A Leicester Ram
With a single exception—that of the dog—there is no member of the beast family which presents so great a diversity of size, color, form, covering, and general appearance, as characterizes the sheep; and none occupy a wider range of climate, or subsist on a greater variety of food. This animal is found in every latitude between the Equator and the Arctic circle, ranging over barren mountains and through fertile valleys, feeding upon almost every species of edible forage—the cultivated grasses, clovers, cereals, and roots—browsing on aromatic and bitter herbs alike, cropping the leaves andbarks from stunted forest shrubs and the pungent, resinous evergreens. In some parts of Norway and Sweden, when other resources fail, he subsists on fish or flesh during the long, rigorous winter, and, if reduced to necessity, even devours his own wool.
In size, he is diminutive or massive; he has many horns, or but two large or small spiral horns, or is polled or hornless. His tail may be broad, or long, or a mere button, discoverable only by the touch. His covering is long and coarse, or short and hairy, or soft and furry, or fine and spiral. His color varies from white or black to every shade of brown, dun, buff, blue, and gray. This wide diversity results from long domestication under almost every conceivable variety of condition.
Among the antediluvians, sheep were used for sacrificial offerings, and their fleeces, in all probability, furnished them with clothing. Since the deluge their flesh has been a favorite food among many nations. Many of the rude, wandering tribes of the East employ them as beasts of burden. The uncivilized—and, to some extent, the refined—inhabitants of Europe use their milk, not only as a beverage, but for making into cheese, butter, and curds—an appropriation of it which is also noticed by Job, Isaiah, and other Old Testament writers, as well as most of the Greek and Roman authors. The ewe’s milk scarcely differs in appearance from that of the cow, though it is generally thicker, and yields a pale, yellowish butter, which is always soft and soon becomes rancid. In dairy regions the animal is likewise frequently employed at the tread-mill or horizontal wheel, to pump water, churn milk, or perform other light domestic work.
The calling of the shepherd has, from time immemorial, been conspicuous, and not wanting in dignity and importance. Abel was a keeper of sheep; as were Abraham and his descendants, as well as most of the ancient patriarchs. Job possessed fourteen thousand sheep. Rachel, the favored mother of the Jewish race, “came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.” The seven daughters of the priest of Midian “came and drew water for their father’s flocks.” Moses, the statesman and lawgiver, “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” busied himself in tending “the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law.” David, too, that sweet singer of Israel and its destined monarch—the Jewish hero, poet, and divine—was a keeper of sheep. To shepherds, “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night,” came the glad tidings of a Saviour’s birth. The Hebrew term for sheep signifies, in its etymology, fruitfulness, abundance, plenty—indicative of the blessings which they were destined to confer upon the human family. In the Holy Scriptures, this animal is the chosen symbol of purity and the gentler virtues, the victim of propitiatory sacrifices, and the type of redemption to fallen man.
Among profane writers, Homer and Hesiod, Virgil and Theocritus, introduce them in their pastoral themes; while their heroes and demi-gods—Hercules and Ulysses, Eneas and Numa—carefully perpetuate them in their domains.
In modern times, they have engaged the attention of the most enlightened nations, whose prosperity has been intimately linked with them, wherever wool and its manufactures have been regarded as essential staples. Spain and Portugal, during the two centuries in which they figured as the mostenterprising European countries, excelled in the production and manufacture of wool. Flanders, for a time, took precedence of England in the perfection of the arts and the enjoyments of life; and the latter country then sent what little wool she raised to the former to be manufactured. This being soon found highly impolitic, large bounties were offered by England for the importation of artists and machinery; and by a systematic and thorough course of legislation, which looked to the utmost protection and increase of wool and woollens, she gradually carried their production beyond any thing the world had ever seen.
Of the original breed of this invaluable animal, nothing certain is known; four varieties having been deemed by naturalists entitled to that distinction.
These are, 1. TheMusimon, inhabiting Corsica, Sardinia, and other islands of the Mediterranean, the mountainous parts of Spain and Greece, and some other regions bordering upon that inland sea. These have been frequently domesticated and mixed with the long-cultivated breeds.
2. TheArgaliranges over the steppes, or inland plains of Central Asia, northward and eastward to the ocean. They are larger and hardier than the Musimon and not so easily tamed.
