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Sheep.

The flesh of sheep, when slaughtered, is well known which, at an early age, little dependence can be placed. Sheep.
to be of various qualities. Some is composed of large
Some is composed of large Their treatment from the time they are weaned, in July
coarse grains interspersed with wide empty pores
like a
or August, until the time of shearing, the first week in
sponge others, of large grains, with wide pores filled June, consists in giving them every indulgence of keep,
with fat; others, of fine close grains, with smaller pores in order to push them forward for the show; it being
filled with fat; and a fourth, of close grains, without the common practice to let such as are fit to be let the
any intermixture of fatness.
first season, while they are yet yearlings-provincially

The flesh of sheep, when dressed, is equally wellsharhogs.'
known to possess a variety of qualities: some mutton is
coarse, dry, and insipid; a dry sponge, affording little
or no gravy of any colour. Another sort is somewhat
firmer, imparting a light-coloured gravy only. A third
plamp, short and palatable; affording a mixture of white
and red gravy. A fourth likewise plump and well-fla
voured, but discharging red gravy, and this in various
quantities.

It is likewise observable, that some mutton, when
dressed, appears covered with a thick, tough, parch-
ment-like integument; others with a membrane compa-
ratively fine and flexible. But these, and some of the
other qualities of mutton, may not be wholly owing to
breed, but in part to the age and the state of fatness at
the time of slaughter. Examined in this light, whe-
ther we consider the degree of fatness, or their natural
propensity to a state of fatness, even at an early age,
the improved breed of Leicestershire sheep appears with
many superior advantages.

The degree of fatness to which the individuals of this breed are capable of being raised, will perhaps appear incredible to those who have not had an opportunity of dland being convinced by their own observation. "I have Counties, seen wedders (says Mr Marshall) of only two shear (two or three years old) so loaded with fat as to be scarcely able to make a run; and whose fat lay so much without the bone, it seemed ready to be shaken from the ribs on the smallest agitation.

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10

How the

T&T are

reared.

"It is common for the sheep of this breed to have such a projection of fat upon the ribs, immediately behind the shoulder, that it may be easily gathered up in the hand, as the flank of a fat bullock. Hence it has gained, in technical language, the name of the foreflank a point which a modern breeder never fails to touch in judging of the quality of this breed of sheep.

"What is, perhaps, still more extraordinary, it is not rare for the rams at least, of this breed, to be cracked on the back; that is, to be cloven along the top of the chine, in the manner fat sheep generally are upon the rump. This mark is considered as an evidence of the best blood.

"Extraordinary, however, as are these appearances while the animals are living, the facts are still more striking after they are slaughtered. At Litchfield, in February 1785, I saw a fore quarter of mutton, fatted by Mr Princep of Croxall, and which measured upon the ribs four inches of fat. It must be acknowledged, however, that the Leicestershire breed do not produce so much wool as most other long-woolled sheep."

As the practice of letting rams by the season is now become profitable, it may be useful to mention the method of rearing them.

"The principal ram-breeders save annually twenty, thirty, or perhaps forty ram lambs; castration being seldom applied, in the first instance, to the produce of a valuable ram, for in the choice of these lambs they are led more by blood or parentage, than by form; on VOL. XIX. Part I.

+

"Their first pasture, after weaning, is pretty generally, I believe, clover that has been mown early, and has got a second time into head; the beads of clover being considered as a most forcing food of sheep. After this goes off, turnips, cabbages, colewort, with hay, and (report says) with corn. But the use of this the breeders severally deny, though collectively they may be liable to the charge.

"Be this as it may, something considerable depends on the art of making up, not lambs only, but rams of all ages. Fat, like charity, covers a multitude of faults; and besides, is the best evidence of their fatting quality which their owners can produce (i. e. their natural propensity to a state of fatness), while in the fatness of the sharhogs is seen their degree of inclination to fat at an early age.

