324 
and while it contains nothing, perhaps, that is new to the experienced 
wool grower, yet to many there will be found information that is valu¬ 
able. 
I propose to consider the breeds of sheep ; their management in sum¬ 
mer and winter ; and their diseases. 
THE DIFFERENT BREEDS. 
To those who wish to go into a history of the various breeds of sheep, 
so far as is known in the habitable globe, Youatt’s valuable treatise on 
sheep can be studied to advantage, and much valuable information will 
be found in the “American Shepherd,” and in “Sheep Husbandry for 
the South.” But for all practical purposes it is not necessary to look out 
©f our own country for a variety of breeds ; and it is probable, that the 
general experience of the country has designated those breeds which are 
the most profitable in certain and peculiar locations. We have now the 
common sheep, originally of English origin ; the Merino; the Saxon ; the 
long-wooled English sheep, as the Cotswold, Leicestershire, or Bakewell; 
and the short-wooled, as the South Down. Then we have the French, 
and the Prussian—the latter of recent importation, but both to be classed 
with the fine-wooled species. 
These different varieties are very naturally and properly divided into 
two classes. The first, fine-wooled where wool is the primary, and car¬ 
cass the secondary object. The second, coarse-wooled, where carcass is 
the first and the wool the second object. 
Natural causes seem to lead to this division, and the experience of the 
best breeders, running through a long number of years, has established 
the fact, that no breed has yet been found that would combine the desired 
characteristics of the two classes. The important requisites for excellence 
in each class are opposed to the profitable amalgamation of the kinds. 
A requisite, and an important one too, in a fine-wooled sheep is, that the 
wool be more or less oily, and it is one of the best evidences of the purity 
and excellence of the breed that the wool is filled with a fine oil, which 
hardens upon the outside of the fleece and becomes gum. This oil is 
found to be but another form of the feet of the animal. On the other 
hand, coarse-wooled sheep should not secrete any oil in the wool, and if 
coarse-wool be found oily it # is an evidence against the purity of blood. 