3. TheRocky Mountain Sheep—frequently called theBighornby our western hunters—is found on the prairies west of the Mississippi, and throughout the wild, mountainous regions extending through California and Oregon to the Pacific. They are larger than the Argali—which in other respects they resemble—and are probably descended from them, since they could easily cross upon the ice at Behring’s Straits, from thenorth-eastern coast of Asia. Like the Argali, when caught young they are readily tamed; but it is not known that they have ever been bred with the domestic sheep. Before the country was overrun by the white ram, they probably inhabited the region bordering on the Mississippi. Father Hennepin—a French Jesuit, who wrote some two hundred years ago—often speaks of meeting with goats in his travels through the territory which is now embraced by Illinois, Wisconsin, and a portion of Minnesota. The wild, clambering propensities of these animals—occupying, as they do, the giddy heights far beyond the reach of the traveller—and their outer coating of hair—supplied underneath, however, with a thick coating of soft wool—give them much the appearance of goats. In summer they are generally found single; but when they descend from their isolated, rocky heights in winter, they are gregarious, marching in flocks under the guidance of leaders.
Rocky Mountain SheepROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
4. TheBearded Sheep of Africainhabit the mountains of Barbary and Egypt. They are covered with a soft, reddishhair, and have a mane hanging below the neck, and large, locks of hair at the ankle.
Many varieties of the domesticated sheep—that is, all the subjugated species—apparently differ less from their wild namesakes than from each other.
Thefat-rumpedand thebroad-tailed sheepare much more extensively diffused than any other, and occupy nearly all the south-eastern part of Europe, Western and Central Asia, and Northern Africa. They are supposed, from various passages in the Pentateuch in which “the fat and the rump” are spoken of in connection with offerings, to be the varieties which were propagated by the patriarchs and their descendants, the Jewish race. They certainly give indisputable evidence of remote and continued subjugation. Their long, pendent, drowsy ears, and the highly artificial posterior developments, are characteristic of no wild or recently domesticated race.
This breed consists of numerous sub-varieties, differing in all their characteristics of size, fleece, color, etc., with quite as many and marked shades of distinction as the modern European varieties. In Madagascar, they are covered with hair; in the south of Africa, with coarse wool; in the Levant, and along the Mediterranean, the wool is comparatively fine; and from that of the fat-rumped sheep of Thibet the exquisite Cashmere shawls of commerce are manufactured. Both rams and ewes are sometimes bred with horns, and sometimes without, and they exhibit a great diversity of color. Some yield a carcass of scarcely thirty pounds, while others have weighed two hundred pounds dressed. The tail or rump varies greatly, according to the purity and style of breeding; some are less than one-eighth, while others exceed one-third of the entiredressed weight. The fat of the rump or tail is esteemed a great delicacy; in hot climates resembling oil, and in colder, suet.
It is doubtful whether sheep are indigenous to Great Britain; but they are mentioned as existing there at very early periods.
In North America, there are none, strictly speaking, except the Rocky Mountain breed, already mentioned. The broad-tailed sheep of Asia and Africa were brought into the United States about seventy years ago, under the name of the Tunisian Mountain sheep, and bred with the native flocks. Some of them were subsequently distributed among the farmers of Pennsylvania, and their mixed descendants were highly prized as prolific, and good nurses, coming early to maturity, attaining large weight, of a superior quality of carcass, and yielding a heavy fleece of excellent wool. The principal objection made to them was the difficulty of propagation, which always required the assistance of the shepherd. The lambs were dropped white, red, tawny, bluish, or black; but all, excepting the black, grew white as they approached maturity, retaining some spots of the original color on the cheeks and legs, and sometimes having the entire head tawny or black. The few which descended from the original importations have become blended with American flocks, and have long ceased to be distinguishable from them. The common sheep of Holland were early imported by the Dutch emigrants, who originally colonized New York; but they, in like manner, have long since ceased to exist as a distinct variety.
Improved European breeds have been so largely introducedduring the present century, that the United States at present possesses every known breed which could be of particular benefit to its husbandry. By the census of 1860, there were nearly twenty-three and a half millions of sheep in this country, yielding upwards of sixty and a half million pounds of wool. An almost infinite variety of crosses have taken place between the Spanish, English, and “native” families; carried, indeed, to such an extent that there are, comparatively speaking, few flocks in the United States that preserve entire the distinctive characteristics of any one breed, or that can lay claim to unmixed purity of blood.
The principal breeds in the United States are the so-called “Natives;” the Spanish and Saxon Merinos, introduced from the countries whose names they bear: the New Leicester, or Bakewell; the South-Down; the Cotswold; the Cheviot; and the Lincoln—all from England.
