[Ill.u.s.tration: HEATH EWE.]
689. BLACK-FACED, on HEATH-BRED SHEEP.--This is the most hardy of all our native breeds, and originally came from Ettrick Forest. The face and legs are black, or sometimes mottled, the horns spiral, and on the top of the forehead it has a small round tuft of lighter-coloured wool than on the face; has the muzzle and lips of the same light hue, and what shepherds call a mealy mouth; the eye is full of vivacity and fire, and well open; the body long, round, and firm, and the limbs robust. The wool is thin, coa.r.s.e, and light. Weight of the quarter, from 10 to 16 lbs.
690. THE CHEVIOT.--From the earliest traditions, these hills in the North, like the chalk-ridges in the South, have possessed a race of large-carcased sheep, producing a valuable fleece. To these physical advantages, they added a sound const.i.tution, remarkable vigour, and capability to endure great privation. Both s.e.xes are dest.i.tute of horns, face white, legs long and clean, carries the head erect, has the throat and neck well covered, the cars long and open, and the face animated.
The Cheviot is a small-boned sheep, and well covered with wool to the hough; the only defect in this breed, is in a want of depth in the chest. Weight of the quarter, from 12 to 18 lbs.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ROMNEY-MARSH RAM.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: ROMNEY-MARSH EWE.]
691. THOUGH THE ROMNEY MARSHES, that wide tract of mora.s.s and lowland moor extending from the Weald (or ancient forest) of Kent into Suss.e.x, has rather been regarded as a general feeding-ground for any kind of sheep to be pastured on, it has yet, from the earliest date, been famous for a breed of animals almost peculiar to the locality, and especially for size, length, thickness, and quant.i.ty of wool, and what is called thickness of stocking; and on this account for ages held pre-eminence over every other breed in the kingdom. So satisfied were the Kentish men with the superiority of their sheep, that they long resisted any crossing in the breed. At length, however, this was effected, and from the Old Romney and New Leicester a stock was produced that proved, in an eminent degree, the advantage of the cross; and though the breed was actually smaller than the original, it was found that the new stock did not consume so much food, the stocking was increased, they were ready for the market a _year_ sooner; that the fat formed more on the exterior of the carcase, where it was of most advantage to the grazier, rather than as formerly in the interior, where it went to the butcher as offal; and though the wool was shorter and lighter, it was of a better colour, finer, and possessed of superior felting properties.
692. THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED is a large animal, deep, close, and compact, with white face and legs, and yields a heavy fleece of a good staple quality. The general structure is, however, considered defective, the chest being narrow and the extremities coa.r.s.e; nevertheless its tendency to fatten, and its early maturity, are universally admitted. The Romney Marsh, therefore, though not ranking as a first cla.s.s in respect of perfection and symmetry of breed, is a highly useful, profitable, and generally advantageous variety of the English domestic sheep.
693. DIFFERENT NAMES HAVE BEEN GIVEN to sheep by their breeders, according to their age and s.e.x. The male is called a ram, or tup; after weaning, he is said to be a hog, or hogget, or a lamb-hog, tup-hog, or teg; later he is a wether, or wether-hog; after the first shearing, a shearing, or dinmont; and after each succeeding shearing, a two, three, or four-shear ram, tup, or wether, according to circ.u.mstances. The female is called a ewe, or gimmer-lamb, till weaned, when she becomes, according to the shepherd"s nomenclature, a gimmer-ewe, hog, or teg; after shearing, a gimmer or shearing-ewe, or theave; and in future a two, three, or four-shear ewe, or theave.
694. THE MODE OF SLAUGHTERING SHEEP is perhaps as humane and expeditious a process as could be adopted to attain the objects sought: the animal being laid on its side in a sort of concave stool, the butcher, while pressing the body with his knee, transfixes the throat near the angle of the jaw, pa.s.sing his knife between the windpipe and bones of the neck; thus dividing the jugulars, carotids, and large vessels, the death being very rapid from such a hemorrhage.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIDE OF MUTTON, SHOWING THE SEVERAL JOINTS.]
695. ALMOST EVERY LARGE CITY has a particular manner of cutting up, or, as it is called, dressing the carcase. In London this process is very simple, and as our butchers have found that much skewering back, doubling one part over another, or scoring the inner cuticle or fell, tends to spoil the meat and shorten the time it would otherwise keep, they avoid all such treatment entirely. The carcase when flayed (which operation is performed while yet warm), the sheep when hung up and the head removed, presents the profile shown in our cut; the small numerals indicating the parts or joints into which one half of the animal is cut.
