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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38189-8.txt b/38189-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae82bce --- /dev/null +++ b/38189-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7344 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Treatise on Sheep:, by Ambrose Blacklock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Sheep: + The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, + and the Treatment of their Diseases. + +Author: Ambrose Blacklock + +Release Date: December 2, 2011 [EBook #38189] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +A TREATISE ON SHEEP: + +THE BEST MEANS FOR + +THEIR IMPROVEMENT, GENERAL MANAGEMENT, AND THE +TREATMENT OF THEIR DISEASES, + +WITH + +A CHAPTER ON WOOL, AND HISTORY OF THE WOOL TRADE; + +AND THE + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. + + + +BY AMBROSE BLACKLOCK. + + +[Illustration: Sheep have golden feet, and wherever the print of them +appears, the soil is turned into gold.--SWEDISH PROVERB.] + + +Twelfth Edition. + +LONDON: +GROOMBRIDGE & SONS, 5, PATERNOSTER ROW. +1853. + +Printed by C. and J. Adlard, Bartholomew Close + + + + + TO + SIR C. G. STUART MENTEATH, + OF CLOSEBURN, HART., + VICE-LIEUTENANT OF DUMFRIES-SHIRE, &c. &c. &c + WHOSE INTEGRITY AND URBANITY + HAVE ENDEARED HIM TO SOCIETY; + AND + WHOSE ZEAL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL, + AND FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER, + HAVE RAISED HIM, BY COMMON CONSENT, + TO THE FIRST RANK + AS AN AGRICULTURIST, AND AS A LANDLORD; + THIS TREATISE ON SHEEP + IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, + BY HIS VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, + THE AUTHOR. + +[Illustration: PLATE I] + +[Illustration: PLATE II] + +[Illustration: PLATE III] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV] + +[Illustration: PLATE V] + +[Illustration: PLATE VI] + +[Illustration: PLATE VII] + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The truth of the Greek proverb, that "_a great book is a great evil_," +is no where more apparent than in the construction of works on +agricultural concerns. Those who have attended to the subject well +know, that the profitable management of live-stock is by far the most +difficult branch of farming, as it is here that improvement is +peculiarly tardy; and from this we might infer that authors would +endeavour so to arrange and simplify their treatises as to enable +every one to obtain the bearings of the study at the smallest possible +expense and trouble. Such, however, is not the case. Many would appear +to have done their best so to dilute and mystify the little which is +known about the matter, that it is nearly impossible for any one, not +gifted with more than ordinary power of application, to arrive at any +thing like just conclusions. To avoid this error has been my object in +the following pages. Such points only as are of real importance have +been noticed; every thing having been rejected which could not admit +of a practical application. For this reason, also, I have omitted all +allusion to foreign _varieties_ of the sheep, an account of which is, +in some similar works, made to occupy so large a space. The general +laws by which animal bodies are governed, and the changes to which +they are rendered liable by their subserviency to man, are here--and +for the first time as regards the sheep--gone into at considerable +length. Too little value is in general attached to such inquiries; +though, when endeavouring to improve a domesticated race, we must be +perfectly aware, that without this species of knowledge we are like a +ship at sea without the guiding aids of the rudder and the compass, +and liable to be carried in the right or in the wrong direction only +as chance directs. + +In conclusion, I need make no apology for any defects that may appear +in this little work, having done my best to make it useful to the +farmer. + +CASTLE STREET, DUMFRIES, + +_July, 1838_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PREFACE iii + +References to the Plates xi + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. + +(1) Origin of the Sheep;--(2) The Argali of Siberia and Mouflon +of Sardinia;--(3) The Mouflon of America;--(4) The Mouflon of +Africa;--(5) British Breeds;--(6) The Lincolnshire;--(7) The +Teeswater;--(8) The Dishley or New Leicester;--(9) The Devonshire +Nots;--(10) The Dorsetshire Sheep;--(11) Herefordshire or Ryeland +Sheep;--(12) The South Down;--(13) The Cheviot Sheep;--(14) Mugg +Sheep;--(15) The Black-faced or Heath Sheep;--(16) The Merino;-- +(17) Teeth of Sheep;--(18) Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat; +--(19) Horns of Sheep;--(20) Structure of the Stomach;--(21) +Digestion;--(22) Period of Conception;--(23) Names applied to +Sheep 1 + +CHAPTER II. + +WOOL. + +(24) Wool-bearing Animals;--(25) Structure of the Skin;--(26) +Sebaceous follicles;--(27) Connexion of the Hair with the +Skin--Yolk;--(28) Periodical decidence of Wool;--(29) Falling off +of Wool prevented by Clipping;--(30) Form of Woolly Fibre;--(31) +Structure and Properties of Hair and Wool;--(32) Particular soils +injurious to Wool;--(33) Felting;--(34) Different kinds of +Wool;--(35) Alterations caused by _Crossing_;--(36) Bratting +prejudicial to Wool 16 + +CHAPTER III. + +BRITISH WOOL TRADE. + +(37) Origin of the Wool Trade;--(38) Invention of Weaving;--(39) +Early progress of the Wool Trade;--(40) Introduction of Weaving into +Britain;--(41) Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture;--(42) +Weavers brought by Edward III. from Flanders;--(43) Regulations +regarding _Staples_;--(44) Rapid advance of the Wool Trade in +the 14th century;--(45) Subsidies raised by Edward III.;--(46) +Progress of the Wool Trade during the reigns of Henry VII., Henry +VIII., and Edward VI.;--(47) Encouragement given by Elizabeth +to the Trade;--(48) Woollen Cloth monopolized by the Merchant +Adventurers;--(49) Consumption of Wool in England increased;-- +(50) Severity of the Prohibitory Enactments relating to Wool +reprobated;--(51) Emigration of English families to Holland, and +Prosperity of the Dutch Manufactures;--(52) Fluctuating state of +the Trade between 1635 and 1698;--(53) King William discourages +the Irish manufactures;--(54) Statistics of the British Wool +Trade in 1699;--(55) British Woollen Manufacturers rivalled by +the Swedes;--(56) Regulations relating to Wool from 1740 to 1742; +--(57) Impulse given to the Trade by the improvements in Machinery; +--(57) Commencement of the 19th century; Duty imposed on imported +Wool;--(59) Restrictions on Foreign Wool removed; increase in +Manufacturing prosperity;--(60) Countries from which we derive our +Wool;--(61) Statistics of the Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830;--(62) +Do. in 1832 28 + +CHAPTER IV. + +IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. + +(63) Introductory remarks;--(64) Early Improvers of the Sheep;--(65) +Modern Breeders and Improvements;--(66) Varieties among Animals, how +induced;--(67) Varieties induced by temperature;--(68) Adaptation of +the Sheep to climate;--(69) Changes produced by climate;--(70) +Temperature preferred by Sheep;--(71) Extent of the alterations +produced by climate;--(72) Increase in the number of the Horns;--(73) +Causes of the various forms of the Horn;--(74) The proper temperature +required for Sheep;--(75) Geographical limits of the Sheep;--(76) +Particular forms induced by geographical limit;--(77) Influence of +vegetation on form and disposition;--(78) Breeds required for +Britain--(79) Varied nature of the food of Sheep;--(80) Influence of +food on the quality of Mutton;--(81) Differences in the quality of +Mutton;--(82) Abuses in Feeding;--(83) Tendency to acquire Fat;--(84) +Frequent change of Pasture necessary;--(85) Varieties induced by +apparently trivial causes;--(86) Varieties from mode of Breeding; +--(87) Breeding _in_ and _in_;--(88) Opponents of _in_ and _in_ +Breeding;--(89) Breeding from different families of the same +race;--(90) Crossing;--(91) Things to be attended to in Crossing; +--(92) Choice of Parents;--(93) Influence of Sex;--(94) Method of +obtaining a greater number of one Sex, at the option of the +Proprietor 67 + +CHAPTER V. + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. + +(95) Introductory remarks;--(96) Putting Tups to Ewes;--(97) Early +Lambs;--(98) Lambing-time;--(99) Washing;--(100) Shearing;--(101) +Weaning;--(102) Smearing;--(103) Fatting 128 + +CHAPTER VI. + +ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS. + +(104) Introductory observations;--(105) Wounds;--(106) Stoppage +of Bleeding;--(107) Removal of Extraneous Matter from Wounds;-- +(108) Closure of Wounds;--(109) Bandaging;--(110) After-treatment +of Clean Cuts;--(111) After-treatment of Punctures;--(112) Bruises +and Sprains;--(113) Wounds of Joints;--(114) Poisoned Wounds;-- +(115) Fractures;--(116) Cutting Lambs;--(117) Blood-letting;-- +(118) Removal of Hydatids from the Head 148 + +CHAPTER VII. + +DISEASES OF SHEEP. + +(119) Introductory remarks;--(120) Cautions in Prescribing;--(121) +Classification of Diseases;--(122) Blown or Blast;--(123) Treatment +of Blown;--(124) Braxy or Sickness;--(125) Symptoms of Braxy;--(126) +Appearances on Dissection;--(127) Causes of Braxy;--(128) Treatment +of Braxy;--(129) Prevention of Braxy;--(130) Pining. Symptoms and +Causes;--(131) Treatment and Prevention of Pining;--(132) Staggers; +--(133) Diarrhoea;--(134) Treatment of Diarrhoea;--(135) Dysentery +or Cling. Symptoms;--(136) Causes of Dysentery;--(137) Treatment +of Dysentery;--(138) Prevention of Dysentery;--(139) Scab or Itch. +Symptoms and Causes;--(140) Treatment of Itch;--(141) Prevention +of Itch;--(142) Erysipelas or Wild-fire;--(143) Red-water;--(144) +Leg-evil. Symptoms and Causes;--(145) Treatment of Leg-evil;--(146) +Prevention of Leg-evil;--(147) The Fly and Maggot;--(148) Treatment +of Fly-blown Sheep, and Prevention of attacks from the Fly;--(149) +The Sheep-Fag or Ked, and the Tick;--(150) The OEstrus bovis;--(151) +Sore Teats;--(152) Foot-rot;--(153) Causes of Foot-rot;--(154) +Treatment and Prevention of Foot-rot;--(155) Insects in the Air +Passages;--(156) Removal of Insects from the Nostril;--(157) Coryza; +--(158) Treatment of Coryza;--(159) Rot. Introductory remarks;-- +(160) Symptoms of Rot;--(161) Appearances on Dissection;--(162) +The Liver-fluke;--(163) The Hydatid;--(164) Causes of Rot;--(165) +Treatment of Rot;--(166) Prevention of Rot;--(167) Jaundice;--(168) +Dropsy;--(169) Sturdy;--(170) Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy; +--(171) Trembling;--(172) Treatment of Trembling;--(173) Inflamed +Eyes;--(174) Soft cancer of the Eye 161 + + + + +REFERENCES TO THE PLATES + + +PLATE I. + +_Fig._ 1. The Mouflon of Sardinia. + +_Fig._ 2. and 3. _p._ The first stomach or paunch; _b._ the second +stomach, bonnet, king's-hood, or honey-comb; _o._ the third stomach, +or omasum; _a._ the fourth stomach, or abomasum; _g._ the gullet; +_py._ the pylorus. + +_Fig._ 4. Section of a sheep's toe; _g._ _g._ the gland secreting the +hoof; _c._ _c._ the crust; _s._ the sole. + +_Fig._ 5. View of the interdigital gland; _g._ the gland; _d._ the +duct leading from it. + +_Fig._ 6. The fluke-worm; _a._ the mouth; _b._ the reproductive +apparatus; _c._ _c._ vessels for the distribution of the blood. + +PLATE II. + +_Fig._ 1. Dorsetshire Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. South Down Ram. + +The figures in this plate are borrowed from the beautiful cuts in the +work on _Sheep_, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge. + +PLATE III. + +_Fig._ 1. New Leicester Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. Cheviot Ram. The portrait of a very superior animal, in the +possession of my friend Mr Laurie of Terregles town. + +Premiums were awarded to Mr Laurie for both of these sheep at the last +meeting of the Highland Society in Dumfries. + +_Fig._ 3. View of the veins of the face and neck; _f.v._ facial vein; +_j.v._ jugular vein. + +PLATE IV. + +_Fig._ 1. Black-faced Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. Merino Ram. + +PLATE V. + +_Figs._ 1. 2. 3. from the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, represent +the most approved mode of washing and shearing sheep. + +_Fig._ 4. Tubular structure of hair and wool. + +_Fig._ 5. Relative positions of the layers of the skin, mode in which +the hairs rise from, and situation of, the sebaceous follicles; _a._ +the cuticle; _b._ the mucous layer; _c._ the true skin; _d._ sebaceous +follicles; _e._ hairs rising from the true skin; _f._ the yolk. + +PLATE VI. + +_Fig._ 1. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been over-driven. + +_Fig._ 2. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been affected with +Rot. + +PLATE VII. + +_Fig._ 1. The _Cysticercus tenuicollis_. + +_Fig._ 1. _a._ Head of the same magnified. + +_Fig._ 2. The _Coenurus Cerebralis_. + +_Fig._ 2. _a._ Heads of the _Coenurus_ magnified. + +_Fig._ 3. The _pentastoma_. Hitherto supposed to exist only in the dog +and wolf, but discovered recently in the frontal sinus of the sheep by +my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, by whom the drawing for this figure +was kindly furnished. + +PLATE VIII. + +_Fig._ 1. Hydatid in the brain of a sheep (from a drawing by my friend +Dr Kirk of Deal); _a._ the right lobe of the cerebellum or lesser +brain distended with fluid, inclosed in a membraneous bag, as shown at +_b._, where an incision has been made to expose it; and at _c._ where +it is shining through the _pia mater_, one of the coverings of the +brain. + +_Fig._ 2. Showing the extent to which hydatids sometimes distend the +ventricles of the brain; _a._ the dilated ventricle of the left side; +_b._ _b._ convolutions passing from back to front; _c._ _d._ depth of +the furrows. + + + + +THE SHEEP. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. + + +(1.) _Origin of the Sheep._--As the origin of our domesticated animals +has afforded scope for much curious speculation, so none have +attracted a greater degree of attention in this respect than the +sheep. Into these arguments, however, it would be absurd to enter; I +shall therefore content myself with such opinions as are deemed the +best. + +Placed in the Class Mammalia, and Order Ruminantia, the innumerable +varieties at present existing may, according to Cuvier, whose tact in +arranging animals is universally acknowledged, all be referred to four +species--the Argali of Siberia, the Mouflon of Sardinia, the Mouflon +of America, and the Mouflon of Africa--though to be rigidly accurate +in natural distinctions he would refer them all to three, thereby +excluding the third. + +(2.) _The Argali of Siberia_ (_Ovis Ammon_) inhabits the mountains of +Asia, where it attains the size of a fallow deer. The male has very +large horns, with three rounded angles at the base, flattened in +front, and striated transversely. The horns of the female are +compressed, and hook-shaped. The hair is short in summer, and of a +fawn-coloured grey; in winter it is thick, rigid, and of a reddish +grey, with some white about the muzzle, throat, and under the belly. +The Mouflon of Sardinia (_Ovis Musimon_, Fig. 1. Pl. I.) differs from +it only in its inferior size, and in the smallness of the horns of the +female. + +(3.) _The Mouflon of America_ (_Ovis Montana_) closely resembles the +Argali, and is supposed by some to be identical with it, and to have +crossed from Asia to America at Behring's Straits by means of ice. + +(4.) _The Mouflon of Africa_ (_Ovis Tragelaphus_) is distinguished by +its soft and reddish hair, by its short tail, and by a long mane +hanging under the neck, and another at each ancle; it inhabits the +rocky districts of Barbary, and has been observed in Egypt. + +(5.) _British Breeds._--The breeds of our island, as they at present +stand, may be divided into two kinds--long-woolled and short-woolled; +the former embracing the Lincolnshire, the Teeswater, the Dishley, or +New Leicester, and the Devonshire Nots; while the latter will include +those of Dorset, Herefordshire, and Sussex, with the Cheviot, Mugg, +and Black-faced variety.[1] + + [1] Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th Edition, Article Agriculture. + +(6). _The Lincolnshire_ has no horns; the face is white; the carcass +long and thin; the legs thick, white, and rough; bones large; pelts +thick; and the wool from 8 to 10 inches in length. The ewes weigh from +14 lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter; and three-year old wethers 20 lbs. to +30 lbs. The fleece weighs from 8 lbs. to 14 lbs., and covers a +coarse-grained slow-feeding carcass; so slow, indeed, at feeding, that +it cannot be fattened at an early age, except upon rich land; but the +breed is encouraged, from the great weight of wool that is shorn from +them every year. It and its sub-varieties are extremely common in the +English counties. + +(7.) _The Teeswater_ sheep were originally bred from the same stock as +the former, but have become different, from the size having received +greater attention than the wool, which is inferior both in length and +weight. They stand upon higher and finer boned legs, which support a +firmer and heavier carcass, much wider upon the back and sides, and +afford a fatter and finer-grained mutton--the two-year-old wethers +weighing from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs. per quarter. Marshall, in his work on +Yorkshire, remarks, that they are not so compact, nor so complete in +their form, as the Leicestershire sheep; nevertheless, the excellency +of their flesh and fatting quality is not doubted, and their wool +still remains superior. For the banks of the Tees, or any other rich +fat land, they are singularly excellent. + +(8.) _The Dishley_, or _New Leicester_, is distinguished from other +long-woolled breeds, by clean heads, straight broad flat backs, round +bodies, small bones, thin pelts, and a disposition to fatten at an +early age. But more of this hereafter. The weight of three-year-old +ewes is from 18 lbs. to 26 lbs. per quarter; and of two-year old +wethers from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. The wool averages from 6 lbs. to 8 +lbs., and is thought by some to be inferior in quality to that of +Cheviot sheep; but, from being fully fed at all seasons, they yield +great quantities of it. Fig. 1. Pl. III. + +(9.) _The Devonshire Nots_ form the fourth hornless variety of +long-woolled sheep. Forty or fifty years ago, they ranked as +middle-woolled sheep; but they now figure among the long-wools, under +the name of Bamptons--their fleece having been lengthened, and +rendered finer, by crossing with the Leicesters. There is yet, +however, much room for improvement in these crosses. They have white +faces and legs, the latter being short, and the bones large, while the +necks are thick, the backs high, and the sides good. They approach in +weight to the Leicester, but the wool is heavier and coarser. In +Devonshire are found a white-faced and horned variety, which are known +as the Exmoor kind, from the place of their nativity. Though delicate +in bone, they are not good, having a narrow flat-sided carcass; while +the weight of the quarters and fleece is a third short of the former +variety. + +(10.) _The Dorsetshire sheep_ are horned and white-faced, with a long +thin carcass, and high small white legs. Three-year-old wethers weigh +from 16 lbs. to 20 lbs. a quarter; but the wool, being fine and short, +weighs only from 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. a fleece. It is, however, amply +compensated for by the mutton, which is of superior quality. The +peculiar and most valuable property of this breed is the forwardness +of the ewes, which take the ram at any period of the year, often +lambing, so early as September or October. They are, on this account, +extremely useful for supplying large towns with house-lamb at +Christmas. Fig. 1, Pl. II. + +(11.) _Herefordshire_ or _Ryeland sheep_ have white legs and faces, +and no horns. The wool grows close to the eyes. They are a small +breed, suited to every market, weighing from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. +a-quarter. The carcass is tolerably well-formed, and the wool fine and +short, each fleece weighing from 1-1/2 lb. to 2-1/2 lbs., rarely, +however, exceeding 2 lbs. They were called _Ryeland_ sheep, from a +district in the southern part of Herefordshire being thought capable +of growing nothing but rye. Though their figure is good, the back is +not so level, nor the ribs so well rounded, as in the improved breeds. +They fatten easily, however, and arrive soon at maturity, though +reckoned inferior in these respects to the Cheviot variety. + +(12.) _The South Down_, like the Ryeland, are, from the delicacy of +their constitution, unadapted for bleak situations, but sufficiently +hardy and active for a low country; their average weight is from 15 +lbs. to 18 lbs. a-quarter; that of the fleece, which is very short and +fine, being from 2-1/2 lbs. to 3 lbs. They are without horns, have +grey faces and legs, a neck low set and small, and a breast neither +wide nor deep; their mutton is fine in the grain, and of an excellent +flavour, having been brought to great perfection by Mr Ellman of +Glynd, and other intelligent breeders. They are mostly found in +Sussex, on dry chalky downs producing short fine herbage, and arrive +early at maturity; in which respect they are equal to the Cheviot, +though inferior to them in quantity of tallow. Formerly they would not +take on fat till four years old; now they are always at market when +about two years of age, and many are killed before that period. Fig. +2. Pl. II. + +(13.) _The Cheviot Sheep_ have a bare head, with a long jaw, and white +face, but no horns. Sometimes they have a shade of grey upon the nose, +approaching to dark at the tip; at others, a tinge of lemon colour on +the face, but these markings scarcely affect their value. The legs are +clean, long, and small-boned, and covered with wool to the hough; but +there is a sad want of depth at the breast, and of breadth both there +and on the chine. A fat carcass weighs from 12 lbs. to 18 lbs. per +quarter, and a medium fleece about 3 lbs. The purest specimens of this +breed are to be found on the Scotch side of the Cheviot hills, and on +the high and stony mountain-farms which lie between that range and the +source of the Teviot. These sheep are a capital mountain stock, +provided the pasture resembles the Cheviot hills, in containing a good +proportion of rich herbage. Fig. 2. Pl. III. + +(14.) _Mugg Sheep._--"In this variety," says Dr Fleming, in his +History of British Animals, "the face and legs are white, or rarely +spotted with yellow, and the forehead covered with long wool. This is +the native breed in Scotland, to the north of the Forth and Clyde. +They are of small size, and seldom weigh above 8 or 10 lbs. per +quarter. Some tribes have horns; others are destitute of them, and +they vary in the length of the tail. They may be considered as the +stock of the numerous modern and valuable varieties, which are bred in +the best cultivated districts. The Shetland sheep belongs to this +kind. The fur consists of firm wool next the skin, with long coarse +hairs, indications of an inhabitant of an arctic climate." + +(15.) _The Black-faced or Heath Sheep_ are known by their large spiral +horns, wild-looking eyes, black legs and faces, with short firm +carcasses, covered by long coarse wool, which weighs from 3 lbs. to 4 +lbs. As the form of this sheep has lately been much improved, by +inducing a short and round carcass, they have acquired the name of +_short_ sheep, in contradistinction to the Cheviots, which are termed +long sheep. When three years old, they fatten well, affording +excellent highly-flavoured mutton, and weighing from 10 lbs. to 16 +lbs. a-quarter. They are the most valuable upland sheep in Britain, +abounding in all the western counties of England and Scotland, and are +now becoming great favourites in the London market. Fig. 1. Pl. IV. + +(16.) _The Merino._--Though many foreign breeds have from time to time +appeared in this country, yet almost all of them have been viewed +merely as objects of curiosity, and, as such, have speedily been +disregarded. Far different, however, was the reception of the Merinos. +Brought into England under the most favourable auspices, and placed at +once under the fostering protection of royalty, their native merits +could not but be speedily appreciated and diffused throughout the +kingdom. They have received the name of _Merino_ from a peculiar buff +or reddish hue of the countenance, and are supposed to have come +originally from Africa; at least Marcus Columella, having seen a +strange variety from that country exhibited at Rome, during some +public games or shows, took them to his farm, and, having crossed them +with the breeds of Tarentum, sent the offspring to Spain. There they +throve remarkably, attracting the attention of other nations, to whom +they were from time to time exported, and at present may be found in +almost every part of the world. + +Merinos were brought to England for the first time in 1788, but +attracted little attention, owing to the want of rams. Lord Somerville +went to Portugal in 1801, for the purpose of selecting such animals as +appeared valuable, from uniting a good carcass with a superior fleece, +and he succeeded, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country, +in obtaining specimens, which called forth the praises of the +shepherds, through whose travelling flocks they passed. Public +attention was attracted to them on the commencement of his Majesty's +sales in 1804; and their distribution over the country was +accomplished in 1811, by the formation of the principal landed +proprietors and eminent breeders into a Merino Society. + +The Merinos had much prejudice to encounter on being first brought +before the public in 1804; but they soon rose in favour and value, and +steadily progressed till the Merino Society was established, when, +strange though it may appear, all these advantages were at once +destroyed. This paradox may, perhaps, be explained, by supposing that +the institution of local committees, which immediately followed, +allowed the enemies of the change, in distant parts of the kingdom, +ample opportunity of striking at the scheme, now that it was +entrusted, in many instances, to persons ill qualified for the task +either of making converts, or retaining the advantages already gained. + +The horns of the Merino are of large size, twisted spirally and +extended laterally, approaching closely in these characters to the +sheep of Mount Parnassus, a specimen of which is delineated in the +work by E. T. Bennett, on the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological +Society. The face has a characteristic velvety appearance, but the +cheeks and forehead are disfigured by coarse hair. The legs are long +and small in the bone; the breast and back are narrow, the sides flat, +and too much of the weight is expended on the coarser parts. There is +a peculiar looseness of skin beneath the throat, which is admired in +Spain as denoting a tendency to weight and fineness of wool, though +regarded in this country as a sign of a bad skin and want of aptitude +to fatten. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is, 8 lbs. from +the ram, and 5 lbs. from the ewe. The abundance of the yolk enables +the wool to detain all the filth which comes in contact with it, so +much so, that by washing the weight is diminished about three-fifths. +The fibre of the wool is finer than that of any other sheep, and the +carcass, when fat, averages from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. a-quarter. They +are quiet and tractable, and possessed of many good qualities, but +they are liable to abortion, are bad nurses, and require a large +supply of food, for which, owing to an unprofitable form, they yield +no return. Fig. 2. Pl. IV. + +The Merinos were at one time in great request in various countries, +from a supposition that they would speedily supplant other breeds; but +this has never been the case, as the animal soon degenerates when out +of Spain, and is only valuable so far as giving rise to varieties, +which are equal, if not superior to itself. Large profits were at +first expected from their wool, but these were reduced to a trifle +when the loss of weight, and fineness in the carcass were taken into +account. Mr Hose of Melton Mowbray, put a certain number of Leicester +ewes to a ram of the same breed, and an equal number to a merino ram. +The result was, that the Leicester fleece weighed 7 lbs., and the one +from the cross with the merino, 8 lbs.; and that the former brought in +the market 1s. per lb., and the latter 1s. 6d., being a gain of 5s. on +the fleece. The carcass of the former, however, weighed 27 lbs. per +quarter, and the latter only 25 lbs., being a loss of 5 lbs. on +mutton. Much advantage may, however, be expected from our crosses with +the Saxon merino, which is in every respect well suited to our notions +of a fine animal, as it yields a good wool, and is little inferior in +carcass to some of our best breeds. + +(17.) _Teeth of Sheep._--In common with the rest of the ruminating +animals, sheep have eight incisors in the lower jaw, unopposed by any +in the upper, a callous pad, which is substituted, being attached to +the distal end of the intermaxillarv bones. Between the incisors and +molars, or grinding teeth, there is a vacant space of about an inch +and a half. There are twenty-four molars, six on each side of each +jaw; their crowns are marked with two double crescents, the convexity +of which is turned inwards in the upper, and outwards in the lower +jaw. The lamb, when newly dropped, is devoid of incisor teeth, though +the two central ones are occasionally above the gum even at this early +period. When one month old, the first set of incisive teeth are +complete. The two fore-teeth of the under jaw drop out at the end of +the first year; six months after the two next to these are lost; and +at the end of five years the teeth are all renewed. When the permanent +teeth are fully grown, it is almost impossible to ascertain the age of +the animal, as the soil, the texture of the provender, and the +original form of the teeth, have all a greater or less influence over +their durability. + +(18.) _Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat._--Though a comparison +of the most common domesticated breeds of sheep and goats, tends to +confirm the broad distinctions drawn between them, yet these +differences almost entirely disappear, when we attempt to define the +characteristics of those races, which still exist in a wild state in +various parts of both Continents, where it is so far impossible to +determine the precise division to which they belong, that Cuvier holds +them unworthy of a generic separation. Sheep and goats, in fact, agree +in so many points as regards structure, form, stature, and habit, that +were it not that sheep, according to that naturalist, have "their +horns directed backwards, returning more or less forwards in a spiral +manner, with a generally convex line of profile, and no beard," while +the goats have "their horns directed upwards and backwards, their +chins generally decorated with a long beard, and their line of profile +almost always concave," there would hardly exist a difference worth +the noting. Some writers place great reliance on the differences +indicated by the different coverings of the animals, ascribing wool to +the sheep, and hair to the goat, forgetting that most of the wild +sheep, and some of the domesticated races, are covered with hair, +while some goats, as those of Thibet and Angora, are remarkable for +the fineness of their wool. Even supposing these distinctions to hold +good, we have still to combat the fact, that _sheep and goats produce +mongrels capable of reproduction_, a consideration sufficient of +itself to prove, that the sheep and goat can never be made to form the +types of separate genera.[2] + + [2] For further information on this subject, see that + excellent paper on the Natural History of the Sheep and Goat, + by James Wilson, Esq. in No. IX. of the Quarterly Journal of + Agriculture. + +(19.) _Horns of Sheep._--As the Chevrotains or Musks are distinguished, +with the Camels, from other animals of this order by the absence of +horns, so are sheep, oxen, goats, and antelopes, distinguished from +the rest of the horned genera of the order, by the persistence of +their frontal prolongations. The horn is an elastic sheath of +_agglutinated hairs_, which appears within the first twelve months, +though sometimes present at birth, and increases by layers, one being +added every year, so that the age of a ram may be known by the number +of rings. The ewes have commonly no horns, but only a protuberance in +place of them. The horn is supported by, and serves to cover, a highly +vascular prolongation of the frontal bone, and it is at its root, +where large vessels, and nervous filaments are entering, that blows +occasion so great agony to the animal, apart from the damage which the +other bones sustain by the infliction of violence on so powerful a +level. + +(20.) _Structure of the Stomach._--The term ruminating, indicates the +power possessed by this animal, in common with many others, of +masticating its food a second time, by returning it to the mouth after +a short maceration. This they are enabled to do, from the structure of +the stomachs, or, more correctly speaking, stomach; as anatomists have +now concluded, from all animals being constructed on one common +principle, that ruminating animals are not possessed of four stomachs, +as formerly supposed, but only of one, which they view as being +divided into four compartments. In drawing precise conclusions, we are +bound only to admit the existence of two compartments, the other two +belonging properly to the gullet; and being equivalent to the cheek +pouches of monkeys, or the crop and membranous stomach of birds, may +be viewed as an apparatus designed to serve a nearly similar purpose +(that of moistening and macerating the food); while the real stomach +will cease to excite wonder, or puzzle the ignorant, on being +contrasted with that of other animals, in many of which a division +exists, and from which even the human stomach, though generally a +single sac, is not always exempt,--Dr Knox, of Edinburgh, being in +possession of one that resembles a pair of small globes joined by a +narrow tube, and which, when taken from the body of a person who was +advanced in life, bore every mark of soundness in texture, and must, +therefore, have been congenital. + +(21.) _Digestion._[3]--The food descends by the gullet after being +partially crushed, into what is called the first stomach, or paunch, +in Latin, _rumen_, or _ingluvies_, in which cavity are found those +morbid concretions so much, and so superstitiously, prized in the +Eastern world, under the name of Bezoar stones; from this it passes +into the second, termed bonnet, king's hood, or honey-comb, in Latin +_reticulum_, which is much smaller than the other, and receives its +name from the inner coat being arranged into cells; here it is +moistened, made into pellets, and, while the animal is at rest, +impelled by the antiperistaltic motion of the tube to the mouth, and +after undergoing a complete mastication, is returned through the +gullet to the third stomach, or smallest compartment, which goes under +the name of _omasum_, or many-plies, from its resembling a rolled up +hedgehog, and sometimes from the longitudinal _laminæ_ of its mucous +membrane that of leaflet. The food remains but a short time in the +omasum, proceeding into the fourth division, or obomasum, which in its +structure, especially in that of the mucous, or inner membrane, is +nearly allied to the same organ in the human being, and is, by the +French, from its power of coagulating milk, called _caillette_. The +last compartment is the largest of the four, so long as the animal +continues to live on milk; but the paunch speedily surpasses it in +magnitude when grass becomes the sole provision. The milk always +passes at once into the fourth stomach, there being no reason why it +should be returned. + + [3] See Figs. 2 and 3, Plate I. with their references. + +The intestinal canal is long, commencing at the pylorus or lower +opening of the stomach, and averaging from ninety to one hundred feet. +There are but few enlargements in the great intestines. The fat, like +that of all ruminating animals, becomes, on cooling, hard and brittle. + +(22.) _Period of Conception._--In this climate, ewes fed on good +pastures admit the ram in August; but September or October is the time +when such would occur if left to nature. They go with young five +months, and in warm climates bring forth thrice a-year; but in +Britain, France, and most of Europe, they do so only once. They give +milk for seven or eight months; live ten or twelve years; and if well +managed, are capable of bringing forth during life, though generally +useless for that process after the seventh or eighth year. The ram +lives from twelve to fourteen years, though instances are recorded of +their enduring till twenty, and becomes unfit for propagating at +eight. + +(23.) _Names applied to Sheep._--The age of sheep is never dated from +the time that they are dropped, as that would be attended with many +inconveniences, but from the time that they are first subjected to the +shears, by which means the first year includes a period of at least +fifteen or sixteen months. + +The following is a condensed arrangement of the names by which sheep +are designated at different periods of their existence, in various +parts of England and Scotland:-- + + _From Birth till Weaning._ + MALE. FEMALE. + + Tup, Ram lamb, Heeder, Pur. | Ewe or Gimmer lamb, Chilver. + + _From Weaning till first Clip._ + + Hog, Hogget, Hoggerel, Teg. | Gimmer hog, Ewe hog, Teg, + Lamb hog, Tup hog, Gridling, | Sheeder ewe, Thrave. + and, if castrated, a Wether | + hog. | + + _From first to second Clip._ + + Shearling, Shear hog, Heeder, | Shearing ewe or gimmer, + Diamond or Dinmont ram, or | Double-toothed ewe or + tup, and, when castrated, a | Teg, Yill gimmer. + Shearing wether. | + + _From second till third Clip._ + + Two shear ram, young wedder. | Two shear ewe, Counter. + + _From third till fourth Clip._ + + Three shear ram, old wedder. | Three shear ewe, Fronter. + +And so on, the name always taking its date from the time of shearing. +Broken-mouthed ewes are called _crones_ in Suffolk and Norfolk; +_kroks_, or _crocks_, in Scotland; and _drapes_ in Lincolnshire. In +Scotland, ewes which are neither with lamb, nor giving milk, are said +to be _eild_, or _yield_. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WOOL. + + +(24.) _Wool-Bearing Animals._--In most dictionaries wool is defined as +the fleece of sheep, as if, in fact they were the only animals which +yield it, than which nothing can be more erroneous; since we are +assured by the ablest naturalists, that almost every animal, from the +butterfly up to man, possesses more or less of this covering, and that +some indeed rival the sheep in the quantity they bear. + +Though wool is possessed in considerable quantity by carnivorous +animals, especially bears, yet the herbivorous quadrupeds, never to +mention the sheep, are principally noticed for its growth, and for +affording a commodity which becomes an article of profit in the hands +of some tribes. Heriot, in his travels through Canada, remarks, that +"the savage women manufacture thread of the wool of the buffalo, and +weave it into cloth. Most parts of the body are invested with a dusky +wool, which is of a quality extremely fine--is much valued--and can +with great facility be used in manufactures. The quantity usually +contained on one skin is about eight pounds." + +So far from the sheep being invariably a wool-bearing creature, it +would appear as liable to be entirely destitute of it as some other +animals; for in Tartary, the eastern parts of India, China, and some +parts of Africa, a hair of varying quality forms their sole covering; +and Sir Joseph Banks imported three from Spain, which were smooth, +sleek, and as short-haired as a horse. + +(25.) _Structure of the Skin._--The skin is composed of three coats, +or layers; the outermost, the cuticle or scarf-skin, is a thin +delicate membrane, devoid of feeling, and of a scaly texture, pierced +by innumerable small holes, for the passage of the hairs, and +perspiration, and covering the next, or mucous coat, so named from its +pulpy appearance. In this resides the colouring matter, which imparts +its peculiar tints to the hair, and which can only be satisfactorily +demonstrated in the dark races. The existence of this coat has been by +some denied; but it is probable that, though present in all, it can +only be exhibited in such as have depth of tint, to admit of the +display. It is here that sensation principally resides; the nerves, or +rather their terminations, ramifying minutely in its substance, at +which they have arrived by piercing the third tunic, or true skin, a +dense firm elastic membrane, in which the roots of the hairs are +imbedded, and from which, in fact, they take their origin. + +(26.) _Sebaceous Follicles._--The skin is studded over by small +glands, or what, in anatomical language, would be called sebaceous +follicles, which vary in number in different breeds, and different +parts of the body, being most numerous on the breast and shoulders, +and secreting a peculiar unctuous semi-solid matter, which, as we +shall immediately see, possesses alkaline properties. + +(27.) _Connection of the hair with the skin_--_Yolk._--A hair +implanted in the skin may be compared to a plant growing in a +flower-pot which has been sunk in the earth, as the root of the hair +does not rise directly from the true skin, but from a little cup +extending from it to the cuticle, and receiving nourishment from +surrounding vessels. After coming to the surface of these tunics it +has, in the sheep, yet another, and, in some respects, remarkable +covering to pierce, one which has occupied the attention of the most +distinguished chemists, and given rise to a good deal of disputation +on the subject of salving--we allude to the Yolk. It is supposed by +many to be the inspissated secretion of the sebaceous follicles, and +receives its name from its adhesiveness and colour. It is most +plentiful on fine-woolled sheep, those of the south possessing more +than those of the north of our island, while merinos possess most of +all; so that there is apparently some connection between a fine +fleece, and a good supply of this matter. According to the analysis of +M. Vauquelin, it consists principally of a soapy matter, with a basis +of potash; a small quantity of carbonate of potash; a minute quantity +of acetate of potash; lime in an unknown state of combination; and an +atom of muriate of potash. It owes its odour to a small quantity of +animal oil, and is in every respect a true soap, which would permit +the sheep to be completely washed in a stream, but for the existence +in the fleece of an uncombined fatty matter, which remains attached to +the wool, and renders it rather glutinous. + +Many have tried to account for the uses of the Yolk, but nothing like +satisfactory conclusions have been come to: some considering it goes +to form the filament, and is consolidated into a transparent mass +while the pile is growing; while others argue, that it is a peculiar +secretion which exudes through the skin, and by mixing with the pile +renders it soft and pliable, affecting it in the way that oil does a +piece of leather. In the latter opinion I coincide. For my part, I +view it as a secretion, depending very much on good food and +steadiness of temperature, and, therefore, indicative of a fine fleece +only so far as the health of the animal is concerned. In the human +being the state of the skin may often guide us, though blind-fold, to +the quality of the hair, so that the latter may be pronounced either +dry and coarse, or glossy, soft, and silky, as the skin may prove +either harsh and ungrateful, or pleasant, and, if I may be allowed the +expression, alkaline to the touch. Every thing having a tendency to +affect the health may always be considered as calculated to diminish +this secretion, and, consequently, to deteriorate the quality of the +wool. + +The relative positions of the layers of the skin, the mode in which +the hairs rise from them, and the form and situation of the sebaceous +follicles, will be better understood by referring to the following +cross section Fig 5. Pl. V., in which the line marked + + _a_ Represents the cuticle, + _b_ The mucous layer, + _c_ The true skin, + _d_ Sebaceous follicles, + _e_ Hairs rising from the true skin and inflections of the + upper layers and piercing, + _f_ The thin film of the yolk. + +(28.) _Periodical decidence of Wool._--It is affirmed that the only +real difference between hair and wool is in the latter falling off +periodically; but the same change takes place in animals totally +covered with hair; in fact, almost every animal is subject to +moulting, or a periodical decidence of its protecting covering. The +fleece of the sheep has been proved in many instances not to be liable +to _annual_ changes of this description;--Lord Western having, among +others, shown that the wool of the merino may be retained at least +three years without the slightest disposition to separate. + +The annual employment of shearing, to anticipate this falling off of +the wool, is now common in most parts of the world; yet some, as the +Icelanders and Kamtschadales, still retain the primeval custom of +_rowing_, or pulling off the fleece in a mass, about the end of May, +at which time it is nearly loosened. This loosening of the attachments +of the fibre is supposed to be owing to a diminution, during winter, +of the nutritive process at the root of the hair, so that the fibre is +liable to give way at the tender part when the fleece becomes heavy +during Spring. This attempt at an explanation meets, however, with the +insurmountable objection, that long-woolled are less liable than +short-woolled sheep to this occurrence, a circumstance which ought to +be the reverse, if weight had any thing to do in the case. + +(29.) _Falling off of Wool prevented by Clipping._--Clipping has a +curious influence over the duration of the covering of animals, as is +well exemplified by the correct popular idea, that the only way to +prevent the hair of children dropping off (as it sometimes has a +tendency to do) is to cut it short: we may suppose the benefit in this +case to result from the removal of a _portion_ of each hair, which, if +allowed to remain, would lead to a sacrifice of the _whole_, by +robbing the root of a quantity of nutritious matter, which, owing to a +diminution of reproductive power, it could ill afford. In this way +only can we account for the power which shearing evinces, in putting a +stop to the attempt sometimes made by nature to change the coverings +of some sheep. In the valley which separates the most eastern chain of +the Cordilleras from the central, the wool grows upon the lambs in the +same manner as in temperate climates, provided they are sheared so +soon as it has arrived at a certain thickness; in which case the wool +grows again, preserving the same order. But, if the period for +denuding the animal be allowed to pass, the wool detaches itself in +flakes, leaving behind a short, glossy, and compact hair, exactly +resembling that of the common goat in the same climate. + +(30.) _Form of woolly fibre._--The fibre of wool is circular, +differing in diameter in the various breeds, and different parts +of the same fleece. The following _à propos_ observations are +from the article on the Sheep, in the Library of Useful Knowledge: +"The filaments of white wool, when cleansed from grease, are +semitransparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, +in others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a +very pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic +microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering +appearance. Very irregularly placed minuter filaments are sometimes +seen branching from the main trunk, like boughs from the principal +stem. This exterior polish varies much in different wools, and in +wools from the same breed of sheep at different times. When the animal +is in good condition, and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the +fibre is really brilliant; but, when the sheep has been half starved, +the wool seems to have sympathized with the state of the constitution, +and either a wan pale light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected." + +The more transparent the filament the better is the fleece, and its +value is impaired by the transparency being different in the same +fleece, or, as often happens, in the same filament; while that which +possesses fineness with a close ground, pureness, elasticity, colour, +tenacity, and not much pitch-mark, is the most esteemed, and preferred +by the manufacturer. Wethers have considerably more wool than ewes. In +every fleece there are several qualities, even so many as nine +different sorts, which are all separated from each other in England by +men called woolstaplers, who are appointed for the purpose, and sworn +to do justice between the grower, and the merchant or manufacturer. In +this manner the latter obtains, without trouble or risk, the very kind +which he knows will suit his purpose; for though the sorter, +surrounded by a number of baskets, divides the wool according to its +properties without the slightest hesitation, and with a rapidity truly +surprising, yet such is the amount of the dexterity acquired by +practice, that a mistake seldom occurs, and his judgment can as rarely +be disputed. + +(31.) _Structure and properties of Hair and Wool._--Each hair is +composed of a number of filaments, or smaller hairs, ranged side by +side, and this we can perceive without the slightest trouble, from the +tendency it sometimes has to unravel at the apex; and again, by +drawing a hair through the fingers from point to root, when we feel a +roughness occasioned by projecting filaments, which only proceed a +certain distance up the trunk, the longest being most internal. + +Pl. V. Fig. 5, _e_, exhibits those points in a hair considerably +magnified. + +These projections, or serrations, which vary in number in different +specimens of wool, are what it depends on for its felting properties. +They are sharper and more numerous in felting wools than in others, +and the better the felting properties of the wool, the more numerous +the curls; because what induces curling on the animal's back leads +to felting in the hands of the manufacturer. In felting, these +projections catch one upon another, and occasion the hair to move in +one direction, which is invariably root foremost, as we perceive on +giving it a twirling motion between the finger and thumb; and it is +only by the union of curve and serration, that felting can be +accomplished certainly and perfectly. + +Woolly fibre consists of a semitransparent stem, or stalk, supposed +to be hollow, as represented at Fig. 4, Pl. V. and is partly +distinguished from hair by the latter being opaque. Next to soundness, +there are few qualities deserving of so much attention as softness, +of which the ancient writers make frequent mention, and for the +prevalence of which in our present wools fashion has done not a +little. It is a quality that tends, in a material degree, to the cheap +and easy working of the cloth, and, as such, is said to render wool 25 +per cent. more valuable to the manufacturer than a harsh and brittle +pile. It apparently depends on the fineness of the fibre, which should +not, however, go the length of weakness. Fineness is in turn mainly +connected with the yolk, the secretion of which ought, on that +account, to be promoted by attention to the general management of the +animal, as it is well known to undergo a change of properties by +starvation, exposure, or any neglect whatever. + +(32.) _Particular soils injurious to Wool._--Soil, also, has much +influence on the pliability of wool. Chalky lands, which are so +notorious for injuring the fleece, are supposed to act in the manner +of a corrosive, but the correct explanation is, not that the chalky +particles attack the fibre in a direct way, but that they render it +brittle, by absorbing the oily moisture with which it is naturally +imbued. Moreover, the plants growing in such situations cannot but be +injurious to sheep, owing to their impregnation, though a slight one, +with calcareous matter; for grooms know well how soon a horse's coat +becomes disordered by the frequent use of hard or well water, and +prefer, therefore, the river for their steeds.[4] + + [4] I am surprized to find it asserted at page 76 of the book + on Sheep, published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful + Knowledge, that the depilatory action of lime-water on raw + hides is a "_striking elucidation_" of the injurious effects + of chalk on wool. Lime removes hair from a skin because it is + a powerful caustic, and, as such, speedily decomposes the + animal matter, but the carbonate of lime (chalk) is perfectly + innocuous to wool, except so far as it combines with its oil; + and is as little _corrosive_ to the fleece, as pipe-clay to a + soldier's coat. + +(33.) _Felting._--The felting of wool may be defined as a property +depending on the curls and serrations of the fibre, by which it is +allowed to move only with the root foremost, and by which it is +enabled to catch and retain a hold on fibres that are near it, so as +to form a web or cloth. Felting is best brought into operation by +alternate pressure and relaxation, which may be produced in a variety +of ways: the ancient method, and one still pursued by the Tartars, was +to tramp on a mass or layer of moist unwrought wool, so as to form a +coarse cloth or carpet; while the modern, and more perfect plan is, +either, as in hat making, to apply pressure with the hands, or, as in +the finishing of cloth, to pass the fabric repeatedly through rollers. +The way in which a close fabric is formed, by the juxta-position of a +few scattered hairs, gave rise for long, as well it might, to serious +disputations among philosophers; and the favourite theories of each, +unbased as they were on observation, might till now have agitated the +scientific portion of our manufacturers, had not the microscope +brought to light much of what is true and valuable in our researches. + +Moisture appears to be of service during the felting of wool, as it +induces it to curl, enabling the fibres to expand, and catch one on +another, after they have been bent and compressed, by the force +applied to them, and is of itself sufficient to felt a fabric, as we +frequently perceive in the instance of stockings, which have been +allowed to remain too long in water, when they become short from +undergoing contraction, and resemble after such treatment an imperfect +cloth. It is for this reason that the hatter, after tumbling over, in +all directions, the fur of which the hat is to be made, wets it before +applying pressure; and, that the woollen manufacturer, after freeing +the web from grease, soaps it before its subjection to the action of +the rollers. + +Without felting, cloth would resemble a net, and would unravel on +being cut, from the fibres crossing only in two directions; but the +strokes of the mill put an end to this, by laying the fibres in every +possible direction, and so twining them one with another, as to render +them a coherent mass. + +(34.) _Different kinds of Wool._--The wool of this country is divided +into two great classes--long and short: the former varies in length +from three to eight inches, and before being made into stuffs and +worsted goods, requires to be deprived of its felting tendencies, by +passing it through heated iron combs, which remove the feathery parts, +or serrations, and make it resemble silk or cotton. + +The shorter combing wools are in general used for hose, and are softer +than the long combing wools. Short wool is employed in the cloth +manufacture, and is, on that account, frequently called clothing wool. +It should approach in colour as much as possible to white, as a clear +white ground is required for all cloths that are to be dyed bright +colours, as well as for those dressed white: grey or black hairs +injure the fleece very much, even though few and minute, as they give +rise to reddish spots where the cloth is stoved. Herefordshire sheep +are entirely free from this defect, and are, therefore, reckoned +particularly valuable for clothing purposes. + +(35.) _Alterations induced by Crossing._--The breed exercises +considerable influence on the wool, some sheep, as the merinos, being +distinguished for the softness and beauty of the fleece; while others, +as some of our small northern varieties, are famed for the very +opposite characteristics. + +According to the opinion on the continent, any race of ewes, however +coarse and long in the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the merino +ram, give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. The truth of +this proposition is however doubted, in a communication to the Board +of Agriculture, by Dr Parry of Bath; but it is certain, he adds, that +one cross more will in most cases effect the desired purpose. "If we +suppose," he says, "the result of the admixture of the blood of the +merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, and state +the native blood in the ewe as 64, then the first cross would give +32/64 of the merino, the second 48/64, the third 56/64, the fourth +60/64, the fifth 62/64, and so on. In other words, the first cross +would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English quality; the second +16 parts, or one-fourth; the third 8 parts, or one-eighth; the fourth +four parts, or one-sixteenth; the fifth 2 parts or one-thirty-second; +the sixth 1 part, or one-sixty-fourth; and so on. Now, if the filament +of the Wiltshire, or any other coarse wool, be in diameter double that +of the Ryeland, it is obvious that, according to the above statement, +it would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid wool of +the former to the same fineness as that of the latter. This, I +believe, very exactly corresponds with the fact. The difference +between one-eighth and one-sixteenth is very considerable, and must +certainly be easily perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the +cloth which is manufactured from such wool. In the latter method, it +certainly has been perceived; but I have had hitherto no opportunity +of trying the difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have +before observed, brings the merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as +the merino-Ryeland." + +(36.) _Bratting injurious to Wool._--Wool rendered fine by clothing +sheep, is never equal to that which owes its perfection to natural +causes. The Saxon wool, which is principally produced by _artificial_ +means, has been compared, from its inelastic sickly appearance, to +grass that has been secluded from the sun. The custom of _bratting_ is +therefore not to be recommended, and indeed is now nearly laid aside. +Housing sheep with the same intentions is also bad, inasmuch as it +must affect their health, and destroy the curl of the fibre. Shelter +is however absolutely necessary from extremes both of heat and cold, +as temperature has much influence on the covering of animals, and in +none more than the sheep. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BRITISH WOOL TRADE. + + +(37.) _Origin of the Wool Trade._--Wool, since Eden closed its gates +on our progenitors has been a current coin, an important material, on +which has been employed the skill and industry of almost every tribe, +and been the means of raising many a petty people to the hard-won +dignity of a nation. Man, at first placed in a comfortable +temperature, needed little as a defence against the weather; while +fashion, then unthought of, or only as a sport, failed to interest the +simple-minded races in the cut or texture of the coverings they wore. +That the first dresses of mankind were formed from vegetable +materials, we have the highest authority for believing; and even at +present, the garb of the natives of some of our lately discovered +islands, consists of a simple girdle formed from rough-cut reeds. But +as the dawn of knowledge smiled upon the savage, and animal sacrifice +tutored him in the uncouth rudiments of a coarse anatomy, the superior +comfort, even of the untanned hide would be remarked, and the clumsy +mantle of the Caffre hordes welcomed as a change. Time would not long +elapse till roving dispositions, and the encounter of unstable +climates, would show the wanderer the necessity of a fabric better +adjusted by shape and pliancy, to the nature of his wants; while the +clinging of lock to lock of woolly fibre would plainly tell the +superfluous nature of the supporting skin, and point the way to make +an ill-closed cloth. + +(38.) _Invention of Weaving._--Weaving is not absolutely necessary for +the manufacture of cloth, since wool will felt, though far from +evenly, without the preliminary process of being laid in threads, so +that cloth may have been almost coeval with mankind without our being +required to assign much mechanical ingenuity to its inventors. But we +have tolerably clear evidence in the inspired writings, that weaving +was known in the earliest ages, and that it was trusted principally to +the women:--Thus Delilah wove Samson's hair when he slept in her lap; +and a short time after, it is written, that the mother of Samuel "made +him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year." At a +later period, Solomon thus describes a good wife:--"She seeketh wool +and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."[5] That garments were +in those early ages made of several pieces, joined by needle work, is +evident on a perusal of Genesis, xxxvii. 3; Judges, v. 30; and 2 +Samuel, xiii. 13; and this plan is allowed to be even more ancient +than the weaving of flax. Job, who flourished, or is supposed to have +flourished, before the Israelites left Egypt, shows clearly by his +words that flannel clothing was then in vogue: "Let me be condemned if +I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without +covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed +with the fleece of my sheep;" and that the cloth was woven, and not +produced by beating, is evident from his saying, when complaining of +his sad estate, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle." + + [5] The art of weaving was first practised at Arach in + Babylonia, and spread thence to neighbouring cities, and + in process of time to the most remote parts of the + world.--_Bryant's Ancient Mythology_, Vol. v. p. 173. + +(39.) _The early progress of the Wool Trade_ is veiled in much +obscurity, and only to be discovered by seeking for it in a mass of +fable, which in many instances enabled the old writers to string +together the dry details of history, in a manner suited to the taste +and habit of their time. The following may be taken as a specimen. +Phryxus, the son of Athamas king of Thebes, fleeing with his sister, +Hellé, from their stepmother, and riding upon (carrying with him) a +ram which had a golden (valuable) fleece, sought to cross the +Dardanelles, when Hellé was drowned, and the sea was ever after called +the Hellespont: but Phryxus arrived safely at Colchis, between the +Black and Caspian seas, and having sacrificed the ram to Mars, hung +the fleece in a temple dedicated to that god. By this the ancients no +doubt meant to intimate, either that Boeotia, the birth-place of so +many talented Greeks, furnished the people of Colchis with sheep, or +that they sent them sums of money in exchange for the wool of +Caucasus. That the latter is the more probable, is apparent from +Ovid's account of the Argonautic expedition, in which he shows the +hardships which Jason encountered in his successful endeavours (B.C. +1225) to bring the golden fleece from Colchis back to Greece--implying +the value of the article, and leading us to believe, that the +Colchians had, by the aid of severe penalties, long monopolized the +growth of wool. Moreover, Mount Caucasus and its neighbourhood form +the favoured nursery whence the improved fleece-bearing animals have +gradually spread over the world; and as such would be looked upon, at +the time I speak of, by adjacent tribes with jealousy and hatred; for +where is the nation that can calmly behold a compeer engrossing a +hoard of wealth, without struggling to lower their prices by a market +of their own? + +Thus one country after another became impressed with the advantages to +be derived from the husbandry of sheep. Nation after nation improved +its agriculture, by the introduction of the animal, till at last the +Romans became pre-eminent for their attention to its culture, and to +the manufactures of which it is the fruitful source. Generous even to +an enemy, and attacking only to enrich the countries they subdued, +England may bless the hour which saw the legions of the world's +mistress planting the Imperial Eagle on her shores. + +Instead of following the progress of the wool trade among foreign +nations in later times, the limits of the present work compel me to +confine myself to an outline of the British trade from its origin, at +the time of the invasion by the Romans, to the present period. + +(40.) _Introduction of Weaving into Britain._--It is evident from +ancient history, that the first inhabitants of all the countries of +Europe were either naked, or nearly so, owing to their ignorance of +the clothing art. Such, in particular, was the uncomfortable condition +of the inhabitants of this island, who are supposed to have used the +bark of trees, and to have smeared themselves with unctuous matter, +after the manner of other savages, to protect themselves from cold. +Some writers are of opinion, that the inner bark of trees alone was +employed, and that not till woven into a kind of cloth, such as the +South Sea islanders at present make. They continued the abominable +practice of anointing their bodies, long after the people of France, +Spain, and Germany, were decently clothed, so differently were they +situated in regard to intercourse with strangers, and opportunities of +acquiring the useful arts. It is impossible to discover with certainty +when, or by whom, the custom of wearing clothes was introduced into +Britain. Some suppose that the Greeks, and after them the Phoenicians, +who visited the Scilly islands, and sometimes the continent of +Britain, for trading purposes, first awakened in the breasts of our +savage ancestors a desire for comfortable coverings, as both these +nations were celebrated for elaborate attention to their attire. + +"The Britons," says Cæsar, "in the interior parts of the country are +clothed in skins." These are supposed not to have been sewed together, +but to have been cast over the shoulders as a mantle. Their stiffness, +however, rendered them aught but pleasant, as we may guess from their +endeavours to make them soft and pliable, by steeping in water, +beating them with stones and sticks, and rubbing them with fat. The +people of the southern parts are supposed to have been well acquainted +with the dressing, spinning, and weaving, both of flax and wool, +having been instructed by a Belgic colony, long before the invasion by +the Romans. Two kinds of cloth, which they manufactured at this +period, were much esteemed by their invaders; the one a thick harsh +cloth, worn in cold climates as a sort of mantle, and agreeing in many +respects with our Lowland plaids; the other made of fine wool, dyed of +different colours, woven into chequered cloth, and corresponding to +our Highland tartan. They are also believed to have made felts of +wool, without either spinning or weaving, and to have stuffed +mattresses with the portions shorn from it in dressing. The Britons +must have been well acquainted with the dyeing of wool, as the Gauls +were then celebrated, according to Pliny, for the invention of a +"method of dyeing purple, scarlet, and all other colours, only with +certain herbs." The plant, which they chiefly used for the purpose, +was the glastum or woad, and they seem to have been led to the +discovery of its value in dyeing cloth, from their former use of it in +staining their bodies. A deep blue having been the colour they stained +their skins, it long continued a favourite; particularly, with the +Caledonians, as a tint for all their dresses. Though the most +civilized of the ancient Britons were tolerably versed in the most +essential branches of the woollen manufacture, yet that useful art was +not diffused over our island till the landing of the Romans, whose +soldiers, being almost all drawn from the plough, were well adapted, +when settled in the country, to foster the arts of peace. In order to +benefit themselves and the island, their emperors were at great pains +to discover and procure the best artificers of every description, +particularly the best manufacturers of woollen and linen cloths, whom +they formed into colleges, or corporations, endowed with various +privileges, and governed by a procurator, who was under the direction +of that great officer of their empire, the Count of the Sacred +Largesses. In this manner it appears that the first woollen +manufactory was established at Venta Belgarum, now Winchester, a +hundred years after the conquest of the country. + +It has been believed, from Britain having been partly peopled from +Spain, that our sheep were originally Spanish; and, as Giraldus +Cambrensis (Collectan. de Reb. Hibern.) affirms, that the Irish in his +time were clothed in black garments, from the wool of their sheep +being so coloured, some have supposed the sheep of that island were +imported from Spain, a supposition rendered probable by Southey +telling us, in his letters from that country, that in the north of the +Peninsula the animals are almost all of a black colour. + +No mention ever occurs in the ancient writers, of the importation of +sheep into Britain, from which it may be supposed, that they had found +their way into it long before its forcible separation from the +continent by natural convulsions. Cambden, in his work on Britain, +quotes from an old orator, part of a beautiful panegyric on the great +Constantine, in which the happiness of Britain is eloquently +described, and its advantages in regard to sheep graphically depicted. +"Innumerable are thy herds of cattle, and thy flocks of sheep, which +feed thee plentifully, and clothe thee richly." So that, even allowing +for the high-flown nature of the verbiage, the sheep of the island +must have been far from indifferent, and well worthy of any trouble +the grasping Romans may have been put to, in the erection of +manufactories. + +(41.) _Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture._--The history of +our wool, and the woollen manufacture, is, at one period and in one +point of view, the history of our public revenue, while in a +succeeding period it becomes the capital object of our commerce, and +the important subject of our political councils. The preserving and +supporting it against foreign rivals, the due regulation of its +numerous branches, and the proper restrictions deemed requisite to +ensure to this country the commercial benefits resulting from it, have +occupied our ablest statesmen for many centuries. + +The wools of England have always been in the highest repute, and that +more abroad than at home. Their fineness and abundance have been +ascribed by many to the sweet short grass on most of our downs and +pastures, and to the sheep having the privilege of feeding, all the +year round, without being shut in folds; but it cannot be denied, +that, though food and climate may have much concern in the matter, the +energetic industry and persevering attention with which an Englishman +devotes himself to the attainment of an object, have tended more than +any other circumstance to the advancement of our wools, and woollen +manufactures, and to the consequent prosperity of our island. + +The reason of the existence of so many laws relating to wool is, that +it continued for ages to be the principal commodity, meeting all +demands for the support of armies, and payment of public revenues, and +affording aids to the crown, which were in general granted therein. +The scarcity of money in England before the discovery of America, +rendered it necessary to levy taxes frequently in kind, and as wool +was abundant, it often figured as the representative of a more +portable currency. Part of the £300,000 demanded by the Emperor of +Germany as the ransom of Richard I., was raised by a loan of wool. +Edward I., the great reformer of our laws, imposed a duty of 6s. 8d. +on every sack of wool exported, and the like sum on every 300 +wool-fells; but soon after, when his necessities demanded a larger +income, he laid those additional duties on foreign merchants, which +afterwards became the tonnage and poundage, so famous in England's +history. Among these additions, the former taxes on wool and fells +were increased by forty pence, while at the same time, like other +monarchs of the period, he occasionally received subsidies of wool. In +the same way Edward III., in attempting, during the twelfth year of +his reign, to wrest the crown of France from the house of Valois, +procured a grant of half the wool in England, amounting to 20,000 +packs, which, taking it as valued by some authors at £40 a pack, must +have realized the sum of £800,000. + +(42.) _Weavers brought from Flanders._--Commerce and industry were at +a very low ebb during the time of Edward III., the principal export +being wool, which only brought into the kingdom about £450,000. Edward +promoted the woollen manufacture by bringing, in 1331, John Kemp, with +seventy Walloon families, weavers, from Flanders, and, owing to the +want of native skill in this department, gave every encouragement to +foreign weavers. (11 Edward III. cap. 5.)[6] A further encouragement +was given to the home manufacture, by the enactment of a law (11 +Edward III. cap. 2) which prohibited every one from wearing any cloth +not of English fabric. Parliament, however, in an evil hour, thwarted +these benefits, by prohibiting the exportation of woollen goods, +certainly an injurious step, so long as wool was allowed to be shipped +from our ports. + + [6] Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce, agrees with + Bloomfield the historian of Norfolk, that a colony of Flemish + weavers settled so early as 1327, at Worsted, a village in + that county, and bestowed upon it the name it bears. + +On the introduction of the Flemish weavers, Kendal became the +metropolis of this branch of industry, and was soon equalled in the +extent of its manufactories by many other towns, as Norwich, Sudbury, +Colchester, and York; while woollens were spun and wove, though to a +less extent, in Devonshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, +Hampshire, Berkshire Sussex, and Wales. + +(43.) _Regulations regarding Staples._--The _staple_, or market for +wool, was fixed by act of Parliament (27 Edward III.) in particular +towns of England, but was afterwards removed by law to Calais, and +English merchants were prohibited from exporting any goods from the +staple, or, in other words, foreign navigation was abandoned. To the +custom of taking subsidies in kind, may be traced the principle of +those multifarious regulations which fixed the staple in certain +towns, either in England, or more commonly on the continent; and to +the fluctuating state of politics may be ascribed the shiftings which +those staples so frequently underwent; but it is not easy to see the +drift of many of the provisions relating to it, some of which tend to +the benefit of foreign, rather than of British, commerce. + +(44.) The progress which this manufacture made in a very short period, +may be well illustrated by the following table of exports and imports +in woollen, about the middle of the fourteenth century, or twenty +years after the arrival of John Kemp and his establishment. + + EXPORTS. + + Thirty-one thousand, six hundred and + fifty-one and a half of wool, at L.6 + value each sack, £189,909 0 0 + + Three thousand, thirty-six hundred + and sixty-five fells, at 40s. value, + each hundred at six score, 6,073 1 8 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 81,624 1 1 + + Fourteen last, seventeen dicker, and + five hides of leather, after L.6 value + the last 89 5 0 + + Whereof the custom amounts to. 6 17 6 + + 8,061-1/2 of worsted, after 16s. 8d. value, + the price is 6,717 18 4 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 215 13 7 + --------------- + Summary of the out-carried commodities + in value and custom, £285,635 17 2 + --------------- + + + IMPORTS. + + 1,832 cloths, after L.6 value each, 10,922 0 0 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 91 12 0 + --------------- + + Summary of the in-brought woollens + in value and custom, £11,013 12 0 + +That the imported cloths were much finer than those exported, may be +inferred from their comparative value as here stated, and we may +conclude pretty justly, that the fabrication of coarse cloths +exclusively occupied the manufacturers of Britain, while the finer +fabrics were still brought from abroad, and that, in fact, the wants +of the _mass_ of the people were the regulators of British industry. + +(45.) _Subsidies raised by Edward III._--In 1338, Edward took a +fifteenth of all the commonalty of his realm in wool, rating the price +of every stone of 14 lbs. at 2s., although, in the previous November, +he had sent the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earls of Suffolk and +Northampton, with one thousand sacks of wool, into Brabant, which, +being sold at L.40 a sack, procured him L.40,000. Edward was +apparently not very sure how far his subjects would submit to so +sweeping a taxation, as we find him addressing a letter, dated +Berwick-upon-Tweed, March 28th, 1338, to the Archbishops of York and +Canterbury, desiring the favour of their prayers, and requesting that +they would excuse him to his people, on account of the great taxes he +was obliged to lay upon them. During the summer of 1339, the laity +granted to the king the one-half of their wools throughout the whole +realm, a favour his majesty is reported to have received most +graciously; but of the clergy he levied the whole, compelling them to +pay nine merks for every sack of the best wool. Knighton, who held an +office in the Abbey of Leicester, says that that house alone furnished +eighteen sacks. The revenue officers during this reign appear to have +exercised their calling with great strictness, and to have interfered +in an especial manner with the secret trade of the inhabitants of +Bristol, but this was terminated by the king granting a licence, dated +Langley, November 25th, 1339, to their weavers, allowing them "to make +woollen cloth without being liable to any molestation from the king's +officers." + +(46.) _Progress of the trade under Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward +VI._--During the bloody and destructive wars of the white and red +roses, when success graced the arms alternately of York and Lancaster, +commercial enterprise was almost at a stand. This unhappy period +brought, however, with all its evils, blessings in its train, and +Henry VII. not only did more for the advancement of the wool-trade +than his predecessors, but also gave it greater vigour than it could +lay claim to at any former period. Fine cloths were much improved in +his reign, and luxury began to be attended to in an article, which, +till then, had only been rendered amenable to comfort. The +ostentatious reign of Henry VIII., gave an additional impulse to the +trade, and cloth was sold in 1512 for five merks, which fifty years +before would only have brought about forty shillings; while, in +consequence of increasing wealth, population, and consumption, the +demand was materially increased. A new market was also opened up for +the exit of their woollens, by the establishment of an intercourse in +1516 with several islands in the Archipelago, and a few of the towns +on the coast of Syria. + +Edward VI., or rather his ministers, for he was then a minor, +attempted to lay a poll-tax upon sheep, every ewe kept in a separate +pasture being charged threepence, every wedder twopence, and all sheep +kept on commons three-halfpence; but it was found to be so oppressive, +so annoying to the people, and so difficult to collect, that it was +repealed during the next year. England made a distinguished figure in +this reign as a commercial nation. The manufacture of woollens was +raised to a great height. Cloth, besides being exported to Flanders, +found its way to Holland, Hamburgh, Sweden, and Russia, whose coarse +warm stuffs were very much wanted, and the trade wore such an air of +affluence, that a tax of eightpence in the pound was laid upon all +cloth made for sale in England. This, however, was speedily repealed, +a very short time serving to point out, that, though made for an +endurance of three prosperous years, the people who were galled by a +trifling impost on their sheep, would not, unless under very +favourable circumstances, submit to imposts on the fabrics which they +wore. + +During the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI., an undue +preference was given to grazing. Acts were framed to put a stop to +this mismanagement, which was fast ruining the country, by driving +people from it. Henry VII. exempted Norwich from the penalties of the +law, on account of the decay of manufactures from the want of hands; +and shortly after the whole county of Norfolk obtained a like +exemption in regard to some branches of the woollen trade. The +practice of depopulating the country, by abandoning tillage, and +throwing the lands into pasturage, had run to so great an extent in +the time of Henry VIII., that an enactment was made, whereby the king +became entitled to half the rents of the land where any farm-houses +were allowed to fall to decay. The number of sheep in a flock was at +the same time limited to two thousand. Hume conjectures, in his +_History of England_, that unskilful husbandry was probably the cause +why the proprietors found no profit in tillage;--thus leading a farmer +to keep a flock sometimes of twenty-four thousand as expressed in the +statute. This had the effect of increasing the price of mutton, a +remarkable coincidence, which parliament attributes to the commodity +having gotten into few hands, though Hume ascribes it to the daily +increase of money, thinking it almost impossible that such an article +could be engrossed. At the commencement of the reign of Edward VI., +the people were still sadly deficient in a knowledge of agriculture--a +profession, which, as Hume wisely remarks, of all employments, +requires the most reflection and experience. A great demand having +arisen for wool both at home and abroad, whole estates were laid +waste, while the tenants, regarded as a useless burden, were expelled +their habitations, and the cottagers deprived even of the commons on +which they fed their cows; no wonder there was a decay of the people! + +(47.) _Wool Trade encouraged by Elizabeth._--Elizabeth extended her +protection to the Protestants who fled from the persecutions of the +Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, and the woollen manufactories +became more flourishing than ever--so much so, that, although in 1552, +a large quantity of raw material was exported, yet in less than thirty +years, the people of Germany, Poland, France, Flanders, Denmark, and +Sweden, were covered with British cloths; two hundred thousand pieces +being annually exported, though the price was nearly tripled. At that +time the processes by which woollens are rendered beautiful were +unknown in England, and as our exports consisted in white undressed +cloth, the profits upon dyeing and finishing, amounting to nearly a +million a year, were lost. This was attempted to be remedied by +prohibiting the exportation of white cloths, but the Dutch and +Germans, who benefitted by the dyeing processes, forbade the entrance +of any English woollens dyed in the piece, into their territories, and +the export consequently fell immediately from 200,000 to sixty pieces. +Then the restriction was taken off. It was at this crisis that the +fabrication of medley cloths, or mixtures of wool dyed of different +colours and wrought into the same web, was commenced. + +(48.) _Woollen Cloth monopolized by the merchant adventurers._--Though +nine-tenths of the commerce of the kingdom consisted in the time of +James I. of woollen goods, wool was allowed to be exported till the +nineteenth year of his reign, when it was forbidden by proclamation, +but never strictly enforced. The cloth was very little admired even at +home, and though it was the staple commodity of the realm, a company +of merchant adventurers were allowed by a patent, to possess the sole +disposal of it. Elizabeth at one time attempted to rescue this +important trade from the hands of these merchants, but they instantly +conspired, and ceased to make purchases of cloth, when the queen was +necessitated to restore the patent. A board of trade was brought +together by James I. in 1622, and one of the purposes contemplated was +to remedy the low price of wool, which was leading the people to +complain of the decay of the woollen manufacture; but Hume supposes, +and with every appearance of probability, that this fall of prices +proceeded from an increase of wool. + +(49.) _English consumption of Wool increased._--Till the fifteenth +century our wool was sold in the fleece to such as came to buy it. +Among the principal of our customers were numbered the Flemings, and +Brabanters, and in particular the merchants of Ghent, and Louvain, who +took off vast quantities for the supply of two manufactories, that had +flourished in those cities from the tenth century, and had furnished +the greater part of Europe, and even England itself, with every kind +of woollen cloth. Thus they might have continued, to the great loss +of our island, had not the democratic hands employed in those +manufactories repeatedly revolted, owing to their determination to +resist a tax on looms, and being at length punished and dispersed, +found their way in no long time to Holland. While in the last place, +the spirit of sedition still being dominant, certain of their party +attacked and killed some of the civil authorities, for which they had +to make a precipitate flight to England, where they settled as +peaceful citizens, and instructed our people in the working of wool. +This occurred in 1420, from which time neither skill, money, nor +enactments, have been spared to enable us to retain so valuable a +trade. In the reign of Edward IV., every pack of English wool was +liable when exported to a custom of 50s., a goodly sum in those days, +and one which brought a yearly revenue of L 250,000. This excessive +custom, almost amounting to a prohibition, added to the above +mentioned opportunities, in a manner compelled the people to +manufacture for themselves, and in this they succeeded so well, that +by the time of Elizabeth, the exportation of live sheep and wool was +prohibited on pain of having the right hand struck off. It does not +appear that this enactment was ever repealed, though supposed to be so +by the 12th of Charles II. cap. 32, see. 3, which, without taking away +the penalties imposed by former statutes, imposes a new penalty;--20s. +for every sheep exported, or attempted to be exported, together with +the forfeiture of the sheep. + +(50.) _Severity of prohibitory enactments reprobated._--By the 14th of +Charles II. chap. 18 the exportation of wool was deemed felony, and +punished accordingly. This tended in no slight degree to the defeat of +the ends intended, by hindering all who were not cold-blooded from +bringing to justice the actors in so trifling an offence. This was +soon however seen through, and corrected, by the 7th and 8th of +William III. chap. 28, sec. 4, in which it was declared, that "Whereas +the statute of the 13th and 14th of King Charles II., made against the +exportation of wool, among other things in the said act mentioned, +doth enact the same to be deemed felony, by the severity of which +penalty the prosecution of offenders hath not been so effectually put +into execution; be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, +that so much of the said act, which relates to the making the said +offence felony, be repealed and made void." + +Adam Smith, when commenting in his "Wealth of Nations," on the laws +relating to wool, reprobates severely the ill-judged compliance of our +government, in yielding to the solicitation of our merchants, and +allowing them to sway with iron rule the commerce of the world. "The +severity of many of the laws which have been enacted for the security +of the revenue, is very justly complained of, as imposing heavy +penalties upon actions, which, antecedent to the statutes that +declared them to be crimes, had always been understood to be innocent. +But the cruelest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are +mild and gentle in comparison to some of those which the clamour of +our merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for +the support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the +laws of Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood." +None of the laws, however, were effectual, not even the one passed in +the middle of the seventeenth century, by which the offence was +rendered capital. In spite of the vigilance of our government, a +contraband trade in wool was long carried on between the inhabitants +of the French and English coasts, especially those of Sussex, by a +class of men called _Owlers_, from their only venturing abroad in +the night, and who were tempted to despise the penalty, with an +intrepidity astonishing to the rest of Europe, by the high prices that +were sure to be afforded to them in the Gallic market. Again, during +the first half of the eighteenth century, large quantities of wool +were constantly smuggled from Ireland to France, by which our trading +interests were considerably injured, and the plans for suppressing +exportation shown to be worse than useless. + +(51.) _Prosperity of the Dutch Manufacturers._--The woollen +manufactures of the Hollanders were first established in 1636, or +1637, by one hundred and forty English families, who went from Norfolk +and Suffolk, to settle at Leyden, and Alkmaer. The Dutch manufacture +of fine woollen cloths was, however, commenced much earlier, or about +1624, at which time they began to interfere with the English trade in +the Netherlands; insomuch that, in