This name is popularly applied to the common coarse-woolled sheep of the country, which existed here previously to the importation of the improved breeds. These were of foreign and mostly of English origin, and could probably claim a common descent from no one stock. The early settlers, emigrating from different sections of the British Empire, and a portion of them from other parts of Europe, brought with them, in all probability, each the favorite breed of his own immediate neighborhood, and the admixture of these formed the mongrel family now under consideration. Amid the perils of war and the incursions of beasts of prey, they were carefully preserved. Asearly as 1676, New England was spoken of as “abounding with sheep.”
These common sheep yielded a wool suitable only for the coarsest fabrics, averaging, in the hands of good farmers, from three to three and a half pounds of wool to the fleece. They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared with the improved English breeds, and yielded, when fully grown, from ten to fourteen pounds of a middling quality of mutton to the quarter. They were usually long-legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on the breast and back; although some rare instances might be found of flocks with the short legs, and some approximation to the general form of the improved breeds. They were excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely destitute of care, and without shelter, one hundred per cent. of lambs; and in small flocks, a still larger proportion. These, too, were usually dropped in March, or the earlier part of April. Restless in their disposition, their impatience of restraint almost equalled that of the untamed Argali, from which they were descended; and in many sections of the country it was common to see from twenty to fifty of them roving, with little regard to enclosures, over the possessions of their owner and his neighbors, leaving a large portion of their wool adhering to bushes and thorns, and the remainder placed nearly beyond the possibility of carding, by the tory-weed and burdock, so common on new lands.
To this general character of the native flocks, there was but one exception—a considerably numerous and probably accidental variety, known as theOtter breed, orCreepers. These were excessively duck-legged, with well-formed bodies, full chests, broad backs, yielding a close, heavy fleece, of medium qualityof wool. They were deserved favorites where indifferent stone or wood fences existed, since their power of locomotion was absolutely limited to their enclosures, if protected by a fence not less than two feet high. The quality of their mutton equalled, while their aptitude to fatten was decidedly superior to, their longer-legged contemporaries. The race is now quite extinct.
An excellent variety, called the Arlington sheep, was produced by General Washington, from a cross of a Persian ram upon the Bakewell, which bore wool fourteen inches in length, soft, silky, and admirably suited to combing. These, likewise, have long since become incorporated with the other flocks of the country.
The old common stock of sheep, as a distinct family, have nearly or quite disappeared, owing to universal crossing, to a greater or less extent, with the foreign breeds of later introduction. The first and second cross with the Merino resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a variety exceedingly valuable for the farmer who rears wool solely for domestic purposes. The fleeces are of uneven fineness, being hairy on the thighs, dew-lap, etc.; but the general quality is much improved, the quantity is considerably augmented, the carcass is more compact and nearer the ground, and they have lost their unquiet and roving propensities. The cross with the Saxon, for reasons hereafter to be given, has not generally been so successful. With the Leicester and Downs, the improvement, so far as form size, and a propensity to take on fat are concerned, is manifest.
A Merino RamA MERINO RAM.
A MERINO RAM.
The Spanish sheep, in different countries, has, either directly or indirectly, effected a complete revolution in the character of the fleece. The race is unquestionably one of the most ancient extant. The early writers on agriculture and the veterinary art describe various breeds of sheep as existing in Spain, of different colors—black, red, and tawny. The black sheep yielded a fine fleece, the finest of that color which was then known; but the red fleece of Bætica—a considerable part of the Spanish coast on the Mediterranean, comprising the modern Spanish provinces of Gaen, Cordova, Seville, Andalusia, and Granada, which was early colonized by the enterprising Greeks—was, according to Pliny, of still superior quality, and “had no fellow.”
These sheep were probably imported from Italy, and of the Tarentine breed, which had gradually spread from the coast of Syria, and of the Black Sea, and had then reached the western extremity of Europe. Many of them mingled with and improved the native breeds of Spain, while others continued to exist as a distinct race, and, meeting with a climate and anherbage suited to them, retained their original character and value, and were the progenitors of the Merinos of the present day. Columella, a colonist from Italy, and uncle of the writer of an excellent work on agriculture, introduced more of the Tarentine sheep into Bætica, where he resided in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, in the year 41, and otherwise improved on the native breed; for, struck with the beauty of some African rams which had been brought to Rome to be exhibited at the public games, he purchased them, and conveyed them to his farm in Spain, whence, probably, originated the better varieties of the long-woolled breeds of that country.
