THE CULTIVATOR. 
99 
Miscellaneous. 
From Low’s Elements of Practical Agriculture . 
SHEEP.— THE SOUTHDOWN. 
The Southdown is a breed of fine-wolled sheep, now greatly es¬ 
teemed, and extensively diffused on the light soils and chalky downs 
of England. They are without horns; their legs and faces are 
gray, and, like the sheep of the mountains, they are fight in their 
fore-quarters. Their wool is fine and short, being from 2 to 3 
inches in length, and weighing, on an average, about 2£ lbs the 
fleece. Their flesh is of excellent flavor ; they are a hardy class 
of sheep, kindly feeders, and well suited to the species of pasture 
on which they are chiefly reared; they are about the size of the 
Cheviot sheep, the wethers, when fat, weighing about 18 lb. the 
quarter. 
These sheep have been reared from time immemorial upon the 
chalky soils of Sussex; they have spread into other districts of 
light soils and downs, and also into some to which they are not 
adapted. 
I^Much care has been bestowed on the cultivation of this breed, 
and it has accordingly been greatly improved ; but attention hav¬ 
ing been mainly directed to the form and fattening properties of 
the animals, the quality of the wool has-declined, though its quan¬ 
tity has increased. 
MERINO. 
In the class of fine-woolled sheep is the Merino or Spanish breed, 
now partially naturalized. They were originally natives of the nor¬ 
thern provinces of Spain, and were introduced into this country in 
the year »783. In the year of 1792 the rams were made to cross 
the Ryeland, the Southdown, and other fine-wo led breeds of En¬ 
gland. His Majesty King George III. had introduced rams of the 
Merino breed from Spain, and cultivated it with care. In the year 
1804, the sales which then began of his Majesty’s stock attracted 
great attention to the breed ; and, in the year 1811, a society was 
formed for the purpose of encouraging and extending it. 
The result of the crosses with the native sheep has not in any 
degree fulfilled the expectations formed. The wool of the native 
sheep has i ideed been improved in quality; hut this has been ac¬ 
companied by defects in the characters of the animals themselves 
not to be compensated by the increased value of the fleece. The 
sheep of the mixed breed have nearly all proved defected in their 
forms, slow feeders, and less hardy than the parent stock. 
DISHLEY. 
The improved Dishley breed is very generally termed the New 
Leicester, from having been formed by Mr. Bakewell of Dishley, 
in the county of Leicester. This gentleman was the son of a con¬ 
siderable farmer; and, about the year 1755, had begun to turn his 
attention to those improvements in the form of feeding animals, 
by which he came so distinguished. The precise steps which he 
followed in the forming of his breed of sheep are not known, as he 
chose to observe a species of mystery upon the subject. He is 
supposed to have derived his first sheep from Lincolnshire: but 
however this may be, it was by a steady breeding from the best- 
formed animals, until the properties aimed at had been acquired, 
that he gradually corrected the defects, and improved the form of 
the animals. He was well aware of the external characters which 
indicate a disposition to feed, and, by a steady course of selection 
continued during a lifetime, he obtained animals of superior feed¬ 
ing properties to any that had been before cultivated. By con¬ 
stantly breeding, too, from individuals of his own flock, and con¬ 
sequently near of blood to each other, he gave a permanence to 
the characters of his breed which it retains to the present hour. 
Mr. Bakewell adopted the practice of letting out his rams for the 
season, and this contributed to the general diffusion of his breed. 
Successors to Mr. Bakewell have continued the same system, and 
bestowed the utmost care in maintaining the purity of their flocks; 
and thus from the county of Leicester as a centre, this breed has 
been spread to every part of England, where the breeders have 
thought fit to receive it; and it has entirely changed the character 
of the greater part of the long-woolled breeds of this kingdom. 
The sheep of the new Leicester breed are inferior in size to the 
other varieties which they have supplanted. The wool is but of mo¬ 
derate quality, &, in weight it falls short of that of the larger breeds; 
it weighs from 7 to 8lb. and has a length of pile of from 5 to 7 
inches. The value of the breed, therefore, does not consist in the 
size of the individuals, or the quality or abundance of their wool, 
but in early maturity, and aptitude to feed. In this latter proper¬ 
ty, the New Leicester has not been surpassed or equalled by any 
other breed of cultivated sheep. 