the twenty-second year of the reign +of James I., a certificate was given to the Parliament of 25,000 +cloths having been made that year in Holland. Upon this the House of +Commons resolved, 1st, "That the merchant adventurers setting impost +upon our cloth, is a grievance, and ought not to be continued; and +that all other merchants promiscuously, as well as that company, may +transport everywhere northern and western kersies, and new draperies." + +2dly. "That other merchants, besides the Merchant Adventurers' +Company, may freely trade with dyed and dressed cloths, and all sorts +of coloured cloths, into Germany and the Low Countries." Much +annoyance appears to have resulted to this island, from the progress +which the manufacturers in Holland still continued to make, and some +curious speculations were of course formed in the minds of the +ingenious. In 1651, a scheme was laid before the English commonwealth, +for obtaining from the court of Spain an exclusive right to purchase +_all_ the Spanish wool; or, in other words, to ruin the Holland +market, by stopping the supplies. The projector observed, "That this +proposed preemption would totally dissolve the woollen manufacture of +Holland, which, by means of that wool (Spanish), hath of late years +mightily increased, to the destruction of the vent of all fine cloths, +of English manufacture, in Holland, France, and the east country; and +hath drawn from us considerable numbers of weavers, dyers, and cloth +workers, now settled at Leyden, and other towns in Holland, by whose +help they have very much improved their skill in cloth, and have made +in that one province (one year with another) 24,000 or 26,000 cloths +yearly. That the Hollanders have of late years bought and exported +from Biscay, four-fifth parts at least of all their wools, and have +sold there proportionally of their own country stuffs." This was +certainly a novel method of accomplishing an end by a sweeping +monopoly; but the theory was too fine-spun ever to be reducible to +practice. + +(52.) _Fluctuating State of the Trade between 1635 and 1693._--By the +great act of tonnage and poundage, passed in 1660, on the restoration +of Charles II., taxes were imposed, among other things, on the +exportation of woollen manufactures, and it was not till the reign of +William, that the wretched policy of such regulations was discovered, +and a law was passed in 1700, by which the duties on woollens were +abolished, because in the words of the act (ll & 12 William III. chap. +20), "the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom doth, in a great +measure, depend on the improvement of its woollen manufactures, and +the profitable trade carried on by the exportation thereof." + +In the time of Charles II., an act was passed for the erection of +manufactories (Par. I, Sess. I, Cap. 40), by which it is enacted, that +no native or stranger is to export wool nor skins with wool upon them, +until made into work, or put to the best advantage, under the pain of +first value thereof, half to the king, and half to the informer. It is +also, in this act, ordered, "that none forestall the mercat of wooll, +nor keep up the same to a dearth, under the pain against regrators and +forestallers, and that for eschewing the deceit of putting stones, or +the like stuffs therein, no wooll be wrapt up in the fleece, under the +pain of confiscation, half to the king, and half to the discoverer and +pursuer, declaring always that the Exchequer may licence the export of +wool and skins, as they shall see cause." + +The French refugees, in 1635, brought money and talent into England, +and contributed greatly to the erection of manufactories for _slight_ +stuffs, and other French fabrics, never before made in England. The +former law for burying in woollen not being well observed, it was +repealed by an Act of Parliament, in the thirtieth year of that king +(cap. 3.), which enacted a register to be kept in every parish, by the +incumbent or his substitute, that every thing about the corpse of the +deceased was made of sheep's wool, of which an affidavit was to be +made by the relation of the deceased, and lodged with the incumbent, +under the penalty of £5, a moiety of which went to the poor of the +parish; the rest to the informer. But this was a sorry check, as +vanity was so predominant among the rich, that they paid the penalty +rather than want the pleasure of adorning their departed relatives +with lace and linen. + +In 1667, France supplanted England in many foreign markets, owing to +the care that Colbert at that time took to bring the French woollens +to perfection. The English immediately turned their attention to other +manufactures, in which, as in that of paper, they quickly excelled, +and thus compelled the French to abandon markets, in which they had +long remained without a rival. + +In 1698, a problem was started concerning the manufactures of the +country--whether or not a general linen manufacture would prove +beneficial to England? As London at this time abounded with new +projects and schemes, all promising as usual a hoard of wealth, the +question caused much excitement. It was at last determined that a +novelty of this kind would lead to the sowing of a great quantity of +flax in England, and the neglect of the woollen manufacture, which +would follow, might probably lower the price of land; for, as they +said at the time, "it requires about twenty acres of land to breed +wool, for setting on work the same number of hands which one acre of +flax would employ; and yet, in the end, the woollen manufacture will +be found to employ by far the greatest number of hands, and yield the +most profit to the public, as well as to the manufacturers." + +(53.) _Irish Manufactures discouraged._--In the same year (1698), the +English house of Peers addressed King William with the view of +inducing him to discourage the woollen manufactures of Ireland, which, +in spite of many restrictions, still continued to cause much vexation +to the monopolizers of England. The address ran thus:--"The growing +manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the cheapness of all sorts of +the necessaries of life,[7] and _the goodness of materials for making +all manner of cloth_, doth invite his subjects of England, with their +families and servants, to leave their habitation to settle there, to +the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, which makes his +loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive, that the further +growth of it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; and +praying, that his Majesty would be pleased, in the most public and +effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of Ireland, +that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture there, hath +long, and will ever be, looked upon with great jealousy by all his +subjects of this kingdom." A similar address was presented by the +Commons, and this most liberal and enlightened monarch was pleased to +answer, "_Gentlemen, I will do all that in me lies to discourage the +woollen manufacture of Ireland._" This was certainly altogether a +strange proceeding, especially when viewed in conjunction with the +cruel prohibitions of former periods.[8] Their foreign trade is said +by some to have been much diminished by this coolness; but much of the +poignancy and crushing animosity of the request are lost when we +consider that encouragement was at the same time given by England to +the making of Irish linen, his Majesty being desired in the same +address, to forward that manufacture, pursuant to the dictates of an +act passed in 1696. Nay, some are of opinion that these measures +resulted from the soundest views of the relative situations of the +countries, and that the prudent tenor of English enactments was never +better exhibited, than in the discouragement of the woollen and +encouragement of the linen manufactures of Ireland. + + [7] The people of Ireland produced worsted and woollen yarn at + a cheaper rate than we could, owing to their poor being able + to work on lower terms than those of England. This was owing + to the rent of land being less in Ireland than in England. + + [8] By the 18th of Charles II. the importation from Ireland + into England of great cattle, sheep, swine, beef, pork and + bacon, and shortly after of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, + was declared a common nuisance, and forbidden on pain of + forfeiture. Thus, the principal resource of a poor country in + the neighbourhood of a rich one, was unfeelingly denied to it, + till the reign of George III., when the hated edict was + repealed. + +(54.) _British Trade in 1699._--In 1699 there were 12,000,000 sheep +and lambs in Britain, and the yearly increase was supposed to be about +3,600,000. The value of each sheep, besides the skin, was 7s. 4d. The +stock was valued at £4,400,000. The value of the wool yearly shorn, +at 3s. 4d. per fleece, came to about £2,000,000. The woollens +manufactured in Britain amounted in value to £5,000,000 per annum, +while our yearly exports of the same were valued at £2,000,000. Many +were at that time afraid of the sinking of the woollen manufacture, +because the accounts of the fine draperies exported were larger than +usual; but, says an anonymous essayist of the period, "such do not +contemplate, that, though the old may be lessened, what is commonly +called the new draperies have increased, consisting in bays, serges, +and stuffs. So that upon the whole, infinitely more of the material of +wool has of late years been wrought up for foreign use, than in former +times; and herein our merchants have been only forced to follow the +modes and humours of those people with whom they deal, and the course +they have pursued has hitherto not been detrimental to the public." +* * * "'Twere better, indeed, that the call from abroad were only for +the fine draperies, because then we should be in a manner without a +rival; no country, but England, and Ireland, having a sward or turf +that will rear sheep, producing the wool of which most of our +draperies are made. 'Tis true the wool of Spain is fine above all +others; but 'tis the wear only of the richer sort, and of Spanish +cloths not above nine thousand pieces are sent abroad, one year with +another." + +(55.) _British Woollens rivalled by those of Sweden._--Before the +peace of Utrecht in 1713, we had no rival in the woollen trade but the +Dutch, over whom we had many natural advantages, such as situation, +goodness of our ports, and excellence of the principal constituents of +the manufacture. They were obliged to furnish themselves with the +materials at second-hand. When the trade in woollens was properly set +a-foot in England, during the long and happy reign of Elizabeth, the +interest of money was pretty much the same in both countries; but the +Dutch were engaged in a hazardous and bloody war, and in establishing +their Commonwealth, and East India trade; and, therefore, had not much +time to think of improving any manufacture. Owing to these +circumstances, we came into possession of all the principal marts for +woollens, both in Asia and Europe, and retained them till the +beginning of the war with France and Spain; we then prohibited trade +with both these countries. + +About the year 1720, our exportations to Sweden, of cloth, stuffs, +and other woollen manufactures, amounted to £50,000. The Swedes, +however, though situated in a severe climate, tried experiments with +English sheep, and with so great success, that, in 1765, they could +boast of wool little inferior to that of England. They then erected +manufactories, and we were compelled to relinquish a market, which we +had long held to our profit and advantage. + +(56.) _Regulations from 1740 to 1742._--In the 12th year of King +George II. it was enacted by a statute (cap. 21), "That whereas the +taking off the duties upon woollen or bay yarn imported from Ireland, +may be a means to prevent the exportation of wool, and of woollen +manufactures, from Ireland to foreign parts, and may also be of use to +the manufacturers of Great Britain, that from the first of May, 1740, +the same shall be no longer payable; excepting only the duties upon +worsted yarn of two or more threads twisted or thrown, or on crewel +imported from Ireland." At this time more than 1,500,000 persons were +employed on woollen articles, and were supposed to earn, one with +another, sixpence a-day for 313 working days, amounting in all to +£11,737,500 yearly. + +In 1742, the English poor suffered much from the contempt with which +home manufactures were regarded by the nobility, in consequence of +which the latter were speedily the losers. The importation of woollen +broad-cloth, of the manufacture of France, into ports of the Levant, +on behalf of British subjects, being not only prejudicial by +discouraging the woollen manufactures of Britain, but likewise a means +of affording relief to an enemy, and discoveries having been made of +British subjects fraudulently shipping from Leghorn quantities of +French woollen goods for Turkey, under the denomination of British, to +the great detriment of English woollens; an act was passed in the 23d +year of King George II. by which provision was made against these and +other fraudulent practices. + +(57.) _Improvements in the manufacturing of Woollens._--At the +commencement of the reign of George III. the woollen manufactures +advanced with a rapidity almost unparalleled in modern times as +regards other branches of trade. Till about the year 1770 most of the +processes were conducted by hand. The wool was spun by various persons +at scattered residences, the manufacturers receiving the yarn +periodically from the numerous spinners. This arrangement caused much +loss of time, and gave rise to frequent squabbles between the masters +and their workmen. In fact, all the operations were tardy in the +extreme. But at this period, the spirit of public and private inquiry +was happily directed to our deficiencies in the machinery of +manufactures. Inventions of great beauty and ingenuity were slowly +brought forward to facilitate our commercial acquirements. Human +labour has thus been lightened and abridged,--a greater number of +hands have been profitably employed, and an excellent lesson afforded +to the lovers of use and wont, which will not speedily be forgotten. + +By these improved means the cloth is possessed of greater evenness, +less injury is sustained in the dressing and shearing, and greater +beauty is imparted to its appearance. A great advantage is also +obtained by the master knowing the exact duration of each process, so +that he can time his goods for any hour, or market, and is enabled to +circulate his capital with a degree of certainty, and despatch, +formerly looked upon as quite impossible. A few years ago the late Sir +John Throckmorton sat down to dinner, dressed in a coat, the wool of +which, on the same morning, was on the sheep's back. The animals were +sheared, the wool washed, carded, spun, and woven; the cloth was +scoured, fulled, sheared, dyed and dressed, and then made into a coat. +All these complex operations were gone through without hurry, and +without deducting from the work any part of the time usually devoted +to similar fabrics. So great was the advantage derived from this +application of machinery, that in the year 1800 the produce was three +times larger than in the year 1739, though the number of persons +employed was the same in the one year as in the other. + +(58.) _Duty imposed on imported Wool._--For three centuries a free +importation of foreign wool was permitted by our government, and it +was not till 1803 that any one thought of laying a duty upon it. This +duty was at first comparatively light, amounting only to a halfpenny +a-pound, and it continued under a penny a-pound, till 1819, when Mr +Vansittart raised it to six-pence. The impolicy of this measure is +evident, when we consider, that we were losing our ascendancy in this +manufacture, that our export of woollen goods had been declining for +three years previous to 1819, and that the competition was becoming +every moment more severe. This tax was much dreaded by our merchants, +who, clearly perceiving the state of matters, warned Mr Vansittart, by +representing to him, in the strongest terms, the fatal influence it +would have upon our trade. Its effects are best exhibited by its +disastrous influence on the foreign trade in woollens, which fell off +about a fourth in value, almost immediately after the imposition. The +following table places this in the clearest point of view:-- + + _Declared value of woollens exported._ + + 1816, £9,387,455 + 1817, 7,847,280 + 1818, 7,177,335 + 1819, 8,145,327 + 1820, (_duty increased_) 5,989,622 + 1821, (_ditto_) 5,587,758 + 1822, (_ditto_) 6,465,988 + 1823, (_ditto_) 6,490,454 + 1824, (_ditto_) 5,635,776 + 1825, (_ditto_) 6,045,240 + +The opinions of our merchants ought to have formed the best of all +beacons in pointing the course to be pursued by Mr Vansittart; but, +even if they had been silent on the subject, the evidence of Mr +Bainbridge, before the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in +1820, to inquire into the state of the foreign trade of the country, +might have informed him of the true position of the wool trade, and +directed him in so hazardous an undertaking. When Mr B. was asked +whether he thought that an increase in the means of paying for our +manufactures would produce an increased consumption of them in Russia, +Sweden, and Prussia, he replied:--"I believe the woollen manufactures +in Prussia are in such a state as to be able to compete with us +completely; I speak of it particularly, because we are in the habit of +having transactions with the United States of America; and I find that +a very considerable proportion of fine woollens, and stuffs, are +absolutely shipped from the Netherlands, and from ports contiguous, +part of which I understand to come from the interior of Germany, and +from Saxony in particular; so that a portion of the trade, which we +have been in the habit of transacting with the United States, is +finding its way from the north of Europe. I, therefore, conceive, that +their manufactures are competing with the manufactures of this +country, and, consequently, they would not come to us to receive a +supply of those articles which they can purchase from their own +manufacturers at home." In 1825, at the earnest and obviously +well-founded representations of the manufacturers, Mr Huskisson +reverted to the old system: and it was then wisely enacted, that all +foreign wool imported for home consumption, of the value of 1s. +a-pound and upwards, should pay a duty of 1d. a-pound, but when the +value of foreign wool was under 1s., the duty was reduced to a +halfpenny per pound. A boon was at the same time conferred upon the +agriculturists, by the introduction of a new system with respect to +the exportation of British wool, the growers of which were allowed, +for the first time, to send it to foreign markets, on payment of a +penny per pound. + +(59.) _Removal of the Restrictions on Foreign Wool._--The importation +of wool was, by these reductions, speedily increased, and with it the +consumption of our woollens by foreign nations. The wool of our own +gradually augmented flocks being inadequate to the demand, and that of +Spain having been absorbed by our manufactories, large quantities were +imported from Prussia, Saxony, and many parts of the continent of +Europe, from which, antecedent to this run, little had been drawn. The +average annual import of wool during 1765-66-67 was 4,241,364 +pounds--the average annual export of woollens during the same period +was £4,630,384; while the average annual import of wool for the years +1822-23-24 was 18,884,876 pounds, and the average annual export of +woollens during the same time, amounted to £6,200,548, showing that +the importation of foreign wool was absolutely necessary for the +well-being of our manufactures. The importation of forty-four millions +of pounds weight, in the year ending 5th January, 1826, must be +ascribed as much to the spirit of over-trading, which then affected +every branch of industry, as to the reduction of the duty; but the +large importations during 1827, afforded an additional proof of the +necessity of foreign wool to the successful formation of a most +important article of commerce. Mr Gott of Leeds, in his evidence +before the Lords' Committee, on being asked if he could carry on to +the same extent as at present, if he manufactured his cloth of British +wool, replied, that, in certain descriptions of cloth, "_he could not +make an article that would be merchantable at all for the foreign +market, or even for the home market, except of foreign wool_." He +then proceeds to state, that though the competition is very strong +in every department of the manufacture, yet that foreigners are +decidedly superior to us in some description of low cloths. The +following question was then put, and plainly and emphatically +answered:--"Speaking of the finer cloths, is the competition such as +to render an additional duty on the importation of foreign wool likely +to injure the export trade? _I have no doubt, speaking on my oath, +that it would be fatal to the foreign cloth trade of the country. I +would further say, that it would be equally injurious to coarse +manufactures of all kinds made of English wool._ The competition now +with foreigners is as nearly balanced as possible, and the disturbing +operation of attacks of that description would necessarily enable the +foreigner to buy his wool cheaper than we should do it in this +country; the result would be, that foreigners would, by such a +premium, be enabled to extend their manufactures to the exclusion of +British manufactures of all descriptions." In another part of his +evidence Mr Gott says, "If two pieces of cloth at 10s. a-yard were put +before a customer, one made of British wool, the other of foreign +wool; one would be sold, and the other would remain on hand; I could +not execute an order with it. If any person sent to me for cloth at +7s. or 8s. a-yard, and if it were made of English wool it would be +sent back to me, and I must resort to foreign wool, or foreign mixed +with British, to execute that order." In fine, the British wool could +not be got rid of without a copious importation of foreign wool to aid +the manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths are so much +better and more durable in their wear than coarse cloths, that they +are coming more and more into demand, to the almost total exclusion of +the latter. Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun cloth is +reviving among our farmers, and as it is excellently suited for +work-day wear, though necessarily of an inferior gloss, coarse cloths +will, to a considerable extent, cease to be the concern of our +manufacturers. The only cloth, indeed, which the bulk of the people +will require, will be a finer material to form the garb for Sunday and +holiday recreation. + +(60.) _Countries from which we derive our Wool._--Our markets are +supplied with foreign wool principally from the following +places:--Australia, Van Dieman's Land, Cape of Good Hope, Peru, +Germany, Spain, and Russia. The Tasmanian fleeces are preferred to the +Australian, and fetch, in general, higher prices, owing to their being +fit for combing, while the latter, though making considerable advances +in fineness, are still of short staple. Both are favourites with our +manufacturers, from their being firm in the pile, a quality resulting +from the constant good health of the animal in those countries. The +German wool takes precedence of the Spanish, and has done so since +1819 or 1820. The King of Spain, about the year 1800, presented the +Elector of Saxony with a small merino flock, and, from that period, +our importations from Spain have diminished, as those from Germany +have increased. From the period of its first introduction into +Germany, till 1814, when peace once more fell to the lot of Europe, +these sheep were gradually spread over the kingdom of Saxony, and +when, by the events of 1815, the continental trade was thrown +completely open, the Saxon dealers, perceiving the value of this new +commercial article, commenced a regular trade in it with England. By +this new supply, the Spanish wool, as here shown, was slowly beaten +from its hold on the British manufacturers. + + _Importations into England of Wool from Spain and Germany, at three + separate periods._ + + 1800. 1814. 1827. + + Germany, 421,850 lbs. 3,595,146 lbs. 22,007,198 lbs. + + Spain and + Portugal, 7,794,758 lbs. 9,234,991 lbs. 4,349,643 lbs. + +At these periods the ports of these countries were open to British +merchandize, so that we have here a convincing proof, that the wool +growers of Spain do not owe their losses, as supposed by some, to the +hostile incursions of the French, but to the friendly competition of a +neighbouring state. + +Wool, both of coarse and fine quality, is daily becoming a more and +more important export from the Black Sea, owing to the great range of +pasturage in Southern Russia. The ordinary wools are very coarse, and +the fleeces dirty and full of grass seeds. Though not subject to +export duty, it is not supposed that it will ever turn out a lucrative +article for the British manufacturer. + +(61.) _Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830._--The latest tabular accounts on +which much reliance can be placed, are to be found in _M'Culloch's +Commercial Dictionary_, but of these I am compelled to offer only an +abridgment, and in general nothing but the sum total of his detailed +statements. The number of short-woolled sheep in England in 1800 was +14,854,299; the number of long-woolled sheep in England in the same +year was 4,153,308. The quantity of British wool in 1800 amounted to +325,269 packs; while in 1808 it had increased to 414,502 packs. The +sheep and lambs' wool imported into Great Britain from foreign parts +in 1810 was 10,914,137 lbs.; in 1815, 13,640,375 lbs.; in 1820, +9,789,020 lbs.; in 1825, 43,795,281 lbs.; in 1830, 32,313,059 lbs. The +increase here observable in 1825 is accounted for above in our notice +of the state of the taxes before and at that period. The exports of +British sheep and lambs' wool in 1830 amounted to 2,951,100 lbs.; +those of woollen and worsted yarn to 1,108,023 lbs. By far the +larger proportion of these exports was intended for France and the +Netherlands. The number of persons employed in the manufacture is +estimated at from 480,000 to 500,000, and their wages at £9,600,000. +The value of the raw material is calculated at £6,000,000; the total +value of the manufactured articles at £18,000,000 (as wool is supposed +in general to be trebled in value by passing through the hands of the +manufacturer); and the interest on capital, sum to replace wear and +tear, and manufacturers' profits at £2,400,000. + +(62.) _Wool Trade in 1832 and 1835._--"The total number of pounds +of sheep and lambs' wool imported into the United Kingdom, in 1832, +was--foreign, 28,128,973; produce of the Isle of Man, 13,516; quantity +retained for home consumption, charged 1d. per lb. duty, 23,619,901; +ditto 1/2d., 1,571,328; ditto 6d. (red wool), 1,130; duty free +(produce of British possessions), 2,473,991; total retained for home +consumption, 27,666,350; total quantity re-exported, 555,014. Quantity +of foreign wool warehoused under bond, 5th January, 1833, 3,165,651. +The total quantity of British wool and woollen yarn exported from the +United Kingdom in 1832 was, of the former, 4,199,825 lb.; of the +latter, 2,204,464 lb. The exportation of British woollen manufactures +in 1832 was as follows:--Cloths of all sorts, 396,661 pieces; napped +countings, doffels, &c., 23,453 pieces; kerseymeres, 40,984 pieces; +baizes, 34,874 pieces; stuffs, woollen or worsted, 1,800,714 pieces; +flannel, 2,304,750 yards; blankets and blanketing, 1,681,840 yards; +carpets and carpeting, 690,042 yards; woollens mixed with cotton, +1,334,072 yards; stockings, woollen or worsted, 152,810 dozen pairs. +Sundries, viz., hosiery, rugs, coverlids, tapes, and smallwares, +£55,443 1s. 8d. value. Declared value of British woollen manufactures +exported, £5,244,478 10s. 10d."[9] + + [9] Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 24. + +"The total quantity of wool imported into the United Kingdom, in the +year 1835, was by weight 42,208,949 pounds, which is rather more than +4,000,000 pounds under the importation of 1834; but on the 5th +January, 1835, 6,494,266 pounds remained warehoused under bond; +whereas, on the 5th January, 1836, there were no more than 2,846,014 +pounds so locked up. This is an important difference of stock on hand, +which, no doubt, has tended, and will tend, to keep up the price of +the article. The country from which we import the greatest quantity of +wool is Germany. In 1835, the amount was nearly 24,000,000 pounds +weight. From Russia, to which our exports of manufactured woollens is +comparatively small, we imported upwards of 4,000,000 pounds; from New +South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, taken together, about 209,000 +pounds weight more than from Russia. The next largest importations are +from Spain, Turkey, and Italy, which, taken together, supply us with +nearly 4,000,000 pounds. Portugal furnishes 683,000 pounds; Holland, +201,000 pounds; and Belgium, 231,000 pounds. Of the foreign wool which +we have imported, we re-exported in its unmanufactured state 4,101,700 +pounds during 1835. And of the total quantity imported in 1835, we +retained for manufacture 41,718,514 pounds. This is nearly 1,000,000 +pounds more than was taken up by the manufacturers in the preceding +year. + +"The whole amount of British wool _exported_ in 1835, was 4,642,604 +pounds, and of this 3,000,000 pounds were sent to Belgium, and +1,500,000 pounds to France. + +"In 1835, the 'declared value' (which, be it observed, is a real +thing, and very different from the 'official value,' which is of no +use except as an indication of quantity)--the total declared value was +£6,840,511; and of this amount upwards of £2,600,000 worth of woollen +goods went to the United States alone. Next after the United States in +the scale of our customers for woollens comes the East Indies and +China. To these we send the value of upwards of £800,000; to our North +American colonies the value of £418,000; and to the West Indies, +£114,200 worth. + +"In Europe, our best customer is Germany, which, in 1835, took +£631,000 worth. Besides the more fully manufactured goods, Germany +took from us, in the same year, 1,191,000 pounds weight of woollen +yarn. Of European customers, next after Germany come Portugal, which +took, in 1835, to the amount of £368,000; Holland, £245,629; Italy, +£243,582; and Belgium, £123,727. Russia took only £93,025 worth of +woollen goods. The South American States begin to be good customers; +Brazil took, in 1835, £337,788 worth, and Mexico and other States, +£356,700 worth. + +"Looking at the aggregate, the export of 1835 was fully a million +sterling in value above that of 1834; but as the price was higher in +1835, this is no certain guide to the proportion of increase in +_quantity_. In the year 1835, we exported to France only £68,000 worth +of woollen manufactures. + +"We have already stated the _exports_ of woollen goods to the South +American States in 1835; the _import_ of unmanufactured wool from +these States in the same year was £2,176,000 pounds; from France it +was 104,000 pounds. + +"We have only to add, as fiscal information connected with the +foregoing analysis, that of the wool imported in 1835, 26,877,780 +pounds paid to the revenue a duty of a penny per pound; 10,198,526 +pounds paid one halfpenny per pound; and 6,397 pounds of 'red wool' +paid sixpence per pound. + +"The wool imported from British possessions does not pay duty. Of that +there were, in 1835, 4,635,811 pounds imported." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. + + +(63.) This subject requires for its due consideration some slight +attainments in anatomy and physiology, but as such attainments, slight +though they may be, are as rarely met with as required among the bulk +of mankind, so the want of them may be the less regretted, seeing it +is possible to render even the intricacies of the study plain and +simple, by an appeal to facts of every-day occurrence; which, having +attracted the notice of the most unthinking, will serve as hooks on +which I shall try to hang the better part of an interesting inquiry. + +(64.) _Early Improvers of Sheep._--There cannot be a more certain sign +of the rapid advances of a people in civilization and prosperity, than +increasing attention to the improvement of live-stock. It tells of a +population limited in regard to soil, and making every effort to +remedy the want, by an economical doubling of the return for the usual +outlay: for, while a tribe wanders at large, remaining at a particular +place only so long as provender holds out, and, striking the tent, +departs for some far-off field, so long will their flocks be suffered +to roam neglected, and flourish or decay, as chance directs. + +From the time of Jacob, the possibility of determining the nature of +the offspring, by impressions on the parents, has been apparent to +all; and the best means of perpetuating a good quality, or removing a +bad one, have continued from time to time, to occupy the attention of +patriotic individuals. As much appears to have been known about sheep +two thousand years ago as at present, so true is it, that nothing new +is to be met with; yet, that does not rob our modern improvers of +their merits, for though they deserve little as inventors, they are to +be admired for that strength of mind, and determined perseverance, +which enabled them to rouse their fellows from their lethargy, and +compel them to become in turn, benefactors of their country, and +themselves. The signs of a good ram are concisely laid down by Varro, +by Virgil in his third Georgic, and by Columella; and, though the +Spanish nobility were looked upon with wonder, (till eclipsed by our +own extravagance,) in giving two hundred ducats, or fifty pounds for a +ram; yet Strabo assures us, that in his day (under Tiberius), they +gave more than three times that sum for one of the breed of the +Coraxi, a Pontic nation, believed to have the finest fleece in the +world. + +The greatest recorded improvers of the sheep in ancient times were +Lucius Columella, and his uncle Marcus Columella, Spaniards of +distinction, who removed to Rome in the reign of Tiberius, and made +agriculture the study and business of their lives. The former +commenced his celebrated treatise on husbandry during the reigns of +Tiberius, and Caligula, and appears to have finished it A.D. 55. It is +a work which may be read with advantage even at present, as it abounds +with much that is valuable, and is accessible to all through its +English translation.[10] + + [10] I allude to this, as the author of the work on Sheep, + published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful + Knowledge, at page 123 of that book, laments the want of an + English translation of Columella. An excellent quarto + translation of his twelve books on Husbandry, and one on + Trees, was published at London, in 1745. + +(65.) _Modern Breeders._--It is only within a very recent period, that +the mode of improving live-stock by skilful breeding, has been properly +attended to. The perfection of breeding formerly, was to have cows in +calf once a-year, and rear calves on as little milk as possible; and, +even yet, there are only a scattered few who devote to it the attention +it requires. The first, in modern times, who arrived at any thing like +eminence in this department, was Joseph Allom, of Clifton, who raised +himself by dint of industry, from a ploughboy, and for a long time +contrived to keep his methods secret, being supposed by many to have +bought his ewes in Lincolnshire, at the very time he was constantly +bringing them from the Melton quarter of Leicestershire. Though +possessing talent, he does not appear to have had education enough to +avail himself of it, and accordingly never gained the extensive +popularity which fell to the lot of his successors. + +As the introducers of new and important plans of management in +agriculture, are always rewarded by large profits, and the gratitude of +their countrymen, so none were ever more generously dealt with in +either respect, than Mr Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, and Mr Ellman, of +Glynde. The former, who may be said to have created a _variety_, +considered that a tendency to acquire fat was the first quality to be +looked to in an animal destined for the food of man; and on this, with +him a fundamental principle, was based the whole of his proceedings. +Different opinions will of course be held on the merits of the theory +on which he acted but all must acknowledge, that we are indebted to his +skill and experience, for the exertions which have been subsequently +made to improve the qualities of live-stock, in every district of the +kingdom. It was by his example, in fact, that the farmers all over the +country were stimulated to exertion, and be the system bad or good, it +ought to have our veneration, seeing that it was the commencement of a +new and most important agricultural era. + +John Ellman derives his well-earned fame, from the zealous manner in +which he improved the Southdown sheep, and spread them through the +empire. Till he directed his attention to the subject, every thing +connected with the management of the flock was left to chance, or at +least to the guidance of farm-servants, with whom, of course, it could +not be a matter of interest to select, or _sort_, suitable animals for +the continuance of the race. He speedily, however, corrected this +mismanagement, and aided by the introduction of turnip-feeding, in no +long time, and without any admixture of foreign blood, materially +improved the breed. + +About seventy years ago, improvements also commenced in Scotland. Till +then, in many parishes, no farmer could keep sheep through the winter, +and no place was reckoned so fatal to these animals as the undrained, +and unsheltered parish of Eskdale-Muir, in Dumfriesshire. At last one +William Bryden rented the farm of Aberlosk, and soon, by the _original_ +plan of draining, and building stone enclosures, made it, to use the +words of his able biographer, Mr Scot of Selkirkshire, "like the land +of Goshen, good for cattle which it is to this day." + +(66.) _Varieties among Animals._--All organized matter is subject to +variety. It may be doubted whether, since the creation of the world, +there have ever occurred, either at the same, or at separate periods, +two individuals in every respect perfectly alike. A plant, or an +animal, may resemble the rest of its species in chemical constitution, +and in the number and situation of its organs, but is sure to differ +from all in size, general configuration, and disposition of its parts: +These shades of difference, endless though they are, may be referred +to two leading causes--climate and descent; the former embracing +deviations induced by temperature and resources of subsistence; the +latter including changes occasioned by management, modes of breeding, +and influence of sex. + +(67.) _Varieties induced by Temperature._--The influence of temperature +extends chiefly to the _colour_ and _development_ of animals. In cold +regions the skin of the human race is fair, and the person squat and +stunted, but as we approach the equator, the hue becomes deeper and +deeper, till it is jetty black, while at the same time, the stature +attains nearer and nearer to the tallest proportions to which mankind +seem naturally entitled. The animals of the arctic regions are, for the +greater part of the year, covered with a clothing of the purest white, +which is, however, in many of them, abandoned for one of deeper tints +as the solar heat begins to gain the ascendant. But how very different +do we not find the colours of intertropical animals. There vivid tints, +and an almost metallic lustre, pervade animated beings, from the coral +in its submarine abode, to the gallinaceous birds, the coxcombs of the +forest. In this, as in every other department of nature, the most +beautiful harmony, or, in other words, a union of what is pleasing to +the eye, and suited for the comfort of the creature, every where +prevails. The colour of an animal envelope is never at variance with +the tints of surrounding objects. A painter, for example, would not +place a flower or animal of brilliant hue amidst the monotonous aspect +of an arctic landscape; neither would he picture the faintly-tinted +beings of a polar latitude, as surrounded by the warm and flashy +colouring characteristic of an oriental climate. As temperature, then, +determines in a marked degree the colour and dimensions of every +animal, such variations render the division of living beings into races +and varieties, a matter of necessity. Thus all human beings belong only +to one species, which may, however, be divided into five races, and +these again into an infinity of varieties. The differences between a +race and a variety are, that the latter is a subdivision of the former, +and that in the former the modifications are more profound, the changes +not being confined to the surface, but extending to the frame-work of +the body; whereas, to constitute a variety, nothing more is necessary +than the superficial influence of heat and light on the skin, and its +appendages the hairs. The Negro and the Abyssinian are precisely +similar in colour, yet they are by no means of the same race, as their +different features will distinctly prove; the Abyssinian approaching as +much in cast of countenance to the European, as the negro does to the +higher orders of the ape. The same may be noticed among sheep, but this +is sufficient for the present. + +The changes induced by climate, result from the working of a power +inherent in most animals and vegetables, by which they are suited +within certain limits, for bearing up against removal from their +ordinary localities, and assuming a different cast, as the place of +their exile may differ in degree from that which they have left. This +gradual adaptation to circumstances by an accommodating power is +termed, in philosophical language, acclimation. + +(68.) _Adaptation of the Sheep to Climate._--No animal varies more +than the sheep, and none so speedily adapts itself to climate; it +would almost appear that nature, convinced of its great utility, had +bestowed upon it a constitution so pliant, as to enable it to +accommodate itself to any point in a wide scale of temperature; for +though its natural situation as a wool-bearing animal, like that of +man appears to be the wine countries, yet with him, it has spread to +every quarter of the globe, becoming impressed at every change with +some peculiarity, alterable only by a change of situation, and +varying, we might almost affirm, with the weather; for, where the +temperature is equable, there does the animal preserve unchanged an +atmospheric stamp, and defies our efforts to alter the breed; while +under a fluctuating sky we can model it at will, though in this case, +continued exertions are required to secure them for any length of time +in an undeviating course. + +(69.) _Changes produced by Climate._--The wonderful power of +temperature in effecting changes upon animals, is well illustrated by +the Portuguese, who, after a residence of three hundred years in +India, are said to be at present almost as black as Caffres. Bishop +Heber, speaking of India, says, "It is remarkable to observe how +surely all these classes of men (whites--Persians, Greeks, Tartars, +Turks, and Arabians), in a few generations, even without any +inter-marriage with the Hindoos, assume the deep olive tint, little +less dark than a negro, which seems natural to the climate." Buchanan +also in his travels through the same country, alludes to a tribe of +black Jews who have, in all probability, been settled in the district +ever since the period of the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, 3000 +years ago, and who retain all the national peculiarities of their +race, with the exception of their colour, which is now as dark as that +of the surrounding tribes. These examples, however, it may be +affirmed, are not to the point, as embracing theories in regard to +peculiar changes in an animal different from the sheep, but such +objections are perfectly groundless, as what will affect colour in +mankind, will lead to changes even of a more wonderful nature in the +sheep, seeing that it is abandoned more entirely to such an influence. + +(70.) _Temperature preferred by Sheep._--Sheep, though capable of +thriving in a great variety of climates, seem to prefer such as are +temperate, and in these only do they arrive at perfection. They are +common on the Cordilleras at an elevation of from 3300 to 8200 feet, +within which limits they propagate readily without any care; but the +reverse is the case in hotter regions, it being difficult to rear +lambs in the plains of Meta, and no sheep are to be met with from the +river to the foot of the Cordilleras, though their skins, from being +in demand for making parchment, sell as high as those of the ox. Sheep +were at one time, according to Thunberg, the scarcest articles in +Batavia, as their woolly coat rendered the heat of the climate quite +insupportable; but this inconvenience was at last remedied by sending +them, on their arrival from the Cape, further up the country, to the +Blue Mountains, where the air is several degrees colder. The question +then naturally occurs, if an elevation of temperature is, as in this +instance, fatal to these animals, how do they happen to have spread +over a vast tract of country in spite of such extremes? Simply for the +reason, that when an animal is left to the exercise of its own free +will, and the dominion of its instincts, it will not subject itself to +the danger of an extreme in any thing. It will not traverse several +hundred miles in a single season, and thus expose itself to sudden +changes. The natural dispersion of all animals is gradual, so that +their constitutions are enabled, from the slowness of the transition, +to accommodate themselves, by an alteration in covering and habit, to +surrounding circumstances, which would, were the variations abrupt, +speedily destroy it. The reason why a race of animals occasionally +thrives so well in a country to which it may be removed, appears to +lie in its being suited, I may say, accidentally, by peculiar +conformation, to the temperature to which it is transplanted. There +are some happy climates where, introduce what animals you will, no +matter how stunted they are, or how different the degree of warmth may +be, their offspring will thrive, proving large and vigorous, and every +way worthy of being placed at the head of its species. These are, +however, cases where the transition is from an extreme of heat or cold +to a temperate atmosphere. Witness what Mr Dawson, the manager of the +Australian Agricultural Company, says in his private journal (quoted +in _Cunningham's New South Wales_). "Both the climate and the soil +appear by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine animals too, +_even from the worst beginnings_. The latter seems a paradox. The +extensive range afforded to every animal keeps it in good condition, +and, perhaps, the natural grasses may have more of good in them than +their appearance indicates. However this may be, the climate clearly +has a wonderful effect on the size of all animals, even upon man, who +is universally tall here, though born of diminutive parents. From this +I am led to believe, that the climate governs chiefly, and thus every +breeding animal introduced here will attain a size not known in +Europe." + +(71.) _Extent of the Alterations produced by Climate._--Changes +occasioned by climate are always limited to the fleece, horns, and +disposal of the fat, and never extend to those parts, on the +permanence of which the animal depends for its station in the scale of +being, as the feet, teeth, and digestive organs. In tropical countries +we find the fleece approaching more to hair than wool, as in the sheep +of Thibet, so celebrated for the silky nature of their coat. Burchell +remarks, that the skins he brought from the Cape of Good Hope were +often taken for those of an unknown quadruped, from the _furry_ nature +of their wool, if such it can be called, and thinks it is owing as +much to the pasture, which is well adapted for giving these animals a +soft and useful _fur_, though not suited, like New South Wales, for +the growth of the finest wool, and that the colony might turn this to +great advantage. In cold regions the hairy covering is more developed +and fully coarser, but always mingled with a proportion of hard rough +wool. The influence of climate on portions of the fleece and skin is +well illustrated by circumstances which have occurred in Galloway, +even within the limits of our traditionary writings.