Before his time, however, Spain possessed a valuable breed; since Strabo, who flourished under Tiberius, speaking of the beautiful woollen cloths that were worn by the Romans, says that the wool was brought from Truditania, in Spain.
The limited region of Italy—overrun, as it repeatedly was, by hordes of barbarians during and after the times of the latest emperors—soon lost her pampered flocks; while the extended regions of Spain—intersected in every direction by almost impassable mountains—could maintain their more hardy race, in defiance of revolution or change.
To what extent the improvements which have been noticed were carried is unknown; but as Spain was at that time highly civilized, and as agriculture was the favorite pursuit of the greater part of the colonists that spread over the vast territory, which then acknowledged the Roman power, it is highly probable that Columella’s experiments laid the foundation for a general improvement in the Spanish sheep—an improvement, moreover, which was not lost, nor even materially impaired, during the darker ages that succeeded.
The Merino race possess inbred qualities to an extent surpassed by no others. They have been improved in the general weight and evenness of their fleece, as in the celebrated flock of Rambouillet; in the uniformity and excessive fineness of the fibre, as in the Saxons; and in their form and feeding qualities, in various countries; but there has never yet been deterioration, either in quantity or quality of fleece or carcass, wherever they have been transported, if supplied with suitable food and attention. Most sheep annually shed their wool if unclipped; while the Merino retains its fleece, sometimes for five years, when allowed to remain unshorn.
Conclusive evidence is thus afforded of continued breeding among themselves, by which the very constitution of the wool-producing organs beneath the skin have become permanently established; and this property is transmitted to a great extent, even among the crosses, thus marking the Merino as an ancient and peculiar race.
The remains of the ancient varieties of color, also, as noticed by Pliny, Solinus, and Columella, may still be discovered in the modern Merino. The plain and indeed the only reason that can be assigned for the union of black and gray faces with white bodies, in the same breed, is the frequent intermixture of black and white sheep, until the white prevails in the fleece, and the black is confined to the face and legs. It is still apt to break out occasionally in the individual, unless it is fixed and concentrated in the face and legs, by repeated crosses and a careful selection; and, on the contrary, in the Merino South-Down the black may be reduced by a few crosses to small spots about the legs, while the Merino hue overspreads the countenance. This hue—variously described as a velvet, abuff, a fawn, or a satin-colored countenance, but in which a red tinge not infrequently predominates, still indicates the original colors of the indigenous breeds of Spain; and the black wool, for which Spain was formerly so much distinguished, is still inclined to break out occasionally in the legs and ears of the Merino. In some flocks half the ear is invariably brown, and a coarse black hair is often discernible in the finest pile.
Spanish Sheep DogA SPANISH SHEEP DOG.
A SPANISH SHEEP DOG.
The conquest, in the eighth century, by the Moors of those fine provinces in the south of Spain, so far from checking, served rather to encourage the production of fine wool. The conquerors were not only enterprising, but highly skilled in the useful arts, and carried on extensive manufactories of fine woollen goods, which they exported to different countries. The luxury of the Moorish sovereigns has been the theme of many writers; and in the thirteenth century, when the woollen manufacture flourished in but few places, there were found in Seville no less than sixteen thousand looms. A century later, Barcelona, Perpignan, and Tortosa were celebrated for the fineness of their cloths, which became staple articles of trade throughout the greater part of Europe, as well as on the coast of Africa.
After the expulsion of the Moors, in the fifteenth century,by Ferdinand and Isabella, the woollen manufacture languished, and was, in a great degree, lost to Spain, owing to the rigorous banishment of nearly one million industrious Moors, most of whom were weavers. As a consequence, the sixteen thousand looms of Seville dwindled down to sixty. The Spanish government perceived its fatal mistake too late, and subsequent efforts to gain its lost vantage-ground in respect to this manufacture proved fruitless. During all that time, however, the Spanish sheep appear to have withstood the baneful influence of almost total neglect; and although the Merino flocks and Merino wool have improved under the more careful management of other countries, the world is originally indebted to Spain for the most valuable material in the manufacture of cloth.
The perpetuation of the Merino sheep in all its purity, amid the convulsions which changed the entire political framework of Spain and destroyed every other national improvement, strikingly illustrates the primary determining power of blood or breeding, as well as the agency of soil and climate—possibly too much underrated in modern times.
