof flieep 

 bred and moil generally kept in Lammermuir, is the black- 

 faced, or more properly, what is called the /;/W'«/ faced, a 

 fort of dirty-looking mixture of black and white ; they are for 

 the moft part horned ; when they are fed, the wethers weigh 

 from lolbs. to izlbs.^cr quarter, and the ewes from 81bs. to 

 lolbs. on an average. It will take eight or nine fleeces of the 

 ewes and hogs, and fix or feven of the wetliers, to make a 

 ftone of fevenleen pounds (twenty-one ounces to the pound) ; 

 the quality, and conlequently the price, vary much. The 

 difference of quality may relult from various circumflances; 

 it is owing partly to the quantity of tar put upon the flicep 

 in falving ; partly, it is fuppofed, to the fituation in which 

 they pallure, as thofe fed on iiigh grounds, and toarie molly 

 herbage, arc thought to have inferior wool ; and partly to the 



general 