[11] The native +sheep of the Highlands of that district is supposed to have been a +small, handsome, _white-faced_ breed; at least so thinks John +MacLellan, who wrote an account of Galloway in 1650, from the wool +being much praised, and eagerly bought up by merchants, which would +not have been the case if taken from the _black-faced_ animal; yet how +happens it that at present the native breed exists only in the lower +parts of Kirkcudbrightshire, the high country exhibiting _black-faced_ +sheep, which, after every trial, have been found best adapted to the +climate, and pasture of the moors and Highlands; while Chalmers owns +that it has not been ascertained when or whence this hardy breed were +brought to their present locality? Why, it is tolerably plain, that +though the _white-faced_ sheep might be placed there originally, yet +they would speedily lose every trace of their origin, and become +_black-faced_ when placed on a hilly country, and subjected to the +slow but certain influence of peculiar food and climate. + + [11] Chalmers' Caledonia--Article, Galloway. + +Mr Culley imagines, that the dun-faced sheep were the earliest tenants +of the Scottish hills, but so far as my researches extend, that +supposition is entirely contradicted. Chalmers remarks, that the +black-faced animals superseded the goats, which were at one time a +source of subsistence to the farmers, and it is exceedingly probable, +that as the old white-faced began to change their appearance, and +became gradually able to withstand the rigours of a mountain fare, and +winter under a dun skin, and short rough wool, so would they recommend +themselves as the best of all stock to the hard-driven agriculturalist. + +(72.) _Increase of the Number of the Horns._--As much wonder is sure to +be excited by the fact, that bony prominences are subjected with as +great certainty to the modelling hand of climate as softer parts, I +give the following from a recent work, entitled, "_Gardens and +Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated_," premising, however, +that, in my opinion, temperature has a vast deal more to do with +alterations in the horns than domestication or cultivation. "One of the +most curious modifications produced by cultivation in the domesticated +sheep consists in the augmentation of the number of its horns; two, +three, or even four supplementary appendages of this description being +occasionally produced in addition to the normal number. Under these +circumstances the additional horns usually occupy the upper and fore +part of the head, and are of a more slender shape, and take a more +upright direction than the others, thus approaching in character to +those of the goats, while the true horns retain more or less of the +spiral curve that distinguishes those of the sheep. There exists a +strong tendency to the propagation of this monstrosity, which is +extremely frequent in the Asiatic races, but is also met with in a +breed that is common in the north of Europe, and is said to have been +originally derived from Iceland, and the Feroe Islands. In this case it +is unconnected with any other anomaly, but in the flocks of the nomad +hordes of Tartary, it is usually combined with an enlargement of the +tail, and adjacent parts, by the deposition of fat, frequently to an +enormous extent." + +(73.) _Causes of the various forms of the Horn._--Horns are seldom met +with in the sheep of hot climates, occurring more frequently in cold +and temperate regions; thus following closely the development of the +other coverings, to which, as before stated (19), they are strictly +analogous. The fleece consists of two portions--hair and wool, the one +predominating more or less over the other, as the climate may direct. +The form of the horns is always in unison with the character of the +fleece: thus, if the animal is covered with hair, as in the goat, the +horns will be straight; but if it is clothed with wool, as in the +sheep, the horns will be curved. The same holds good in other animals. +The reason of this appears to lie in the tendency which the hair or +wool, constituting the horny sheath, has to model the form of the +supporting bone. The fibre of hair is nearly straight; that of wool is, +on the other hand, remarkable for the number of tufted curls, or small +spiral ringlets, into which it naturally contracts; so that a Merino +ram, for example, will never be found with rectilinear horns, nor a +true goat with twisted ones. The truth of these remarks is borne out by +observations on animals on whose heads more than two horns are +occasionally met with. We always in such instances notice, that the +additional horns are straight, thus indicating the presence of a +considerable quantity of hair among the wool. The curve will be more +decided, and the twists more numerous, in proportion as the fibre comes +nearer and nearer to a perfect wool--evidence of which we have in the +beautifully-tufted and spiral horns of the Merino ram, which are as +opposite in this respect to those of the goat, as is its fleece to the +hairy coat of the latter. From these considerations I am led to +believe, that the form of the horn, when present, is an excellent guide +to the nature and quality of the other coverings, and an index to every +gradation which can possibly occur between wool and hair. + +(74.) _The proper Temperature required for Sheep._--Regular warmth is +absolutely necessary for the production of a good animal and a fine +fleece, and is only to be obtained by attending to the draining and +clearing of land, so as to dissipate moisture, and allow currents of +air to play freely across the country.[12] An atmosphere which holds +suspended a large quantity of watery vapour, is always extremely +chilling to an animal body. This is accounted for by the well-known +fact, that a moist air, being a better conductor of caloric than a dry +one, robs an animal more quickly of heat. Thus, in passing from the dry +air of the hills into the vapour of the valleys in a winter morning, we +feel as if the transition had been from a temperate to an icy region. +Hence one of the reasons why sheep thrive best in a rather elevated +situation. Moist air, however, is exceedingly oppressive in hot +weather, because evaporation, from the surface of the body, is to a +great extent diminished; and it is only by the perspiration being +allowed to escape rapidly, and to convey away the heated particles, +that we can manage to be in any degree comfortable during the heat of +summer. This free evaporation we endeavour in every way to obtain, and +often in a manner that ignorant people would consider as the reverse of +sensible. It is well known that draughts of _cold liquids_ are very far +from answering the purpose of lowering our temperature when above a +pleasant standard; but we find that a basin _of hot soup, or tea_, will +speedily bring about the desired end, by producing a copious +determination of fluid to the skin. Yet, if the air contained no +moisture, we should experience sensations just as unpleasant as those +already mentioned; for evaporation from our bodies would proceed at +such a rate, that we would soon be parched. It is to counteract this +tendency of dry air that the Americans are in the habit of placing a +small vessel of water on their stoves, by which contrivance a quantity +of vapour is diffused through the apartment, sufficient to balance the +loss from the arid warmth of the fire. + + [12] It is to secure equality of temperature that the Spanish + flocks are twice in the year exposed to the hazard of an + overland journey of 400 miles, that they may pass the summer + in the mountains of the north, and the winter in the southern + plains. + +That an equable temperature is only to be obtained by draining and +clearing a marshy and wooded country, is sufficiently authenticated. In +the thickly wooded and swampy territories of Guiana, rain falls +continually during nearly eight months of the year; and the cold is so +intense, that fires are necessary in the houses throughout the night. +But in Cayenne and its neighbourhood, which were cleared of wood about +one hundred and fifty years ago, the increase of temperature is now so +great, that during the night the people are annoyed by the warmth, and +the rains are neither so frequent nor so heavy as in the rest of the +country. Paris and Quebec are nearly under the same latitude; yet the +air of the latter is much colder than that of the former, evidently +from its being surrounded by forests so dense and umbrageous, that sun +and wind are alike denied access to the earth. The difference between a +cleared and an uncleared country, in regard to wool, is well +illustrated, by contrasting North America, its heavy woods and stagnant +atmosphere, with the thinly timbered surface and constantly renovated +air of New South Wales. It is only within the last few years that +Canada has been enabled to compete with Britain in the article of wool, +and that the sheep, which were of the coarsest kind, have been so +improved as to do away with the prejudices against their mutton. +Australia, on the other hand, has, from its earliest colonization, +figured as a sheep-rearing country of the first importance; and nothing +has conduced so much to this as its freedom from closely planted trees, +by the absence of which the settler is enabled at once to stock his +farm with the best of sheep. Nature, in fact, could never have intended +sheep to pasture in a wooded country, as is clearly evinced by their +coat, to which every thing in the shape of bush or tree is in the +highest degree inimical. + +(75.) _Geographical limits of the Sheep._--Every plant and animal has +certain geographical limits, out of which it cannot exist. With the +exception of man and the dog, no animal has a wider range than the +sheep, extending as it does from Iceland almost to the equator, and +from a few degrees south of that to the polar extremity of South +America. But though existing under so great a variety of exposures, it +must not be inferred that it can come to perfection in them all. On the +contrary, it rather delights in the temperate zones, and can evidently +only be raised to its highest point of excellence in the countries of +the vine. The western parts of continents produce better sheep than the +eastern, and the southern hemisphere better than the northern; as in +the former situations the temperature is more nearly equable than in +the latter. The same may be said of maritime districts, as compared +with such as are inland. Temperature is affected in the same way by +elevation as by northern or southern position--the mean heat +diminishing in the same ratio when ascending a mountain, as in receding +from the equator. On this account, Humboldt compared the earth to two +mountains with their bases at the equator, and their summits at the +poles. The mean temperature, when resulting from the height of the +place above the level of the sea, is at the same time influenced by the +nature of the aspect, as we notice in the Alps, where the Glacier +exists on the northern side, at the same elevation at which the +vineyard yields a perfect fruit upon the southern. + +(76.) _Particular forms induced by certain limits._--The character +which a predominance of heat, or cold, impresses on the animal as a +whole, extends also to individual parts of the body. The sheep of South +Africa are, as all the world know, remarkable for the magnitude of the +tail, which forms an immense fatty appendage. The sheep of Persia, +Tartary, and China, are distinguished from all others by the tail +forming a _double globe_ of fat. The North of Europe, and North of +Asia, are overrun by a breed in which the tail is almost wanting, while +that of Southern Russia, India, and Guinea, stands pre-eminent from the +elongation of the tail, and, in respect to that of the two last named +places, also of the legs. + +(77.) _Influence of vegetation on form and disposition._--Vegetation +influences, to a great extent, the form and disposition of the animal. +Such changes may be brought about either by the plenty, or scarceness, +of the herbage; or by the nature of the country on which that herbage +is produced. Animals found on hilly countries are always widely +different from those of the plains. Their bodies are light, their legs +long, and their habits of that unquiet kind which renders them hostile +to any thing like restraint. It is for these reasons, that when once a +flock attaches itself to a range of hills, and becomes suited to the +means of subsistence, it may preserve itself for ages apart from +neighbouring varieties, and present, after a long series of years, +those qualities in their native purity for which it was noted by the +earliest observers. The sheep of a level country are distinguished, on +the contrary, by heavy bodies, short legs, and easy tempers. They are, +in fact, constructed on Dutch proportions, and are imbued, as a natural +consequence, with those imperturbable and steady-going habits so +characteristic of the bulbous bottomed Hollander. Subdued as they are +by the nature of their locality, they readily submit to man, who tutors +them at will, and works on them those profitable changes from which +have originated our improved varieties. As connected with the unquiet +dispositions of hill sheep, I may mention the prevalence of a notion, +that domesticated sheep cannot by any possibility become wild. From all +that I have seen, and read, I am led to believe, though the sheep, +according to Greek, Roman, and Oriental philosophers, was the first +animal domesticated, that when at liberty it will soon return to its +primitive and instinctive habits. Bonnycastle, in his work on Spanish +America, remarks, that sheep are found in a state of nature, in the +northern parts of New Spain, "having multiplied to an extraordinary +degree in the wide-spread plains, and savannahs." In ascending our +Scottish mountains, every one must observe the state bordering upon +wildness, in which the sheep appear, roving in detached but well-led +parties; bounding away to the most inaccessible places on the approach +of danger, and peering from the eminences in all the pride of scornful +independence. Professor Blumenbach at one time doubted the possibility +of domestic sheep ever becoming wild; but his opinion was changed on +perusing the work of Vincentius, where there occurs a remarkable +passage, in which Nearchus, when speaking of the desert island of +Cataia, on the coast of Caramania, says, that the inhabitants of the +neighbouring islands yearly carried thither sheep, as offerings to +Venus and Mercury, and that, in course of time, they became wild in the +deserts.[13] Constant attendance is, therefore, called for on the part +of man, to ensure that untroubled reliance on his care so conducive to +the welfare of the flock, for even on a temporary cessation of his +protection, those instincts, which can be subdued but not eradicated, +are brought into operation, and their presence will go far to retard +the advancement of those qualities, on the perfection of which a profit +can alone be hoped for. + + [13] Edin. Philosophical Journal. + +(78.) _Breeds required for Britain._--Of the numerous breeds at +present in our island, a few only are indispensably necessary for the +continuance of its prosperity. These stand, according to Marshall, +thus:--A very long-woolled sheep, as the Lincolnshire, or Teeswater, +for the richest grass lands, and finest worsted manufactures--the New +Leicester, for less fertile grass land, and for rich enclosed arable +land, on which the fold is not used; intended to supply coarser +worsted, stockings, coarse cloths, blankets, and carpets--a +middle-woolled breed, as the Wiltshire, the Norfolk, or the Southdown, +for arable lands on which folding is practised, and for cloths of +middle qualities--a fine-woolled, as the Ryeland, for the finest +cloths; and a hardy race for heathy mountains. + +Some argue, and rightly, that only three breeds are necessary for +Scotland, inasmuch as only three are required by the nature of the +country. Scotland may be regarded, in an agricultural point of view, +as divided into highland, upland, and plain. The highland consists of +primitive rocks, covered by peaty soil and heath, on which these +indefatigable gleaners, the black-faced sheep, alone can gain a +subsistence. The upland is formed by the transition series of rocks, +covered with grass; and to it the Cheviots appear indigenous. The +plain is formed by alluvial deposits, covered with rich pasture, and +capable of supporting races of large sheep, as the Leicesters. + +Sheep are the only kind of live-stock which ought to be kept in +mountainous districts, especially when green crop cannot be +cultivated. Sheep-farming must necessarily prevail in the Highlands, +where there are few tracts suited for the pasturage of black cattle: +The value of its adaptation to the natural circumstances of that +district is proved by the rapid progress which it made, and the +profits which resulted to the individuals with whom it originated. +Places which formerly were not of the slightest utility, now yielded +heavy rents. The spots among the mountains, susceptible of +cultivation, were found to be advantageously kept in grass, to serve +as pasture for the flock during the rigour of winter, and it was well +ascertained that more than double rent might be paid by stocking with +sheep in preference to cattle. + +The Dishley sheep are excellent specimens of what may be done with the +form of an animal, when the endeavours of the breeder are seconded by +a pasture suitable for the intended breed. They are admirably adapted, +as every breed ought to be, to the soil and situation where they were +called into existence; and their crosses are now spread over most part +of the country; principally the corn districts, as they are supposed +to be the most profitable kind on farms where the best tillage crops +are combined with the fattening of livestock, though Marshall supposes +they will only be reckoned profitable so long as other breeds of +long-woolled sheep remain with thin chines, and loose mutton; or, in +other words, that there are plenty of kinds which would prove equal, +if not superior, to the present, if they only received the same +studied attention. + +(79.) _Varied nature of the food of Sheep._--Sheep will take, +sometimes from choice, sometimes from necessity, to food of a directly +opposite nature to what they have been used. "The mutton," says the +Rev. George Low, writing of Orkney, "is here in general but ordinary, +owing to the sheep feeding much on sea-ware, to procure which these +creatures show a wonderful sagacity, for no sooner has the tide of ebb +begun to run, but they, though at a great distance, immediately betake +themselves full speed, one and all, to the shore, where they continue +till it begins to flow." The sheep of Iceland are content during +severe winters to feed, and be preserved, on messes of chopped +fish-bones, being all that the ingenuity of their masters can provide +in the way of a precarious sustenance. During the long continuance of +snow-storms, when the herbage is beyond the reach of their utmost +efforts, sheep are known to devour the wool on each other's backs, +and, in some instances to acquire a relish for this unnatural food, +which adheres to them through life. This, though on first thoughts +hardly credible, is scarcely more wonderful than the partiality which +cows display, when instigated by the depraved appetites created by +pregnancy, for blankets, and any similar domestic articles which may +be exposed to the gratification of their longings. + +The Puruk sheep of Ladusk, in the Himalaya mountains, is, as described +by Mr Moorecraft, in the _Transactions of the Asiatic Society_, in +respect to the varied nature of its food, a most remarkable animal. +"The Puruk sheep, if permitted, thrusts its head into the cooking pot, +picks up crumbs, is eager to drink the remains of a cup of broth, and +examine the hand of its master for barley, flour, or a cleanly picked +bone, which it disdains not to nibble; a leaf of lettuce, a peeling of +turnip, the skin of the apricot, give a luxury; and the industry is +indefatigable with which this animal detects, and appropriates +substances, so minute and uninviting as would be unseen and neglected +by ordinary sheep; perhaps the dog of the cottager is not so +completely domesticated as it is." That Mr Moorecraft is correct in +this statement of its omnivorous propensities, there cannot be the +slightest doubt, as any farmer can testify from what he has seen of +lambs reared by children for amusement. The celebrated John Hunter +showed, that a pigeon might be made to live on flesh, and that its +stomach became adapted to the nature of this food: and I have +somewhere read of a sheep, which, after being long on ship-board, and +accustomed, from scarcity of vegetables, to an animal diet, could +never after be prevailed upon to take to grass. Nor need these +circumstances excite surprise, since the food of every living creature +is, for a certain period at the commencement of existence, limited to +such as is purely animal. But to keep to our subject. Those in the +habit of opening the stomachs of sheep, must have remarked the eroded +appearance which the inner coat occasionally presents. This phenomenon +is owing to the action of the gastric juice, which, if competent to +turn at once from the food with which it is mingled to attack the +texture which has secreted it, will also be, during life, capable of +digesting with tolerable ease, such dead animal matter as may be +brought into contact with it. + +In regard to vegetable food, they will, when necessary, devour such as +is even of an acrid nature, and calculated to poison any animals but +themselves. Thunberg, while in Southern Africa, frequently noticed +sheep eating, with impunity, the _Mortimia acris_, the _Rhus lucidum_, +and the _Lycium afrum_, which are all of a poisonous nature; and, in +this country, hemlock is known to be quite innocuous to sheep. What is +poison to one animal often constitutes a wholesome food for others, +and that which will, when given in immediate large doses, destroy an +animal, will, when taken in a gradually-increasing allowance, prove +extremely salutary. + +(80.) _Influence of the food on the quality of Mutton._--Diet has a +powerful influence on the constituents of the body. A rank succulent +pasture taints the flesh, or renders it insipid and unpleasant, while +a dry aromatic herbage communicates a delightful flavour, and enables +people versed in the pleasures of the table easily to discriminate +between turnip-fed and grass-fed mutton; and again, between the +latter, and that which has spent its existence on the hills. In +Touchwood's Syllabus of Culinary Lectures, appended to the _Cook and +Housewive's Manual_, by Mistress Dods, we are briefly informed, that +"the black-faced, or short-sheep, are best for the table, though _more +depends on the pasture than the breed_." More, in fact, depending on +feeding and management, than on the variety of the animal, though this +of course is not to be neglected. A notion has been advanced in this +country, that artificial pastures are less nutritious than natural +ones, and that the animals which are raised upon them are, +consequently, of a laxer fibre, and the flesh less wholesome, as well +as less savoury. This, I have no doubt, is perfectly correct, as many +_diseases_ may be traced to such improper food, and what is calculated +to produce in some cases actual disease, cannot fail to prove at all +times capable of retarding the advancement of the animal. These soft +succulent pastures appear not to be positively poisonous, but to be +negatively so from their deficiency in saline matter; the rapid growth +of the plant preventing the elimination and absorption, of many of +these ingredients with which the soil abounds. This is proved by the +greater necessity which exists for the use of salt in the food of the +herbivorous animals of hot climates, than in that of such as inhabit +temperate, or cold latitudes; vegetation being in the former more +rapid in its details, and in certain states of the atmosphere hurried +in the extreme, while in the latter the process proceeds with that +leisure which enables the plant to make good the measure of its +constituents, as it increases in size. In many parts of North America +it is well known, that, at certain seasons, the wild animals make +eagerly for the salt _licks_; and, following up this hint, the +settlers easily induce their oxen to keep near their dwellings, by +serving them periodically with salt. When the wild cattle of South +America had greatly increased, it was discovered that they could not +exist unless they had access to streams which had acquired brackish +particles from the soil. _If salt, in places devoid of it, was not +furnished to them by man, they became stunted, unfruitful, and the +herds soon disappeared._ Even in this country, the free use of salt is +found to be highly beneficial to our domestic animals, preventing the +occurrence of many of those diseases which are otherwise sure to +follow the use of food such as is mentioned above, and ensuring that +sound health which is so conducive to the accumulation of fat. + +(81.) _Differences in the quality of Mutton._--I shall now enter a +little into the manner in which the _quality_ of the flesh may be +affected, and the methods of judging of the different states or +conditions, in which it may be found under various circumstances; +premising that it requires much experience, to enable a person to +pronounce with confidence, as to the value of the muscular parts, from +the inspection of a living animal:--The flesh of different specimens +of the same animal, varies not so much from breed or descent, as from +age, feeding, and exercise. That of the young is soft and gelatinous, +the fibres being small, weak, and much interspersed with a substance +termed, from its loose appearance, cellular tissue. This tissue +exhibits in the spaces between the muscles (_layers of flesh_) small +masses of delicate fat. The greater bulk of the latter is situated +immediately beneath the skin, and occasions that beautiful rotundity +so much admired in children. As the animal advances in life, the +fibres become firmer, larger, and more approximated, the cellular +tissue disappears to a great extent, the fat shifts from the outward +to the inward parts, allowing the outline of the muscles to be +distinctly seen, but giving at the same time to the figure that portly +symptom of good keeping, so unpleasant to the eye when carried to the +extent of Aldermanic dignity. All these appearances are, however, +varied by exercise, which tends, in a marked degree, to increase the +muscular parts at the expense of the fat--the former becoming, when +employed within proper limits, large, and unyielding to the touch, +while at the same time the colour is heightened from a pale or purple +hue, to the bright vermilion so justly relied upon by housewives, as a +guarantee for the superior qualities of the article. The wild horses +in South America, which form the principal part of Indian diet, are +said by these epicures to be much improved for the table by gentle +labour, and to be quite on a par when thus cared for, with some of our +best beef. This plan is, however, only pursued for the purpose of +rendering the flesh of their horses moderately firm; but where an +opposite effect is desired it is readily, though cruelly, produced by +putting the animal to a lingering death; examples of which practice +are to be met with in the annals of most civilized nations; as in the +German mode of whipping pigs, and the English custom of baiting +bulls;[14] both tending to the same end, by so exhausting vital +contractibility as to prevent its last and faint display in the +stiffening of the carcass. + + [14] By the old English law, no bull beef could be sold unless + the bull had been baited. + +Marshall, who touches very slightly on the subject, says, "The flesh +of sheep when slaughtered is well known to be of various qualities: +some is composed of large coarse grains, interspersed with wide empty +pores, like a sponge; others of large grains, with wide pores filled +with fat; others of fine close grains with smaller pores filled with +fat; and a fourth of close grains without any mixture of fatness. The +flesh of sheep when dressed is equally well 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 plump, short, +and palatable, affording a mixture of white and red gravy. A fourth +likewise plump, and well-flavoured, but discharging red gravy only, +and this in various quantities. It is likewise observable that some +mutton, when dressed, appears covered with a thick, tough, +parchment-like integument; others with a membrane comparatively fine +and flexible." This membrane ought to be rather thin than thick, as, +when of the latter texture, you may safely affirm that the animal was +aged. _Looseness_ is reckoned a bad quality of the flesh of sheep +during life, as indicating a coarse-grained porous mutton, and as +equally exceptionable with that of _hardness_: while _mellowness_, and +firmness, are much to be desired, as forming a happy mixture, deemed +by some the point of perfection. The tendency to become fat at an +early age, though a valuable one in some points, is not so in others. +Premature decay is always the result, showing with certainty that a +healthy action has not been going on. An animal when _loaded_ with fat +cannot be looked upon otherwise than as in a diseased state, and +liable to embarassment of many organs, especially of the heart and +brain. Sudden death on any hurried exertion is far from rare, and +life, from the difficulty of enjoying it, is any thing but desirable. + +(82.) _Abuses in Feeding._--The custom of over-feeding was carried to +an absurd extent on the promulgation of Bakewell's method, nothing +less being aspired to than the glory of laying seven or eight inches +of fat on the ribs of sheep. This folly however had its day: the +ridiculous parts of the system have to a great extent disappeared, +while attention to the production of an increased quantity of mutton, +without too great an abundance of fat, has remained to prove to the +world the value of the benefits which the English farmer conferred +upon his country. Overgrown sheep are indeed good for nothing "save" +in the words of Meg Dods, "to obtain premiums at cattle shows, and +deluge dripping-pans with liquid fat;" and in this every one will +agree, excepting always boarding-school cooks, and others who depend +for their principal perquisites on the over-roasting of oily meat! The +fat, though not reckoned as offal in the slaughter-house, will +speedily show itself as such in the kitchen, by the waste during the +cooking process, even in England where fat meat is so much admired; +and it is surely absurd to pay the price of good mutton for tallow, +when if the latter were really wanted, it could be procured at a +cheaper rate by itself, than when forming part of a dear commodity. +The only way in which over-fat meat can at all be reckoned profitable, +is in its application to the wants of the working classes, whose +bodily labour enables them to enjoy what would to others prove +displeasing in the extreme, and to digest and assimilate with ease, +food which to the sons of sloth would prove a poison. So far as these +wants have been supplied, the attempt of Bakewell has been attended +with the happiest results, as he and his disciples have placed by +their well-spent exertions much good food within the reach of the +poorer classes, which they must otherwise have gone without; while in +many instances it has driven bacon from the market, being a cheaper +and more palatable commodity, which cannot but contribute to the +health of the people, seeing the continued use of salted meat is +calculated to injure the body, and render it liable to many diseases. +Marshall remarks, that fat, like charity, covers a multitude of +faults: and he is right, for an ill-shaped animal if well fed, has all +its angles speedily effaced, and if its ugliness has not amounted to +absolute deformity, it acquires that rotundity of contour so pleasing +to the eye, and so apt to mislead us. + +The rapidity is various with which animals take on fat, much depending +on hereditary predisposition, and the nature of the food; and much +also on the state of the atmosphere, and quiet habits; a moist and +rather warm air tending greatly to the advancement of the process, +some birds becoming fat in twenty-four hours of wet weather. Children +that have been emaciated by diseases often resume their original plump +condition in a few days; and animals that have been famished, as hogs, +afterwards fatten very rapidly. Moderate and repeated bleedings, mild +farinaceous diet, and emasculation conjoined, tend to the repletion of +the body, and to the speedy deposition of fat; yet it would appear, +that when acquired in this rapid manner, it never possesses the value +in a culinary point of view, that is yielded to such as has been +slowly formed, when, as one may say, the worthless particles have had +time to be removed, and the remaining part to become a firm and +healthy deposit. It is partly owing to this, that animals are never at +their best when forced to take on fat at an early age, but are most +esteemed by the gourmand when they, as in the case of the sheep, have +lived from three to four years. + +(83.) _Tendency to acquire Fat._--A disposition to early obesity, as +well as a tendency to that form which indicates a propensity to +fatten, is materially promoted by a good supply of rich food, while +the animal is in a growing state. The Spanish shepherds are so well +aware of this, that half of the lambs are annually killed, that the +survivors may obtain every indulgence in the way of milk. Care should +be taken never to place animals suddenly on food much superior in +feeding qualities to what they have left. Very lean sheep are never +put to full turnips in winter, nor to rich pastures in summer, but are +prepared for turnips on good grass lands, and kept on second years' +leys, and afterwards given a moderate allowance of turnips if they are +to be fatted on pastures. It is an invariable rule with all good +managers, never to allow this or any other animal, reared solely for +the shambles, to lose flesh from its earliest age till it is sent to +the butcher as more food is necessary to bring it to a certain +condition than to keep it at it. In the case of the Dishleys, it is +customary to keep all in a state of fatness, except those intended for +breeding, and after full feeding on turnips during winter and spring, +to finish them on the first year's clover early in summer, when the +prices of meat are usually the highest; so that this variety is always +fit for market at eighteen months, while the Highland breeds, though +prepared by means of turnips, a year at least, sooner than in former +times, do not usually go to the shambles till from three to four years +old. + +(84.) _Frequent change of Pasture necessary._--Sheep ought never to be +permitted to remain too long on one pasture:--Great benefit will be +derived from their removal from time to time to different parts even +of the same farm, by which arrangement a change of herbage will be +ensured. No animal can be kept for any length of time in health, if +restricted to one unvarying routine of diet. This has been +satisfactorily proved by the experiments of Majendie, who found that +health could not be sustained on one or even two kinds of food beyond +the thirtieth day. Now, though such immediate injury cannot result to +a flock from retention on a particular pasture, owing to the variety +of sustenance being considerable, yet proportional harm will ensue +sufficient to induce us not to repeat the risk. Nature, the best of +guides in all that relates to the protection of her creatures, is no +where more pointed in her directions than on this head. A necessity +for a variety of food, and a desire to secure it, are implanted in the +disposition of every animal; and where is the creature more prone to +extensive rambles than the sheep? We limit it to a paltry +pasture-ground of roods and acres, but does it not show, by its +determination to transgress our barriers, that such is not the +treatment nature has designed for it? There is something more than +wildness of character, and restless disposition, in the powerful +attempts it continually makes to defy our artificial boundaries. There +is in these efforts a longing for fresh fields and other herbage, an +instinctive feeling that all is not as it ought to be; and yet we +attend not to the hint! Nothing will conduce so much to the health of +the sheep, and to the speedy taking on of fat, as the frequent +shifting of the flock. Disease will doubtless still affect the +animals, but illness will be rare, and mortality diminished, if by the +care of their rulers, they are enabled to obtain what instinct tells +them is the best of medicine. + +(85.) _Varieties induced by apparently trivial causes._--Surrounded in +a civilized state, by all that can minister to the supply of wants, +whether real or supposed, man is not on that account to be imagined as +always so situated. Look to savage nations, and remark their destitute +condition, their dependence on the uncertain proceeds of the chase, +and their reliance on modes of agriculture as unprofitable as they are +unmatured. Countries there are certainly to be found, where the +"elements of temperature," are so fortunately balanced and combined as +to produce only good effects, and in which the rude inhabitants reap +the fruits of a spontaneous plenty; but these form only a small +proportion of the globe, and in most regions man must give his +unceasing endeavours to the cultivation of a plant or animal, before +he can raise it from the miniature condition in which he finds it, to +such a size and richness as will satisfy his wants. Nor need we go far +for illustrations. The crab has been transformed into the apple, and +the sloe into the plum. None of our cereal grasses, as now cultivated, +are to be met with in a wild state; they have evidently been brought +to their present fulness by the care of ages. The red cabbage and the +cauliflower are the altered descendants of a widely different sea-side +plant. The different races of cabbages are examples of a wonderful +deviation from the natural type, and they all require much nicety in +cultivation to prevent them assuming the characters of the original +stock, as, when permitted to grow wild, especially on a sterile soil +as that of the sea coast, they are sure in no long time to become +exact counterparts of their originals. Cultivation, also, though taken +in rather a different sense, influences to a great extent the form and +features of animals. In proof of this may be adduced the differences +that exist between different ranks of inhabitants in almost all +countries. Buffon says, that in France you may distinguish by their +aspect not only the nobles from the peasantry, but the superior orders +of nobility from the inferior--these from citizens, and citizens from +peasants. The African field-slaves in America, are extremely different +from the domestic servants of the former nation, retaining as they do +their original peculiarities from poor living and degrading duties; +while the latter have nearly approached to the habits and modes of +thinking of their masters, from living with them, and being well +treated under the same roof. "The South Sea islanders," says Dr +Elliotson, "who appear to be all of one family, vary according to +their degree of cultivation. The New Zealanders, for example, are +savages, and chiefly black; the New Hollanders half civilized, and +chiefly tawny; the Friendly islanders are more advanced, and not quite +so dark; several are lighter than olive colour, and hundreds of +European faces are found among them." Indeed the examples are almost +endless which I could bring forward to aid my explanations; but these +it would be needless to give, since it is in the power of every one to +study the differences in form and features of the classes of society +in our own island, and by so doing understand the influence of +otherwise trivial and unimportant circumstances, on an animal at all +times so easily moulded to situation as the sheep. + +(86.) _Varieties from mode of Breeding._--Changes are wrought for the +most part by attention to the mode of propagation of the plant or +animal, by the plan of crossing; and by careful selection of the +parent stock. Every one must be struck with the varieties constantly +occurring in the vegetable world: Flowers change their colours, and +become double; and these characters can be perpetuated by seed. +Hedge-row plants may be observed to vary even in the limits of an +ordinary walk, and to be continued as varieties so long as they remain +in the same locality. The following striking example of the extent to +which plants may be made to vary by altering their circumstances, is +related by Mr Herbert in the _Horticultural Transactions_, vol. +iv:--"I raised from the natural seed of an umbel of a highly manured +red cowslip, a primrose, a cowslip, oxlips of the usual and other +colours, a black polyanthus, a hose-in-hose cowslip, and a natural +primrose bearing its flower on a polyanthus stalk. From the seed of +that very hose-in-hose cowslip, I have since raised a hose-in-hose +primrose. I therefore consider all these to be only local varieties, +depending upon soil and situation." "Fifty years ago," says Buffon +(writing in 1749), "our pot-herbs consisted of a single species of +succory, and two of lettuce, both very bad; but we have now more than +fifty kinds of lettuce and succory, all of which are good. Our best +fruits and nuts, which are so different from those formerly cultivated +that they have no resemblance but in the name, must likewise be +referred to a very modern date. In general, substances remain, and +names change with times: but in this case names remain, and substances +are changed. Our peaches, our apricots, our pears, are new productions +with ancient names. To remove every doubt upon this subject, we have +only to compare our flowers and fruits with the descriptions, or +rather notices of them transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans. All +their flowers were single, and all their fruit-trees were wild stocks, +and their species very ill-chosen. Their fruits of course, were small, +dry, sour, and had neither the flavour nor the beauty of ours. These +new and good species originally sprung from the wild kinds; but how +many times have their seeds been sown before this happy effect was +produced? It was only by sowing and rearing an infinite number of +vegetables of the same species, that some individuals were recognized +to bear better and more succulent fruit than others; and this first +discovery, which supposes much care and observation, would have +remained for ever useless if a second had not been made, which implies +an equal degree of genius as the first required of patience--I mean +the mode of multiplying by engrafting those precious individuals which +unfortunately cannot propagate or transmit their excellent qualities +to their posterity. * * * In the animal kingdom, most of those +qualities which appear to be individual are propagated and transmitted +in the same manner as their specific qualities. It was therefore more +easy for man to have influence upon the nature of animals than upon +that of vegetables. Particular races in any species of animals, are +only constant varieties, which are perpetuated by generation. But in +the vegetable kingdom there are no races, no varieties so constant as +to be perpetuated by reproduction. In the species of the hen and +pigeon, a great number of races have been very lately produced, all of +which propagate their kinds. In other species, we daily rear and +improve races by crossing the breeds." + +(87.) _Breeding in-and-in._--Though there are several methods pursued +by breeders for the improvement of flocks, the one most in vogue is, +that of choosing individuals of the same family, and breeding +_in-and-in_. It is however a plan requiring, for the safety of the +flock, either very great skill in selecting the males and females, or +only to be followed to a very limited extent. No subject ever called +forth so much random controversy, and no evil has ever so clearly +shown itself as such; yet it is only recently, that people have opened +the intellectual eye to the dangers of a practice, against which the +ablest pens were long and vainly blunted. The object of breeding +_in-and-in_ is to strengthen good qualities and get rid of bad ones, +as speedily as possible; and it is plain, that if we happen to select +animals with slight imperfections, these imperfections will become +hereditary, and will go on assuming a worse and worse type till the +breed be destroyed. Culley, however, was of opinion, that less risk is +run by breeding _in-and-in_ than is generally supposed, and instances +the wild cattle in Chillingham Park, in the county of Northumberland, +which, having been confined for several hundred years without +intermixture, must have bred from the nearest affinities, and yet are +just as they were five hundred years since. With all due deference, +however, to the opinion of the late Mr Culley, I must assert, that I +cannot perceive in what manner wild cattle can be made to illustrate +the case in point, as it must be evident, that animals in a state of +nature differ essentially from those in charge of man, in regard to +the propagation of infirmities, as the former, if born with a radical +defect, will, ten to one, never see the age which suits them for +reproduction; while the latter, from the care bestowed upon them, +will, even when very delicate, in many instances be bolstered up till +they have entailed upon posterity an accumulation of their already +aggravated maladies. The system of breeding _in-and-in_ proves, in +fact, as destructive to flocks, as marriages of near relations to the +human kind. We would not witness an every-day entailment of diseases, +if people would forego their unnatural love of money, and cease their +endeavours to keep it in "the family," by forming matrimonial +alliances with those who are near of kin. The law of God forbids us to +wed those who stand in certain degrees of propinquity; but, if we and +our descendants avail ourselves of the limits of this law, and marry +on its verge a certain number of times, misery must infallibly be the +lot even of the tenth generation; and instead of being fathers of a +mighty people, few and full of sorrow will be the days of our +children; while in place of retaining in their possession our darling +wealth, it will, ere long, pass into the hand of the stranger. + +(88.) _Opponents of in-and-in breeding._--Different individuals at +various times, and in widely separate places, have by their +observations rendered the criminal absurdity of this system perfectly +apparent to all, who, unbiased by party principle, are anxious for a +knowledge of the truth. A few of these I shall mention. Ezra +L'Hommedieu, Vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New York, +collected, in the year 1800, a great many observations on the breeding +of sheep, and came to the conclusion, that changing and crossing the +breed of the animals is a matter of great importance, in preventing a +dwindling and degeneracy of the flock. Dr Coventry, in his pamphlet on +_Live-Stock_, gives it as his opinion, that "The most perfect race of +animals may be debased by improper mixture, or injured by improper +treatment. Indiscriminate matches in breeding, and inattentive +management in rearing, are alike capable of producing a worthless +progeny." Here the matter is made very plain, from comparing an evil, +the progress of which is insidious, with the injurious consequences, +which the most unobserving can easily trace to a parallel neglect. Mr +Dick of Edinburgh, so well known for the valuable and trustworthy +information he has accumulated, has been informed by eminent farmers, +"that cattle bred _in-and-in_, are very subject to _clyers_ in the +throat after they have attained their first year." By clyers are meant +enlarged lymphatic glands, which are a sure sign of what is termed a +scrofulous habit, a breaking up of the constitution, which, though +produced by a variety of causes, is yet frequently the result of an +"_owr sib_" connection. These are, I may say, the accidental opinions +of men who had no point to make good, in which their credit was at all +at stake, and who are not endeavouring to support the crude opinions +of former years. For these reasons, they possess a value which ought +to give them a proportional weight in an investigation like the +present. Mr Bakewell succeeded in bringing his sheep to great +perfection as regards form, and rapidity of fattening, by breeding in +the same family for a great many years; but it was attended with +considerable deterioration in the quality of the wool, and engendered +a liability to disease, sufficient to deter any one from proceeding a +similar length in the same track, to what is so dubiously called +improvement. See what Mr Dickson says to this effect, in a recent +number of the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_. "The evil of +breeding _in-and-in_, or in other words, producing too great +refinement of tone, is manifested in the first instance by a +tenderness of constitution; the animals not being able to withstand +the extremes of heat and cold, rain and drought. If the evil is +prolonged through several generations, the forms of the animals become +affected, the bone becomes very small, the neck droops, the skin of +the head becomes tight and scantily covered with hair, the expression +of the eye indicates extreme sensibility, the hair on the body becomes +thin and short, and the skin as thin as paper; the _points_ continue +good, and predisposition to fatness increases, but the whole carcass +becomes much diminished in size, though retaining its plumpness, and +beautiful symmetry. The evil, however, does not terminate in the +production of these symptoms. Internal diseases ensue, such as +disorganization of the liver, or rot, polypi in the trachea, clyers, +malformation of the bones of the neck and legs, and general +deformity." This position, however, will be strengthened by drawing +attention to insulated portions of our race, where the effects of such +a system are exhibited on a considerable scale. The Members of the +Society of Friends were, at one time, supposed to be of all others the +least subject to insanity; but the very reverse is the case; being, +from the limited nature of their sect, driven to frequent +intermarriages, and to a consequent deterioration of the most active +part of the human frame--the brain. It is for the same reason, that +almost every royal family contains a large proportion of idiots, or, +at the best, persons of very weak intellect; and, such will continue +to occur, till legislators fall on some plan of striking at the +groundwork of the mischief. If the laws of God and man define to us so +clearly the evils of intermarrying with relatives; and if, as all +animals are constructed on one grand plan, we admit the proximity of +the sheep to the human race, it follows, that what is destructive, in +this respect, to the one, is destructive to the other; and that we +should seek, by a nearly similar, if not wider, range of rules, to +obviate many of those diseases of which, when under our protection, +they are so frequently the subjects. + +(89.) _Breeding from different families of the same race._--Mr Culley, +though believing that no great harm can result from breeding +in-and-in, yet appears to have in a manner preferred the preferable +practice of breeding from different families of the same race; as he, +for many years, hired his rams from Mr Bakewell, at a time when other +breeders were paying a liberal price for his own valuable animals. +This is of all methods deservedly the best, as the males, which are +inter-changed, have always had shades of difference impressed upon +them, by various soils and treatment, so that the defects of each +family have a good chance to be counteracted by the perfections of the +other. By this means the bad points are gradually exhausted, and their +valuable properties as gradually heightened. Breeders have been much +aided in the furtherance of this desirable plan, by the rearing of +superior rams having become, of late years, a separate pursuit. The +letting of them out to distant parts of the country has long been a +branch of this speculation; diffusing some of the most valuable points +of particular breeds, and leading to a spirit of competition. The +practice has been reprobated, but, I presume, rather hastily; for with +all its attendant evils, such as leading to deception, by what is +termed the _making up_ of rams, it possesses excellencies which will, +I hope, lead to its continuance. + +(90.) _Crossing._-The only other method of improving a breed is by +crossing two distinct races, one of which possesses the properties it +is desirable to acquire, and wants the defects we wish to remove. +This, however, is a measure not to be recommended, and only to be +resorted to when neither of the others will do; for it is scarcely +possible to obtain the desirable properties without at the same time +imparting qualities sufficient to neutralize them; and with which, in +fact, we would rather dispense. To cross, as Mr Cleghorn remarks, any +mountain breed with Leicester rams, with a view to obtain a propensity +to fatten at an early age, would be attended with an enlargement of +size, which the mountain pasture could not support, and the progeny +would be a mongrel race, not suited to the pastures of either of the +parent breeds. The folly of such a proceeding is beautifully shown in +the failure of the attempts made, some years ago, to better the fleece +of the mountain sheep, in the South of Scotland. To effect this +desirable end, rams were brought from the Cheviot range of hills, and +the consequences were, as described by Mr William Hogg, of Stobbo, in +the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, just what a preliminary +consideration of the existing circumstances would have proved to be +unavoidable. "The independent habits of the mountain flocks were lost, +and a mongrel progeny, of a clumsy figure, occupied the lowest and +warmest of the pastures. As they were very improper subjects to breed +from, they were often a drug in the market: _but the store-master had +no other resource, but to struggle on against the opposition which the +animal itself made to the change_, and, also, against the influence of +bad seasons, in order to get the influence of the Cheviot breed fully +established. * * * With its shaggy coat the animal lost its bold +independent look, its stout shape, its unvitiated taste, and its sound +constitution. A course of severe winters too occurred during the time +of changing, while every property calculated to resist privation and +fatigue was unconfirmed in the progeny; and, in consequence, the +ravages by rot, and poverty, among the flocks that occupied soft +pastures were immense." How did it happen, that the store-master had +no other resource but to persevere in an unprofitable course? Was he +obliged to strive against natural obstacles, which even a short +experience might have taught him were, in that manner, insurmountable? +Why not recur _at once_ to the old mode of management, rather than +injure himself by kicking against the pricks. "Sundry store-masters +were not aware," says Mr Hogg, "that their old breed would so +obstinately resist the impression of the Cheviot blood, nor did they +ever dream that the mongrel issue would be so easily subdued by the +hardships and cold of winter: thus finding their scheme opposed, at +points where they anticipated little resistance, they gave up the +experiment ere it was _half completed_, and introduced mountain rams +to the mongrel issue." Enough, however, has been said to prove that +this plan ought not to be pursued: let me now say a few words as to +the reasons which should deter us from its adoption. To take a +familiar illustration:--How would one of the worshipful company of +Aldermen, or a dignitary of the Church, manage to keep up an +_appearance_, if suddenly transported from the luxurious plenty which +surrounds him, to the meagre fare, and churlish climate, of our +Highlands? Would their offspring, which ten to one would be prone to +rapid growth, and, therefore, requiring at the least a large supply of +porridge and milk; would they, I ask, arrive at a healthy maturity, if +supported only on the oaten cake, and _whang_ of skimmed-milk cheese, +of the hardy Northern? The answer is, they would not. They would, +doubtless, bear the climate; but the habit of body imprinted on them, +by the full living of the parents, would require a more nutritious +food to bring it to the adult age, than what might be necessary for +the sustenance of any child descended from the possessors of the soil. +If such then is the case with the young of an animal shielded from +inclemency on every hand, how can we expect the progeny of a rather +heavy variety of a defenceless creature like the sheep to thrive, in +defiance of every thing ungenial, on a pasture which requires for its +collection, in any quantity, a degree of experience and activity, the +result of time and well-trained instinct. The mongrel is not unfitted +for the locality, as Mr Hogg would have it, by a weakness resulting +from "the constant and continued exertions of the two bloods, the one +endeavouring to overpower the other," there is no war waging in the +progeny between the blood of sire and dam; the secret lies in the +animal being unsuited for the pasture where it is produced. Place it +in a country possessing a herbage something between that of the +Highland and Cheviot hills, and it will do passing well; but do not +ascribe the want of success to a natural hatred of the breeds. Again, +do not fall into the error, that "the figure, wool, and other +qualities, of the Cheviot ram, are most conspicuous (in this cross) in +the smallest and feeblest of the progeny, while the properties of the +mountain breed are more fully exhibited in the strongest and most +robust lambs," a circumstance which, unfortunately, induced many of +the store-farmers "to throw aside the best of the lambs, and select +those to breed from, which had apparently most of the Cheviot figure;" +or, in other words, do not suppose, as Mr Hogg strangely enough +infers, that only the weak animals took on the Cheviot form, and only +the strong ones assumed the Highland character. The correct +explanation is, that such as had most Cheviot blood were sure to +become puny, from being unadapted to a herbage on which those that +resembled the mountain stock throve tolerably well. Strength and +feebleness were, in this instance, mere secondary matters. + +(91.) _Things to be attended to in Crossing._--The fact is, that, if +you wish to have a _particular kind_ of sheep, you must first of all +be in possession of a pasture suitable for the new comers. You must +consider the influence of the individual parents on the progeny, the +size of the animals, their habits and dispositions, and their +peculiarities in regard to the time of their maturity, and fattening +properties; and, having anticipated these apparently trifling affairs, +you must see that the surface of your farm, its degree of exposure, +and the quantity and quality of its productions, are calculated for +the profitable maintenance of the animal in view. Far too little +attention is bestowed, at the commencement of such an undertaking, on +these all-swaying matters. Farmers enter upon this, the most arduous +of all professions, with the settled conviction, that nothing is so +simple as the engrafting of a race of animals on a particular part of +a country. They have read, or heard, of others who have gained fame, +and a fortune, by successful endeavours of the kind, and they think +that nothing is easier than to follow their example; but they forget +the thoughtful hours, and irksome duties, these men had to tolerate, +before they could speak of any thing like success. No animal can be +made to forego at once a long used food, an ancient locality, +peculiarity of clime and season, and the instinctive habits that have +been long nurtured by these, without both it and its progeny suffering +from the change:--Nature cannot thus be made to bend to human +intention; it will give way in the attempt. + +In crossing there are several important things to be attended to. Well +formed parents ought to be selected, and, if enlargement of the +carcass be wanted, the issue should be better fed than its +originators, which ought to be of a size rather under, than above what +the pasture is capable of supporting. The size of the parents should +not be much disproportioned at first, as nature abhors sudden +extremes, and does every thing in the most gradual manner. It is +better, when some increase has been attained, to bring the breed to +the required size by one or two crossings.[15] In choosing a breed, we +should adopt that which affords the greatest quantity of market +produce, in return for the food consumed;[16] and a particular breed +ought always to be preferred to the sheep of a district. We must not +imagine, that when, by dint of crossing, we have obtained the variety +wanted, that it will remain in the condition to which we have brought +it, without the slightest liability to alter. Many farmers believe +they have done all that is required, if they subject their stock to +three or four crossings with a breed of acknowledged excellence. They +think that the improved animals they have obtained will support their +acquired characters, uninfluenced by extraneous agency. Now nothing +can be more faulty than this mode of management, as is proved by a +comparison of stock so treated, with flocks which have uninterruptedly +received that undeviating attention, which can alone ensure a +continuance of the properties desired. Such men forget, that the +climate is operating with as great certainty on the animals as on the +rocks around; and that as the herbage is determined by the nature of +the adjacent rocks, so are the peculiarities of the sheep influenced +by the herbage; and that if they manage to change the characters of +the breed, it can, in a majority of cases, be only for a time, unless +the tendencies of the surrounding elements are counteracted, by a +constant recurrence to the originators of the flock. "I am sorry," +says Little, in his valuable practical observations, "to say, that +there are too many examples of those, who thought themselves at the +head of improvement in stock, relaxing their exertions, and keeping by +their own stock; and the consequence has been, that such stocks have +degenerated, become delicate, tender, and diminutive in size; and from +no other cause but that the same pains have not been taken to preserve +the improvement, that was taken to effect it. I could mention many +improvers who were of the first class formerly, but who are now only +in the second." Changes, in fact, by crossing are not to be effected +in a short space of time; you must look forward to several years of +constant exertion, before you can hope, in this manner, to alter your +stock.[17] Then, again, we must be aware of the tendency which nature, +in numerous instances, displays to perpetuate diseases, dispositions, +and aberrations from the normal structure. Many qualities and +diseases, are known, in man, to be hereditary; of the former, I may +instance peculiarities in walking, and writing; a passion for +intoxicating liquors, and other habits too trivial to mention; and of +the latter, gout, pulmonary consumption, and blindness from cataract, +which are well known to harass a family for generations. Features, in +like manner, may remain for ages of the same undeviating cast; thus +the Jews of to-day are the very counterparts of the Jews of three +thousand years back, and, in all likelihood, will so remain till the +end of time. A predisposition to many diseases is engendered in the +sheep, by too great a refinement in breeding, which tends to diminish +the size of the animal, prevents them feeding to perfection, destroys +their fecundity, and imparts great tenderness of constitution. +Accidental deviations from the natural type may, also, be hereditary, +as is seen in those races of dogs which have a supernumerary toe on +the hind foot, and tarsal bones to correspond. In the human race also +several generations of a particular family have been distinguished, by +having six fingers and six toes, on their hands and feet. It is in +like manner to an accidental malformation, that the Americans are +indebted for their Otter breed of sheep. Mr Livingston, who wrote in +1811, thus describes them: "The Otter sheep were first discovered on +some island, on the eastern coast, and have spread to the adjoining +states. The sheep are long-bodied rather than large, and weigh about +15 lbs. a quarter. Their wool is of a medium fineness, and a medium +length; but that which particularly characterizes these sheep is the +length of their bodies, and the shortness of their legs, which are, +also, turned out in such a manner as to appear rickety. They cannot +run, or jump, and they even walk with some difficulty. They appear as +if their legs had been broken and set by some awkward surgeon. They +can scarcely exist in a deep country, and they cannot possibly be +driven to a distant pasture or market." Dr Dwight, in his travels in +New England, remarks of this curious variety, that the fore legs are +remarkably short, and bent inward, "so as distinctly to resemble what +are called club-feet."[18] I believe this to be the only instance +where man has availed himself of a defect in the animal kingdom, and +turned it to his advantage. Attention ought also to be bestowed on the +order in which different parts of the animal are subjected to changes +during crossing. These, according to Dr Sturm, the latest observer on +this head, are first exhibited in those parts that possess a power of +being reproduced, as the hair, horns, and hoofs. The fleshy parts +change slowly, in proportion as the mother has much of the blood of +the original race. The first changes take place in the head, and are +gradually developed towards the hind quarters. Lastly, look to the +condition in which your sheep are as regards fatness. If fat, they +will be averse to becoming pregnant, and considerable annoyance will, +in all likelihood, be experienced. A moderately low diet is most +suitable for ewes, for some time before the ram is admitted, in the +same way that fruit trees, when unproductive in a rich soil, are +rendered fertile by placing straw and stones between their roots and +the too nutritious earth. A rather poor diet, also, during pregnancy, +will be found to obviate many of those risks which are sure to be +incurred from repletion during this period. + + [15] Dr Cline, in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, + observes on this point: "Experience has proved, that crossing + has only succeeded in an eminent degree, in those instances in + which the females were larger, than in the usual proportion of + females to males, and that it has generally failed when the + males were proportionally large." + + [16] It was owing to a peculiar view taken of this maxim, that + so enormous sums were asked and given, for the hire of rams, + at the time Mr Bakewell brought the new Leicester to + perfection. That gentleman would never have obtained 1200 + guineas for the hire of three rams if the speculators had not + intended to procure nearly similar prices for the use of the + offspring of these animals; and it may be pretty safely + affirmed, that this traffic was ultimately the cause of much + mischief to the breed in question, by inducing many to + speculate on what was likely to prove a fashionable article, + without caring much for the endurance of the really valuable + points. + + [17] Dr Sturm, professor of Agriculture, at Bonn, says, that a + new race may be produced in the same number of years as are + required for perfecting the teeth. + + [18] Sheep are as liable to distortions of the skeleton as + other animals. The Museum of Guy's Hospital contains a very + good specimen of distorted spine taken from a sheep. + +(92.) _Choice of Parents._--However faulty sheep may be, some are +always to be found surpassing their fellows, and these it ought to be +the aim of every breeder to discover. Without acknowledge of an +animal's _points_, it is in vain that the breeder can hope for +improvement. He may by accident make a lucky hit, but, unless he has +studied his business from the bottom, he cannot follow up and avail +himself of an advantage, which a more knowing individual would, from +previous training, turn at once to a profitable account. Much may be +done by letter-press description; and this I shall endeavour to +achieve; but more will be accomplished by a close and attentive +examination of a few well-selected animals, which it is now no +difficult matter to get a view of, as, thanks to the spirited +exertions of the Highland Society, valuable specimens are far from +rare. In breeding and rearing rams, two divisions of these animals are +recognised,--ram getters, and wedder getters,--the former, from their +fineness, being kept for the procreation of animals like themselves, +while the latter, from their coarseness, are set aside as fitted only +for parent stock for grazier's sheep, the mere grazier liking a ram no +worse for having a massy frame, and being less scrupulous about his +form than the ram breeder, whose grand object is fineness, and who +trusts to the ewes for giving the offspring size and substance. The +principal ram-breeders are guided in the choice of their ram-lambs, +more by blood or parentage, than by form, on which, at so early an +age, little dependance can be placed. In the case of the Dishleys, +they allow them every indulgence, from the time of weaning till that +of shearing, as they push them forward with the intent of letting them +the first season, while yet yearlings. It is this early arrival at +maturity, which is, with truth, supposed by some to occasion their +early falling off; for by a law of the animal economy, premature adult +age is always succeeded by premature decay; life appearing to be dated +from the time the animal enters on the fulfilment of the ends for +which it was created. + +According to Mr Bakewell, the shape which should be the criterion of a +sheep, is that of a hogshead or firkin, truly circular, with small and +as short legs as possible: upon the plain principle, that the value +lies in the barrel, not in the legs; and all breeds the backs of which +rise in the least ridge are bad. Their bodies should be as true +barrels as can be seen, their backs round and broad, and their legs +not much exeeeding six inches in length. The following is a +measurement of a three-years' old ram of Mr Bakewell, + + Feet. Inches. + + Girth, 5 10 + Height, 2 5 + Breadth of Collar, 1 4 + Breadth of shoulders, 1 11-1/2 + Breadth across the ribs, 1 10-1/2 + Breadth across the hips, 1 9-1/2 + +A most unusual proof of kindly feeding in the animals of this shape, +is their feeling quite fat, just within their fore legs, on the rib; a +point in which sheep are seldom examined, from common breeds never +carrying fat there. They are particularly distinguished by the +lightness of the offal, the bones being one-half smaller than in some +other breeds, and the meat proportionally thicker, while the pelt is +thin, and the head small--a thing of some consequence in most parts of +England, where that Scottish luxury, sheep-head broth, is so cordially +despised. + +The best form for a cheviot ram is thus described by Mr Cully, in his +excellent work on _Live-Stock_: "His head should be fine and small; +his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or +daring; ears thin; his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but +tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which +should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse +leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the +same time join so easy to the collar forward and chine backward, as to +leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or +fore-thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean +fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy +wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well +forward, which will keep his forelegs at a proper wideness; his girth +or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, +that part by some called the fore-flank, should be quite full; the +back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must +rise in a fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long +and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which should +neither stand in nor out; his twist deep, wide and full, which, with +the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright; the whole +body covered with a thin pelt, and that with bright soft wool. The +nearer any breed comes up to the above description, the nearer they +approach towards excellence of form." As an amusing contrast to this +well drawn picture, I give an extract from the work of that ancient +agriculturist Columella. + +"Therefore, the way to judge and approve of a ram, is not only that of +observing if he is clothed with a white fleece, but also if his palate +and tongue are of the same colour with his wool; for when these parts +of his body are black or spotted, there arises a black or speckled +offspring. And this, among other things, the same poet I mentioned +above, (Virgil, Georg. Lib. iii.) has excellently pointed out in such +numbers as these:" + + "Reject him, tho' the ram himself be white, + Under whose ousy palate lies concealed + A black or spotted tongue; for with black spots + He'll stain the fleeces of his future race." + +After some amusing remarks on the same subject, delivered in a very +quaint way, he concludes his description with the mention of "twisted +horns,"--"not because this last is more useful, (for a ram without +horns is better,) but because horns that are twisted and bended +inwards are not at all so hurtful as those that are set upright and +expanded. Nevertheless, in some countries where the climate is wet and +windy, we would wish for he-goats and rams even with the very largest +horns; because, when they are high and extended, they defend the +greatest part of the head from the storm." + +It is thus that among some of his most beautiful remarks, we have +generally a something occurring which upsets the gravity of the whole +by its childish absurdity. + +(93.) _Influence of Sex._--In early ages, the greater share of +attention appears to have been bestowed on _male_ domesticated +animals, on account of the more numerous offspring of which they would +become the parents; and from this, as the Rev. Henry Berry, of Acton +Beauchamp, Worcestershire, supposes, (in a valuable essay on the +breeding of live stock, published in the _British Farmer's Magazine_,) +has originated the prevalent idea, that the male has a more decided +influence, than the female, on the form of the progeny. "The ideas +entertained respecting the useful qualities of an animal would (in +former times) be very similar, and lead to the adoption of a general +standard of excellence, towards which it would be required that each +male should approximate; and thus there would exist, among what may be +termed fashionable sires, a corresponding form and character, +different from, and superior to, those of the general stock of the +country. This form and character would, in most instances, have been +acquired by _perseverance in breeding from animals which possessed the +important or fancied requisites_, and might, therefore, be said to be +almost _confirmed_ in such individuals. Under these circumstances, +striking results would doubtless follow the introduction of these +sires to a common stock; results which would lead superficial +observers to remark, that individual sires possessed properties as +_males_, which, in fact, were only assignable to them as _improved_ +animals." + +In general, the qualities of the male and female parents are visible +to an equal extent in the offspring, as is well exemplified among +horses, in the mixture of the blood and cart breed, where the great +difference in form and character is nicely blended; but, occasionally, +the peculiarities of the male, or female, are visible only on some +particular part of the offspring, as in the crossing of the Merino ram +with the Ryeland ewe, when the former affects the fleece, and the +latter the carcass. + +Though there are many opinions as to the comparative influence of the +sexes on the progeny, yet, as before stated, the majority of voices +represent the male as the more influential. Mr Boswell, in his essay +on this subject, published in the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, +and in the _Farmer's Magazine_, is decidedly of this opinion, "Being +fully convinced of the power of the male on the offspring, I have +always accounted it as a loss to put a bad male to a high bred female, +and have never done so. I have, however, observed, where the country +people have purchased high bred sheep at any sale of mine, and bred +from them with the ordinary rams, that the breed very quickly got bad: +whereas, when a Bakewell ram had been purchased, I have seen a most +remarkable change on the quality of the sheep; and, in several +instances, where the ewes (Highlanders) had been tolerable from which +they had bred, the cross was so nearly resembling a new Leicester, as +to deceive any one who was not a thorough judge." Bewick, the natural +historian, supports this opinion when speaking of the original breed +of wild cattle, still to be found in a few English and Scottish parks. +They are uniformly pure white, with black or red ears and noses. He +says, that cows, when in season, used often to be turned into the park +at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, and that, when covered by +the wild bull, _all their produce was uniformly white, with red ears +and noses_. On the other hand, the female is, also, prevalently +believed to have some share in the matter, and much may be adduced as +evidence of its power over the form of the offspring, equally +authentic with the former. Mr Ferguson, in a paper on live-stock, in +the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, relates the following apposite +and amusing story:-- + +"Naturalists are, I believe, nearly agreed, that the influence of the +male exceeds that of the female in communicating qualities to the +offspring, and a very providential arrangement it is, in respect that +good points may be thus diffused with far more rapidity than could +otherwise occur. The choice of the female is by no means, however, a +matter of indifference, and it is only by due attention to both that +perfection can be looked for. I recollect several years ago, at a +distinguished breeder's in Northumberland, meeting with a shrewd +Scottish borderer, (indeed, if report be true, the original and +identical Dandy Dinmont,) who, after admiring, with a considerable +_spice of national pique_, a very fine short-horn bull, demanded +anxiously to see the dam. The cow having been accordingly produced, +and having undergone a regular survey, Dandy vociferated, with +characteristic _pith_, '_I think naething o' your bull now, wi' sic a +caumb_;' and, unquestionably, the mould or '_caumb_' must have its own +share in producing shapes, though in his haste to detract, (as he +thought,) from the merits of the bull, poor Dandy totally overlooked +the additional compliment paid to the judgment of the '_Southron_.'" + +It is in general supposed, that if the female be by descent small, +that the length of the legs of the issue will not be influenced by the +male. The weight of the carcass is a good deal affected by the male, +but not so much as by the female. The impressions of one or other, +especially of the male, do not cease on the birth of the fruits of a +connection, for though he may have no further meeting with that +female, yet are the succeeding offspring tinged with his peculiar +colour, or modelled after his form. This is well illustrated by a fact +which came under the notice of the Earl of Morton. His lordship bred +from a male quagga and a mare of seven-eights Arabian blood, a female +hybrid, displaying in form and colour her mixed origin. The mare was +then given to Sir Gore Ouseley, who bred from her first a filly and +afterwards a colt, by a fine black Arabian horse, but both these, in +their colour and in the hair of their manes, strongly resembled the +quagga. This isolated fact would be, however, but of small value if +unsupported by others, which are luckily now of common occurrence, +among which the following tends strongly to its corroboration:--In the +_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1821, Dr Wollaston relates that D. +Giles, Esq., had a sow of the black and white kind, which, after +littering by a chestnut boar of the wild breed, was put, some time +after the death of this, to boars of quite a different variety, yet +the offspring were covered with chestnut marks, so as closely to +resemble the long-departed animal. + +The progeny of most domesticated animals often bear a striking +resemblance to the grandmother or grandfather, and it is well known +that the desired changes cannot be effected on a breed, or that the +desired breed cannot be produced, till the third, fourth, or even the +fifth crossing, so that the importance of having few defects in a +stock will be readily admitted, seeing their debasing consequences are +carried through whole generations, and that though absent in one +remove, yet that they may appear in the next. Both sire and dam should +be chosen as free from defects as possible, a thing often neglected in +rearing domestic animals, especially horses, where the opinion is in +vogue, that no matter how debilitated and worn out may be the dam, yet +that if coupled with a young and perfect sire, a healthy handsome +offspring will be the issue; than which idea nothing can be more +absurd, as such animals, if left to nature, would seldom or never come +in contact, owing to the one party never attaining a decrepit age, but +perishing on its verge. + +(94.) _The sex of the progeny is supposed to be the result of the +relative ages of the parents_; thus, issue from a young male and an +old female will in general be feminine, while that from an old male +and a young female will generally be masculine; and it has been +proposed to turn this, apparently a law of nature, to account, in the +management of flocks, as it must often be of consequence to obtain, at +will, a considerable increase of the sex most wanted. On this subject +there will be found an interesting paper in the first number of the +_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, entitled, "A method of obtaining a +greater number of One Sex at the option of the Proprietor, in the +Breeding of Live-Stock," and from this I extract the following:-- + +"In the _Annales de l'Agriculture Française_, Vols. xxxvii. and +xxxviii., some very interesting experiments are recorded, which have +lately been made in France, on the breeding of live-stock. M. Charles +Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultural +Society of Séverac, on the 3d of July, 1826, to divide a flock of +sheep into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males or +females, at the choice of the proprietor, should be produced from each +of them. Two of the members of the society offered their flocks to +become the subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been +communicated, which are in accordance with the author's expectations. + +"The first experiment was conducted in the following manner:--He +recommended very young rams to be put to the flock of ewes from which +the proprietor wished the greater number of females in their offspring +and also, that during the season when the rams were with the ewes, +they should have more abundant pasture than the other; while to the +flock from which the proprietor wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, +he recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams, four or five years +old. The following tabular view contains the result of his +experiment:-- + + +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+ + | Flock for female lambs. | Flock for male lambs. | + +---------------------+------------+----------------------+-----------+ + | Age of the mothers. |Sex of the | Age of the mothers. |Sex of the | + | | Lambs. | | Lambs. | + |---------------------+------+-----+----------------------+------+----+ + | |Males.| Fem.| |Males.|Fem.| + |Two years, | 14 | 26 |Two years, | 7 | 3 | + |Three years, | 16 | 29 |Three years, | 15 | 14 | + |Four years, | 5 | 21 |Four years, | 33 | 14 | + | | -- | -- | | -- | -- | + | Total, | 35 | 76 | Total, | 55 | 31 | + |Five years and older,| 18 | 8 |Five years and older, | 25 | 24 | + | | -- | -- | | -- | -- | + | Total, | 53 | 84 | Total, | 80 | 55 | + | | | + |N.B.--There were three twin-births|N.B.--There were no twin-births | + |in this flock. Two rams |in this flock. Two strong | + |served it; one fifteen months, |rams, one four, the other five | + |the other nearly two years old. |years old, served it. | + +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+ + +"The general law, as far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, +that when animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with +food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they are most +likely to produce females. Or, in other words, when a race of animals +is in circumstances favourable for its increase, Nature produces the +greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, is +most efficient for increasing the number of the race. But if they are +in a bad climate, or on a stinted pasture, or if they have already +given birth to a numerous offspring, then Nature, setting limits to +the increase of the race, produces more males than females. Yet, +perhaps, it may be premature to attempt to deduce any law from +experiments which have not yet been sufficiently extended. M. Girou +is disposed to ascribe much of the effect to the age of the ram, +independent of the condition of the ewe." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. + + +(95.) Those who have attended to the subject are well aware, that the +profitable management of livestock is the most difficult department in +the business of a farm. So much depends on the nature of the locality +where sheep are kept, and on its situation in regard to markets for +the disposal of its produce, that little but what is of general +application need be written on this head. Precise rules for +agricultural conduct can seldom be laid down with any probability of +their being followed, as it must necessarily vary less or more with +the peculiar circumstances of the estate, and must, therefore, to a +great extent, be trusted to the intelligence of the farmer. All, +therefore, that I shall aim at in treating of this division, will be +the giving an outline of the more important matters connected with +sheep-husbandry, leaving the tyro to use it as circumstances may point +out. For obvious reasons, a natural arrangement of the subject is the +best; and to this, therefore, I shall, as much as possible, adhere. + +(96.) _Putting Tups to Ewes._ The middle of November is the time at +which this is usually done, but the season is anticipated or delayed +according as the spring provender is expected to be early or late, +plentiful or scarce. When the sheep are spread over a wide track, one +ram is in general allotted to thirty ewes; but when the latter are on a +limited range of pasture, the proportion of one to fifty may be +reckoned ample. The rams ought not to be left with the ewes above four +or five weeks, as it does not do to have lambs dropped after the middle +of May; indeed much trouble will be saved to the shepherd if he can +contrive to have all the lambs yeaned about the same time, as the flock +will, from its numbers being of a similar standing, be healthier, and +every way easier to manage, than one in which there is a great +diversity of ages. Such ewes, therefore, as have not evinced an +inclination for the male, ought, before the above period has elapsed, +to be driven into a barn or small inclosure, and made to run about +till they have become a little heated, after which, when the ram +is introduced, the desired effect will doubtless follow. Delay will +in many cases be unavoidable, owing to the ewes being in too +high condition; but this the shepherd should try to obviate, by +administering one or two doses of Epsom salts, which, by reducing the +plethora, will increase the activity of the animal, and render it in +many ways more prone to pregnancy. + +As it is an object of some importance to retard the yeaning of gimmer +hogs till the spring be well advanced, the rams are never sent to them +till a fortnight after they have been put to the older ewes. Much +nicety is always required in choosing the time at which rams mould be +put to gimmers, as they are in general sorry nurses, and sure, in bad +seasons, to lose many lambs. + +When a farm is provided with suitable enclosures, careful selection of +both ewes and rams should always be attended to, taking care to make +the good points of the one remedy the defects of the other; but where +a farm is destitute of such accommodation, the next best plan is to +send the finest rams to the ewes for a few days before the rest of the +males are admitted. + +Great ewes ought always to be well looked after. The driest and best +sheltered fields should be set apart for them, and turnips, when +forming part of their food, should, when they are about to yean, +always be carted to their pasture. When they roll _awald_, and cannot +regain their feet, prompt assistance should be afforded them, else +they will soon die. Death in this case occurs from suffocation, though +the morbid appearances exhibited by the carcass are frequently +mistaken for those of braxy. Udder locking ought never to be +attempted, as it often leads to abortion, and is, besides, not of the +slightest utility. + +(97.) _Early Lambs._ Though in the greater number of our breeds the +arrival of the rutting season is fixed and regular, yet there are +several in which pregnancy may, by proper management, be induced at +any period. Of these the Dorsetshire and Wicklow varieties are the +most noted, and are on this account selected for the rearing of +house-lambs in the vicinity of towns, the inhabitants of which are +opulent enough to create a demand for so expensive an article. + +The beginning of June is the time chosen for the admission of the +rams, so that by the month of January the greater proportion of the +ewes have yeaned. According to the plan pursued in Middlesex, "The +sheep, which begin to lamb about Michaelmas, are kept in the close +during the day, and in the house during the night, until they have +produced twenty or thirty lambs. These lambs are then put into a +lamb-house, which is kept constantly well littered with clean wheat +straw; and chalk, both in lump and in powder, is provided for them to +lick, in order to prevent looseness, and thereby preserve the lambs in +health. As a prevention against gnawing the boards, or eating each +other's wool, a little wheat straw is placed, with the ears downwards, +in a rack within their reach, with which they amuse themselves, and of +which they eat a small quantity. In this house they are kept with +great care and attention until fit for the butcher. + +"The mothers of the lambs are turned, every night at eight o'clock, +into the lamb-house to their offspring. At six o'clock in the morning +these mothers are separated from their lambs, and turned into the +pastures; and, at eight o'clock, such ewes as have lost their own +lambs, and those ewes whose lambs are sold, are brought in and held by +the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean: they are then turned +into the pasture; and at twelve o'clock, the mothers of the lambs are +driven from the pasture into the lamb-house for an hour, in the course +of which time each lamb is suckled by its mother. At four o'clock, all +the ewes that have not lambs of their own are again brought to the +lamb-house, and held for the lambs to suck; and at eight, the mothers +of the lambs are brought to them for the night. + +"This method of suckling is continued all the year. The breeders +select such of the lambs as become fat enough, and of proper age +(about eight weeks old) for slaughter, and send them to the market +during December and three or four succeeding months, at prices which +vary from one guinea to four, and the rest of the year at about two +guineas each. This is severe work for the ewes, and some of them die +from exhaustion. However, care is taken that they have plenty of food; +for when green food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover, &c.) +begins to fail, brewers' grains are given them in troughs, and +second-crop hay in racks, as well to support the ewes as to supply the +lambs with plenty of milk; for if that should not be abundant, the +lambs would become stunted, in which case no food would fatten them. + +"A lamb-house to suckle from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and +eighty lambs at a time, should be seventy feet long and eighteen feet +broad, with three coops of different sizes at each end, and so +constructed as to divide the lambs according to their ages."[19] + + [19] Middlesex Report, p. 355. + +In the county of Wicklow it is the practice to divide the twenty-four +hours by four equal periods, and to feed the lambs with ewe's milk and +cow's milk alternately. When commencing with cow's milk, a quarter of a +pint is given, twice a-day, to each lamb, and this is gradually +increased to a pint, exclusive of the milk from the ewe. This method of +feeding has been cavilled at, but I think unjustly, as the ewe is thus +saved from the bad effects of exhaustion, and the lambs are fit for the +butcher when six weeks old, or sooner. + +(98.) _Lambing time._ When the ewes begin to drop their lambs, a time +which ordinarily happens in the first or second week of April, but +which, in other modes of management, must be dated twenty-two weeks +after the tupping season, the shepherd has many calls upon his skill +and watchfulness. In bad seasons, sheep are apt to prove unkind to +their offspring, and none more so than the Cheviots. In this event, the +best pastures should be selected for them, or turnips may be carted to +them; but as gimmer hogs are often quite incapable of furnishing the +necessary quantity of milk, the shepherd ought always to be provided +with a bottle of milk, which he should drop from his own mouth into +that of any lambs which may require it. Such mothers as appear to +suffer in bringing forth, should be relieved with the utmost +gentleness; and when a miscarriage occurs, if the weather be at the +same time unfavourable, the dam ought to receive the shelter of a roof. +When the ewe is lost in yeaning, her lamb, if it survive her, must be +reared by another dam. Some little artifice is always necessary to +induce a ewe to adopt the offspring of another. Covering the lamb with +the skin of her own dead one, is sometimes resorted to, but this is +hardly required, as any dam will take to another's offspring if the +parties be shut up for some time together. Ewes that are late in +lambing should be collected together, so as to be more under the care +of the shepherd, and ought to be well fed, for the sake of bringing +forward their lambs. Those lambs which are very far behind the rest +must be prepared for the butcher, as they would make but a poor figure +at the Lammas sales. + +(99.) _Washing._ The time for clipping varies much, being earlier in +seasons which have been preceded by favourable weather and an unstinted +allowance of food, than in such as have followed a rigorous winter, +disease, or any other cause calculated to arrest the growth of wool. +The season may be said to be limited by the middle of May and the +middle of July; but this should not be taken as a rule of conduct, the +best guide being the state of the new coat, which ought always to be +well above the skin before shearing is attempted. The wool, unless +among some mountain flocks, is always, in this country, washed prior to +its removal from the sheep's back; but in Spain that operation is +always deferred till the fleeces have been collected, when they are +subjected to a thorough scouring, in public buildings appropriated to +the purpose, and termed _lavatories_. This is a plan in many respects +superior to ours. Its adoption by our farmers has been recommended by +Dr Parry. There cannot be a doubt of its being the preferable mode as +regards the saving it would effect in the lives of sheep; but as it is +well known that shearing is much facilitated by washing, and that on +the neatness with which the clipping is accomplished the quality of the +succeeding crop in a great measure depends, some little time will be +necessary to determine the comparative value of either mode. In New +South Wales it is customary to make the sheep swim across a stream for +two or three mornings before being washed, by which means the yolk is +softened, and the removal of grease and dirt much promoted; but this, +though a good plan in that mild and even climate, could not be looked +upon as safe in a temperature so variable as that of Britain. In cases +however, where great nicety is required, the plan in vogue in the +former country, that of dipping each sheep, before washing, into a +caldron of warm water, might be beneficially adopted. + +Mountain sheep are cleaned by being forced to swim across a pool, but +the finer or lowland breeds are washed entirely by the hand. The latter +method alone demands a short explanation. Dry, and, if possible, sunny +weather, is selected for the operation, on the morning of which the +lambs are separated from the flock, and the latter is conveyed to the +margin of some pebbly-bottomed pool. Here they are penned or otherwise +kept together, while they are seized, one by one, by a man standing +mid-thigh deep near the water-edge, and turned back downwards, the head +alone being above the surface. Plate V. fig. 1.[20] It is then turned +from side to side, and moved backwards and forwards, so as to make the +wool catch upon the stream and wave about. When the first washer has +held it for a few minutes, and partially cleansed the fleece, he passes +it _up the river_ to the next, who goes through the same routine, and, +on being convinced that the skin is free from filth, compels the sheep +to land by swimming in an oblique direction up the water. Three and +even four men are sometimes employed in washing sheep, but two, as here +described, will, under ordinary circumstances, be found sufficient. The +bank on which the dripping sheep are collected, should have a clean and +firm turf, and the flock should, till fairly dry and fit for shearing, +be kept on heavy grass land, or, what is better, in straw-bedded folds. + + [20] For the figures 1, 2 and 3 in Plate V. I am indebted to + the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_ for 1832, p. 869. + +(100.) _Shearing._ After allowing eight days, off or on, to elapse from +the time of washing, so as to permit the wool to gain a fresh supply +of yolk, and along with it lustre and elasticity, the sheep may be +stripped of its fleece. As there is no saving in employing an unskilful +clipper, every encouragement should be given to induce servants to cut +close, smoothly and evenly, and to avoid injuring the skin, or going +twice over the same part. There are two ways in this country of +depriving sheep of their wool. In the first, or coarser method, which +is only adopted in the case of Cheviot and heath sheep, the operator +sits upon the ground, and placing the animal on its back between his +knees, shears the wool first from the belly and legs, and then, after +tying the latter, proceeds to clear the back. In the second method, the +legs are never tied, as the disposition of the sheep is such as to +render it unnecessary. The animal is placed as in Fig. 2, Plate V., and +the shearer clips first one side, cutting from the middle of the belly +to that of the back, down to the loins. It is then placed on its side, +as in Fig, 3, Plate V., the knee of the operator pressing on its neck, +and the wool is removed from the legs and buttocks. The fleece is next +rolled up, with the cut side outwards, commencing at the tail, and +using the wool of the other extremity as a fastening for the bundle. + +A cool dry apartment should be selected in which to store the wool, +always remembering that _heat_ and _damp_ are equally injurious to it, +and that the greater the perfection in which it retains its _natural +oily moisture_, the more valuable will it prove both to the grower and +the manufacturer. + +(101.) _Weaning_, where milking is not practised, ought to be set about +in the end of July or beginning of August. In some places the ewe lambs +are never speaned, but allowed to go at large with their mothers; and +though by this plan the dam is apt to be kept in poor condition, yet is +this counterbalanced by the comparative freedom of the hogs from braxy. +As an improvement, however, the gimmer lambs may be withheld for a +fortnight from their mothers, and at the end of that time may be +permitted to pasture with them. In the few places where the farmer +continues to manufacture ewe-milk cheese and butter, speaning is +carried into effect somewhat earlier, and is of course attended, in the +long run, with no little detriment to the stock and its proprietor. The +sooner that the practice be laid aside the better; for though ewe-milk +cheese is pretty universally relished and admired, yet those who are +acquainted with the scenes which happen at the bughts, know well that +the cheese itself cannot but contain much, the mere mention of which +would pall at once the appetite even of the least fastidious. In +addition to this, a great waste of grass is occasioned by the sheep +going to and from the bught, while the inconveniences they are on every +hand exposed to, at a season when they are peculiarly liable to disease +and accident, ought of themselves to lead to the abolition of the +practice. + +When the udders of the ewes appear, after their separation from the +lambs, to be much distended, they may be once or twice milked, to +prevent bad consequences; but it is much better to obviate the +necessity for this, by reducing their allowance of food for a few days. +When the animal seems to suffer much irritation about the udder, it +will always be safe to give a brisk dose of any of the common saline +purgatives. + +The store lambs are at this period sent to good pasture, or, where the +farm cannot afford it, are _summered_ at a distance; that is to say, +the farmer pays so much a head for permission to feed his flock, during +a couple of months, on another person's ground, at the end of which +period they are turned upon the pasture which has just been vacated by +the gimmers, they having been sent to join the older ewes. + +(102.) _Smearing_, in those places where it is still carried on, is +performed in two ways, according to the quality of the wool. +_Slipping_, as the one method is termed, is only employed in high, wet +districts, where the sheep are covered with long wool; while _rolling_, +as the other is usually called, is only required for such as, in dry +situations, are surrounded by a short close pile. In pursuing the +former plan, the smearer takes up the mixture on the forefinger of his +right hand, and while holding the locks of wool apart with his arms and +left hand, allows the salve to drop into the groove or shed, along +which it is spread by the other fingers. + +In _rolling_, a small quantity only of smearing stuff is raised on the +_point_ of the forefinger, with which it is laid evenly upon the skin. +This is by far the neater way of salving, as less of the ointment is +permitted to get upon the wool; but as it is altogether a tardier +process, it is not so frequently resorted to. + +November is the month usually chosen for this operation, but as it +cannot be properly done unless the day fixed upon has been preceded by +dry weather, the time ought rather to be selected by the aspect of the +season. + +The composition of smearing stuffs is so very various, that it is quite +beyond my power to give the reader even a list of the ordinary +ingredients and their proportions; nor need I recommend any of them in +particular to the attention of the shepherd, knowing, as I do, the +bigoted opinions which are held upon the subject, and the aversion with +which every one regards a mixture not of their own composing. I can +only observe, that where tar is employed, it ought to be well diluted +with grease, so as to enable two English quarts of it to be spread over +six sheep. In this way it will be less liable to adhere to the wool, +and will be much more readily laid upon the skin. When sheep are salved +without due attention to the even spreading of the mixture, the insects +with which the skin is infested are, instead of being destroyed, +allowed here and there a resting place; and as the severity of their +attack is in proportion to the limited nature of their range, the skin +at these points soon becomes crusted with scabs. The smaller the +quantity of tar employed, as consistent with the keeping down of +vermin, so much the better, as the wool is of more value to the +manufacturer, the sheep is saved the discomfort of having its fleece +plastered and matted, and the shepherd is spared the vexation of losing +lambs through their inability to reach an udder surrounded by locks of +hard and tangled wool. + +(103.) _Fatting._ The age at which sheep are prepared for the butcher +depends upon the breed, its situation, and its propensity to take on +fat. The heath sheep may be considered as requiring to be the greatest +length of time in the hands of the farmer, and the Leicesters as the +reverse; wethers of the former variety being usually disposed off when +from three to four years old, and ewes when from four to five; while +wethers of the latter kind are fit for market often at eighteen months, +and the ewes are in general fed off after the third year. + +Sheep, in spring and autumn, are peculiarly liable to diseases of the +intestines, a circumstance mainly to be ascribed to the changes which +are, in these seasons, constantly occurring in the nature of their +food. Much of this is owing to careless management in the economy of +the pastures, and to restricting them for great lengths of time to one +kind of provender, a thing guarded against by all good breeders. Sudden +transitions, however, from a poor to a nutritive pasture, and the +reverse, are always bad, and therefore to be avoided; but change of +feeding ground, with these restrictions, cannot be too much +inculcated--it is, in fact, the soul of sheep husbandry. The bleakest +portions of a farm should be pastured off in autumn, so as to reserve +the sheltered spots for winter use. The cast ewes may then be drafted +off to feed on a more succulent herbage, previous to being penned on +turnips. + +Most of the points worthy of attention in sheep feeding having already +been detailed in the article on _Crossing_, I shall only add a few +particulars in regard to management on turnips. + +When sheep are fed on turnips, they are in general confined to a +particular portion of the field by nets or hurdles. The latter, when +made of Scotch fir, cost about a shilling each; but, when constructed +of larch, the price is fourteen-pence. Those made of larch are by far +the more durable, and will last three years if kept under cover during +summer. Two men are required to set them up, besides a horse and cart +to take them to the field, on which account nets have a decided +preference, being easy of transportation, and requiring little +house-room. Though valuable in windy situations, nets cannot be used to +enclose horned sheep, as their heads become entangled with the cords. +They will seldom serve for more than three years, but as they cost only +threepence per yard, they may be considered as every way cheaper than +hurdles. + +When the turnips allotted to the sheep, which seldom exceed a week's +supply, are consumed, another portion of the field is enclosed; while +the shells are torn up with a two-pronged hook, and either left there +to be consumed by the flock, or carted to another field for the use of +sheep not then intended to be fattened. A fresh supply should always be +afforded them before the old one is eaten clean, otherwise their +fattening will be much retarded. It is usual to allow them at the same +time plenty of salt, placed up and down the field in troughs or +boxes,[21] and about a ton of hay in the ten or fourteen days, to every +hundred sheep; though that number, if supplied with what, and permitted +to run about, will consume that quantity in a week. In spring, from +half a pound to a pound of oil cake is given daily to each of them, +along with turnips. + + [21] Old casks, wanting ends, form the best of all contrivances + for holding salt for sheep, as when laid on their sides, and + retained in that position by stakes, they allow the sheep free + admission, at the same time that the salt is defended from + rain. + +In places where the cold during spring is any way severe, the Swedish +turnip ought always to be preferred for feeding sheep, as from the +formation of the upper part of the bulb, water cannot collect within it +as it does in other varieties, to their serious injury when frost sets +in. + +Turnips must be cut for such sheep as are shedding their teeth. The +mouths of those that refuse to eat them should be examined, that in the +event of a tooth being loose or broken it may be removed. Occasionally +a sheep will be unable to gnaw a turnip, owing to a peculiar formation +of the head, the lower jaw being so very short as to give the profile +some resemblance to that of a pig. Such deformed animals are said in +this quarter to be _grun_-(ground)-mouthed: I believe from the +elongation of the nose suiting them better for poking in the earth than +for feeding in the usual way. + +The fattening of sheep on turnips is much promoted by their having +access to a grass field, more especially if it happen to contain whins +or heather. It is from want of attention to this that sheep are so +liable to disease when eating turnips, for, apart from the benefit that +accrues to them from a dry lair, they are enabled to turn their food to +better account when consuming bitter herbs. It is no unusual thing for +turnip-fed sheep and cattle to become quite lean, as the farmers say, +"almost at the lifting," for no other reason than that they have been +confined too strictly to one article of diet. They have been denied +access to plants containing of all things the one most necessary for +the maintenance of their health--_bitter extractive matter_--as it is +called by chemists--without a due proportion of which the most +nutritious substances cannot be turned to account. "As an essential +ingredient in the provender of herbivorous animals, it may, I think, be +admitted as a fact, that its importance is _in an inverse ratio_ with +the nutritive powers of the food."[22] Thus accounting for the length +of time that sheep will continue to thrive on turnips alone. + + [22] Paris's Pharmacologia, sixth edition, vol. i. p. 147. + +With all the advantages, however, which accrue to the sheep when on +turnips, from the quantity of nutritive matter which these roots +contain, its progress when restricted to them frequently falls very far +short of the expectations of the owner. In the greater number of +instances, also, farmers are unable to account for their want of +success in this department, so that I may be excused for endeavouring +to point out, at some length, the causes of their failure. To +proceed:-- + +The point in sheep management in which our farmers are most deficient, +is turnip-feeding; one upon which most will pique themselves as being +perfect, though, speaking guardedly, hardly one man in twenty +understands the rudimentary principles on which sheep-feeding should be +conducted. They are unacquainted with the habits of the wild animal, +and, unlike any other class of men, interest themselves little in the +fundamental study of their calling. There is not a showman, or a +bird-fancier, but knows to a tittle the peculiarities of the creature +that he has in charge, and endeavours, to the best of his ability, to +provide such food as its instincts crave. Not so, however, with the +store-farmer. He cares not to inquire whether the sheep is naturally +calculated to subsist on one kind of nutriment; and if so, whether they +will, when left to the exercise of instinct, resort to turnips of their +own accord; whether the sheep is usually restricted to confined +localities similar to our fields, or is the unrestrained rover over an +extensive pasture. Yet it is from investigations of this kind that we +are to derive our mode of treating sheep, and are to form plans +beneficial to ourselves, from their being, in a manner, improvements +upon nature. We find, from a perusal of the works of travellers, and +from the anatomical peculiarities of the sheep, that it is fitted for +residence in countries precipitous in surface, and scantily supplied +with herbage; consequently, it must range over a vast extent of ground +for a subsistence, and its food must, owing to the varied features of +the country, consist, not of one or of a few plants, but of a most +extensive mixture of herbage. Experiment also points out that the +deductions from these observations are correct. Sheep, in fact, consume +a greater number of plants than any other domestic animal. Linnæus, in +examining into this subject, found, by offering fresh plants to such +animals, in the ordinary mode of feeding, that horses ate 262 species, +and refused 212; cattle ate 276 species, and refused 218; while sheep +took 387 species, and only refused 141. We find, too, great difficulty +in preventing sheep from springing over the dykes and hedges that we +place as boundaries to their rambling habits, yet how seldom do we see +the true cause of their determination to set them at defiance. We may +partly account for it by considering their analogy to the goat, and +their propensity to scale rugged eminences; but I think these movements +rather indicate an anxiety to change a pasture already exhausted of +variety, for fresh fields, and herbage abounding in that miscellaneous +provision which nature apparently reckons essential for them. Shepherds +own as much, and will tell you that frequent change of pasture is the +soul of sheep husbandry, though they see no reason why sheep should not +be kept for many successive weeks on a patch of turnips. They admit the +necessity of a frequent shifting in the one case, but deny it in the +other. Magendie, a celebrated French physiologist, has shown, by +experiment, that it is impossible to keep an animal in a healthy state +longer than six weeks on one article of diet, death frequently taking +place even before the end of that period; but our sheep-farmers, in +happy ignorance of the fact, confine their flocks for months to turnips +only. And what, may I ask them, is the consequence of the practice? +Why, that it is not unusual to meet with sheep-owners who lose at least +one out of every fifteen, and all owing, as may easily be proved, to +this mode of management. In the first place, the turnip is a kind of +food entirely foreign to the nature of the sheep, and one to which, at +first, they evince great repugnance. There are many varieties of sheep +incapable of feeding on turnips, owing to the form of the face, the +upper-jaw projecting considerably past the lower, hindering the +chisel-shaped teeth from being brought to bear upon the root. None of +our British breeds certainly have this as a regular feature, +nevertheless they are liable to it; and there are few farmers that have +not, several times in their lives, met with _grun-mouthed_ sheep, as +they are called in Scotland, from their profile resembling that of the +pig, and suiting them for poking in earth, rather than for eating in +the usual way. Again, if the structure of the sheep's mouth proves that +it is not adapted for eating turnips, the composition of the turnip no +less satisfactorily shows that it is not calculated as food for sheep. +Bitterness is essentially necessary in the food of all herbivorous +animals; without it, indeed, they sooner or later fall into ill health. +This property is shown by chemists to reside in the extractive matter +of plants, which has, therefore, been called _bitter extractive_. The +quantity is also found to be in the inverse ratio of the nutritive +powers of the plant; that is to say, where the plant abounds in +alimentary matter, the proportion of bitter extractive is small, +compared with what it is where the former is deficient. Turnips contain +a large quantity of matter capable of affording nourishment to the +body, but they yield little or none of the bitter principle. In +consequence of this, sheep acquire fat rapidly for a time, when placed +on turnips; but, experiencing a want of the medicinal bitter, begin +with equal rapidity to lose the advantages they so recently gained. +Their appetite becomes depraved, and, from being shut out from access +to the stomachic intended for them by nature, they take to devouring +earth, or any substance capable of serving as a substitute for it. +"With regard to the natural use of bitter extractive, it may be laid +down as a truth, that it stimulates the stomach,--corrects putrefying +and unwholesome nutriment,--promotes tardy digestion,--increases the +nutritive powers of those vegetable substances to which it is +united,--and furnishes a natural remedy for the deranged functions of +the stomach in particular, and through the sympathetic medium of that +organ, for the atony of remote parts in general."[23] All, indeed, +concur in setting a high value on this constituent of plants--all, with +the exception of those whose interests are most deeply concerned in a +knowledge of its importance. Farmers, in general, cannot perceive the +utility of attending to concerns apparently so trifling, though in the +right conduct of these they depend materially for success. Nay, I have +known men arguing, that in six weeks they have given ordinary sheep an +excellent coating of fat, by keeping them on turnips only; though, on +strict inquiry being made into the nature of the field in which they +had been penned, it has always turned out that the sheep had access to +other things, their owners having wilfully shut their eyes to the true +circumstances of the case. Depend on it, no sheep will continue in +health during six weeks on turnips alone, much less will it continue +throughout that time to take on fat. Much of the mischief attending a +want of bitter matter is obviated by the plan of allowing the sheep +corn, salt, oilcake, and hay, which, serve, especially the last, as +tolerable substitutes for it. Good hay ought always to be plentifully +supplied to sheep on turnips, as, from the variety of the plants +composing it, it contains much that is not to be found in turnips. +Besides, one of the most useful bitters with which we are acquainted +(the _Bogbean--Menyanthes Trifoliata_) occurs in meadow hay, and is a +plant sufficient of itself to save the animal from the consequences of +neglect. Whenever you hear of remarkable instances of sheep becoming +quickly fat on turnips, you may safely believe they have had liberty to +nibble something in addition to the ordinary provender. They have had +access to broom or whins, perhaps only to bushes that are laid as a +defence on dykes, or only to the scanty pickings on the edges of +fields--still they have by such means in a manner satisfied the craving +for bitter aliment, and enabled their stomachs to turn to better +account the otherwise unprofitable turnips. Broom is at all times an +excellent medicine for sheep, and one which they are partial to, and +which ought, therefore, to be placed, if possible, within their reach. + + [23] Paris's Pharmacologia, vol. i. p. 146. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS. + + +(104.) Sheep being about as liable as other animals to a variety of +accidents, it is necessary that the shepherd should possess a competent +knowledge of the means which art affords for the remedy of those +mishaps. It is from a want of such knowledge that farmers are +frequently led to slaughter valuable sheep, though only labouring under +the effects of some commonplace disease or accident. If the animal is +attended by a professional person, an expense is sure to be incurred +nearly equal to the worth of the patient, and in so far as they +endeavour to obviate this, by killing the sheep, they are free from +blame; but why not rather contrive to save the cost of veterinary +attendance, by making themselves conversant with its diseases, and able +to prescribe for their own flocks, in which there can be no difficulty, +as the remedies are, in the majority of cases, few, simple, and of easy +application. In the surgical and medical management of flocks, much +mystery has, as in other matters, all along existed; but that fantastic +age is well nigh its close, and thanks to the spirit of candid inquiry +now abroad, we may hope ere long to boast of valuable information in +this department. The spread of correct ideas regarding the nature and +treatment of accidents and diseases, has from first to last been +prevented by the diffuseness of those who have written on the subject, +and by their so clothing it in a mass of verbiage, as to render +scarcely intelligible what would otherwise be easy of acquirement. To +obviate the liability to a similar charge, the following observations +are given as briefly as is consistent with a due regard to the +importance of the subject. + +(105.) _Wounds._ All the wounds which can be inflicted may be +classed under the heads of incised, punctured, and lacerated. + +An incised wound is one made by a cutting instrument, such as a knife +or a piece of glass. + +Punctured wounds are those produced by sharp pointed bodies, such as +pins or thorns. + +Lacerated wounds are those occasioned by blunt bodies, as the teeth of +the dog, tearing rather than cutting the flesh. + +When a sheep has received any of these injuries, the following rules +ought to be attended to, and in the order here recommended:-- + + 1st. Arrest the bleeding, if profuse, and likely to endanger life. + + 2d. Clip away the wool for a few inches around the injured part. + + 3d. Remove dirt or other foreign body from the wound. + + 4th. Bring the separated parts as nearly together as circumstances + will at the moment permit, and retain them there by suitable + apparatus. + +(106.) _To stop Bleeding._ Bleeding will, if no large arteries are +divided, cease on the free exposure of the surface for a few minutes to +the air; but when a large vessel has been cut, more determined means +must be had recourse to. Pressure on the bleeding surface and its +neighbourhood will in many cases succeed, but this or any similar +method is far inferior to that of securing the open vessel by a thread. +To accomplish this, the mouth of the vein or artery must be slightly +drawn out from the contiguous surface, by means of a small hook, called +by surgeons a tenaculum, and easily procured from any blacksmith. While +the mouth of the vessel is thus held exposed, an assistant must +surround it with a noose of thread, which, on being secured with a +double knot, will effectually close it. The thread ought to be of white +silk, though any undyed thread, which is firm, round, and capable of +standing a pull, will answer the purpose. Care must be taken to place +the thread, before tying it, fairly behind the point of the tenaculum, +so as to avoid including the instrument within the ligature, a +circumstance which would lead to the slipping of the noose and failure +of the operation. The hook is now to be withdrawn, and one end of the +ligature cut off by scissars within a little of the noose. The +remaining threads are allowed to hang out of the wound, so as to admit +of their removal when they become loose, which does not, however, take +place till the termination of the first four days, and they are +frequently retained for a much longer period. At each time the wound is +dressed, after the fourth day, the ligatures should be _gently pulled_, +or, which is preferable, _twisted_, to disengage them, if at all loose, +so that the wound may be more speedily closed. Before proceeding to any +operation where bleeding is expected, the operator should provide +himself with a few well-waxed threads, each twelve inches long, so that +no delay may ensue on a division of large vessels. + +(107.) _Removal of Extraneous Matter._ Dirt is best removed by washing +with a sponge or old linen rag and warm water. Other foreign bodies may +in general be extracted by the finger and thumb. In some cases, +however, it may be necessary to dilate or enlarge the wound with a +fine-edged knife, in order to facilitate the removal of substances +which, from their shape or situation, cannot be otherwise displaced. + +(108.) _Closure of a Wound._ The last thing to be done is to bring the +edges of the wound into as accurate contact as the state of the parts +will at the moment permit, without, however, using any force. This, +with a little care, is readily accomplished, the only difficulty being +to retain them in the desired position. They may be held in contact +either by _stitches_, (sutures,) _plasters_, or _bandages_, or by a +union of the three. Stitches are only required when the wound gapes to +a considerable extent, as it will always do when running across a +muscle. They may be applied in the following manner. Transfix one side +of the wound with a curved needle (armed with a well waxed thread) +forcing the needle _from without_ obliquely towards the bottom of the +wound, then carry it through the opposite side _from within_, taking +care to bring it out about the same distance from the edge as that at +which it entered on the other margin. The needle must now be removed, +by cutting the threads close to its eye, and while the ends are allowed +to hang loose, the same operation should be repeated, at the distance +of an inch or an inch and a half from the first stitch, as often as the +length of the wound may render necessary. Your assistant will now bring +the sides of the wound together as accurately as possible, and retain +them there till you have tied the corresponding ends of the threads in +a double knot. + +(109.) _Bandaging._ Adhesive plaster is in some instances of service, +but upon the whole ought rather to be dispensed with, being of +difficult application, and moreover tending to the accumulation of +filth and the discomfort of the animal. Nothing will be found to serve +the purpose of supporting the parts so well as a properly adjusted +bandage, which is useful in every instance, and sure to stay on if +sewed here and there to the fleece. The bandage should never be omitted +where the wound has any tendency to gape, as too great a strain upon +the stitches cannot but lead to delay in the healing process. In +bandaging a limb or part of a limb, commence _always at the foot_, and +proceed upwards; in other parts of the body begin where you find it +most convenient. Before applying a bandage to an injured surface, a +couple of pieces of old linen of cotton rag should be folded into pads +or compresses, and laid _one on each side of the cut_, and over these +the bandage should be rolled, evenly and with moderate and uniform +firmness. By this plan the separated surfaces are supported and +preserved in close juxtaposition, especially at the bottom of the +wound, a thing of some importance where the cavity is deep. Transverse +cuts of the limbs of sheep require more careful and more complicated +treatment than cuts in other parts, as there is a constant tendency of +the edges to retract. This retraction of the edges may be in some +degree obviated by the application of a splint, which may be made of a +slip of stiff leather (such as is used for saddle flaps) well wetted, +so as to be easily adapted to the form of the limb. It is intended to +impede the motion of the leg, which occasions the gaping of the wound, +and must therefore be made to pass over one or more joints as +circumstances may require. Tow must be laid along the surface (a sound +one if possible) on which the leather is to be placed, and a bandage +then rolled over it so as to make all secure. + +(110.) _Clean cuts_, as every one knows, heal readily in a healthy +animal, seldom demanding above three dressings; lacerations, on the +other hand, require a longer period for their reparation, inasmuch as +the process which nature goes through is more complicated. In the +former, the parts are speedily glued together, so soon almost as in +contact, and the union is generally complete within the first +thirty-six hours. Not so, however, with the latter. Here the parts are +bruised, torn, and perhaps to a considerable extent awanting. Some of +the bruised portions may die, and are of course to be renewed. This is +a process requiring a great effort on the part of the vital powers, +which are often inadequate to the task, and on this account we ought, +when the injury is severe, to sacrifice the animal rather than run the +risk of its dying during the process of the attempted cure. To replace +the lost part, suppuration, or the formation of _matter_ commences; +while under cover of this, a crop of fleshy particles (granulations) +rise to fill the vacancy. Granulations are best promoted by warm +emollient applications, such as poultices of oatmeal, linseed-meal, or +barley-flour, which ought to be frequently renewed to prevent their +becoming cold or dry. When the granulations become too luxuriant, and +rise, as they are apt to do, above the level of the skin, the poultices +must be laid aside, the sore washed once or twice a-day with a +_solution_ of sulphate of copper (made by dissolving two or three +drachms of blue vitriol in an English pint of soft water), and covered +carefully over with a pledget of fine tow, spread with lard, or any +simple ointment, by which means, conjoined with cleanliness, a cure +will easily be accomplished. + +(111.) _Punctured Wounds._ The orifice being small in these, and the +depth considerable, the sides are apt to adhere irregularly, and +prevent the free escape of matter, which is certain to collect at the +bottom. To avoid such occurrences, it is in many cases proper to +convert a punctured into an incised wound. When, from neglecting this, +the matter is denied an outlet, an incision must be made to allow it to +escape, otherwise much harm will ensue from its burrowing between the +different textures. Fomentations will also here be serviceable, and +should be preferred to poultices. To apply them, place well-boiled +meadow hay, when very hot and moist, within a fold of old blanket or +woollen cloth, and lay it on the injured parts, taking care to renew +the heat frequently, by dipping the bundle in the hot decoction. + +(112.) _Bruises and Sprains._ These, unless severe, need not be +interfered with. When the shepherd, however, considers it necessary to +make any application, he cannot do better than foment the part for an +hour or so with meadow hay, in the same manner as recommended for +punctured wounds. + +(113.) _Wounds of Joints._ Such wounds are highly dangerous and apt to +baffle the most experienced. _The grand object in every case, however, +where a cure is attempted, is to produce a speedy union of the wound, +as directed in_ (108) to (109). If the injury be extensive, the best +thing the farmer can do is to slaughter the animal. + +(114.) _Poisoned Wounds._ It is said that sheep are sometimes bitten by +snakes, and strange stories are told of their milk being sucked by +these reptiles. In such a case but small dependence can be placed on +any inward treatment, beyond the administration of one or two full +doses of castor oil. If the bite can be discovered, the part should be +frequently fomented with a decoction of meadow hay and foxglove +(_fairy-cap_ of the Irish, and _bluidy-finger_ of the Scotch). + +(115.) _Fractures._ If there be no wound of the soft parts, the bone +being simply broken, the treatment is extremely easy. Apply a piece of +wet leather, as recommended at (109), taking care to ease the limb when +swelling supervenes. When the swelling is considerable, and fever +present, you cannot do better than open a vein of the head or neck, +allowing a quantity of blood