"Fatting quality being the one thing needful in gra zing stock, and being found, in some considerable degree at least, to be hereditary, the fattest rams are of course the best; though other attachments, well or ill placed, as to form or fashionable points, will perhaps have equal or greater weight in the minds of some men, even in this enlightened age. Such shearlings as will not make up sufficiently as to form and fatness, are either kept on to another year to give them a fair chance, or are castrated, or butchered while sharhogs." From the first letting, about 40 years ago, to the What sums year 1780, the prices kept gradually rising from fifteen Mr Bakeshillings to a guinea, and from one to ten. In 1780 well reMr Bakewell let several at ten guineas each; and, what letting is rather inexplicable, Mr Parkinson of Quarndon let them. one the same year for twenty-five guineas; a price which then astonished the whole country.

From that time to 1786 Mr Bakewell's stock rose rapidly from ten to a hundred guineas; and that year he let two-thirds of one ram (reserving one-third of the usual number of ewes to himself) to two principal breeders, for a hundred guineas each, the entire services of the ram being rated at three hundred guineas! Mr Bakewell making that year, by letting twenty rams only, more than a thousand pounds!

Since that time the prices have been still rising. Four hundred guineas have been repeatedly given. Mr Bakewell, this year (1789) makes, says Mr Marshall, twelve hundred guineas by three rams (brothers, we believe) ; two thousand of seven; and, of his whole letting, full three thousand guineas!

Beside this extraordinary sum made by Mr Bakewell, there are six or seven other breeders who make from five hundred to a thousand guineas each. The whole amount of moneys produced that year in the midland counties, by letting rams of the modern breed for one season only, is estimated, by those who are adequate to the subject, at the almost incredible sum of ten thousand pounds.

Rams previous to the season are reduced from the cumbrous fat state in which they are shown. The usual Ef time

II

ceived for

12

Sheep time of sending them out is the middle of September. They are conveyed in carriages of two wheels with springs, or hung in slings, 20 or 30 miles a-day, sometimes to the distance of 200 or 300 miles. They are not turned loose among the ewes, but kept apart in a and choice small inclosure, where a couple of ewes only are admitof the ted at once. When the season is over, every care is taken to make the rams look as fat and handsome as possible.

The treatment of the rams

ewes.

13

Instruc

In the choice of ewes the breeder is led by the same criterions as in the choice of rams. Breed is the first object of consideration. Excellency, in any species or variety of live-stock, cannot be attained with any degree of certainty, let the male be ever so excellent, unless the females employed likewise inherit a large proportion of the genuine blood, be the species or variety what it may. Hence no prudent man ventures to give the higher prices for the Dishley rams, unless his ewes are deeply tinctured with the Dishley blood. Next to breed is flesh, fat, form, and wool.

After the lambs are weaned, the ewes are kept in common feeding places, without any alteration of pasture, previous to their taking the ram. In winter they are kept on grass, hay, turnips, and cabbages. As the heads of the modern breed are much finer than most others, the ewes lamb with less difficulty.

The female lambs, on being weaned, are put to good keep, but have not such high indulgence shown them as the males, the prevailing practice being to keep them from the ram the first autumn.

At weaning time, or previously to the admission of the ram, the ewes are culled, to make room for the thaves or shearlings, whose superior blood and fashion intitle them to a place in the breeding flock. In the work of culling, the ram-breeder and the mere grazier go by somewhat different guides. The grazier's guide is principally age, seldom giving his ewes the ram after they are four shear. The ram-breeder, on the contrary, goes chiefly by merit; an ewe that has brought him a good ram or two is continued in the flock so long as she will breed. There are instances of ewes having been prolific to the tenth or twelfth year; but in general the ewes of this breed go off at six or seven shear.

In the practice of some of the principal ram-breeders, the culling ewes are never suffered to go out of their hands until after they are slaughtered, the breeders not only fatting them, but having them butchered, on their premises. There are others, however, who sell them; and sometimes at extraordinary prices. Three, four, and even so high as ten guineas each, have been given for these outcasts.

There are in the flocks of several breeders ewes that would fetch at auction twenty guineas each. Mr Bakewell is in possession of ewes which, if they were now put up to be sold to the best bidder, would, it is estimated, fetch no less than fifty each, and perhaps through the present spirit of contention, much higher prices.