These Spanish sheep are divided into two classes: thestationary, or those that remain during the whole of the year on a certain farm, or in a certain district, there being a sufficient provision for them in winter and in summer; and themigratory, or those which wander some hundreds of miles twice in the year, in quest of pasturage. The principal breed of stationary sheep consists of true Merinos; but the breeds most sought for, and with which so many countries have been enriched, are the Merinos of the migratory description, which pass the summer in the mountains of the north, and the winter on the plains toward the south of Spain.
The first impression made by the Merino sheep on one unacquainted with its value would be unfavorable. The wool lying closer and thicker over the body than in most other breeds, and being abundant in yolk—or a peculiar secretion from the glands of the skin, which nourishes the wool and causes it to mat closely together—is covered with a dirty crust, often full of cracks. The legs are long, yet small in the bone; the breast and the back are narrow, and the sides somewhat flat; the fore-shoulders and bosoms are heavy, and too much of their weight is carried on the coarser parts. The horns of the male are comparatively large, curved, and with more or less of a spiral form; the head is large, but the forehead rather low. A few of the females are horned; but, generally speaking, they are without horns. Both male and female have a peculiar coarse and unsightly growth of hair on the forehead and cheeks, which the careful shepherd cuts away before the shearing-time; the other part of the face has a pleasing and characteristic velvet appearance. Under the throat there is a singular looseness of skin, which gives them a remarkable appearance of throatiness, or hollowness in the neck. The pile or hair, when pressed upon, is hard and unyielding, owing to the thickness into which it grows on the pelf, and the abundance of the yolk, retaining all the dirt and gravel which falls upon it; but, upon examination, the fibre exceeds, in fineness and in the number of serrations and curves, that which any other sheep in the world produces. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is eight pounds from the ram, and five from the ewe. The staple differs in length in different provinces. When fatted, these sheep will weigh from twelve to sixteen pounds per quarter.
The excellence of the Merinos consist in the unexampled fineness and felting property of their wool, and in the weight of it yielded by each individual sheep; the closeness of that wool, and the luxuriance of the yolk, which enable them to support extremes of cold and wet quite as well as any other breed; the readiness with which they adapt themselves to every change of climate, retaining, with common care, all their fineness of wool, and thriving under a burning tropical sun, and in the frozen regions of the north; an appetite which renders them apparently satisfied with the coarsest food; a quietness and patience into whatever pasture they are turned; and a gentleness and tractableness not excelled in any other breed.
Their defects—partly attributable to the breed, but more to the improper mode of treatment to which they are occasionally subjected—are, their unthrifty and unprofitable form; a tendency to abortion, or barrenness; a difficulty of yeaning, or giving birth to their young; a paucity of milk; and a too frequent neglect of their lambs. They are likewise said, notwithstanding the fineness of their wool, and the beautiful red color of the skin when the fleece is parted, to be more subject to cutaneous affections than most other breeds. Man, however, is far more responsible for this than Nature. Every thing was sacrificed in Spain to fineness and quantity of wool. These were supposed to be connected with equality of temperature, or, at least, with freedom from exposure to cold; and, therefore, twice in the year, a journey of four hundred miles was undertaken, at the rate of eighty or a hundred miles per week—the spring journey commencing when the lambs were scarcely four months old. It is difficult to say in what way the wool of themigratory sheep was, or could be, benefited by these periodical journeys. Although among them is found the finest and most valuable wool in Spain, yet the stationary sheep, in certain provinces—Segovia, Leon, and Estremadura—are more valuable than the migratory flocks of others. Moreover, the fleece of some of the German Merinos—which do not travel at all, and are housed all the winter—greatly exceeds that obtained from the best migratory breed—the Leonese—in fineness and felting property; and the wool of the migratory sheep has been, comparatively speaking, driven out of the market by that from sheep which never travel. With respect to the carcass, these harassing journeys, occupying one-quarter of the year, tend to destroy all possibility of fattening, or any tendency toward it, and the form and the constitution of the flock are deteriorated, and the lives of many sacrificed.
The first importation of Merinos into the United States took place in 1801; a banker of Paris, Mr. Delessert, having shipped four, of which but one arrived in safety at his farm near Kingston, in New York; the others perished on the passage. The same year, Mr. Seth Adams, of Massachusetts, imported a pair from France. In 1802, Chancellor Livingston, then American Minister at the court of Versailles, sent two choice pairs from the Rambouillet flock—which was started, in 1786, by placing four hundred ewes and rams, selected from the choicest Spanish flocks, on the royal farm of that name, in France—to Claremont, his country-seat, on the Hudson river. In the latter part of the same year, Colonel Humphreys, American Minister to Spain, shipped two hundred, on his departure from that country. The largest importations, however, were made through Hon. William Jarvis, of Vermont,then American Consul at Lisbon, Portugal, in 1809, 1810, and 1811, who succeeded in obtaining the choicest sheep of that country. Various subsequent importations took place, which need not be particularized.
