Having thus established his flock, he adopted the practice--which has since been constantly followed by the most eminent breeders of sheep--of letting rams for the season, instead of selling them to those who wished for their use. By this means the ram-breeder is enabled to keep a much larger number of rams in his possession; and, consequently, his power of selecting those most suitable to his flock, or which may be required to correct any faults in shape or quality which may occur in it, is greatly increased. By cautiously using a ram for one season, or by observing the produce of a ram let to some other breeder, he can ascertain the probable qualities of the lambs which such ram will get, and thus avoid the danger of making mistakes which would deteriorate the value of his stock. The farmers, likewise, who hire the rams, have an opportunity of varying the rams from which they breed much more than they otherwise could do; and they are also enabled to select from sheep of the best quality, and from those best calculated to effect the greatest improvement in their flocks.
The idea, when first introduced by him, was so novel that he had great difficulty in inducing the farmers to act upon it; and his first ram was let for sixteen shillings. So eminent, however, was his success, that, in 1787, he let three rams, for a single season, for twelve hundred and fifty pounds (about six thousand two hundred dollars), and was offered ten hundred and fifty pounds (about five thousand two hundred dollars) for twenty ewes. Soon afterwards he received the enormous price of eight hundred guineas (or four thousand dollars) for two-thirds of the services of a ram for a single season, reserving the other third for himself.
The improved Leicester is of large size, but somewhat smaller than the original stock, and in this respect falls considerably below the coa.r.s.er varieties of Cotswold, Lincoln, etc. Where there is a sufficiency of feed, the New Leicester is unrivalled for its fattening propensities; but it will not bear hard stocking, nor must it be compelled to travel far in search of its food. It is, in fact, properly and exclusively a lowland sheep. In its appropriate situation--on the luxuriant herbage of the highly cultivated lands of England--it possesses unequalled earliness of maturity; and its mutton, when not too fat, is of a good quality, but is usually coa.r.s.e, and comparatively deficient in flavor, owing to that unnatural state of fatness which it so readily a.s.sumes, and which the breeder, to gain weight, so generally feeds for. The wethers, having reached their second year, are turned off in the succeeding February or March, and weigh at that age from thirty to thirty-five pounds to the quarter. The wool of the New Leicester is long, averaging, after the first shearing, about six inches; and the fleece of the American animal weighs about six pounds. It is of coa.r.s.e quality, and little used in the manufacture of cloth, on account of its length, and that deficiency of felting properties common, in a greater or less extent, to all English breeds. As a combing wool, however, it stands first, and is used in the manufacture of the finest worsteds, and the like textures.
The high-bred Leicesters of Mr. Bakewell"s stock became shy breeders and poor nurses; but crosses subsequently adopted have, to some extent, obviated these defects. The lambs are not, however, generally regarded as very hardy, and they require considerable attention at the time of yeaning, particularly if the weather is even moderately cold or stormy.
The grown sheep, too, are much affected by sudden changes in the weather; an abrupt change to cold being pretty certain to be registered on their noses by unmistakable indications of catarrh or "snuffles."
In England, where mutton is generally eaten by the laboring cla.s.ses, the meat of this variety is in very great demand; and the consequent return which a sheep possessing such fine feeding qualities is enabled to make renders it a general favorite with the breeder. Instances are recorded of the most extraordinary prices having been paid for these animals.
They have spread into all parts of the British dominions, and been imported into the other countries of Europe and into the United States.
They were first introduced into our own country, some forty years since, by Christopher Dunn, of Albany, N.Y. Subsequent importations have been made by Mr. Powel, of Philadelphia, and various other gentlemen. The breed, however, has never proved a favorite with any large cla.s.s of American farmers. Our long, cold winters--but, more especially, our dry, scorching summers, when it is often difficult to obtain the rich, green, tender feed in which the Leicester delights--together with the general deprivation of green feed in the winter, rob it of its early maturity, and even of the ultimate size which it attains in England. Its mutton is too fat, and the fat and lean are too little intermixed to suit American taste. Its wool is not very salable, owing to the dearth of worsted manufactures in our country. Its early decay and loss of wool const.i.tute an objection to it, in a country where it is often so difficult to advantageously turn off sheep, particularly ewes. But, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, on rich lowland farms, in the vicinity of considerable markets, it will always in all probability make a profitable return.
