102 
Injiuence of Climate, ^t., o)i Sheep. 
iictive breedino^ powers, and capabilities for yielding milk, may 
therefore be described as clearly traceable to the fact that these 
mountain sheep continue to maintain their natural formation, 
and no material improvement or artificial treatment has been 
attempted with reference to them. 
Another peculiarity possessed by all our mountain sheep is 
the excellent qualitij of their meat. In this respect they hold an 
undisputed pre-eminence, for no mutton surpasses it, neither does 
any equal it, unless produced under somewhat similar circum- 
stances. The quality of meat depends upon the lean portion 
being tender and charged with a rich juice, and these results can 
only be obtained from an animal of mature age, of active habits, 
and fed upon a short sweet herbage. By activity of body the 
muscles are brought into exercise and a healthy growth is the 
consequence. The food being short and sweet, compels the 
sheep to take plenty of exercise to gather their supplies, and 
the herbage being sweet and nutritious, in contra-distinction to 
that which is coarse and immature, renders the meat savoury, the 
gravy dark and rich, and the meat palatable and digestible. 
These points are too much overlooked in our ordinary processes 
of feeding cattle and sheep, which, not less on account of their 
age than the nature of the food supplied to them, must furnish 
desh of a totally different character from that of mountain sheep. 
Indeed, the rapidity of growth for which the improved breeds of 
sheep are remarkable is by no means a characteristic of mountain 
sheep. Of this the cause is obvious. The shortness of the 
herbage and the steepness of the pasturage are unsuited to any 
but small and active sheep, accustomed to travel long distances, 
over rough and rugged ground, to gather their supply of food ; 
whereas under such circumstances some sheep would be more 
exhausted by the labour of getting food than benefited by its 
consumption. 
The growth of wool is also materially influenced by climate 
and soil ; the natural tendency to produce kempy-haired fleeces 
being just in proportion to the quantity of rain, the severity of 
the climate, and the poverty of the soil. This, it is true, may 
by good management be kept in check, and to such an extent 
that, in spite of all difficulties, the wool produced on some farms 
will be found to be superior to that of other lands more favour- 
ably situated ; this, however, only shows how much may be 
done by man's industry, and does not detract from the general 
force of the natural tendency. Indeed, it should be remembered 
that the natural coating of the sheep varies, according to climate 
and other circumstances, from being purely hair to being purely 
wool. In India, Tartary, China, and other parts of the world 
sheep are to be met with covered entirely with hair, and we can 