After separating the hind from the fore quarters, with eleven ribs to the latter, the quarters are usually subdivided in the manner shown in the sketch, in which the several joins are defined by the intervening lines and figures. _Hind quarter_: No. 1, the leg; 2, the loin--the two, when cut in one piece, being called the saddle. _Fore quarter_: No. 3, the shoulder; 4 and 5 the neck; No. 5 being called, for distinction, the scrag, which is generally afterwards separated from 4, the lower and better joint; No. 6, the breast. The haunch of mutton, so often served at public dinners and special entertainments, comprises all the leg and so much of the loin, short of the ribs or lap, as is indicated on the upper part of the carcase by a dotted line.
696. THE GENTLE AND TIMID DISPOSITION of the sheep, and its defenceless condition, must very early have attached it to man for motives less selfish than either its fleece or its flesh; for it has been proved beyond a doubt that, obtuse as we generally regard it, it is susceptible of a high degree of domesticity, obedience, and affection. In many parts of Europe, where the flocks are guided by the shepherd"s voice alone, it is no unusual thing for a sheep to quit the herd when called by its name, and follow the keeper like a dog. In the mountains of Scotland, when a flock is invaded by a savage dog, the rams have been known to form the herd into a circle, and placing themselves on the outside line, keep the enemy at bay, or charging on him in a troop, have despatched him with their horns.
697. THE VALUE OF THE SHEEP seems to have been early understood by Adam in his fallen state; his skin not only affording him protection for his body, but a covering for his tent; and accordingly, we find Abel intrusted with this portion of his father"s stock; for the Bible tells us that "Abel was a keeper of sheep." What other animals were domesticated at that time we can only conjecture, or at what exact period the flesh of the sheep was first eaten for food by man, is equally, if not uncertain, open to controversy. For though some authorities maintain the contrary, it is but natural to suppose that when Abel brought firstlings of his flock, "and the fat thereof," as a sacrifice, the less dainty portions, not being oblations, were hardly likely to have been flung away as refuse. Indeed, without supposing Adam and his descendants to have eaten animal food, we cannot reconcile the fact of Jubal Cain, Cain"s son, and his family, living in tents, as they are reported to have done, knowing that both their own garments and the coverings of the tents, were made from the hides and skins of the animals they bred; for the number of sheep and oxen slain for oblations only, would not have supplied sufficient material for two such necessary purposes. The opposite opinion is, that animal food was not eaten till after the Flood, when the Lord renewed his covenant with Noah. From Scriptural authority we learn many interesting facts as regards the sheep: the first, that mutton fat was considered the most delicious portion of any meat, and the tail and adjacent part the most exquisite morsel in the whole body; consequently, such were regarded as especially fit for the offer of sacrifice. From this fact we may reasonably infer that the animal still so often met with in Palestine and Syria, and known as the Fat-tailed sheep, was in use in the days of the patriarchs, though probably not then of the size and weight it now attains to; a supposition that gains greater strength, when it is remembered that the ram Abraham found in the bush, when he went to offer up Isaac, was a horned animal, being entangled in the brake by his curved horns; so far proving that it belonged to the tribe of the Capridae, the fat-tailed sheep appertaining to the same family.
LAMBS.
698. THOUGH THE LAMBING SEASON IN THIS COUNTRY usually commences in March, under the artificial system, so much pursued now to please the appet.i.te of luxury, lambs can be procured at all seasons. When, however, the sheep lambs in mid-winter, or the inclemency of the weather would endanger the lives of mother and young, if exposed to its influence, it is customary to rear the lambs within-doors, and under the shelter of stables or barns, where, foddered on soft hay, and part fed on cow"s milk, the little creatures thrive rapidly: to such it is customary to give the name of House Lamb, to distinguish it from that reared in the open air, or gra.s.s-fed. The ewe goes five months with her young, about 152 days, or close on 22 weeks. The weaning season commences on poor lands, about the end of the third month, but on rich pasture not till the close of the fourth--sometimes longer.
699. FROM THE LARGE PROPORTION OF MOISTURE OR FLUIDS contained in the tissues of all young animals, the flesh of lamb and veal is much more p.r.o.ne, in close, damp weather, to become tainted and spoil than the flesh of the more mature, drier, and closer-textured beef and mutton.
Among epicures, the most delicious sorts of lamb are those of the South-Down breed, known by their black feet; and of these, those which have been exclusively suckled on the milk of the parent ewe, are considered the finest. Next to these in estimation are those fed on the milk of several dams, and last of all, though the fattest, the gra.s.s-fed lamb; this, however, implies an age much greater than either of the others.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIDE OF LAMB.]
