SHEEP. 



is all of the fofteft texture, fit for the fiiieft mainifa(Sory, 

 and in fome inftances has been found to rival Spanifh wool 

 itfelf : but the pure white is generally the mod valuable for 

 all the finer purpofes for which combing wool can be ufed. 

 For foftnefs and for luftre, no wool equals it ; and the lliin, 

 with the fleece on, can be converted into a fur of very great 

 value, fome fpecimens of which have already been fent to 

 the China market. 



They are in general very hardy. In the winter feafon, 

 when the ground is covered with fnow, they eat the fea- 

 weed very greedily, and often during long and fevere fnows 

 they have little elfe to live upon. Nature feems to have im- 

 parted to them a perfeft knowledge of the time at which 

 this food may be procured ; for immediately upon the tide 

 beginning to fall, the (heep m one body run direftly down 

 to the fea-rtiores, although feeding on the hills feveral miles 

 diftant from the fea, where they remain until the tide returns 

 and obliges them to feek their ufual haunts. 



It is to be regretted, that we know fo little of this pe- 

 culiar race of (heep, or of the time when they were intro- 

 duced, and the country from whence they came. The 

 wool, though intermixed with coarfe hairs, pollcfles a moft 

 extraordinary degree of foftnefs, approaching, if not equal- 

 ling, that from the iheep of Thibet, and might, if proper 

 attention were paid to it, be apphed with advantage to the 

 manufafture of fliavvls and other articles now imported from 

 the Eaft. None of the European wools which we have 

 feen, poilefs this quality in any degree to be compared with 

 that from the Shetland ilieep. The circumftance of the tine 

 wool growing as down under a pile of coarfe wool or hair, 

 is not pecuhar to thefe flieep. We believe that unmixed 

 fine wool is rather a produft of cultivation than natural to 

 the animal in a wild Hate. In the argali, as well as in nume- 

 rous animals, the inhabitants of cold countries, the flcin is 

 covered with a (hort fine down, and this is protefted by a 

 covering of longer coarfe hair growing through the former. 

 By regular keeping and warmth, the coarie hairs fall oif in 

 many animals, and this has probably been the cafe originally 

 with all our fine-woolled fheep, many of which, if neglefted, 

 fhew indications of their original condition, growing coarfe 

 hair intermixed with the finer parts of the fleece. Even in 

 the coarfell wooUed flieep of cold countries, fuch as the 

 Heath fheep in the Highlands of Scotland, we have often 

 feen a fmall portion of fine wool growing under the coarfe 

 fleeces with which thefe animals are covered. It appears to 

 be a beneficent provifion of the Author of nature, to ac- 

 commodate animals to different climates. European fheep 

 removed between the tropics, languifh and become fickly 

 from excefBve heat, and lofe their fleeces in the courfe of 

 the eniuing year. They are afterwards covered with a thin 

 crop of coai-le fhort hair. We have feen a finely-fhapcd ram, 

 of the European breed, brought from Louifiana, which was 

 entirely covered with white hair, as coarfe and fhort as that on 

 a dog. We have no doubt, however, that in hot chmates, 

 where fheep have the advantage of a mountain pallure, that 

 with care and proper flit-lter thefe fleeces might be prcferved, 

 but they would certainly be a ufelefs incumbrance. Fine 

 fleeces leem to be more peculiarly the produce of cool or 

 temperate climates ; fur it is obierved, in mofl; of our Eng- 

 lifh flieep, that the part of the wool or flaple which is 

 grown during winter, is finer than that part which is grown 

 in fummer. Extreme heat and cold appear to have both an 

 effcft upon the fl^ms of flieep, to cover them with coarfe 

 hair ; but in cold climates there is alfo a tendency in the ani- 

 mal to produce a fine down underneath. It is not impro- 

 bable that the Shetland flieep may have been originally de- 

 fcended from the Tarentine breed, the " moUes oves," which 



the Romans had introduced into Britain ; their infular 

 fituation protedling them, in a confiderable degree, from in- 

 termixture. For, according to Dr. Anderton, though the 

 coarfe-woolled Heath flieep are introduced into thefe iflea, 

 the native adive fheep frequenting the more defolate wilds 

 at the greateft diflance from man, withdraw themfelves from 

 the others, and thus the breed is only partially debafed by 

 accidental ftragglers. The whole fyflem of management, re- 

 fpefting thefe fheep, is direftly the reverfe of what it fhoulJ 

 be, and it is truly aftonifhiiig that they have preferved fo 

 long the peculiar foftnefs of the wool. Could thefe fheep 

 be introduced into more favourable fituation?, and proper 

 attention paid to them, we have no doubt that their wool 

 might be grown free from the coarfe hairs with which it it 

 at prefent intermixed ; it would then be of far greater value 

 than the fineft Merino fleeces, as it might be applied to the 

 fabrication of fhawls, approaching in foftnefs to thofe of 

 Cafhmere. 



We have now to defcribe the long-woolled breed of 

 (heep, which may be confidered as almoit peculiar to Great 

 Britain and Ireland; for though flieep of this breed are 

 found in Flanders, and fome other parts of Europe, their 

 number is inconfiderable ; and they no where exifl with the 

 fame perfeftion of form, and producing the fame quantity 

 or quality of wool as in the united kingdoms. Their fleece 

 is the envy of the other manufacturing countries of Europe, 

 and can only be grown upon rich pafhires. Long combing 

 wool, and the varieties, will be defcribed under the article 

 Wool ; but it may be neceflfary here to (late that the 

 longer kind varies from fix to about nine or more inches in 

 the length of the flaple, or filaments. In the manufafture 

 of this wool by the comb, the fibres are laid parallel ; 

 whereas in fhort-clothing wool, they are broken in all di- 

 redlions by the cards. 



Long wool is manufaftured into (balloons, camblets, mo- 

 reens, bombazeens, and various other articles ; and « large 

 quantity is alfo manufaftured into what is called horfe- 

 millenery, confilting of girths, fringes, and other articles of 

 ufe or ornament in equipages. The coarfer kind makes the 

 warps for carpets. 



Short combing wool is manufaftured into hofiery. 



The Lincolnfhire fheep may be confidered as the original 

 of our heavy fheep in England. Thele, with the new Lei- 

 cefter or Difhley breed, have nearly iupplanted the other 

 varieties of long-woolled fheep. The Lincolnfhire breed 

 has alfo been generally fomewhat changed of late, by an 

 intermixture with the Leicetter breed. The original Lin- 

 colnfhire fheep have no horns, and long carcafes ; the ewes 

 weighing from 14 lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter ; the three-year 

 old wethers from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. The average weight of 

 the fleece is about 9J lbs., or three fleeces to the tod of 

 28 lbs. Some of the heavier fleeces weigh 14 lbs. The 

 richer parts of Lincolnfhire will tupport five of thefe iheep 

 on the acre ; and when we take into account the price of 

 the wool, which in 18 14 was 2s. per pound, it will be feen 

 that the fheep of this defcription are the moft profitable for 

 the lands to which they are fuited. The improvement made 

 in their form, by the mixture with the Leicetter breed, re- 

 duced the weight of the fleece ; but the extraordinary de- 

 mand for heavy combing wool is inducing fome of the 

 farmers to return to their heavy breed. It is probable that 

 this kind of wool will not foon fall under \s. dd. per pound ; 

 and the produftion of a fleece, which weighs 10 or 12 lbs., 

 muil be an objeft of attention to the grower, not lels than 

 that of the carcafe. For though the wool from the Lei- 

 cefter breed is fomewhat finer, the weight feldom exceeds 

 7 lbs., and the difference of price is not more than about zs. 



per 