The head of the New Leicester should be hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle, and projecting horizontally forward; the eyes prominent, but with a quiet expression; the ears thin, rather long, and directed backward; the neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizontal line from the rump to the poll; the breast broad and full; the shoulders also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the back--particularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation of these bones; the arm fleshy throughout its whole extent, and even down to the knee; the bones of the leg small, standing wide apart; no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively void of wool; the chest and barrel at once deep and round; the ribs forming a considerable arch from the spine, so as, in some cases--and especially when the animal is in good condition--to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth; the barrel ribbed well home; no irregularity of line on the back or belly, but on the sides; the carca.s.s very gradually diminishing in width towards the rump; the quarters long and full, and, as with the fore-legs, the muscles extending down to the hock; the thighs also wide and full; the legs of a moderate length; and the pelt also moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quant.i.ty of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer.
THE SOUTH-DOWN.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A SOUTH-DOWN RAM.]
A long range of chalky hills, diverging from the chalky stratum which intersects England from Norfolk to Dorchester, is termed the South-Downs. They enter the county of Suss.e.x on the west side, and are continued almost in a direct line, as far as East Bourne, where they reach the sea. They may be regarded as occupying a s.p.a.ce of more than sixty miles in length, and about five or six in breadth, consisting of a succession of open downs, with few enclosures, and distinguished by their situation and name from a more northern tract of similar elevation and soil, pa.s.sing through Surrey and Kent, and terminating in the cliffs of Dover, and of the Forelands. On these downs a certain breed of sheep has been produced for many centuries, in greater perfection than elsewhere; and hence have sprung those successive colonies which have found their way abroad and materially benefited the breed of short-woolled sheep wherever they have gone.
It is only, however, within a comparatively recent period that they have been brought to their present perfection. As recently as 1776 they were small in size, and of a form not superior to the common woolled sheep of the United States; they were far from possessing a good shape, being long and thin in the neck, high on the shoulders, low behind, high on the loins, down on the rump, the tail set on very low, perpendicular from the hip-bones, sharp on the back; the ribs flat, not bowing, narrow in the fore-quarters, but good in the leg, although having big bones.
Since that period a course of judicious breeding, pursued by Mr. John Ellman, of Glynde, in Suss.e.x, has mainly contributed to raise this variety to its present value; and that, too, without the admixture of the slightest degree of foreign blood.
This pure, improved family, it will be borne in mind, is spoken of in the present connection; inasmuch as the original stock, presenting, with trifling modifications, the same characteristics which they exhibited seventy-five years ago, are yet to be found in England; and the intermediate s.p.a.ce between these two cla.s.ses is occupied by a variety of grades, rising or falling in value, as they approximate to or recede from the improved blood.
The South-Down sheep are polled, but it is probable that the original breed was horned, as it is not unusual to find among the male South-Down lambs some with small horns. The dusky, or at times, black hue of the head and legs fully establishes the original color of the sheep, and, perhaps of all sheep; while the later period at which it was seriously attempted to get rid of this dingy hue proving unsuccessful, only confirms this view. Many of the lambs have been dropped entirely black.
It is an upland sheep, of medium size, and its wool--which in point of length belongs to the middle cla.s.s, and differs essentially from Merino wool of any grade, though the fibre in some of the finest fleeces maybe of the same apparent fineness with half or one-quarter blood Merino--is deficient in felting properties, making a fuzzy, hairy cloth, and is no longer used in England, unless largely mixed with foreign wool, even for the lowest cla.s.s of cloths. As it has deteriorated, however, it has increased in length of staple, in that country, to such an extent that improved machinery enables it to be used as a combing-wool, for the manufacture of worsteds. Where this has taken place it is quite as profitable as when it was finer and shorter. In the United States, where the demand for combing-wool is so small that it is easily met by a better article, the same result would not probably follow. Indeed, it may well be doubted whether the proper combing length will be easily reached, or at least maintained in this country, in the absence of that high feeding system which has undoubtedly given the wool its increased length in England. The average weight of fleece in the hill-fed sheep is three pounds; on rich lowlands, a little more.