700. LAMB, in the early part of the season, however reared, is in London, and indeed generally, sold in quarters, divided with eleven ribs to the forequarter; but, as the season advances, these are subdivided into two, and the hind-quarter in the same manner; the first consisting of the shoulder, and the neck and breast; the latter, of the leg and the loin,--as shown in the cut ill.u.s.trative of mutton. As lamb, from the juicy nature of its flesh, is especially liable to spoil in unfavourable weather, it should be frequently wiped, so as to remove any moisture that may form on it.
701. IN THE PURCHASING OF LAMB FOR THE TABLE, there are certain signs by which the experienced judgment is able to form an accurate opinion whether the animal has been lately slaughtered, and whether the joints possess that condition of fibre indicative of good and wholesome meat.
The first of these doubts may be solved satisfactorily by the bright and dilated appearance of the eye; the quality of the fore-quarter can always be guaranteed by the blue or healthy ruddiness of the jugular, or vein of the neck; while the rigidity of the knuckle, and the firm, compact feel of the kidney, will answer in an equally positive manner for the integrity of the hind-quarter.
702. MODE OF CUTTING UP A SIDE OF LAMB IN LONDON.--1, 1. Ribs; 2.
Breast; 3. Shoulder; 4. Loin; 5. Leg; 1,2,3. Fore Quarter.
RECIPES.
CHAPTER XV.
BAKED MINCED MUTTON (Cold Meat Cookery).
703. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of any joint of cold roast mutton, 1 or 2 onions, 1 bunch of savoury herbs, pepper and salt to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace or nutmeg, 2 tablespoonfuls of gravy, mashed potatoes.
_Mode_.--Mince an onion rather fine, and fry it a light-brown colour; add the herbs and mutton, both of which should be also finely minced and well mixed; season with pepper and salt, and a little pounded mace or nutmeg, and moisten with the above proportion of gravy. Put a layer of mashed potatoes at the bottom of a dish, then the mutton, and then another layer of potatoes, and bake for about 1/2 hour.
_Time_.--1/2 hour. _Average cost_, exclusive of the meat, 4d.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
_Note_.--If there should be a large quant.i.ty of meat, use 2 onions instead of 1.
BOILED BREAST OF MUTTON AND CAPER SAUCE.
704. INGREDIENTS.--Breast of mutton, bread crumbs, 2 tablespoonfuls of minced savoury herbs (put a large proportion of parsley), pepper and salt to taste.
_Mode_.--Cut off the superfluous fat; bone it; sprinkle over a layer of bread crumbs, minced herbs, and seasoning; roll, and bind it up firmly.
Boil _gently_ for 2 hours, remove the tape, and serve with caper sauce, No. 382, a little of which should be poured over the meat.
_Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 6d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 4 or 6 persons.
_Seasonable_ all the year.
BOILED LEG OF MUTTON.
705. INGREDIENTS.--Mutton, water, salt.
_Mode_.--A. leg of mutton for boiling should not hang too long, as it will not look a good colour when dressed. Cut off the shank-bone, trim the knuckle, and wash and wipe it very clean; plunge it into sufficient boiling water to cover it; let it boil up, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, where it should remain till the finger can be borne in the water. Then place it sufficiently near the fire, that the water may gently simmer, and be very careful that it does not boil fast, or the meat will be hard. Skim well, add a little salt, and in about 2-1/4 hours after the water begins to simmer, a moderate-sized leg of mutton will be done. Serve with carrots and mashed turnips, which may be boiled with the meat, and send caper sauce (No. 382) to table with it in a tureen.
_Time_.--A moderate-sized leg of mutton of 9 lbs., 2-1/4 hours after the water boils; one of 12 lbs., 3 hours.
_Average cost_, 8-1/2d. per lb.
_Sufficient_.--A moderate-sized leg of mutton for 6 or 8 persons.
_Seasonable_ nearly all the year, but not so good in June, July, and August.
_Note_.--When meat is liked very _thoroughly_ cooked, allow more time than stated above. The liquor this joint was boiled in should be converted into soup.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD.--The sheep"s complete dependence upon the shepherd for protection from its numerous enemies is frequently referred to in the Bible; thus the Psalmist likens himself to a lost sheep, and prays the Almighty to seek his servant; and our Saviour, when despatching his twelve chosen disciples to preach the Gospel amongst their unbelieving brethren, compares them to lambs going amongst wolves. The shepherd of the East, by kind treatment, calls forth from his sheep unmistakable signs of affection. The sheep obey his voice and recognize the names by which he calls them, and they follow him in and out of the fold.
The beautiful figure of the "good shepherd," which so often occurs in the New Testament, expresses the tenderness of the Saviour for mankind. "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."--_John_, x. 11. "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known by mine."--_John_, x. 14. "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."--_John_, x. 16.