The cessation of all commercial intercourse with England, in 1808 and 1809, growing out of difficulties with that country, directed attention, in an especial manner, toward manufacturing and wool-growing. The Merino, consequently, rose into importance, and so great was the interest aroused, that from a thousand to fourteen hundred dollars a head was paid for them. Some of the later importations, unfortunately, arrived in the worst condition, bringing with them those scourges of the sheep family, the scab and the foot-rot; which evils, together with increased supply, soon brought them down to less than a twentieth part of their former price. When, however, it was established, by actual experiment, that their wool did not deteriorate in this country, as had been feared by many, and that they became readily acclimated, they again rose into favor. The prostration of the manufacturing interests of the country, which ensued soon afterwards, rendered the Merino of comparatively little value, and ruined many who had purchased them at their previous high prices. Since that period, the valuation of the sheep which bear the particular wool has, as a matter of course, kept pace with the fluctuations in the price of the wool.
The term Merino, it must be remembered, is but the general appellation of a breed, comprising several varieties, presenting essential points of difference in size, form, quality and quantity of wool. These families have generally been merged, by interbreeding, in the United States and other countries which havereceived the race from Spain. Purity ofMerinoblood, and actual excellence in the individual and its ancestors, form the only standard in selecting sheep of this breed. Families have, indeed, sprung up in this country, exhibiting wider points of difference than did those of Spain. This is owing, in some cases, doubtless, to particular causes of breeding; but more often, probably, to concealed or forgotten infusions of other blood. The question, which has been at times raised, whether there are any Merinos in the United States, descendants of the early importations, of unquestionable purity of blood, has been conclusively settled in the affirmative.
The minor distinctions among the various families into which, as has already been intimated, the American Merino has diverged, are numerous, but may all, perhaps, be classed under three general heads.
Thefirstis a large, short-legged, strong, exceedingly hardy sheep, carrying a heavy fleece, ranging from medium to fine, free from hair in properly bred flocks; somewhat inclined to throatiness, but not so much so as the Rambouillets; bred to exhibit external concrete gum in some flocks, but not commonly so; their wool rather long on back and belly, and exceedingly dense; wool whiter within than the Rambouillets; skin the same rich rose-color. Sheep of this class are larger and stronger than those originally imported, carry much heavier fleeces, and in well-selected flocks, or individuals, the fleece is of a decidedly better quality.
Thesecondclass embraces smaller animals than the preceding; less hardy; wool, as a general thing, finer, and covered with a black, pitchy gum on its extremities; fleece about one-fourth lighter than in the former class.
Out at pastureOUT AT PASTURE.
OUT AT PASTURE.
Thethirdclass, bred at the South, mostly, includes animals still smaller and less hardy, and carrying still finer and lighter fleeces. The fleece is destitute of external gum. The sheep and wool have a close resemblance to the Saxon; and, if not actually mixed with that blood, they have been formed into a similar variety, by a similar course of breeding.
The mutton of the Merino, notwithstanding the prejudices existing on the subject, is short-grained, and of good flavor, when killed at a proper age, and weighs from ten to fourteen pounds to the quarter. It is remarkable for its longevity, retaining its teeth, and continuing to breed two or three years longer than the common sheep, and at least half a dozen years longer than the improved English breeds. It should, however, be remarked, in this connection, that it is correspondingly slow in arriving at maturity, as it does not attain its full growth before three years of age; and the ewes, in the best managed flocks, are rarely permitted to breed before they reach that age.
The Merino is a far better breeder than any other fine-woolled sheep, and its lambs, when newly dropped, are claimed to be hardier than the Bakewell, and equally so with the high-bred South-Down. The ewe, as has been intimated, is not so good a nurse, and will not usually do full justice to more than one lamb. Eighty or ninety per cent. is about the ordinary number of lambs reared, though it often reaches one hundred per cent., in carefully managed or small flocks.
Allusion has heretofore been made to the cross between the Merino and the native sheep. On the introduction of the Saxon family of the Merinos, they were universally engrafted on the parent stock, and the cross was continued until the Spanish blood was nearly bred out. When the admixture took place with judiciously selected Saxons, the results were not unfavorable for certain purposes. These instances of judicious crossing were, unfortunately, rare. Fineness of wool was made the only tests of excellence, no matter how scanty its quantity, or how diminutive or miserable the carcass. The consequence was, as might be supposed, the ruin of most of the Merino flocks.