The South-Down, however, is cultivated more particularly for its mutton, which for quality takes precedence of all other--from sheep of good size--in the English markets. Its early maturity and extreme apt.i.tude to lay on flesh, render it peculiarly valuable for this purpose. It is turned off at the age of two years, and its weight at that age is, in England, from eighty to one hundred pounds. High-fed wethers have reached from thirty-two to even forty pounds a quarter. Notwithstanding its weight, it has a patience of occasional short keep, and an endurance of hard stocking, equal to any other sheep. This gives it a decided advantage over the bulkier Leicesters and Lincolns, as a mutton sheep, in hilly districts and those producing short and scanty herbage.
It is hardy and healthy, though, in common with the other English varieties, much subject to catarrh, and no sheep better withstands our American winters. The ewes are prolific breeders and good nurses.
The Down is quiet and docile in its habits, and, though an industrious feeder, exhibits but little disposition to rove. Like the Leicester, it is comparatively a short-lived animal, and the fleece continues to decrease in weight after it reaches maturity. It crosses better with short and middle-woolled breeds than the Leicester. A sheep possessing such qualities, must, of necessity, be valuable in upland districts in the vicinity of markets. The Emperor of Russia paid Mr. Ellman three hundred guineas (fifteen hundred dollars) for two rams; and, in 1800, a ram belonging to the Duke of Bedford was let for one season at eighty guineas (four hundred dollars), two others at forty guineas (two hundred dollars) each, and four more at twenty-eight guineas (one hundred and forty dollars) each. The first importation into the United States was made by Col. J. H. Powell, of Philadelphia. A subsequent importation, in 1834, cost sixty dollars a head.
The desirable characteristics of the South-Down may be thus summed up: The head small and hornless; the face speckled or gray, and neither too long nor too short; the lips thin, and the s.p.a.ce between the nose and the eyes narrow; the under-jaw or chap fine and thin; the ears tolerably wide and well-covered with wool, and the forehead also, and the whole s.p.a.ce between the ears well protected by it, as a defence against the fly; the eye full and bright, but not prominent; the orbits of the eye, the eye-cap or bone not too projecting, that it may not form a fatal obstacle in lambing; the neck of a medium length, thin toward the head, but enlarging toward the shoulders, where it should be broad and high and straight in its whole course above and below.
The breast should be wide, deep, and projecting forward between the fore-legs, indicating a good const.i.tution and a disposition to thrive; corresponding with this, the shoulders should be on a level with the back, and not too wide above; they should bow outward from the top to the breast, indicating a springing rib beneath, and leaving room for it; the ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending far backward, and the last rib projecting more than others; the back flat from the shoulders to the setting on of the tail; the loin broad and flat; the rump broad, and the tail set on high, and nearly on a level with the spine.
The hips should be wide; the s.p.a.ce between them and the last rib on each side as narrow as possible, and the ribs generally presenting a circular form like a barrel; the belly as straight as the back; the legs neither too long nor too short; the fore-legs straight from the breast to the foot, not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart, both before and behind; the hock having a direction rather outward, and they twist, or the meeting of the thighs behind, being particularly full; the bones fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or dark color; the belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and behind to the knee and to the hock; the wool short, close, curled and fine, and free from spiny projecting fibres.
THE COTSWOLD.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE COTSWOLD.]
The Cotswolds, until improved by modern crosses, were a very large, coa.r.s.e, long-legged, flat-ribbed variety, light in the fore-quarter, and shearing a long, heavy, coa.r.s.e fleece of wool. They were formerly bred only on the hills, and fatted in the valleys, of the Severn and the Thames; but with the enclosures of the Cotswold hills, and the improvement of their cultivation, they have been reared and fatted in the same district. They were hardy, prolific breeders, and capital nurses; deficient in early maturity, and not possessing feeding properties equalling those of the South-Down or New Leicester.
