110 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY.—NO. III. 
horned cattle brought over to this country by the 
settlers, were all of a strictly homogeneous charac¬ 
ter ; but they were doubtless of the particular race 
or breed which was most esteemed at the places 
where the colonists formerly resided, or, in some in¬ 
stances, were perhaps such as could be most easily 
obtained in the vicinity of the ports from which they 
embarked. The foregoing supposition would nat¬ 
urally give a considerable variety of sorts. What¬ 
ever the fact may have been, originally, it may be 
safely affirmed that, after then* arrival in this coun¬ 
try, but little or no attention was paid to keeping 
and breeding the different races of sheep and other 
domestic animals, distinct from each other, but 
they were all mingled and bred promiscuously to¬ 
gether, thus obliterating, if they had ever existed 
(as doubtless was the case, to 'some extent), the 
distinctive marks and peculiar form and style of 
each particular race or variety. 
The former sheep of this country, called native , 
were generally, as is well known, of a white color, 
very white, with occasionally a few black, or 
black and white ones, among them. Though not 
distinguished for their early maturity, they usually 
attained a good fair size, and had become so thor¬ 
oughly acclimated, that they were tolerably hardy. 
They were often, however, not very kindly to fat¬ 
ten, but their flesh was light-colored, and of excel¬ 
lent flavor. Their fleeces were usually somewhat 
open, and but moderate in quantity, and the qual¬ 
ity of their wool coarse, especially on the thighs. 
The ewes were pretty good milkers and nurses. 
The rams usually had horns of moderate size, but 
were not unfrequently destitute of horns. As a 
race they were not, as a general thing, very do¬ 
cile, and were often addicted to wandering, unruly 
habits. They are now rare, though,. to a small 
extent, they perhaps still exist pure in some re¬ 
mote parts of the country. I have myself recent¬ 
ly seen them of undoubted purity of blood, in por¬ 
tions of the mountain region of Maryland. Not¬ 
withstanding the capital quality of their mutton , 
the loss of the old native breed of sheep is not 
to be regretted. In the northern states, generally, 
they were run out and superseded by crosses of 
the Merino; giving a far better and more desirable 
sort, as regards both quality and quantity of wool, 
with far more docility and quietness, greatly in¬ 
creased hardiness , and but little, if any, deteriora¬ 
tion in the size and excellent quality of their mut¬ 
ton. 
Some forty years ago there was, in this coun¬ 
try, another kind of sheep—a very peculiar and 
distinct breed they were, too, and, on the whole, 
a pretty good sort, and in their day held by 
many persons in high estimation. I will here 
briefly describe them. They were known by the 
name of the Otter breed. I owned some of this 
kind many years since. They were distinguished 
by their short legs and heavy, good-formed bodies, 
with black or dark-colored faces and legs. Their 
fore legs were particularly short, and so shaped 
and set on as to give the sheep, when in motion, 
especially when running, a somewhat m-kneed 
and awkward appearance. They are said to have 
been an accidental variety, obtained or originated 
in this country, in the following manner. It was 
alleged that a farmer somewhere in Rhode Island 
had a ewe which produced him twin lambs, one 
of each sex, with the above-described peculiari¬ 
ties. Struck with th'eir odd appearance, the 
farmer, with that love of the singular in domestic 
animals which is said to prevail among the farm¬ 
ers of the northern and eastern portion of this 
country, saved them from the butcher’s knife, 
raised them, and when arrived at maturity, bred 
them together , and thus fixed and multiplied this 
peculiar variety of sheep. They were objected to 
by some few persons, on the ground that the ex¬ 
treme shortness of their legs disqualified them 
from getting through the deep snows of northern 
winters, without great inconvenience and suffer¬ 
ing. The late Chancellor Livingston was of the 
number who so objected. That distinguished man. 
in his Essay on Sheep, with more philanthropy 
than good sense, as it always seemed to me, ex¬ 
pressed the opinion, that to perpetuate the Otter 
breed of sheep, would, for the reason above- 
named, be a sin against humanity. I never ob¬ 
served, however, that my sheep of that breed had 
any difficulty in getting about very comfortably at 
all seasons of the year, nor did I ever notice but 
that they enjoyed themselves in all respects quite 
as well as any of the long-legged varieties of 
sheep. 
One especial excellence was possessed by all 
the sheep of the old Otter breed, for which 
they were doubtless indebted primarily to their 
short legs. It was this—they would never climb 
or run over stone walls; and while their cotempo¬ 
raries, the old native sheep, were apt to be very 
unruly, as regards fences, the Otter breed were 
not at all so, but just the reverse, the most quiet 
and docile race of sheep that I ever saw. As re¬ 
gards walls and fences, their successors, the Me¬ 
rinos, are about equally good ; for, among my Me¬ 
rinos, I never knew an unruly sheep, unless with 
a cross of native or other blood, or educated to oad 
habits by the evil example of the natives or other 
low-bred sheep. As might have been expected 
from their quiet disposition, the Otter breed had 
more of a tendency to fatten than the old native 
sheep, while the quality of their mutton was 
equally good, their fleeces somewhat closer, and 
their wool not quite so coarse; but still it was a 
wiry, harsh, dry wool—very much like the Eng¬ 
lish South Down wool of the present day. 
It did very well at that period for the domestic 
uses of the farmers’ families, and also answered 
for making flannel or cloth, which, when passed 
through the fulling mill, well dyed, and finished 
at the clothier’s, was at that time considered quite 
decent, and even handsome, but which the taste 
of the present day rejects as being coarse, and es¬ 
pecially as being destitute of the softness of touch 
or feeling that is peculiar to the Merino wool in 
all its varieties, and which seems strictly confined 
to that race of sheep, unless it may have been 
borrowed or transmitted in some degree to others, 
by crosses of that blood. As to the story of the 
origin of the Otter breed of sheep, I do not vouch 
for its authenticity, but give it as I received it. In 
whatever way they originated, I am well satisfied 
that their peculiarities were not very recent; but 