The following instructions for purchasing sheep, we tions for hope, will be acceptable to our country readers.-The purchasing farmer should always buy his sheep from a worse land sheep. than his own, and they should be big boned, and have a long greasy wool, curling close and well. These sheep always breed the finest wool, and are also the most approved of by the butcher for sale in the market. For

the choice of sheep to breed, the ram must be young, Sheep and his skin of the same colour with his wool, for the lambs will be of the same colour with his skin. He should have a large long body; a broad forehead, round, and well-rising; large eyes; and straight and short nostrils. The polled sheep, that is, those which have no horns, are found to be the best breeders. The ewe should have a broad back; a large bending neck; small, but short, clean, and nimble legs; and a thick, deep wool covering her all over.

To know whether they be sound or not, the farmer should examine the wool that none of it be wanting, and see that the gums be red, the teeth white and even, and the brisket-skin red, the wool firm, the breath sweet, and the feet not hot. Two years old is the best time for beginning to breed; and their first lambs should not be kept too long, to weaken them by suckling, but be sold as soon as conveniently may be. They will breed advantageously till they are seven years old. The farmers have a method of knowing the age of a sheep, as a horse's is known, by the mouth. When a sheep is one shear, as they express it, it has two broad teeth before; when it is two shear, it will have four; when three, six; and when four, eight. After this their mouths begin to break.

The difference of land makes a very great differencs in the sheep. The fat pastures breed straight tall sheep, and the barren hills and downs breed square short ones; woods and mountains breed tall and slender sheep; but the best of all are those bred upon new-ploughed land and dry grounds. On the contrary, all wet and moist lands are bad for sheep, especially such as are subject to be overflowed, and to have sand and dirt left on them. The salt marshes are, however, an exception to this ge neral rule, for their saltness makes amends for their moisture; salt, by reason of its drying quality, being of great advantage to sheep.

for

ewes.

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As to the time of putting the rams to the ewes, the When rams farmer must consider at what time of the spring his grass ought to will be fit to maintain them and their lambs, and whe- be admit ther he has turnips to do it till the grass comes; ted to the very often both the ewes and lambs are destroyed by the want of food; or if this does not happen, if the lambs are only stinted in their growth by it, it is an accident that they never recover. The ewe goes 20 weeks with lamb, and according to this it is easy to calculate the proper time. The best time for them to yean, is in April, unless the owner has very forward grass or turnips, or the sheep are field sheep. Where you have not inclosures to keep them in, then it may be proper they should yean in January, that the lambs may be strong by May-day, and be able to follow the dam over the fallows and water-furrows; but then the lambs that come so early must have a great deal of care taken of them, and so indeed should all other lambs at their first falling, else while they are weak the crows and mag. pies will pick their eyes out.

When the sheep are turned into fields of wheat or rye to feed, it must not be too rank at first, for if it be, it generally throws them into scourings. Ewes that are big should be kept but bare, for it is very dangerous to them to be fat at the time of their bringing forth their young. They may be well fed, indeed, like cows, a fortnight beforehand, to put them in heart. Mortimer's Husbandry, p. 243.

Sheep.

15

The first Way of feeding

sheep with

turnips.

16

The second.

17

The third, which is the best.

rot, red-water, foot-rot and hoving, scab, dunt, rickets, Sheep. fly-struck, flux, and bursting. Of each of these we shall give the best description in our power, with the most approved remedies.

The feeding sheep with turnips is one great advantage to the farmers. When they are made to eat turnips they soon fatten, but there is some difficulty in bringing this about. The old ones always refuse them at first, and will sometimes fast three or four days, till almost famished; but the young lambs fall to at once. The common way, in some places, of turning a flock of sheep at large into a field of turnips, is very disadvantageous, for they will thus destroy as many in a fortnight as would keep them a whole winter. There are three other ways of feeding them on this food, all of which have their several advantages.

The first way is to divide the land by hurdles, and allow the sheep to come upon such a portion only at a time as they can eat in one day, and so advance the burdles farther into the ground daily till all be eaten. This is infinitely better than the former random method; but they never eat them clean even this way, but leave the bottoms and outsides scooped in the ground: the people pull up these indeed with iron crooks, and lay them before the sheep again, but they are commonly so fouled with the creature's dung and urine, and with the dirt from their feet, that they do not care for them; they eat but little of them, and what they do eat does not nourish them like the fresh roots.