They have been extensively crossed with the Leicester sheep--producing thus the modern or improved Cotswold--by which their size and fleece have been somewhat diminished, but their carca.s.ses have been materially improved, and their maturity rendered earlier. The wethers are sometimes fattened at fourteen months old, when they weigh from fifteen to twenty-four pounds to a quarter; and at two years old, increase to twenty or thirty pounds.
The wool is strong, mellow, and of good color, though rather coa.r.s.e, six to eight inches in length, and from seven to eight pounds per fleece.
The superior hardihood of the improved Cotswold over the Leicester, and their adaptation to common treatment, together with the prolific nature of the ewes, and their abundance of milk, have rendered them in many places rivals of the New Leicester, and have obtained for them, of late years, more attention to their selection and general treatment, under which management still farther improvement has been made. They have also been used in crossing other breeds, and have been mixed with the Hampshire Downs. Indeed, the improved Cotswold, under the name of new, or improved Oxfordshire sheep, have frequently been the successful candidates for prizes offered for the best long-woolled sheep at some of the princ.i.p.al agricultural meetings or shows in England. The quality of their mutton is considered superior to that of the Leicester; the tallow being less abundant, with a larger development of muscle or flesh.
The degree to which the cross between the Cotswold and Leicester may be carried, must depend upon the nature of the old stock, and on the situation and character of the farm. In exposed situations, and somewhat scanty pasture, the old blood should decidedly prevail. On a more sheltered soil, and on land that will bear closer stocking, a greater use may be made of the Leicester. Another circ.u.mstance that should guide the farmer is the object which he has princ.i.p.ally in view. If he expects to derive his chief profits from the wool, he will look to the primitive Cotswolds; if he expects to gain more as a grazier, he will use the Leicester ram more freely.
Sheep of this breed, now of established reputation, have been imported into the United States by Messrs. Corning and Gotham, of Albany, and bred by the latter.
THE CHEVIOT.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A CHEVIOT EWE.]
On the steep, storm-lashed Cheviot hills, in the extreme north of England, this breed first attracted notice for their great hardiness in resisting cold, and for feeding on coa.r.s.e, heathery herbage. A cross with the Leicester, pretty generally resorted to, const.i.tutes the improved variety.
The Cheviot readily amalgamates with the Leicester--the rams employed in the system of breeding, which has been extensively introduced for producing the first cross of this descent, being of the pure Leicester breed--and the progeny is superior in size, weight of wool, and tendency to fatten, to the native Cheviot. The benefit, however, may be said to end with the first cross; and the progeny of this mixed descent is greatly inferior to the pure Leicester in form and fattening properties, and to the pure Cheviot in hardiness of const.i.tution.
The improved Cheviot has greatly extended itself throughout the mountains of Scotland, and in many instances supplanted the black-faced breed; but the change, though often advantageous, has in some cases been otherwise--the latter being somewhat hardier, and more capable of subsisting on heathy pasturage. They are a hardy race, however, well suited for their native pastures, bearing, with comparative impunity, the storms of winter, and thriving well on poor keep. The purest specimens are to be found on the Scotch side of the Cheviot hills, and on the high and stony mountain farms which lie between that range and the sources of the Teviot. These sheep are a capital mountain stock, provided the pasture resembles those hills, in containing a good proportion of rich herbage. Though less hardy than the black-faced sheep of Scotland, they are more profitable as respects their feeding, making more flesh on an equal quant.i.ty of food, and making it more quickly.
They have white faces and legs, open countenances, lively eyes, and are without horns; the ears are large, and somewhat singular, and there is much s.p.a.ce between the ears and eyes; the carca.s.s is long; the back straight; the shoulders rather light; the ribs circular; and the quarters good. The legs are small in the bone, and covered with wool, as well as the body, with the exception of the face. The wether is fit for the butcher at three years old, and averages from twelve to eighteen pounds a quarter; the mutton being of a good quality, though inferior to the South-Down, and of less flavor than the black-faced. The Cheviot, though a mountain breed, is quiet and docile, and easily managed.
