BREEDING, REARING, &C. OF SHEEP. and in a very short time he will imitate them and begin to pull. It may then be as well to let some one mount him, even if he should not be intended to be commonly ridden, as it will render him the more docile; but this had better be done while he is in the team, as the other horses will prevent him from plunging. Let no violence be used; for such is his power of observation, that while he will readily learn every thing that he is taught, he will also recollect many things that might be wished for gotten; thus, if flogged for starting at any particular object, he will only start the more on meeting it again, for he will remember the chastisement it occasioned; and if hurt in shoeing, or on any other occasion, he will never forget the pain it occasioned, and will never suffer a repetition of the same without impatience. Castration is commonly performed when the colt is twelve or eighteen months old: some defer it longer, thinking that the later the operation is performed, the more strength and spirit he will have acquired; but it is attended with great danger at that period; and it is much to be doubted whether it may not even be prejudicial to his temper. It is, besides, to be observed, that the severity of the operation occasions a check to his growth, which is more felt and of more consequence at an advanced period, than when he is quite young. It is also worthy of consideration, in a pecuniary view, that the older the animal is, the greater will be the loss, in case he should die; and therefore perhaps the most prudent time will be, during the summer the foal is sucking. Fears are sometimes entertained of performing the operation in hot weather, lest inflammation take place; but extreme heat may be avoided, and there is even less danger from that than from cold, and the exercise of running with the mare will promote the suppuration, which will also be assisted by the warmth of her milk. At a more advanced age the colt should be guarded from wet, and not allowed to drink cold water till the suppuration is complete. SECTION IV. OF THE BREEDING, REARING, AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. Among the various animals given by the benevolent hand of Providence for the benefit of mankind, there is none, perhaps, of greater utility than the sheep; which not only supplies us with food and clothing, but also affords constant employment to numerous indigent families, in the various branches of the woollen manufacture; and thus contributes, in no small proportion, to the productive labor, and commercial prosperity and opulence of a people. In a wild, or natural state, the sheep is a vigorous animal, lively, and capable of supporting fatigue; when domesticated, indeed, it loses these properties, but amply compensates for the absence of them, by the superior advantages arising from the rearing of this sort of cattle. In fact, sheep constitute a material part of a farmer's live stock and profits; and as particular attention has of late years been bestowed on the im BREEDING, REARING, &C. OF SHEEP. provement of the respective breeds, we shall first present the reader with an introductory view of them: which will, we trust, convey an adequate idea of the principal varieties, together with their specific characters, and the peculiar advantages they respectively possess. The general management of these animals will afterwards form a subject of discussion. The sheep is an inhabitant of every part of the globe, from Iceland to the regions of the torrid zone. According to Linnæus, they are the hornless, horned, black-faced, Spanish, many horned, African, Guinea, broad-tailed, fat-rumped, Bucharian, long-tailed, Cape, bearded, and morvant; to which some add the Siberian sheep, cultivated in Asia, Barbary, and Corsica, and the Cretan sheep, which inhabits the Grecian islands, Hungary, and Austria. The principal countries in which special attention has been paid to sheep, are Spain, parts of Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States. The present article will relate principally to the different breeds of sheep raised in Great Britain, as these embrace the principal varieties to be found in the countries already alluded to. The following synopsis will give the reader not only a knowledge of the different breeds of sheep in Great Britain, but many interesting particulars concerning them. 1 LINTON, SHORT, OR FOREST SHEEP. I. The HEATH, LINTON, SHORT, or FOREST SHEEP depicted above, are names indiscrmiinately given to the several varieties of the same breed, which is found in the north-western counties of England, and thence forward to the western highlands of Scotland. The specific characters of this race are, large spiral horns; faces black or mottled, and legs black; eyes wild and fierce; carcass short and firm; wool long, open, coarse and shaggy; fleece averaging about three pounds and a half, at four years and a half. They are of a hardy constitution, admirably calculated for elevated, heathy, and exposed districts; and, judging from this aptitude to support the hardships of constant exposure in a wild pasturage country, as well as from the form of the horns, which is characteristic of the animal in its unimproved state, it may be not improbably inferred, that they are directly descended from the parent stock of the kingdom. The true black faced breed is said to be distinguished by a lock of white wool on the forehead, termed the snow lock. The other horned breeds of English sheep are, M. The EXMOOR and the DARTMOOR, which derive their names from the districts in the northern and western parts of Devonshire, where they are chiefly found. They are long woolled, with white legs and faces, and are delicately formed about the head and neck; they make very finely flavored mutton; and arrive, when fatted, , at two and a half to three years old, to fourteen and sixteen pounds weight per quarter. III. The NORFOLK BREED is indigenous in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The horns are large and spiral; bodies long; loins narrow, with a high back and thin chine; the legs long, black or gray; of a roving, wild disposition, and not easily confined within any but strong inclosures. The wool is short, weighing about two pounds per fleece, and the flesh is well flavored, and of a fine grain, but only fit for consumption in cold weather. IV. The WILTSHIRE BREED, are distinguished by large spiral horns, bending downwards, close to the head, they are perfectly white in their faces and legs; have long Roman noses; with large open nostrils; are wide and heavy in their hind quarters; and light in the fore quarter and offal, but with little or no wool on their bellies. The quality of the fleece is that of clothing wool of moderate fineness, averaging about two LEICESTER SHEEP. pounds and a half in weight; and the carcasses of the wethers when fat, usually weigh from 65 lbs. to 100 lbs.; the mutton good; they sometimes however, reach much higher, and may be considered as our largest breed of fine woolled sheep. V. The DORSET BREED have small horns, with white faces and legs; their wool is of an intermediate kind, between long and short, and of middling fineness, weighing from three and a half to five pounds per fleece; and the carcass averaging eighteen pounds per quarter, of excellent mutton. They are a hardy race, being chiefly bred on open downs, and inured to the fold; but their principal value consists in the peculiar forwardness of the ewes, which take the ram at a much earlier period than any other species, and are therefore much sought for, and command high prices for the purpose of producing house-lamb for winter consumption. The polled sheep may be divided into two classes-the long, and the short woolled-the peculiar merits of which have for many years formed a subject of discussion among agriculturists. Each has valuable properties, and efforts have been made to blend them by crosses, but without complete success; nature seems to have intended them for different soils, and the short woolled breeds, which thrive upon the bleakest hills, degenerate when removed into rich pastures, which are alone capable of maintaining the long woolled species. VI. The Leicester sheep take the lead among the long woolled kind; and of these there are three nearly distinct species:-1. The forest sheep; 2. The Old Leicester; 3. The New Leicester or Dishley breedportrayed above-which are an improved kind of the latter species. Their forms are handsome; color white. Their heads are clean, and small, their necks short, and their breasts full; their bodies are round, with broad, straight backs, but the bellies rather light, or tucked up; their legs and the whole bone are fine and particularly small in proportion to their size; their pelts thin, and the wool long, and fine of its kind, generally averaging seven pounds to the fleece. They are of a quiet disposition, fatten early and kindly, and are capable of being brought to a great weight, on a smaller proportion of food than other breeds of the |