The indigenous breed of sheep in Saxony resembled that of the neighboring states, and consisted of two distinct Varieties—one bearing a wool of some value, and the other yielding a fleece applicable only to the coarsest manufactures.
At the close of the seven years war, Augustus Frederic, the Elector of Saxony, imported one hundred rams and two hundred ewes from the most improved Spanish flocks, and placed a part of them on one of his own farms, in theneighborhood of Dresden, which he kept unmixed, as he desired to ascertain how far the pure Spanish breed could be naturalized in that country The other part of the flock was distributed on other farms, and devoted to the improvement of the Saxon sheep.
It was soon sufficiently apparent that the Merinos did not degenerate in Saxony. Many parcels of their wool were not inferior to the choicest Leonese fleeces. The best breed of the native Saxons was also materially improved: The majority of the shepherds were, however, obstinately prejudiced against the innovation; but the elector, resolutely bent upon accomplishing his object, imported an additional number, and compelled the crown-tenants, then occupying lands under him, to purchase a certain number of the sheep.
Compulsion was not long necessary; the true interest of the shepherds was discovered; pure Merinos rapidly increased in Saxony, and became perfectly naturalized. Indeed, after a considerable lapse of years, the fleece of the Saxon sheep began, not only to equal the Spanish, but to exceed it in fineness and manufacturing value. To this result the government very materially contributed, by the establishment of an agricultural school, and other minor schools for shepherds, and by distributing various publications, which plainly and intelligibly showed the value and proper management of the Merino. The breeders were selected with almost exclusive reference to the quality of the fleece. Great care was taken to prevent exposure throughout the year, and they were housed on every slight emergency. By this course of breeding and treatment the size and weight of the fleece were reduced, and that hardiness and vigor of constitution, which had universallycharacterized the migratory Spanish breed, were partially impaired. In numerous instances, this management resulted in permanent injury to the character of the flocks.
The first importation of Saxons into this country was made in 1823, by Samuel Heustan, a merchant of Boston, Massachusetts, and consisted of four good rams, of which two went to Boston, and the others to Philadelphia. The following year, seventy-seven—about two-thirds of which number only were pure-blooded—were brought to Boston, sold at public auction at Brooklyn, N.Y., as “pure-blooded electoral Saxons,” and thus scattered over the country. Another lot, composed of grade sheep and pure-bloods, was disposed of, not long afterwards, by public sale, at Brighton, near Boston, and brought increased prices, some of them realizing from four hundred to five hundred and fifty dollars.
These prices gave rise to speculation, and many animals, of a decidedly inferior grade, were imported, which were thrown upon the market for the most they could command. The sales in many instances not half covering the cost of importation, the speculation was soon abandoned. In 1827, Henry D. Grove, of Hoosic, N.Y., a native of Germany, and a highly intelligent and thoroughly bred shepherd, who had accompanied some of the early importations, imported one hundred and fifteen choice animals for his own breeding, and, in the following year, eighty more. These formed the flock from which Mr. Grove bred, to the time of his decease, in 1844. The average weight of fleece from his entire flock, nearly all of which were ewes and lambs, was ten pounds and fourteen ounces, thoroughly washed on the sheep’s back. This was realized after a short summer and winter’s keep, when thequantity of hay or its equivalent fed to the sheep did not exceed one and a half pounds, by actual weight, per day, except to the ewes, which received an additional quantity just before and after lambing. This treatment was attended with no disease or loss by death, and with an increase of lambs, equalling one for every ewe.
The Saxon Merino differs materially in frame from the Spanish; there is more roundness of carcass and fineness of bone, together with a general form and appearance indicative of a disposition to fatten. Two distinct breeds are noticed. One variety has stouter legs, stouter bodies, head and neck comparatively short and broad, and body round; the wool grows most on the face and legs; the grease in the wool is almost pitchy. The other breed, called Escurial, has longer legs, with a long, spare neck and head; very little wool on the latter; and a finer, shorter, and softer character in its fleece, but less in quantity.
From what has just been stated it will be seen that there are few Saxon flocks in the United States that have not been reduced to the quality of grade sheep, by the promiscuous admixture of the pure and the impure which were imported together; all of them being sold to our breeders as pure stock. Besides, there are very few flocks which have not been again crossed with the Native or the Merino sheep of our country, or with both. Those who early purchased the Merino crossed them with the Native; and when the Saxons arrived those mongrels were bred to Saxon rams. This is the history of three-quarters, probably, of the Saxon flocks of the United States.