The second way is by inclosing the sheep in hurdles, as in the former; but in this they pull up all the turnips which they suppose the sheep can eat in one day, and daily remove the hurdles over the ground whence they have pulled up the turnips: by this means there is no waste, and less expence, for a person may in two hours pull up all those turnips; the remaining shells of which would have employed three or four labourers a day to get up with their crooks out of the ground trodden hard by the feet of the sheep; and the worst is, that as in the method of pulling up first, the turnips are eaten up clean, in this way, by the hook, they are wasted, the sheep do not eat any great part of them, and when the ground comes to be tilled afterwards for a crop of corn, the fragments of the turnips are seen in such quantities on the surface, that half the crop at least seems to have been wasted.

The third manner is to pull up the turnips, and remove them in a cart or waggon to some other place, spreading them on a fresh place every day; by this method the sheep will eat them up clean, both root and leaves. The great advantage of this method is, when there is a piece of land not far off which wants dung more than that where the turnips grow, which perhaps is also too wet for the sheep in winter, and then the turnips will, by the too great moisture and dirt of the soil, sometimes spoil the sheep, and give them the rot. Yet such ground will often bring forth more and larger turnips than dry land, and when they are carried off, and eaten by the sheep on ploughed land, in dry weather, and on green sward in wet weather, the sheep will succeed much better; and the moist soil where the turnips grew not being trodden by the sheep, will be much fitter for a crop of corn than if they had been fed with turnips on it. The expence of hurdles, and the trouble of moving them, are saved in this case, which will counterbalance at least the expence of pulling the turnips and carrying them to the places where they are to be eaten. They must always be carried off for oxen. Diseases of The diseases to which sheep are subject are these,

sheep.

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19

The rot, which is a very pernicious disease, has of The rot. late engaged the attention of scientific farmers. But neither its nature nor its cause has yet been fully ascertained. Some valuable and judicious observations have, however, been made upon it, which ought to be circulated, as they may, perhaps, in many cases, furnish an antidote for this malignant distemper, or be the means of leading others, to some more efficacious remedy. Some have supposed the rot owing to the quick growth of grass or herbs that grow in wet places. Without premising, that all bounteous Providence has given to every animal its peculiar taste, by which it distinguishes the food proper for its preservation and support, if not vitiated by fortuitous circumstances, it seems very difficult to discover on philosophical principles why the quick growth of grass should render it noxious, or why any herb should at one season produce fatal effects, by the admission of pure water only into its component parts, which at other times is perfectly innocent, although brought to its utmost strength and maturity by the genial influence of the sun. Besides, the constant practice of most farmers in the kingdom, who with the greatest security feed their meadows in the spring, when the grass shoots quick and is full of juices, militates directly against this opinion.

Mr Arthur Young ascribes this disease to moisture. In confirmation of this opinion, which has been generally adopted, we are informed, in the Bath Society papers*, by a correspondent, that there was a paddock ad- * Vol. I. joining to his park which had for several years caused art. xlvi. the rot in most of the sheep which were put into it. In 1769 he drained it, and from that time his sheep were free from this malady. But there are facts which render it doubtful that moisture is the sole cause. We are told the dry limed land in Derbyshire will produce the rot as well as water meadows and stagnant marshes; and that in some wet grounds sheep sustain no injury for many weeks.

cause.

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Without attempting to enumerate other hypotheses Its cause, which the ingenious have formed on this subject, we shall pursue a different method in order to discover the On dissecting sheep that die of this disorder, a great number of insects called flukes (see FASCIOLA) are found in the liver. That these flukes are the cause of the rot, therefore, is evident; but to explain how they come into the liver is not so easy. It is probable that they are swallowed by the sheep along with their food while in the egg state. The eggs deposited in the tender germ are conveyed with the food into the stomach and intestines of the animals, whence they are received into the lacteal vessels, carried off in the chyle, and pass into the blood; nor do they meet with any obstruction until they arrive at the capillary vessels of the liver. Here, as the blood filtrates through the extreme branches, answering to those of the vena porta in the human body, the secerning vessels are too minute to admit the impregnated ova, which, adhering to the membrane, produce those animalcula that feed upon the liver and destroy the sheep. They much resemble the flat fish called plaice, are sometimes as large as a silver two-pence, and are found both in the liver and in Ff2 the

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