IMPROVEMENT OF BREEDS. 
The breed of sheep to be reared in any case must be selected ac¬ 
cording to the nature of the pastures, and the artificial means pos¬ 
sessed of supplying food. If a mountain breed is selected for rear¬ 
ing on a low arable farm, then the advantage is lost which the 
harm possesses of producing a larger and finer class of animals. 
If, on the other hand, a lowland breed is carried to a mountain 
farm, an error of a different, kind, but yet more hurtful, is com¬ 
mitted; fora fine stock will be ruined if placed in circumstances 
where it cannot be maintained. 
The breed, then, being selected which is the best suited to the 
circumstances in which it is to be placed, the province of the breeder 
is to breed from the best individuals. 
Disposition to feed, and early maturity, are the properties most 
regarded in sheep to be reared for food. But the property of yield¬ 
ing good and abundant wool is not to be disregarded ; and there is 
another property essential in the rearing of this class of animals, 
namely, hardiness and sound health of individuals. 
In the case of the sheep as of the ox, refinement in breeding 
may be carried too far, and with more danger. By breeding from 
animals near of blood, the same means exist in the case of the 
sheep as of the ox, of giving that prematurity of age which pro¬ 
duces fineness of the bones and a disposition to feed. But it is at¬ 
tended too with the same effect, of rendering the animals more 
delicate, and subject to diseases. It seems a violence done to na¬ 
ture, when carried too far, and the animals show the effects of it 
by becoming too fine in their skins, by ceasing to produce wool in 
sufficient quantify, by the females ceasing to yield milk, and by 
males becoming at length unable to continue their species. 
Whenever, then, the sheep of any flock become too near of 
blood, the breeder should resort to the best animals of another 
family, but of the same breed, to continue his stock. This species 
of crossing is now easy, since there is scarce any of the cultivated 
breeds of which superior males may not be procured from other 
flocks. In the case of the new Leicester, so widely diffused and 
highly improved, no necessity can exist for breeding from animals 
too nearly allied. 
FORM. 
In the sheep, as in other animals, certain external characters in¬ 
dicate a disposition to feed, and at an early age. Other characters 
indicate a disposition to produce wool, and the quantity of wool, 
it has been said, is not to be disregarded in the rearing of the sheep. 
But the main purpose in rearing the sheep in this country being for 
food, the province of the breeder is to accomplish this object with 
as little sacrifice as possible of the secondary qualities. 
A property that indicates a tendency to feed in the sheep as in 
the ox, is a general rotundity of form and fineness of the bones. 
The che.-t should be broad, the ribs well arched, and the back and 
loins accordingly broad, flat, and straight. The sheep, like the 
ox, occupies, independently of the neck and head, nearly a rec¬ 
tangle, and the larger the proportion of this rectangle which the 
body occupies, the more perfect is his form as a feeding animal. 
His body, therefore, should be large in proportion to his limbs, 
or, in other words, his limbs should be short in proportion to his 
body; his breast should be well forward, and his belly straight; his 
head should be small and his ears thin; his limbs to the joint should 
be fleshy, below del cate and covered with short hair: his skin 
should be soft and elastic; his wool soft to the touch, thick, and 
coming well forward to the face, but not covering it: his face and 
forehead should be covered thickly with short hair, and his eyes, 
as indicative of health, should be lively. 
From Ruffin's Essay on Calcareous Manures. 
EXPERIMENTS IN MARLING.— Continued. 
As most of the experiments on new land were made on a single piece 
of twenty-six acres a general description or plan of the whole, will ena¬ 
ble me to be better understood, as well as to be more concise, by refe¬ 
rences being made to the annexed figure. It forms part of the ridge ly¬ 
ing between James River, and the nearest stream running into Powell’s 
Creek- The surface is nearly level. The soil in its natural state very si- 