As these sheep have now so long been bred toward theSaxon that their wool equals that of the pure-bloods, it may well be questioned whether they are any worse for the admixture; when crossed only with the Merino, it is, undoubtedly, to their advantage. The American Saxon, with these early crosses in its pedigree, is, by general admission, a hardier and more easily kept animal than the pure Escurial or Electoral Saxon. Climate, feed, and other causes have, doubtless, conspired, as in the case of the Merino, to add to their size and vigor; but, after every necessary allowance has been made, they generally owe these qualities to those early crosses.
The fleeces of the American Saxons weigh, on the average, from two or two and a quarter to three pounds. They are, comparatively speaking, a tender sheep, requiring regular supplies of good food, good shelter in winter, and protection in cool weather from storms of all kinds; but they are evidently hardier than the parent German stock. In docility and patience under confinement, in late maturity and longevity, they resemble the Merinos, from which they are descended; though they do not mature so early as the Merino, nor do they ordinarily live so long. They are poorer nurses; their lambs are smaller, fatter, and far more likely to perish, unless sheltered and carefully watched; they do not fatten so well, and, being considerably lighter, they consume an amount of food considerably less.
Taken together, the American Saxons bear a much finer wool than the American Merinos; though this is not always the case, and many breeders of Saxons cross with the Merino, for the purpose of increasing the weight of their fleeces without deteriorating its quality. Our Saxon wool, as a whole, falls considerably below that of Germany; though individualspecimens from Saxons in Connecticut and Ohio compare well with the highest German grades. This inferiority is not attributable to climate or other natural causes, or to a want of skill on the part of our breeders; but to the fact that but a very few of our manufacturers have ever felt willing to make that discrimination in prices which would render it profitable to breed those small and delicate animals which produce this exquisite quality of wool.
The unimproved Leicester was a large, heavy, coarse-woolled breed of sheep, inhabiting the midland counties of England. It was a slow feeder, its flesh coarse-grained, and with little flavor. The breeders of that period regarded only size and weight of fleece.
Country SceneA COUNTRY SCENE.
A COUNTRY SCENE.
About the middle of the last century, Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, first applied himself to the improvement of the sheep in that country. Before his improvements, aptitude to fatten and symmetry of shape—that is, such shape as should increase as much as possible the most valuable partsof the animal, and diminish the offal in the same proportion—were entirely disregarded. Perceiving that smaller animals increased in weight more rapidly than the very large ones, that they consumed less food, that the same quantity of herbage, applied to feeding a large number of small sheep, would produce more meat than when applied to feeding the smaller number of large sheep, which alone it would support, and that sheep carrying a heavy fleece of wool possessed less propensity to fatten than those which carried one of a more moderate weight, he selected from the different flocks in his neighborhood, without regard to size, the sheep which appeared to him to have the greatest propensity to fatten, and whose shape possessed the peculiarities which, in his judgment, would produce the largest proportion of valuable meat, and the smallest quantity of bone and offal.
He was also of opinion that the first object to be attended to in breeding sheep is the value of the carcass, and that the fleece ought always to be a secondary consideration; and this for the obvious reason that, while the addition of two or three pounds of wool to the weight of a sheep’s fleece is a difference of great amount, yet if this increase is obtained at the expense of the animal’s propensity to fatten, the farmer may lose by it ten or twelve pounds of mutton.
The sort of sheep, therefore, which he selected were those possessed of the most perfect symmetry, with the greatest aptitude to fatten, and rather smaller in size than the sheep generally bred at that time. Having formed his stock from sheep so selected, he carefully attended to the peculiarities of the individuals from which he bred, and, so far as can be ascertained—for all of Mr. Bakewell’s measures were kept secret,even from his most intimate friends, and he died without throwing, voluntarily, the least light on the subject—did not object to breeding from near relations, when, by so doing, he brought together animals likely to produce a progeny possessing the characteristics which he wished to obtain.
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 hundredand 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 coarser 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 coarse, and comparatively deficient in flavor, owing to that unnatural state of fatness which it so readily assumes, 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 coarse 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 becameshy 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 classes, 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 class 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 suitAmerican taste. Its wool is not very salable, owing to the dearth of worsted manufactures in our country. Its early decay and loss of wool constitute 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 carcass 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 quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer.
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 Sussex 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 space 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, passing 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.