to escape, proportioned to the size and +condition of the animal and the urgency of the symptoms. The exhibition +of purgatives should never be neglected. Epsom salt, in one ounce +doses, given either as a gruel or a drench, will be found to answer the +purpose well. If the broken bones are kept steady, the cure will be +complete in from three weeks to a month, the process of reunion always +proceeding faster in a young than in an old sheep. Should the soft +parts be injured to any extent, or the ends of the bone protruding, +recovery is very uncertain, and it will become a question whether it +would not be better at once to convert the animal into mutton; indeed, +removal of portions of bone and amputation, of which some well known +writers on the surgery of the sheep speak so learnedly and confidently, +may be viewed, as, in this case, chimerical, if not absurd. + + +OPERATIONS. + +(116.) _Cutting Lambs._ Polled sheep should be castrated about the +tenth day after birth, but the end of the fifth week is soon enough for +horned sheep, as early castration has always a tendency to spoil the +beauty of the horns. The risk is always in proportion to the age, +therefore no great length of time ought ever to elapse from the period +of birth to that of the operation. A large flock of ewes and lambs +should never be collected preparatory to cutting, as the latter, from +the excitement and crowding, are less likely to recover from the +operation. It is much better to take up a small number so soon as they +are ready. Instead of driving them about in attempts to secure them, it +will be safer to station a person at a division of the fold, who may +lay hold of them individually as they are made to pass through slowly. +The best method of cutting is to grasp the bag containing the testicles +with the left hand, so as to tighten the skin, and push them forward, +after which an incision may be made through the skin at the end of the +bag, large enough to permit the stones to pass. They may then be +removed either by cutting or tearing; the latter plan, however, is the +better, as there is little risk of bleeding, which is almost sure to +prove troublesome if the former be adopted. At this time a portion of +the tail ought to be removed, if it has not been done at an earlier +period, as a remedy for pinding. The bleeding will serve to lessen the +danger consequent on the previous operation. When all have been +operated on, the ewes may be allowed to find their lambs, and the whole +conducted _quietly_ to their pasture. + +(117.) _Blood-letting._ In describing this operation, too much stress +is always laid on the importance of opening particular veins, or +divisions of a vein, in certain diseases. Such directions are +altogether unnecessary, as _it matters not from what part of the animal +the blood be drawn, provided it be taken quickly_. Nothing tends so +much to the recovery of an animal from a disease in which bleeding is +required, as the rapid flow of the blood from a large orifice. Little +_impression_ can be made on an acute disease by the slow removal of +even a large quantity of blood, as the organs have time to accommodate +themselves to the loss, which might, for any good it will do, as well +be dispensed with. Either bleed rapidly or not at all. The nearer the +commencement of an ailment, in which you employ bleeding, the operation +is resorted to, the greater the chance of its doing good; no time +ought, therefore, to be lost in using the lancet, when once it is known +to be required. Bleeding by nicking the under surface of the tail does +very well where no great deal of blood is required, but it is not to be +thought of if the veins of the face or neck can possibly be opened. +These are to be taken in preference to a vein on the leg, as they are +much more readily got at. The facial vein (_f.v._ Fig. 3. Pl. III.) +commences by small branches on the side of the face, and runs downwards +and backwards to the base of the jaw, where it may be felt within two +inches of the angle, or opposite the middle grinding tooth. It is here +that the orifice must be made, the thumb of the left hand being held +against the vein, so as to prevent the flow of blood towards the heart, +will make it _rise_. Some prefer opening the jugular vein (_j.v._ Fig. +3. P1.), which commences behind the eye and runs down the side of the +neck. This vessel is, however, more difficult to open than the former, +being better covered with wool, and not so easily exposed or made to +swell. _Stringing_ is the mode commonly resorted to for this end; that +is to say a cord is drawn tightly round the neck, close to the +shoulder, so as to stop the circulation through the vein, and render it +perceptible to the finger. A lancet is the instrument generally used in +bleeding, though a well-pointed pen knife will do at a pinch. The +opening must always be made obliquely, in the direction marked in the +cut; but before attempting this, the animal must be secured, by placing +it between the operator's legs, with its croup against a wall. The +selected vein is then fixed by the fingers of the operator's left hand, +so as to prevent it rolling or slipping before the lancet. Having +fairly entered the vein, the point of the instrument must be elevated, +at the same time that it is pushed a little forward, by which motion it +will be lifted from or cut its way out of the vein. _A prescribed +quantity of blood should never be drawn_, for the simple reason that +this can never be precisely stated. If the symptoms are urgent, as in +all likelihood they will, your best plan is not to stop the flow of +blood till the animal fall or is about to fall. When this occurs, run a +pin through the edges of the orifice, and finish by twisting round it a +lock of wool. + +(118.) _Removal of Hydatids from within the head._ This animal, and the +symptoms which it causes, I have fully described at (169). Their +removal has been attempted in a variety of ways, but the simplest +method, and one most likely to succeed, is that followed in this +quarter. A couple of incisions, forming when completed the letter T, +are made in the integument covering the soft part of the bone under +which the hydatid is supposed to be. Two flaps are in this way marked +out, and are dissected back so as to expose the skull. The yielding +portion of the latter is then pared away, which brings the sac into +view. This will be seen alternately to sink and rise, following in this +respect the motions of the brain. A moderate-sized needle, slightly +curved and filled with thread, is now passed through the exposed +portion of the cyst, and the thread allowed to remain. The fluid is +thus permitted slowly to escape, and at the same time the sac becomes +collapsed, after which it is easily removed by pulling gently at the +thread with which it is connected. As good a hold should be taken with +the string as possible, and all the water should be allowed to flow out +before any attempt is made to extract the remains of the hydatid. To +conclude the operation, lay down the flaps of skin in their original +position, covering them with a small piece of folded linen smeared with +lard, and over all apply a cap. Never try to save the bone which you +cut, by turning it back in the form of a lid, for by so doing you will +only endanger the life of the animal, which is otherwise in little +jeopardy. + +It will often happen that the hydatid, from being in the interior of +the brain, will not be brought into view by the removal of a portion of +the skull. In this case the brain must be punctured in order to reach +the sac and evacuate its contents. + +When the skull above the eye is very thin, the disease may be at once +ended by cautiously thrusting a short, stout, sharp-pointed piece of +steel wire through the skin and bone down towards the centre of the +brain, taking care to pull the skin a little to one side before making +the puncture, so that on letting it loose the openings in the skull and +integument will not be opposite to one another. This plan is much +superior to that of thrusting a needle up the nostril, in the manner +devised by Mr Hogg, as in his way we are always poking in the dark, in +ignorance of the situation of the instrument, and are in all +probability doing so much injury to the delicate parts within the nose +as to preclude the possibility of recovery. Indeed, I some time ago +examined a head on which Mr Hogg's operation had been twice +unsuccessfully performed, and found traces of inflammation at the upper +part of the nostril severe enough of itself to have occasioned death. +The needle had not entered the brain, but the ethmoid was very much +injured. I believe the instrument is very seldom pushed more than half +way through the bone, at least it never reaches the hydatid, which +would appear to be destroyed rather by the inflammatory process which +follows the attempt, unfitting the brain for supplying it with the +secretions on which it lives, than by any direct injury done to it by +the needle. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DISEASES OF SHEEP. + + +(119.) There is no department in the management of sheep so little +understood as the nature and treatment of their diseases. Every part of +the sheep itself has been used, at one time or another, in this +country, as medicine for _man_, a folly still prevailing among the +boors of Southern Africa, who, according to Thunberg, employ the inner +coat of the stomach, dried and powdered, as a safe emetic. Quackish +absurdities of so glaring a nature have, however, long been scorned in +civilized society. Not so, however, when the sheep is the object of +treatment. Scientific innovations have been slow in reaching it, and +specimens of barbarian usage are far from rare. We may feel for the +benighted credulity which could place reliance, for a rescue from +mortal ailment, on the secretions or excretions of a sheep; but we are +compelled to laugh on reading, in the _Family Dictionary_, published in +1752, the following:-- + +"In general, 'tis affirmed that the belly of a sheep boiled in water +and wine, and given the sheep to drink, cures several diseases incident +to them." + +Only fancy a farmer dosing a sheep with mutton broth, and adding, for +its stomach's sake, a little wine! I suspect the prescriber was, in +this instance, putting himself, in point of intellect, far below the +level of his patient. Thanks to him, however, for the benefit he has +thus unwittingly conferred, by holding ignorance up to the derision it +so richly merits; no means being so powerful as broadly-drawn +caricatures in exposing the extent of such delusions. Though faith has +long since ceased to be reposed in the medicinal virtues of mutton +broth, a variety of nostrums have from time to time appeared, the +composition and application of which are invaluable for the amount of +_negative_ information they are calculated to convey. Further notice of +these trashy recipes it is not my intention to take, as a list of them +alone would make a volume;--they are in the hands of every one. + +(120.) _Cautions in prescribing._ Great reliance is in general placed +upon prescriptions, which profess to suit diseases in every stage and +circumstance.--Than this, however, scarcely any thing can be more +absurd. It is an opinion engendered not so much by ignorance as by +laziness, a determination not to be put about by thinking of a remedy +for the evils which surround us, but, while we contrive to soothe +ourselves by doing _something_, to leave every thing to the hit-or-miss +practice of charlatans.[24] There are many, who on being informed of +the presence of disease in a neighbour's flock, confidently advise the +employment of a favourite nostrum, on the empirical supposition that +because it cured, or was thought to cure, one flock, it will cure +another. Nothing is taken into account saving that, in both cases, the +affected animals are sheep; and it is at once concluded, that what +benefited one will benefit another. The many niceties in prescribing +are never thought of: oh no, that would be of no use! of course it can +be of no importance to give a moment's attention to age and sex, +pasture and situation, or to leanness or fatness, or to the presence of +pregnancy! These are of trifling moment, and only to be despised by a +person armed with a recipe, which some one has shown to be capable of +walking like a constable through the body, and bearing off the +intruder! But enough of this; sufficient has, I think, been said to +prove the utter folly of confiding in things of the above nature or +intention, and to show that such confidence can lead to nothing but a +waste of life and capital. Even though the remedy is a harmless one, it +ought (unless calculated from _known_ powers to arrest the disease) to +be viewed with distrust, as incurring a loss of time, during which +other and better measures might have been resorted to. + + [24] Whenever we hear a person recommending a medicine of + universal virtues, we may safely set him down either for a fool + or an impostor. Things which are good for every thing are good + for nothing. + +(121.) _Classification of diseases._[25] As the acquirement of correct +ideas regarding the treatment of diseases is much facilitated by a +simple arrangement of the diseases themselves, numerous attempts have +been made to accomplish it, and in a variety of ways. The best of these +tabular views with which I am acquainted is the one laid before the +Highland Society some years ago, by Mr Stevenson, who appears to have +been the first to publish any thing like a satisfactory classification. +His arrangement is, however, defective in several points, more +especially as it necessitates the placing in the same division diseases +of organs essentially different. Thus he is compelled to admit under +"Diseases of the head" _Scabs on the mouth_ side by side with _Sturdy_, +and _Louping ill_: in this way mingling affections of the skin with +diseases of totally different organs--the brain and spinal marrow--and +causing much embarassment to the reader. To obviate this inconvenience, +as well as to render the remembrance of the remedies an easy matter, I +have adopted the above arrangement, in which each disease is placed +opposite the textures it invades. + + [25] + + Diseases affecting + + {Blown or Blast. + {Braxy, Sickness, or Blood. + The Stomach and {Pining, Daising, Vinquish or Vanquish. + Intestines. {Staggers. + {Diarrhoea or Rush. + {Dysentery, Cling, Breckshaw or + { Breckshuach. + + {Scab or Itch. + {Erysipelas or Wild-fire. + {Red Water. + {Leg Evil or Black-leg.[26] + The Skin and {Inflammatory {1. Maggot. + Hoofs. { appearances {2. Ked. + { caused by the {3. Tick. + { {4. OEstrus bovis. + {Sore Teats. + {Foot-rot. + + {Inflammation {1. OEstrus ovis. + The Air Passages. { caused {2. Pentastoma. + { by the {3. Strongylus filaria. + {Coryza. + + Glandular tissues,{Rot. + --viz. the Lungs, {Jaundice. + Liver, & Kidney. {Dropsy. + + {Sturdy, {1. Hydatids or Bloba. + { Gid or Dizzy, {2. Hydrocephalus, or + The Brain and { caused by { Water in the Head. + Spinal Marrow. {Trembling, Thwarter or Leaping-ill. + {Wood Evil. + + The Eye. {Ophthalmia. + {Soft Cancer. + + [26] Leg evil ought properly to be classed with diseases of the + vascular system, being in many instances merely a symptom of + disease in the heart or great vessels; but as the same results + are arrived at by placing it under the present head, nicer + distinctions would only tend to create confusion. + +(122.) _Blown or Blast._ Can scarcely be reckoned a disease as it is +but a symptom caused by a mechanical impediment to respiration and +circulation. When a sheep has been brought from a poor pasture to a +rich one it is prone to gorge itself to an extent which may endanger +life. The lower end of the gullet becomes obstructed, the gases which +accumulate in the paunch are hindered from escaping, and the latter +becomes so enormously distended as speedily to suffocate the animal by +being forced into the chest. + +(123.) _Treatment[27] of Blown._ If the difficulty in breathing be only +slight, keep the sheep moving _gently_ up and down as the air will thus +have a chance of escaping from the stomach. If the symptoms are more +alarming, pass the elastic tube employed in the same complaint in +cattle down the throat, or if that cannot be procured use a cane with +an ivory or wooden bullet at the end of it. Never _stick_ the animal, +as recovery by this plan is almost hopeless. If you cannot obtain the +aforesaid instruments, bleed the animal till it becomes very faint, and +if this is of no avail proceed to kill it. Shepherds often prescribe a +purgative dose after this occurrence. In general, however, it is not +required. To prevent a flock becoming _blown_, always when, for the +first time on rich pasture, make the dog move leisurely among them so +as to prevent them feeding hastily. + + [27] In speaking of remedial measures, the word treatment ought + to be used in preference to "_cure_" which figures at the head + of the medical advice in veterinary works. It is sheer nonsense + to blazon such a word in pages having any pretentions to + candour, for how seldom are we able conscientiously to affirm + that our endeavours will be followed by a _cure_. All we can do + is to pursue the _treatment_ best adapted for the attainment of + so desirable an end. + +(124.) _Braxy or Sickness._ Six or eight species of braxy are +enumerated by shepherds, but as they all bear a striking resemblance +one to another, in their origin and progress, it is preferable to treat +of them as one disease. Indeed wire-drawn distinctions, though +occasionally serviceable in cattle-medicine, ought in most instances to +be avoided, as they are of but little avail, and in this disease +straw-splitting can only serve to tantalize the farmer, by giving rise +to ideas of finical modes of treatment, which before the Chapter ends +are reduced to the simplest aids which medicine affords. Whatever may +be the seat or seats of the disease, the identically same resources are +employed in all:--why therefore ought the reader to be troubled with a +hundred trifling phases, which, not being _essential_ to the malady, +can only tend to perplex him in his search for the little that is +practically available. + +(125.) _Symptoms of Braxy._ In those rare cases where the animal is +seen at the commencement of the disease, it will appear uneasy, lying +down and rising up repeatedly, loathing food, and drinking frequently. +In a little while the symptoms become more decided, and fever shows +itself. The wool is clapped, the skin hot, the pulse quick and strong, +respiration is rapid and laborious, while the blood is thick and black, +issuing from the orifice, in attempts at bleeding, drop by drop. +Sometimes the heart beats irregularly: the mouth is parched, and the +eyes are red, languid, partly closed, and watery. The head is down, the +back drawn up, and the belly swollen; there is scarcely any passage +through the bowels, the urine is small in quantity, high coloured, and +sometimes bloody. The sheep shuns the flock, slowly dragging itself to +some retired spot, where convulsed and screaming it shortly dies. Death +may occur in a few hours, or may, in some rare cases, be delayed for a +week. A fatal termination is not so sudden as some have fancied, since +the animal is in general seriously ill for many hours before it is +discovered. + +(126.) _Appearances on dissection._ Though many parts are commonly +implicated in the _sickness_, there is every reason for believing the +_reed_ to be primarily affected. Inflammatory appearances, and +mortification, the usual result of violent inflammation in this +quarter, are visible on its coats, especially at the pyloric extremity +(Plate I. Fig. 2, _py_.) The inner coat presents a blackish-red, and +gelatinous appearance,--the entire bowel being soft, pulpy, and easily +permeable to the finger. The intestines, kidneys, and bladder, will, in +all probability, exhibit similar changes, while the lining membrane of +the abdomen (the _peritoneum_) is frequently affected: when this +membrane has been much inflamed, the intestines are glued together, are +surrounded with bloody or floculent serum, occasioning before death +tumidity of the under part of the belly, and communicating, when +struck, a feeling of fluctuation to a hand placed at a distance from +the blow. The muscles in various parts of the body frequently +participate in the disease, bloody serum being infiltrated between the +layers. As the brain, in severe cases, exhibits symptoms of oppression, +so on dissection it will be found red and turgid, enabling us to +account for the convulsive movements during the termination of the +malady. The whole body, more particularly the abdomen, gives out a +fetid gangrenous odour, which has procured for braxy the pastoral +appéllation of "_stinking ill_" and renders the dissection far from +pleasant. After death putrefaction goes on with great rapidity, +especially in moist weather, hence the necessity of testing the +solidity of the carcass by giving it, as is customary in some parts, +_three shakes_ before proceeding to prepare it for household use! + +(128.) _Causes of Braxy._ Whatever tends to constipate the bowels may +be reckoned a predisposing cause. Whenever constipation occurs, +especially if on a sickrife pasture, the sheep may be looked upon as +ripe for the disease. Any crude indigestible substance, taken into the +stomach when the animal is in this state, will have a tendency to +kindle braxy, and the liability to it will not only be heightened, but +the chances of recovery will also be lessened, by the animal being in +high condition. + +Wedder hogs are peculiarly its victims, but only when hirsled, as when +allowed to pasture with their mothers they are less liable to it. This +is accounted for by the fact, that hirsled hogs are comparatively +_dull_, not being familiar with the proper times for feeding, and +incapable of selecting the suitable herbage, from having wanted the +tutoring of the mother. + +From the beginning of November till the middle of March, _sickness_ +commits its greatest ravages, especially among heath sheep, from their +being more confined than others to dry binding provender. Frozen grass +is also a common exciting cause, rapidly inducing inflammation by +lowering the temperature of the stomachs so very much as to arrest +digestion, and lead to its acting as an irritant. The succulent grass +in the sheltered hollows of mountains is more liable to frost than a +sapless herbage, and to it, owing to its moisture, the young sheep +resort, devouring it eagerly to assuage their thirst. Braxy, however, +may arise from other and more obvious causes. The sheep, perhaps when +heated by rash dogging, is suddenly chilled by exposure to a shower, or +a plunge in a morass, and if the bowels be at the time any way bound +up, immediate mischief cannot but ensue. One of the rarest accidents to +which it has been attributed is the prevention of the passage of the +fæces by a knot, or intussusception, forming on the intestines, but +this occurrence would be of difficult discovery, and even if made +known, our treatment, though not differing much from that of braxy, +could hardly be successful. + +(128.) _Treatment of Braxy._ Recovery is in many instances almost +hopeless, owing to the length of time which in general elapses between +the onset of the disease and the shepherd's discovery of the animal. +Nevertheless, the best treatment ought in every instance to have a +proper trial, as life may often be saved when such a result is least +expected. Many plans have been resorted to, but none are found to suit +so well as that of bleeding and purging. The first thing to be +attempted is the procuring of a copious flow of blood, but, as before +mentioned, this is a difficult matter, owing to the stagnant state of +the circulation at the surface of the body. Its abstraction may, +however, be rendered easy, by placing the sheep in a tub of warm water, +or, where this cannot be procured, by rolling a blanket wrung out of +hot water round the body of the animal. The tub of water should always +be preferred, and the moment the sheep is placed in it, the tail should +be nicked, and one or both jugular veins opened. + +Retain the sheep in the bath for half an hour, adding hot water from +time to time, so as to sustain the original temperature. This of itself +will alleviate the sufferings of the animal. + +When a copious flow of blood has been obtained, remove the sheep from +the tub, and administer two ounces of Glauber's or Epsom salt, +dissolved in warm water, substituting a handful of common salt when +these cathartics cannot be procured. It is needless to give a purgative +without bleeding, as, till this is done, it will not operate. When in +spite of this the bowels continue obstinately constipated, give a +glyster of tobacco decoction, made by boiling a drachm of the leaf (the +full of a pipe will do) for a few minutes in a pint of water. Half of +this only should be injected, using the other if circumstances require +it. Place the sheep in a house, or any comfortable situation, bed it +with straw, throw a horse-rug over it, and promote the purging by warm +gruels. When out of danger supply it with moderate quantities of +laxative provender, and keep it for ten days apart from its fellows, by +which time it will, in all likelihood, be well recruited. + +(129.) _Prevention of Braxy._ Change of pasture will at once suggest +itself. Let it be to a succulent one, on which old sheep have been for +some time feeding; the hogs will thus be hindered from filling their +paunches too rapidly. But, if heathy food is the staple provender, +allow your sheep four or five hours of turnips in the twenty-four, +permitting at the same time free access to common salt. These, from +their laxative effects, will serve as antidotes to the dry sapless +grasses, which have led to the disease. Such places as mossy soils, +abounding in evergreen plants, will also serve the purpose. Burn your +ley heather, as nothing is more decidedly prejudicial, not only from +its constipating qualities, but also from being surrounded by a grass, +which is so much relished by the sheep, that they resort to the spot +long after it has been eaten to the quick, and devour in their +eagerness much that is foul and unwholesome from frequent puddling. You +thus obtain a good supply of sprouts, as invaluable for opening +qualities, as the old heather is to be dreaded for its astringency. +Finally, be aware that careful herding is not the least efficacious of +preventives; a quiet, even-tempered, and thoughtful shepherd, being +here of far more value than the stores of the apothecary. + +(130.) _Pining._ _Symptoms and Causes._ The name has arisen from the +rapid wasting, which is a prominent symptom in this complaint. A farm +can hardly be subject to a more ruinous distemper, as the same sheep +will be affected by it year after year, and if a ewe be attacked during +autumn it is ten to one she will not have a lamb in the ensuing season. +Pining only seizes on thriving sheep, preferring young ones, those more +especially of the larger breeds, and is confined to farms where the +land is principally micaceous and covered with occasional stripes of +benty grasses. A whole flock sickens at once, their usual alacrity +appears to have deserted them, their eyes are dull, and the whole +animal seems weary and languid. At a more advanced stage the wool +acquires a bluish tinge, the blood becomes thick, diminishing in +quantity, and the muscles assume a pale and bloodless appearance. The +bowels are constipated, and to this the feverish symptoms apparently +owe their origin. If the disease progress, death will ensue in about a +month.[28] + + [28] A gradual wasting of the animal, similar to what occurs in + pining, may result from the irritation consequent on swallowing + pointed bodies, as pins or needles. I have in my possession a + very stout needle, given me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, + which was found buried in the coats of the stomach of a young + sheep which died under the above symptoms, having been ill + about three months. + +(131.) _Treatment and Prevention._ The first object is to obtain a free +discharge from the bowels by means of purgatives, as, whenever a flux +appears, the animal is safe. Two ounces of Castor oil given in a gruel, +or the same quantity of Epsom salts, will do, care being taken that the +purging be carried to some length. + +Removal to a rich pasture is the only preventive. That pasture should +be preferred which contains a good proportion of bitter plants, for the +emaciation appears to be owing in a considerable degree to torpor of +the bowels occasioned by long abstinence from these necessaries. + +(132.) _Staggers._ The symptoms nearly resemble those of sturdy, which +I have afterwards to describe, and with which indeed I might have +classed it, were it not that it appears to be merely the result of a +poisonous plant being taken into the stomach. It is rarely seen +hereabouts; I shall, therefore, quote the account of it presented to +the Highland Society by Mr Stevenson:--"This is a disease seldom or +never affecting the sheep in this country, those excepted which feed in +forests, or amongst planting. The symptoms of it are more violent than +those of sturdy, during the time of their continuance. The animal, +after staggering for some time, falls on the ground, when a general +trembling comes on over the limbs; they are violently convulsed, and +quite insensible to every thing. During the continuance of the paroxysm +they throw the body into various positions, and sometimes roll to a +considerable distance. The fit continues for a quarter, sometimes half +an hour, or an hour. When they rise, they seem perfectly bewildered, +till they regain the flock, when they continue to feed well, till +another paroxysm supervenes. This disease appears in Autumn, and +various causes are said to produce it. Improper food, the leaves of the +oak, from their astringent quality, cobwebs sprinkled with dew, have +all been reckoned as causes. I am inclined, however, to suppose, that +it arises from the action of a poisonous grass (_Lolium temulentum_), +which is the only one of that description in this country, and grows +only in those situations where staggers prevail. What effect these +causes have on the brain to produce this disease, I cannot explain. +When it continues for any time on the same individual, it is apt to be +fatal." + +"Change of pasture is the only effectual cure for it." + +(133.) _Diarrhoea._ By this is meant a constant purging, affecting the +younger portions of the flock between April and June, leading to great +emaciation, and proceeding from one of the following causes. + + 1st. Eating a soft tathy pasture, particularly if fouled by the + inundations of the previous winter. + + 2d. Feeding on too rich a pasture, or a sudden change from an + herbage deficient in nutritive qualities, to one that is much + superior. + + 3d. Transitions from heat to cold. + + 4th. Weakness and relaxation of the bowels. + +(134.) _Treatment of Diarrhoea._ When either of the first two causes +has given rise to purging, a moderate allowance of good hay will +gradually stop it. This may be discontinued when the sheep has _taken_ +with its altered fare. + +When diarrhoea has been occasioned by exposure to damp, or sudden +transitions from heat to cold, it may be arrested by keeping the animal +in a house for a few days, and feeding it on any dry aliment, but when +crude trashy matter has been swallowed, and keeps up irritation by its +presence, medicine must be resorted to. Administer an ounce of castor +oil in gruel, adding twenty drops of Laudanum if there has been +straining or evidences of pain. When the bowels have been _thoroughly +cleared_ by this cathartic, it will be proper, if the discharge still +continue, to check it by astringents. The medicine found by experience +to answer best, is prepared as follows:-- + + Take of Logwood four ounces, + Extract of Catechu (Japan earth) one drachm, + Cinnamon two drachms, + Water three English pints. + +Boil for a quarter of an hour, strain, and then add sixty drops of +Laudanum. Administer half an English pint of this night and morning so +long as the flux continues. + +Diarrhoea seldom proves fatal, and is indeed an easily managed disease; +but as it is frequently only a symptom of some other affection, or a +critical effort of the constitution to ward off some more serious +mischief, the attempts at stopping it should always be cautiously +conducted. + +(135.) _Dysentery.--Symptoms._ The pulse is quick and the respirations +hurried. The skin is harsh and hot, and the wool in general clapped. +The mouth is dry, the eyes red and languid, and the ears drooping. Food +is taken only in small quantities and rumination is stopped. The +discharges from the bowels are frequent, slimy, sometimes green, and a +little further on in the disease are mixed with blood. The belly is +drawn towards the back. It is knotted and lumpy to the touch and a +rumbling noise (_borborygmus_) is heard within it. As a careless +observer might have some difficulty in distinguishing dysentery from +diarrhoea the following diagnostic summary, drawn up by Professor +Duncan, will be found of service. + + 1. Diarrhoea attacks chiefly hogs and weak gimmers and dinmonts; + whereas dysentery is frequent among older sheep. + + 2. Diarrhoea almost always occurs in the spring, and ceases about + June, when dysentery only commences. + + 3. In diarrhoea there is no fever or tenesmus, or pain before the + stools, as in dysentery. + + 4. In diarrhoea the fæces are loose, but in other respects natural, + without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery, the fæces + consists of hard lumps passed occasionally without any blood or + slime. + + 5. There is not that degree of foetor in the fæces in diarrhoea + which takes place in dysentery. + + 6. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone, in diarrhoea it is + rather sharper than usual. + + 7. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly, but by diarrhoea only a + temporary stop is put to its thriving, after which it makes rapid + advances to strength, vigour and proportion. + +If dysentery continue to advance it will terminate fatally within a +fortnight. Death is generally preceded by the "_black scour_," which is +only an aggravation of the purging, the stools being mixed with shreds +of dark gangrenous matter from the decomposed interior of the +intestines. + +(136.) _Causes of Dysentery._ Many absurd opinions have gone abroad +regarding the contagious nature of this affection. Contagion, however, +has nothing to do with the matter, the spread of the disease depending +entirely on the state of the atmosphere and the nature of the locality. +When dysentery occurs the weather is usually sultry, the ground upon +which the flock has been going, foul, and the management of the sheep +so improper, as to be sufficient of itself to produce the disease very +generally. There is in fact only one proof of a disease being +infectious, viz., its immediate occurrence on the introduction of an +affected animal among such as are in good health, on sound food, and in +easy circumstances. This proof, however, in regard to dysentery has +never been established, and no medical person will now affirm that it +is contagious. Some think that it travels from flock to flock in the +direction of the wind, but its appearing simultaneously in many folds +ought rather to be charged to the fact of the predisposing causes being +nearly similar in all. + +(137.) _Treatment of Dysentery._ Bleed freely if the disease has +continued only for a few days, but moderately if a longer time has +unfortunately elapsed. Stoving, by which is meant shutting the animal +in a wash-house, and allowing the apartment to become filled with +steam, though urged by some writers, cannot here be recommended. The +intended object is the promotion of perspiration, by exciting the +action of the skin, but this may be brought about by means much more +conducive to the safety of the animal. After the bleeding immerse the +sheep in a tub of hot water, and retain it there for twenty minutes; +then administer an ounce of Castor oil, with thirty drops of Laudanum, +and cover the sheep up in a snug corner. After the oil has operated, +thin well-boiled flour-porridge, given at intervals, in small +quantities, will help to defend the ulcerated bowels, sooth the pain, +and stop the purging. If these fail, you may use the astringent mixture +recommended in diarrhoea at page 175, and in the same manner, adding to +each dose a grain of ipecacuanha. When the appetite returns, and the +stools begin to acquire consistency, speedy recovery may be +prognosticated. + +During recovery part of the wool always falls off. + +(138.) _Prevention of Dysentery._ If you wish your sheep to take the +disease, do as some wiseacres recommend--put tar upon their tails, and +noses; you will thus render them feverish, and uncomfortable, and every +way fit for an attack. + +Gathering sheep into confined places is always bad, nothing will tend +more to ward off dysentery than an open frequently-changed easy-lying +pasture, combined with gentle usage on the part of the shepherd. + + +DISEASES OF THE SKIN. + +(139.) _Scab, or Itch._--_Symptoms and Causes._ These are so well known +that they hardly merit a description. Little white specks appear upon +the wool, and are soon followed by a small pustule at the root. The +pustules are produced by a minute insect burrowing in the skin, which +accounts for one external application of any active substance being +sufficient to eradicate the malady. The infected sheep is restless, +tearing off the wool with its teeth, and rubbing itself against every +resisting body. The skin is red and fretted, discharging an ichor which +hardens into crusts. These gradually extend, inducing a premature +failure of the wool. + +If the sheep be not relieved, it sinks under its accumulated miseries. + +Scab was little known any where, but in the Highlands, and the south of +England, till the good old custom of smearing with tar and butter gave +way before the elegant modern innovations. Into flocks anointed in the +old manner it may be carried by infection, but will seldom or never +arise spontaneously among them. + +It usually commences in spring among hogs, making its first appearance +among the rams, especially those of the fine-woolled breeds, and is +supposed to be induced by overheating, want, or even excess of +nutriment, or pasturing on wet lands in rainy seasons. + +(140.) _Treatment of Itch._ Subject the flock to a minute examination +whenever the movements of any animal excite suspicion, and remove every +one that is in the least affected. Place them in a separate enclosure, +and apply either of the following recipes. + + Take of Mercurial Ointment four pounds, + Venice Turpentine half a pound, + Oil of Turpentine one pint: + +mix thoroughly. + +Separate the wool from the head to the tail and draw the fore finger +loaded with a portion of the ointment, along the bottom of the groove. +Then make lines from the middle of the back down each leg and score +them in the same manner, thus concluding the operation. Some farmers +prefer rubbing the size of a walnut of the ointment into the delicate +skin inside the thigh. The former plan is, however, the better of the +two, and is the one recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, who communicated +the recipe to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, +and Commerce, in the 7th volume of whose transactions it was published. + +A most important benefit to be derived from the application of the +mercurial ointment, is the security it affords the sheep from the +attack of the sheep fag or ked (_Hippobosca ovina_). The wool of sheep +annoyed by this fly always contains joints or knots, owing to the +occasional stoppage of its growth consequent on the fretting of the +irritated animal. On this account dealers in wool are said to give a +higher price for fleeces having the mercurial tinge, as they are +supposed to be sound in the pile from having been exempted from the +fly. + +The next prescription is one of very great efficacy where the disease +has reached the length of scabs, and has, with many variations, gone +the round of almost every agricultural publication. The form I prefer +is one submitted to me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, near Dumfries, +who at one time, several years ago, applied it with immediate good +effects, to six hundred infected sheep. + + Take of Tobacco scrapings one pound, + Strong decoction of Broom six gallons: + +boil for half an hour, and then add three English pints of spirit of +tar. + +This quantity is sufficient to cover two dozen of sheep. The scabs, if +large, should be raised a little with a knife to permit the free +contact of the fluid, and no more of it should be applied than is here +directed; for though it be in this dose comparatively harmless, a very +small addition will destroy the animal. + +A very good French remedy is made by melting a pound of fat or suet, +and mixing with it (when off the fire) a fourth part of oil of +turpentine. Rub it into the affected parts. + +Whatever outward means may be employed, laxative medicines ought never +to be neglected. One of the best and most generally used, consists of a +tea-spoonful of flour of sulphur, given for two or three successive +nights in double the quantity of molasses. + +If ill-conditioned sheep are the victims of itch, convey them to a +better pasture, but where the animals are fat, reduce their diet, and +give each a dose of Epsom salts. + +(141.) _Prevention of Itch._ Do not turn a healthy flock on to pasture, +from which itchy sheep have recently been driven. If the disease +occasionally breaks out on your ground, apply the mercurial ointment at +clipping time: and, when you salve, add a pound of sulphur to every tub +of smearing composition whatever it may be. + +(142.) _Erysipelas or wild-fire._ This is an inflammatory affection of +the skin, sometimes accompanied by blebs or blisters, occurring in +August and September, and spreading rapidly through a flock. Though +there is considerable ambiguity in the employment of these terms, I +believe they are synonymous with red-water, the disease of which I have +next to treat. + +(143.) _Red-water._ The occurrence of this disease among sheep is very +rare. Its nature and treatment are however allowed, by those who have +seen it, to be admirably described by Mr Stevenson, in the 3d vol. of +the _Highland Society's Transactions_. + +"This disease commonly makes its appearance about the beginning, or end +of winter, and first affects about the breast and belly, although at +times it spreads itself over other parts of the body. It consists in an +inflammation of the skin, that raises it into blisters which contain a +thin, reddish, and watery fluid. These continue for a short time, +break, discharge their matter, and are followed by a blackish scab. +When the sheep are exposed to cold or wetness, the skin being fretted +makes the blisters rise, or they often arise from cold, affecting the +animal internally, thus producing a slight fever, which throws out +these vesicles on the body, similar to the scabby eruptions, which +appear about the face, and more particularly the mouth of those persons +affected with cold. The blood in this disease is but little affected, +though a little of it oozes into the vesicles on the skin, and +communicates to them that reddish tinge, which gives origin to the +name. + +"Red-water is a disease that but seldom appears in this country, and is +almost never fatal. In cases where the disease is violent, a little +blood should be taken. * * * * The sheep should be placed in a fold by +itself, * * * * and the following medicine may be given for three or +four mornings successively:-- + + Take of Flour of Sulphur two ounces, + Molasses three ounces: + +mix them, and divide them into six doses, of which one may be given +every morning, in half a pound (half a mutchkin) of warm water. If this +is found unsuccessful, half an ounce of nitre, mixed with the foregoing +recipe, will be attended with good effects; after which, a dose of +salts may be given, and the body washed with lime-water upon the part +affected." + +(144.) _Leg Evil._--_Symptoms and Causes._ Like many other diseases, +this is usually supposed to be contagious, merely because it often +spreads quickly through a flock; the obvious fact of the exposure of +the animals composing it to the same causes, such as peculiar diet and +atmospheric variations, being entirely overlooked; but, as I have +already remarked in paragraph (136), the only proof of a disease being +contagious, is its spreading rapidly on the introduction, from a +distance, of an infected individual into a previously-healthy flock. + +Sheep which acquire fat at an early age, are peculiarly liable to this +disease: a sufficient argument, if all others were wanting, against the +unnatural and foolish practice of accumulating a load of grease on the +bodies of young animals. By so doing, the action of the heart and lungs +is materially embarrassed, and, on the animal being chilled, or the +balance of its circulation otherwise accidentally deranged, +mortification (leg evil) is almost certain to occur. Even simple +scratches are often fatal in these over-fat animals, from inducing +gangrene. + +The first intimation the shepherd has of the approach of leg evil, is +the occurrence of fever and lameness, accompanied by blue or livid +patches on the leg, generally about the upper part of the hoof or knee. +The skin on the affected parts, in a few days, exhibits scattered +vesicles, not unlike the blebs which form in erysipelas; it then gives +way, and the parts beneath are seen of a darker tinge, soft, pulpy, and +completely gangrenous. + +Leg evil may prove fatal in a few days, or not for several weeks, much +depending on the extent of the sloughing portions, which may include +the entire leg, or legs, or may be limited to a single patch. + +(145.) _Treatment of Leg Evil._ When the animal is in high condition, +and the disease has arisen spontaneously, bleeding is the first thing +to be thought of. It must, however, be conducted cautiously, it being +better to use the lancet a second time, than, by withdrawing too much +blood, to reduce the vital powers below the standard which is necessary +for replacing the gangrenous portions. Should a leg be affected to any +extent, the sheep must be at once destroyed, as there is scarcely a +possibility of its surviving, without a degree of care and nicety in +the treatment, which it is beyond the power of unprofessional persons +to bestow. Where the livid spots are limited, rags dipped in spirit of +turpentine, which has been heated by immersing the bottle containing it +in hot water, may be laid upon the skin; but when dead portions have +begun to separate, the best application is either a warm poultice, made +of carrots, which have been boiled and mashed, or one made of boiled +oatmeal, which has been fermented by adding to it a table-spoonful of +yeast, and placing it for an hour before a fire. When the sore is +becoming clean, and the granulations are rising freely, pursue the +methods recommended in paragraph (110). + +(146.) _Prevention of Leg Evil._ Remove the diseased animals from the +flock, and, in dressing their sores, never use a sponge, or any thing +which, from its value, is apt to be preserved, and, perhaps, applied in +no long time to the cuts or scratches of a healthy animal; for, though +leg evil is not communicable by ordinary means, yet is it readily +excited by inoculation, or the application of putrid matter to a broken +surface. If the odour from the affected parts is any way offensive, +wash them with, and sprinkle round the fold, either a weak solution of +_chloride of lime_, or the disinfecting liquid of Labarraque, articles +which may now be procured from every provincial apothecary. Finally, +let the shepherd _wash his hands carefully_ before going from diseased +to healthy sheep, using, if need be, a little of either of these +solutions; and let him look well to any injuries which his charges may +receive in July, August, and September, for these are the months most +favourable to the occurrence of leg evil. + +(147). _Inflammation caused by Maggots._ The insects passing under the +name of "Fly," though most troublesome in August, attack the sheep from +the month of May to September, inclusive, depositing their eggs among +the wool, in general about the tail, the roots of the horns, or any +part which affords, from its filthy appearance, a prospect of suitable +provision for the maggot. When these eggs are hatched, a process which +is, in sultry weather, almost instantaneous, the maggot erodes the +skin, and speedily brings the adjacent parts into a fit condition for +the reception of succeeding numbers of its species. + +The backs of long-woolled sheep are, from their exposure, more liable +to be selected by the flies, as a receptacle for their eggs, than the +corresponding parts in such as are covered by a short thick fleece. + +No sooner has the maggot begun its operations, than the sheep becomes +uneasy and restless, rubbing itself on stones and trees, and +endeavouring, by every means in its power to free itself from the +annoyance. Teazed by the constant irritation, fever soon sets in, and, +if the sheep be unrelieved by the shepherd's aid, death ensues in +four-and-twenty hours. + +It is only lately that attention has been paid to the history of the +insect pests which originate the mischief, so little damage do they +appear to have occasioned in former periods. In a valuable paper, +containing the result of observations made on this subject in the +Highlands, and published in the second number of the _Quarterly Journal +of Agriculture_, they are thus described:-- + +"The fly which is the immediate cause of this disease, seems, as far as +my observations could extend, to consist of four species, viz.