breeds, are inferior prolificity, feeble nursing 
powers, deficiency in bulk of fleece, comparative 
weakness of constitution, predisposition to in- 
flammatory diseases, and inability to bear ex- 
posure to a churlish climate or to inclement 
weather. These defects, however, are less now 
than in the days of Bakewell; and, whenever 
purity of breed is not an object, they can be 
much reduced or almost entirely overcome by 
crossing with such other breeds as the Cotswold 
and the Bampton Notts. “ Bakewell was com- 
pelled, in a sense, to confine himself to his own 
stock, and to the blood of one family, in order to 
preserve that standard of form which he had 
produced; but from the subsequent multiplica- 
tion of the new Leicester breed, modern breeders 
are relieved from all necessity of this kind. 
They can obtain individuals of the form required 
from different flocks of the same breed, and need 
never, by a continued adherence to the blood of 
one family, produce animals too delicate in form, 
deficient in weight of wool, and in that hardiness 
and soundness of constitution, which are even 
more necessary than the perfectness of individual 
form, for the safety and profit of the breeder. 
The sacrifice of the secondary properties which 
Bakewell did not hesitate to make, was the re- 
sult of circumstances which do not now exist; and 
the present feeling of the breeders is to maintain 
a larger and more robust form of the animals 
than seemed good to the earlier improvers. 
Thus, the Cotswold breed of sheep, though far 
inferior in form to the pure new Leicester, is 
maintaining a successful rivalship with it over 
a large extent of country; the lowland Glou- 
cestershire, the Devonshire, and many of the 
Lincolnshire agriculturists, are propagating a 
larger race than is approved of by the Leicester 
breeders; and even in the north of England, 
where the Leicester breed was early established, 
a heavier race is preferred to the purest of the 
Dishley stock.” 
The Management of Sheep.—Some of the general 
and most important points in the right manage- 
ment of all or most kinds of domesticated sheep are 
discussed in thearticles foop or ANIMALS, FEEDING, 
Farrentne, Foup, Hurpis, Turnip, Grass-Lanps, 
PasturE, BREEDING, Crosstine, Baraine, WAsH- 
ING, and SuEARine; and other points in the right 
management of groups or classes of breeds are 
noticed in the articles Satvine, Rov, Braxy, 
Scas, and Fry-1n-Sueep. The best special man- 
agement of some of the hardiest or least im- 
proved breeds is either so simple or so much 
beyond the control of advice, as not to require 
any mention; and that of the breeds most gen-. 
erally cultivated in either the uplands or the 
plains of good sheep districts, though varied 
according to the habits of the several breeds, 
and diversified in adaptation to differences of 
circumstances and of design, and though subject, 
in most instances, to considerable conflict of 
opinion or variation of practice among both 
SHEEP. 
195 
eminent scientific agriculturists and intelligent, 
experienced, practical farmers, yet does not re- 
quire to be detailed in the case of each breed, or 
with reference’to each class of climates and cir- 
cumstances, but may be sufficiently indicated by 
short specimen instances to enable any tolerably 
reflecting young farmer to infer all the details 
which may be most proper for his flock and farm. 
The specimen instances which we shall select 
have reference to the Black-faced, the South- 
down, the Lincoln, the Cotswold, and the Lei- 
cester breeds. 
The black-faced sheep of most districts are 
merely reared on their native pastures, and then 
sold to farmers in lower situations who keep 
them till the age for fattening, and then sold to 
graziers and farmers on the plains or in the valleys 
who prepare them for the butcher by means of 
rich grass lands and artificial food. The ewes 
receive the rams about the latter part of Novem- 
ber; so that the lambs are not dropped till the 
season becomes open and mild. The flocks are 
sometimes overwhelmed by severe snow storms; 
yet they usually receive no artificial supplies of 
food on their lofty, bleak, sparce pastures than a 
little coarse hay, sparingly given them at times 
when they cannot possibly find access to the 
natural herbage. The ewes are often very weak 
at the lambing season; and yet they support 
their lambs well. About the beginning of July, 
all the full-grown sheep are made to wash them- 
selves by leaping into a stream or pond and 
swimming to the opposite bank; and, in a few 
days after, they are shorn; and in the end of 
October or the beginning of November, they 
are smeared or salved. On some farms, all the 
young sheep, while in the state of hoggs, except 
such as may be wanted to supply the place of 
the old ewes, are sold; and on others, they are 
kept till they arrive at two or three years of age. 
In some farms, also, particularly in somewhat 
low-lying districts, or with considerable inter- 
mixtures of good meadow or arable land, the 
supplies of artificial food and the alleviations of 
suffering from the severity of the weather, are 
far ampler than in the great majority of moun- 
tain farms. The winner of a premium at the 
Edinburgh wool competition in 1845, reports as 
follows respecting his treatment on a farm in 
the vicinity of Moffat, of from 910 to 1,550 feet 
of altitude above the level of the sea, and whose 
lower parts are enclosed, well-sheltered, and ara- 
ble: “For the greater part of the year, the sheep 
are entirely confined to the upper division, or 
steep ground. ‘The pasture is short and of a 
bright colour, intermixed with coarse bent, which 
requires to be burnt in spring. Some years ago, 
part of the benty ground was ploughed, heavily 
limed, and sown with grass seed; and thus a 
great improvement was effected, the bent having 
been replaced by a bright green pasturage, which 
cannot be distinguished from those portions of 
the ground that are not naturally covered with 