The wool is about the quality of Leicester, coa.r.s.e and long, suitable only for the manufacture of low coatings and flushings. It closely covers the body, a.s.sisting much in preserving it from the effects of wet and cold. The fleece averages about three and a half pounds. Formerly, the wool was extensively employed in making cloths; but having given place to the finer Saxony wools, it has sunk in price, and been confined to combing purposes. It has thus become altogether a secondary consideration.
The Cheviots have become an American sheep by their repeated importations into this country. The wool on several choice sheep, imported by Mr. Carmichael, of New York, was from five to seven inches long, coa.r.s.e, but well suited to combing.
THE LINCOLN.
The old breed of Lincolnshire sheep was hornless, had white faces, and long, thin, and weak carca.s.ses; the ewes weighed from fourteen to twenty pounds a quarter; the three-year old wethers from twenty to thirty pounds; legs thick, rough and white; pelts thick; wool long--from ten to eighteen inches--and covering a slow-feeding, coa.r.s.e-grained carca.s.s of mutton.
A judicious system of breeding, which avoided Bakewell"s errors, has wrought a decided improvement in this breed. The improved Lincolns possess a rather more desirable robustness, approaching, in some few specimens, almost to coa.r.s.eness, as compared with the finest Leicesters; but they are more hardy, and less liable to disease. They attain as large a size, and yield as great an amount of wool, of about the same value. This breed, indeed, scarcely differs more from the Cotswold than do flocks of a similar variety, which have been separately bred for several generations, from each other. They are prolific, and when well-fed, the ewes will frequently produce two lambs at a birth, for which they provide liberally from their udders till the time for weaning. The weight of the fleece varies from four to eight pounds per head.
Having alluded to the princ.i.p.al points of interest connected with the various breeds of sheep in the United States, our next business is with
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SKELETON OF THE SHEEP AS COVERED BY THE MUSCLES.
1. The intermaxillary bone. 2. The nasal bones. 3. The upper jaw. 4. The union of the nasal and upper jaw-bones. 5. The union of the molar and lachrymal bones. 6. The orbits of the eye. 7. The frontal bone. 8. The lower jaw. 9. The incisor teeth, or nippers. 10. The molars or grinders.
11. The ligament of the neck supporting the head. 12. The seven vertebrae, or the bones of the neck. 13. The thirteen vertebrae, or bones of the back. 14. The six vertebrae of the loins. 15. The sacral bone.
16. The bones of the tail, varying in different breeds from twelve to twenty-one. 17. The haunch and pelvis. 18. The eight true ribs, with their cartilages. 19. The five false ribs, or those that are not attached to the breast-bone. 20. The breast-bone. 21. The scapula, or shoulder-blade. 22. The humerus, bone of the arm, or lower part of the shoulder. 23. The radius, or bone of the fore-arm. 24. The ulna or elbow. 25. The knee with its different bones. 26. The metacarpal or shank-bones--the larger bones of the leg. 27. A rudiment of the smaller metacarpal. 28. One of the sessamoid bones. 29. The first two bones of the foot--the pasterns. 30. The proper bones of the foot. 31. The thigh-bone. 32. The stifle-joint and its bone--the patella. 33. The tibia, or bone of the upper part of the leg. 34. The point of the hock.
35. The other bones of the hock. 36. The metatarsal bones, or bone of the hind-leg. 37. Rudiment of the small metatarsal. 38. A sessamoid bone. 39. The first two bones of the foot--the pasterns. 40. The proper bones of the foot.]
DIVISION. _Vertebrata_--possessing a back-bone.
CLa.s.s. _Mammalia_--such as give suck.
ORDER. _Ruminantia_--chewing the cud.
FAMILY. _Capridae_--the goat kind.