AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
TTarm, Grarden, and Honseliold. 
‘AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AS1) MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN —W ARHINGTON. 
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Entered according to Act of Congress in December, 1S69, by Orange Judd & Co., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. 
VOLUME XXIX.—No. 1. NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1870. new SERIES— No. 27G. 
The shepherds of the mountainous regions 
are liable to have their flocks exposed, both on 
the coming on of winter and in the spring, to 
storms of great severity accompanied by rain, 
snow and cold, and often by driving wind 
which allows no escape from cold or wet. Even 
so hardy an animal as the Highland sheep often 
suffers greatly. Separated from the flock, 
weighed down by their ice-loaded fleeces, weak¬ 
ened by lack of food, and chilled through and 
through, it is no wonder that the most vigorous 
sometimes give up in their struggle with the 
elements, and die. When the storm breaks away 
or a lull for a few hours comes, then is exercis¬ 
ed the sagacity of that most intelligent of brutes, 
the shepherd dog. Every old country in the agri¬ 
culture of which sheep form a prominent fea¬ 
ture, has its own race or breed of shepherd 
dogs. Those used in mountainous regions re¬ 
semble each other a good deal, because the same 
arduous duties are required of them. They 
must be intelligent, kind, hardy and docile, of 
good size, fleet, well coated, and enduring. The 
most remarkable instances of intelligence have 
been manifested by females. We are most famil¬ 
iar witli the English and Scotch shepherd dogs. 
The latter, called the Colly, is the breed of the 
dog in the engraving. These, like other shepherd 
dogs, are from their birth familiar with sheep. 
They have the constant companionship of the 
shepherds and manifest the strongest attachment 
for their master, generally being entirely indiffer¬ 
ent to other men. Their care of the flock is not 
a cultivated natural impulse, nor second nature, 
even after centuries of breeding, hut simply a 
business to which they are trained and in which 
they find unlimited opportunities for the display 
of their wonderful sagacity, aided by remark¬ 
able powers of vision and scent, and probably 
also of hearing. Untrained they make affection¬ 
ate, companionable dogs, quick to learn tricks, 
and to understand language addressed to them. 