--the +_Musca Ceasar_, _Cadaverina_, _Vomitoria_, and _Carnaria_, of Linnæus. +* * * + +"_M. Ceasar_ is of a shining green colour. + +"_M. Cadaverina_, the thorax shining bluish, the abdomen green, like +the _Ceasar_. + +"_M. Vomitoria_, thorax black, or dark-blue grey, abdomen dark glossy +blue. This is the common _Blue-Bottle_ or _Flesh-fly_. + +"_M. Carnaria_, grey; the thorax has three black longitudinal markings +on the upper surface; the abdomen is checquered, in some positions +shining whitish. + +"In all those instances in which I observed them, the green flies were +the first to attack, and this is the common opinion among the +shepherds. After a time, when the larvæ (maggots) commenced gnawing the +flesh, the putrid stench, which was thereby occasioned, attracted +numerous other species. The _Vomitoria_ (_blue-bottle_) was very +common, more numerous than both the former species, and perhaps +contributed most to accelerate the death of the animal, after the +others had commenced. The _Carnaria_ was rare. I observed but few of +them, and these seemed not concerned; which is the more remarkable, as +in the fenny counties of England it is said to be most troublesome. All +the species of this genus resemble one another closely, both in +appearance and mode of life. They are exceedingly voracious, feeding +upon carcasses and filth of every description. In five days after being +hatched they arrive at full growth, provided they have plenty of food; +they then cease to eat, and seek to assume the pupa state, crawling +under ground two or three inches. Here they remain about fourteen days, +when the shell cracks, and the imago, or fly, appears. In this last +state, they feed also on putrid juices, sucking them through their +probosces." + +The correctness of this description of their transformations I can +attest, from having watched their habits during my anatomical pursuits +in the summer months. + +(148.) _Treatment of Fly-blown Sheep._ When the sheep is fly-blown, +dislodge the maggots with a knife, and shake a little powdered white +lead into the wound. Do not apply tar to the abraded surface, as, from +its cauterizing effects, the wound will be enlarged, and a repetition +of the visit speedily ensured. To ward off the onset of the flies, +various substances noxious to them are rubbed or poured upon the wool. +Tar, in small quantities, and of pungent quality, is by some daubed +upon the ears, horns, and tail. Others prefer rubbing a little melted +butter, thickened by flour of sulphur, along the sheep's back: this is +an effectual preventive. Some, again, prefer dressing the sheep, when +in low situations, with the following recipe, which I take the liberty +of copying from Mr Mather's paper on the fly, in the _Quarterly Journal +of Agriculture_, No. XXIV. + + "Take of Arsenic, finely pounded, one pound + Potash twelve ounces, + Common yellow soap six ounces, + Rain or river water thirty gallons. + +"Boil the ingredients together for fifteen minutes. * * * * The liquid +is in no degree injurious to wool. It cleans and dries the offensive +perspiration of the sheep, and destroys the smell caused by the dew in +the mornings, or by damp hot weather. In most situations, one dressing +in July and another in August will suffice; but as the expense is +trifling, and the process simple, it may be better to apply it more +frequently, especially in low and damp situations." The liquid is +applied only in dry weather. A teapot, or any vessel of a similar form, +is filled with it, and one person pours it on the wool, while another +rubs the fleece to facilitate the passage of the fluid. At the times of +using the solution, all superfluous wool ought to be shorn from the +buttocks, but not too closely. + +When the insects are very troublesome, drive the sheep if possible to +higher ground. Examine carefully all wounds and ulcers, however +trifling, and dress them with any simple ointment containing a small +proportion of sulphur, mercury, or white-lead. Lastly, bury all useless +carcasses as speedily as possible, by which means you will keep down +the number of the flies. + +(149.) _The Sheep-Fag or Ked_ (_Hippobosca ovina_) and _The Tick_ +(_Acarus reduvius_), are destroyed or stopped in their attacks by the +same remedies and preventives detailed in the preceding paragraphs on +the fly. + +(150.) _Inflammation produced by the OEstrus bovis._ This insect +infests not only cattle but also sheep and goats, depositing its eggs +on the back of the animal, where it forms a small tumour, in which the +larvæ remain from autumn till the commencement of the ensuing summer. +Only the fattest and most vigorous animals are attacked, and the larvæ +are very difficult to destroy. Fischer found, from numerous +experiments, that even spirits, and a strong solution of salt, could +not affect them. The fumes of burning sulphur alone seemed to annoy +them, and to it they speedily fell victims. This, however, is a remedy +which cannot be applied to the skin of the sheep, so that our only +resource is the repeated application of turpentine to the tumours on +the back, taking care to slit them up so as to facilitate its action. + +(151.) _Sore Teats._ When a ewe is observed to hinder the lamb from +sucking, its teats should be examined. If much inflamed, a poultice +should be applied, and the lamb placed under the charge of another +nurse. Suppuration will thus be promoted, and the matter may be allowed +to escape by making an opening for it at the place it points. If there +is only a little tenderness of the skin, all that is required is the +washing it with a solution either of sugar of lead or sulphate of zinc, +eight grains to the ounce of water. + +(152.) _Foot-rot._ No disease occasions more acute suffering to the +sheep, and annoyance to the farmer, than foot-rot, and no disease has +led to longer arguments as to its contagious or non-contagious nature. +Thanks, however, to Mr Dick of Edinburgh, these disputes are closed for +ever, as any one may be convinced, by perusing his clever and sarcastic +paper at page 852, Vol. ii. of the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_. +His excellent remarks on the popular ideas of the infectious nature of +foot-rot, I have not space to quote, but shall lay before the reader +his views as to the situations and circumstances which give origin to +the disease.[29] + + [29] To enable the reader more easily to understand Mr Dick's + views of this disease, I have added a drawing of the foot of + the sheep, which it may be well to consult before entering on + the subject. + + _Fig. 4. Plate._ I. Section of a toe:--_c.c._ Crust of the + hoof; _s._ Sole; _g.g._ Gland which secretes the hoof. + +(153.) _Causes of Foot-rot._ "What do we gain," says Mr Dick, "by +enticing the sheep from his native and natural haunts to the richer +pasturage of our meadows or lawns? There the animal enjoys a more +luxuriant repast; it fattens to a larger size, and will, in this +respect, repay the increased allowance which has been made to it. But +instead of moving about in small troops, with the alacrity of the wild +kinds, the sheep are seen in flocks of thousands, moving slowly over +their pastures, and gorging themselves to an extent which cuts short +the thread of life, by the advancement of various diseases. Instead of +wandering from the summit of one peak to another, in quest of a scanty +subsistence, or instead of being compelled to descend from the summits +of the mountain in the morning, and ascend again in the evening, they +are compelled, in many cases, to remain within a few yards of a +particular spot for weeks together, and there engorge themselves to +satiety. + +"But what, it may be asked, has this to do with the foot-rot? More, I +am inclined to think, than is generally imagined. The hoofs of the +sheep being intended to receive a degree of friction from hard +surfaces, are not acted upon when the animal is placed under such +circumstances; and the necessary consequence is an overgrowth of the +hoof. The crust,--the part naturally intended to support the weight of +the animal, and to endure the greatest share of fatigue,--is here +allowed to grow out of all due bounds, because the softness of the +pasturages, upon which it now moves, presents little, if any, of that +rough friction to which the feet of the animal is naturally intended to +be exposed. The crust, therefore, grows unrestrained, until it either +laps over the sole, like the loose sole of an old shoe, and serves to +retain and accumulate earth and filth, or is broken off in detached +parts, in some cases exposing the quick, or opening new pores, into +which the particles of earth or sand force their way, until reaching +the quick, an inflammation is set up, which, in its progress, alters or +destroys the whole foot." + + * * * * * + +"The finest and richest old pastures and lawns are particularly liable +to this disease; soft, marshy, and luxuriant meadows are equally so; +and it is also found in light, soft or sandy districts. In the first of +these it is perhaps most prevalent in a moist season, and in the latter +in a dry one; in short, it exists to a greater or less extent in every +situation which has a tendency to increase the growth of the hoofs +without wearing them away, and more especially where they are kept soft +by moisture. It is so prevalent in fine lawns and pleasure grounds, +that they are, in many instances, reduced in value to a mere trifle as +a pasture for sheep; they are said to be _infected_ with this disease, +and having once become so, the vicissitudes of _seven_ seasons are +scarcely sufficient to destroy the contagion! A luxuriant herbage, on +soft pastures, is equally subject to it; and, in both cases, the +disease is increased in a wet season. + +"The reason why, in these situations, sheep are so liable to the +disease, is quite obvious. They are generally brought from lands where +their range of pasturage was greater than in these situations. In their +former state, from the exercise which the animal took, and the nature +of the grounds on which it pastured, the hoof was worn down as it grew; +but, under the state in question, the hoofs not only continue to grow, +but, where the land is moist, that growth is greatly increased; and the +animal does not tread upon hard ground, nor has it exercise to wear +them down. Now, in the case of man himself, when the nails of his +fingers or toes exceed the proper length, they break, or give him such +uneasiness as to induce him to pare them. And the same takes place with +the hoof of sheep. But there is this difference in the case of the +latter, that when their hoof once breaks, as the animal has not the +power of paring it, the part thus broken must continue a wound. Some +parts grow out of their natural and proper proportions; the crust of +the hoof (_c.c._) grows too long; and the overgrown parts either break +off in irregular rents and unnatural forms, or, by over-shooting the +sole (_s._), allow small particles of sand or earth to enter into the +pores of the hoof. These particles reach the quick, and set up an +inflammation, which is followed by the destructive effects which are +too well known to require description. + +"Similar effects are produced on soft, wet grounds. The feet, in such a +situation, are not only not subject to a proper degree of friction to +wear down the hoofs, but the growth of the hoofs is materially +increased by the soft and moist state in which they are kept. And this +state renders the feet the more liable to the disease, as it opens up +the pores of the horn, and allows the earth or sand to penetrate, and +wound the quick, in the manner I have already stated. On soft sandy +ground, of a dry nature, the same circumstances may occur. The soft +sand gives way by the weight of the animal, and the crust of the hoof +is not worn down. The sand penetrates between the sole and the crust, +as has been already explained, and produces inflammation. The disease, +however, is not so common on sand as in the other situations to which I +have alluded, the sand seldom being found in such a loose state." + +Another variety of foot-rot is produced by the friction of long grass +between the hoofs, but is mostly confined to hill sheep, when first +pastured on lowland districts. These animals, from having been +accustomed to collect their food on extensive ranges of bare pasture, +are more exposed than heavy breeds to this frequent exciting cause of +the complaint. The rubbing of the grass frets the skin in the cleft of +the hoof, the gland in that situation swells, becomes enlarged, and +suppurates, and in no long time the animal is compelled to rest upon +its knees.[30] This complaint is, however, more readily remedied than +the former, and does not cause nearly so much suffering to the sheep. + + [30] _Fig. 5. Plate._ I. Gives a view of the inner surface of + the toe of a sheep, with the interdigital gland laid open. + + _g._ The gland. + + _d._ The duct of the gland, opening upon the anterior surface + of the leg. + + When the interdigital gland is much enlarged, it becomes + necessary to cut it out. This ought to be a last resource, as + the part appears to be of too much importance to be easily + dispensed with. + +(154.) _Treatment and Prevention of Foot-rot._ As foot-rot, in nine +cases out of ten, is an attempt on the part of nature to get rid of a +portion of the hoof, which ought, in the proper course of things, to +have been worn away as fast as it appeared, the prevention and +treatment of the first stage of the complaint will naturally suggest +themselves. "As this disease," says Mr Dick, at the conclusion of the +aforementioned paper, "arises in consequence of the hoofs not being +exposed to sufficient friction to wear them down, or keep them in their +proper state, or where their natural growth is increased by the nature +and moisture of the ground, the hoofs of all the flock should be +regularly rasped or pared at short intervals, say from eight days to a +fortnight, according to the rapidity with which a particular pasture +produces the disease. In certain situations, they might be made to +travel upon a hard surface, similar to natural sheep tracts, or be +folded in a place purposely prepared, upon which they could move about +and wear their hoofs. For that purpose, they should be placed in it +every day." + +When foot-rot has fairly commenced, pare the hoof from the affected +part, and trim away any ragged portions, wash the foot with soap and +water, and place the animal in a situation where as few irritating +things as possible will be in the way of the tender surface, and give a +purgative. If not properly attended to, the suppuration soon terminates +in mortification. Cleanliness in every stage and variety of foot-rot, +is of the first importance. Many corrosive preparations are recommended +for the cure of this disease, but I have decided objections to one and +all of them. When the foot is clean, endeavour, by frequent +applications of soap and water, to keep and treat the ulcers as +directed in paragraph 110. + +(155.) _Inflammation produced by Insects in the Air Passages._ Much +annoyance is caused to the sheep by the presence of animals in the air +passages. The _OEstrus ovis_ deposits its eggs on the margin of the +nostril in autumn; these are soon hatched, and the larvæ immediately +find their way up the interior of the nose, till they arrive at the +frontal sinus, a cavity situated between the layers of the frontal +bone, and of considerable size in the sheep. Here they remain till the +following spring, when they quit their hold, become winged insects, and +enter upon the career of torment so ably gone through by their +predecessors. + +The _Pentastoma_, an animal supposed at one time only to exist in the +frontal sinus and lungs, and on the surface of the liver, of the dog, +wolf, and horse, as well as in some reptiles, has been discovered by an +able naturalist, my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, in the frontal sinus +of the sheep. It spends its whole existence there, and is distinguished +from other entozoa by having the mouth between two pores on each side, +through which a spicular process comes out. Figure 3, Plate VII. is +taken from a drawing kindly furnished by Mr Rhind. + +(156.) _Removal of Insects from the Nostril._ The _OEstrus ovis_ +occasions much distress to the sheep at the moment of depositing its +eggs within the nostril. The animal on feeling the movements of the +fly, rubs its nose against the ground, or, carrying it low, darts off +at a rapid pace, vainly endeavouring to escape from its tormentor. +During this period, a thin limpid fluid distils from the nostrils, +leading a careless observer to confound the symptoms with those which +accompany Coryza. In general the irritation is now terminated, as, +while in the larvæ state, the insects are incapable of offensive +measures. If they are clustered in considerable numbers in the frontal +sinuses, they will doubtless lead to great suffering, parallel to what +is recorded to have followed the nestling of insects in the same +situation in the human being; and it is, therefore, advisable, when the +cause of sturdy (paragraph 169) is in any way doubtful, first to apply +those substances to the nostril, which are calculated to destroy both +these larvæ and the _pentastoma_, should they happen to be there. +Tobacco smoke is the only available remedy, and a very good one, +being easily brought in contact with the worms, and, when properly +administered, certain in its effects. One person secures the sheep +holding the head in a convenient position, while another, having half +filled a pipe with tobacco, and kindled it in the usual manner, places +one or two folds of a handkerchief over the opening of the bowl, then +passes the tube a good way up the nostril, applies his mouth to the +covered bowl, and blows vigorously through the napkin. When this has +continued for a few seconds, the pipe is withdrawn, and the operation +repeated on the other nostril. + +The round hair-worm (_strongylus filaria_) has been found in great +numbers in the trachea and bronchii of calves by Camper, and of the +sheep by Daubeuton. It has also been found in the reed and duodenum of +the latter animal by Rudolphi. Two other species of the genus +_Strongle_, the _S. contortus_ and _S. filicollis_, have been detected +in the sheep, the former in the belly, the latter in the small +intestines. They all appear to originate only in such sheep as are +exposed to the sapping influence of low damp situations, combined with +stinted diet. Those occuring in the air tubes give rise to irritation, +and a consequent harassing cough, which is only to be arrested by +removing the sheep to a dry airy locality, and a nutritious pasture. +Unless portions of the worms are thrown up during coughing, they cannot +be pronounced with confidence to exist, as the symptoms which they +produce are very similar to those which accompany the two following +diseases. + +(157.) _Coryza._ During the winter months, this affection is of very +frequent occurence among sheep; but health is only in a few instances +seriously affected. It is brought on by the exposure of the animal to +intense cold, or to sudden chills, after it has been heated. In slight +cases, the only annoyance to which the sheep is subjected, is from +matter accumulating in the nostril, and plugging up the orifice, so +that the poor creature is compelled to raise its head every three or +four minutes, and labour hard for breath.[31] When the inflammation +extends further down the air tubes, the symptoms assume a severer type, +and death soon occurs, in general from suffocation. If the inflammation +of the bronchial tubes becomes chronic, that is to say, if it goes on +in a mild form for a length of time, pulmonary consumption (rot) will +in all probability succeed, and destroy the sheep in a more lingering +manner. + + [31] The sheep is more inconvenienced by Coryza than other + animals, owing to the naturally small calibre of the nostrils, + the inferior turbinated bone being of large dimensions, and + occupying the greater part of the nasal cavity. It is from this + peculiar formation of the nose, that sheep are so very easily + blown, when made to exert themselves in running. + +(158.) _Treatment of Coryza._ Should this disease prevail in a lenient +form among your sheep, removal to a sheltered field, and a dose of +purgative medicine, are all that is required. If, however, the feverish +symptoms are severe, besides giving a purgative, bleed at the outset of +the disease, and administer ten grains of the following fever powder, +dissolved in a tea-cupful of warm water:-- + + Take of powdered Digitalis (Foxglove) half a drachm. + Tartarized Antimony fifteen grains + Nitre two drachms. + +Rub them well together, and divide the mixture into fifteen parts or +powders. Half an hour after the powder is swallowed, give the sheep a +basin of warm gruel, and repeat the powder at the end of six hours, if +the symptoms are not considerably abated. When the sheep is recovering, +keep it on juicy food, and do not expose it to inclement weather, as it +will be very liable to another and more severe attack. Those sheep +which are subject to cough on slight changes of temperature, should +always be picked out, fattened for the market, and disposed of at the +earliest opportunity, as they will, in all probability, sooner or +later, fall victims to the following disease. + +(159.) _Rot._ Every animal, from the serpent up to man, that is to say, +every animal possessed of lungs, is liable to _rot_. The inelegance of +the term might be overlooked, provided a precise meaning were attached +to it. Every one, however, seems to place some peculiar signification, +and to hang some favourite theory, upon it, so that little wonder need +be expressed either at the varying tenor of the treatment, or at the +unsatisfactory conclusions which have been drawn regarding it. The word +"_rot_," when employed in speaking of man, implies what, in popular +language, is called "_consumption_," and is applied to that disease +only when it affects the lungs. Thus the fork-grinders of Sheffield, +who, from the nature of their employment, are much exposed to the +exciting causes of consumption, and who, at an early age, fall victims +to it, are said, by the people of that town, to die of rot. The term, +however, so far as it has yet been used in relation to the sheep, has +figured as the representative of a host of diseases, and, in becoming +standard from frequent usage, has only rendered confusion worse +confounded. "_Rot_," says the late Professor Coventry, in his +_Introductory Discourses_, "is a word which has been employed to +express a variety of disorders affecting this animal, with no small +confusion and detriment. Indeed, in few instances has senseless +indiscrimination done more mischief; for means inapt and injurious have +been had recourse to, where skilful and timely interference would have +had the happiest effects. Sheep are sometimes said to have the rot, +when they labour under _phthisis pulmonalis_ (consumption of the +lungs), which they do but rarely; or under disorders of the liver, as +_hepatitis chronica_, and that state of the same organ produced, or +attended by the _fasciolæ hepaticæ_ (fluke worms), _hydatides_, &c., +which affections of the liver are not unfrequent. But the most common +rot is still another and very distinct disorder, resembling, in many +points, and probably the very same in its nature with, _scorbutus_ +(scurvy) in the human species, or that _miseranda lues_, that direful +ruin of the general health and constitution, which silently supervenes +from deficient or depraved aliment; and from which, as numerous +observations testify, every flock, every sufferer, may be recovered by +simple means seasonably used; but against which, in its advanced stage, +all remedies prove of no avail. Perhaps, as the last symptoms of +debility are very similar, and are most taken notice of by ordinary +observers, the different kinds of rot might conveniently enough pass +under the names of pulmonic, hepatic, and general rot." + +Setting aside, for the moment, the inaccuracy of part of the above +observations, I shall only remark, that, though Dr Coventry, in thus +calling attention to the conflicting state of opinions on the subject, +has accomplished much in reconciling discrepancies, he has still left +something to be done in simplifying the matter; while he has, at the +same time, rendered that something difficult of execution, from his own +high authority being associated with the blunder. The only way, +therefore, to remedy the thing, is to quit for the present the views of +that learned gentleman, while I endeavour to give a plain account of +the disease, its causes, and effects. + +(160.) _Symptoms of Rot._ The first thing which indicates the presence +of the disease, is the unwillingness of the affected animal to move +about. It lags behind the flock, ascends a slope with difficulty, and +has a listless, heavy, pithless appearance. Cough varying in frequency +and violence, but extremely harassing, is present at every period of +the disease, and is always increased on the slightest exertion.[32] At +first this is accompanied by expectoration of the mucus of the air +tubes; but in no long time purulent matter, indicative of more +extensive inroads on the constitution, begins to be coughed up, and +goes on increasing in quantity and becoming worse in quality till the +termination of the disease. The wool becomes fine, white, thin, and +brittle in the pile, and is easily brought away in masses by the +slightest pull. The appetite is, throughout the disease, voracious, and +though all the bad symptoms may be present, still the animal keeps up +an appearance of plumpness. This, however, is hollow and deceitful, and +the rapid loss of flesh which immediately succeeds, shows with what +insidious certainty the malady has been progressing. Owing to the +falling off in flesh and in fat, the neck appears to have acquired +additional length, and the eyes to have sunk within the head. Sooner or +later the skin beneath the neck becomes distended with serous fluid, +and from this the disease has acquired the name of _Poke_. The word, +however, is far from applicable, as it might, with equal propriety, +stand for any other disease attended with dropsical accumulations. +Violent purging soon terminates the disease, death being generally +preceded by the evacuation of a quantity of blackish matter. + + [32] It is quite possible that a sheep may die of true + pulmonary consumption and yet have scarcely any cough. + +(161.) _Appearances on Dissection._ The first thing which strikes a +person on viewing the carcass of a sheep which has died of rot, is its +leanness. In conducting the examination, the fell appears of a bluish +white, the muscles are pale and wasted, and fat hardly to be met with. +Where it once existed, a tough yellow substance alone remains, which is +so destitute of all pretentions to the name of suet, that it cannot, +even when thrown upon a fire, be made to blaze. Dropsical accumulations +are found in the legs, chest, neck, and belly. On opening the chest, +the lungs are often seen adhering at intervals to the lining membrane +of the ribs, and have always a shrunk, diminutive appearance. These +adhesions are frequently seen where there are no tubercles, and are in +that case simply the result of exposure to cold; but where they are +coincident with tubercles, they may be ascribed either to the animal +having been exposed to cold, or to the inflammatory action set up by +the tubercles themselves. The lungs are always the principal, and I may +also, from my own experience, add, the primary seat of the affection. +When examined in the early stage of rot, they have a hard lumpy feel, +especially at the upper part or lobe, and at this time a great number +of irregular yellowish white, patchy-looking bodies (_Plate_ VI. _fig. +2._), will be seen shining through the membrane, _pleura_, which +surrounds the organ. These _tubercles_, as the hard white bodies are +called, vary in size from that of a mustard seed to that of a pea. They +are sprinkled through all parts of the lung, and will in every +dissection, be found in a variety of stages, from the firm condition in +which they were deposited, to the softened state which denotes their +speedy expectoration. Each tubercle, however small, usually holds a +particle of calcareous matter in its centre. The lungs, in the advanced +stage of rot, will be full of cells or caverns, owing to the +destruction of its texture by suppuration in those parts where +tubercles existed. The cells or sacs are of all sizes, from that of a +bean to that of a goose egg; but if the animal has been taken care of +during the progress of the complaint, and lingered long, the abscesses +will be so numerous, and so closely situated, as to give the remains of +the lung the appearance of a large bag. Extreme cases of this nature +are, however, rare; as the sheep, in general, either falls before the +knife, or is killed from exposure to cold long ere the disease has +reached its farthest limit. These sacs contain purulent matter, of all +shades and odours, and identical with that which the animal coughed up. + +Tubercles, and all their concomitants as above detailed, are also met +with in the liver, though not so frequently as in the lungs. They +constantly occur in the _clyars_ (mesenteric or lacteal glands) which +on this account are much above their usual size, and are occasionally +found in other parts; but I need not proceed in their description, as +sufficient has been said about them to enable the unprofessional reader +to understand their relation to the complaints. + +Fluke worms and hydatids are almost constant attendants on rot, and +seemingly most important ones, especially the former, which have, I may +say, kept a great bulk of the learned and unlearned for many years in a +perpetual bustle, and have so effectually hoodwinked writers on this +subject, as to prevent them seeing the truly important points in the +disease. For this reason, I hold them worthy of particular description; +as it is only by becoming acquainted with their history and habits that +we can form correct ideas either of their mode of origin or of their +supposed ability to cause rot. + +(162.) _The Liver Fluke_ (_fasciola hepatica_ or _distoma hepaticum_, +_Fig. 6._ _Plate_ I.) derives its name from the resemblance it bears to +the plaice or flounder, though its shape has been more aptly compared +to that of a melon seed. It is flat and oval, of a brownish-yellow +colour, and varies in size from that of a pin-head to one inch in +length, and half an inch in breadth. Each worm is bisexual or +hermaphrodite, on which account they multiply with great rapidity. The +generic name--_distoma_--signifies having two pores, _a.b. Fig. 6, +Plate_ I., and is for this reason applied to it. The nipple-like body +at the extremity _a._ contains the orifice of the pore or opening +leading to the female division of the generative apparatus, situated +between _a._ and _b._ In this cavity are formed the eggs, which are at +intervals protruded, to be hatched when floating in the sheep's bile. +The male organ is situated in front of the ventral pore. The anterior +opening _b._ is equivalent to a mouth, and leads inwards and backwards, +communicating with the intestinal canals _c._, which are easily made +out in the recent animal, from their containing dark bile, and which, +as in other creatures low in the scale of being, serve the double +purpose of a digestive and circulatory apparatus; that is to say, the +stomach first prepares a fluid which is equivalent to blood, and then +distributes it throughout the body.[33] + + [33] The examination of fluke worms is much facilitated by + placing several of various sizes flat upon a slip of glass, and + allowing them to dry in this position. On holding the glass + between a bright light and a lens, and looking through the + latter, the distribution of the vessels, and the position and + form of the eggs, are beautifully displayed. + +Flukes are never found in the _arteries_ of the liver, as has been +erroneously stated by some writers, their abode being limited to the +gall bladder and its ducts. In these they are often present in such +numbers as to cause great distention of the sac and tubes, and in some +instances the irritation produced by them leads to the thickening of +the walls of the gall bladder, and to a deposition of calcareous matter +between its coats; frequently also to complete obliteration of portions +of the ducts. Hence the crackling sound sometimes perceived when +handling the liver of a rotten sheep. + +(163.) _The Hydatid or Blob_ (_Cysticercus tumicollis_, _Fig. 1._ +_Plate_ VII.) so frequently found in sheep, is in form one of the +simplest of the entozoa (literally dwellers within), being little more +than a bag containing a quantity of fluid. As relates to outline, this +hydatid bears no small resemblance to a Florence flask. It is said to +have a head, _h._--a neck, _n._--a body, _b._-- and a posterior or +caudal vesicle, _c.v._ Its claims to the title of an animal have been +much disputed, but as it has been seen to move spontaneously, and as +the contained fluid is always essentially different from that by which +the hydatid is surrounded, the question may be looked upon as set at +rest.[34] + + [34] The property of acting on organized matter, so as to + convert it into substances similar to those which constitute + the agent, is characteristic of a vital power. + +The method of their reproduction is in unison with their structure, +simple in the extreme. Nothing, however, very precise is known about +the process. The vesicle which acts as heart and stomach serves also as +the reproductive cavity, but how or by what means it is fecundated +would be difficult to determine. The young hydatids are found adhering +to the inner surface of the parent cavity. When they have attained +maturity, the parent dies and shrivels, and the young ones begin to +eliminate their nourishment from the juices of the quadruped which they +infest. + +These entozoa are found in general on the surface of the intestines, +between them and their outer membrane (_peritoneum_), and on the +exterior of the lungs and liver. They are always included in a cyst, to +the inner surface of which they adhere by means of two hook-shaped +processes projecting from the head. These cysts are always on the +surface of the different viscera of the sheep, and in this way may be +distinguished from another sacular animal, or rather supposed animal, +termed acephalocyst or headless bag, which is sometimes found in +clusters in the substance of the lungs, liver, &c. and is often +confounded with the true hydatid. + +(164.) _Causes of Rot._ If any one had been asked, thirty years ago, +the cause or rather causes of the appearances which pass under the name +of rot, he could not have enumerated them even in a day, for at that +time each symptom was a disease, and as such was reckoned worthy of a +separate and proximate cause. Nor could any person have had the courage +to promulgate a common-sense opinion on the subject; for simple views +regarding the diseases of domestic animals were then either not deemed +worthy of a moment's notice, or, if considered, were swept at once, by +the strong current of prejudice, into the foul ocean of predetermined +disapproval. Opinions in cattle medicine were at that time valued +according to the prolixity of their detail; and the more improbable the +dependence of the effects upon the cause assigned, so much more was its +discoverer lauded, and in like proportion was the chimerical fabric he +had raised admired. Times are, however, now happily changed; that +potent oculist, the march of intellect, has cleared the film from the +public eye, and no one need, at present, be afraid to state the +unaspiring fact, that _tubercles_ are the sole and proximate cause of +the disease called rot. + +The observations of the late Dr Coventry, already quoted, would lead us +to suppose that tubercles are of rare occurrence in the lungs of sheep, +but in refutation of this assertion, I need only request the reader to +take a ramble through a butcher-market, and he will perceive, even on +cursory inspection, the fallacy of this conclusion. What the state of +the liver is which is attended with flukes and hydatids, he has left us +to make out. Chronic hepatitis, which accompanies tubercles in the +liver, goes for nothing as a disease of sheep, and therefore does not +require a notice; besides, it is not rot, and is quite incompetent of +itself to cause it. As for the scurvy of which he speaks, he evidently +means the disease now generally known by the name of _Pining_, but +which, as it has no connexion with rot, and has only become prevalent +within the last sixteen years, could not be very well known to him. + +The following questions will naturally occur to many of my readers. +What gives rise to these tubercles? what are the predisposing causes +which lead to their formation? and, when formed, how do these +apparently unirritating bodies produce effects so baneful? Queries like +these, however, cannot shortly be replied to, leading, as they do, to +discussions which embrace many curious theories; but as the negative +mode of teaching is often of avail where the positive or more direct +would fail to bring conviction, I shall, before proceeding to allude to +what the causes are, endeavour to state what they are not. + +_Imaginary Causes of Rot._ The liver-fluke has long been looked upon as +the origin of rot, and this opinion has now become so deeply rooted, +and taken so fast a hold of the public mind, that if I were to +contradict it by plain assertion, I should only be striving to buffet +singly a tide of opposition. The best way, therefore, will be to +examine a few of the theories supposed to be confirmatory of the notion +that fluke worms are the beginning of the mischief, and then see +whether their supporters have managed to make good the point. + + + I. The fluke is supposed to get into the liver of the sheep by + being swallowed, and this, according to our theorists, may be + brought about in some of the following ways:-- + + 1. The eggs may be floating in the air, and thus accidentally + reach their destination. This is the view taken by the celebrated + Clater; but if he had been, in this instance, a man of + experiment, rather than of idle conjecture, he would have found, + as any one readily may, that the eggs of the fluke worm sink in + water, and, consequently, that they cannot float in air.[35] + + [35] To obtain the eggs of the fluke worm for examination, hold + a saucer under the gall bladder, make an opening in it with + scissors, and the bile containing the eggs will flow into the + dish. Pick out any fluke worms that may be in the fluid, then + dilute it with about twelve times its bulk of water, agitate + for a few minutes, and filter. The eggs will be found in the + corner of the filtering paper. + + 2. The Rev. Dr Singer, to whom Scotland at large, and + Dumfries-shire in particular, is much indebted for numerous and + valuable papers on agricultural subjects, states, in the third + volume of the _Highland Society's Transactions_, page 478, that + "The spawn or eggs of the liver fluke are most probably _conveyed + upon the grass_ by summer watering, and afterwards taken into the + stomach with it." A few lines further on, he speaks of the eggs + being "wafted thither by harvest waterings." Now, as the fluke is + only produced within the sheep, I need only put the unanswerable + questions--How are they conveyed to the grass? and from whence + are they wafted? to refute at once this hasty notion. + + 3. The eggs may be voided by the sheep, may fall upon the + herbage, and there remain till they are eaten. Such is the + supposition published by Mr King of Hammersmith, in the + _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, No. XXXI. p. 331, in which, + after showing the vast number of eggs which must fall upon the + grass, he says, "We must cease to wonder that so many sheep die + of rot; the miracle is, that every sheep does not die of it."! I + cannot, however, for my part, see a miracle in the matter, for + the simple reason, that the eggs of the entozoa are not capable + of retaining their vitality when absent even for a very short + time from the place of their nativity, and therefore may be eaten + with impunity. + + + II. Supposing the eggs to have reached the sheep's stomach in a + condition to allow of their being hatched, they, according to + popular voice, find their way into the gall bladder by one of two + routes. + + 1. Mr King, the gentleman above spoken of, conjectures, in the + same paper, that the fluke, after leaving the egg in the stomach + of the sheep, _makes its way up the gall vessels_. This is, I am + sorry to say, a very idle conjecture, as, from the valvular + nature of the opening of the gall duct into the duodenum, an + entrance from that intestine to the gall bladder is perfectly + impracticable to any of the entozoa.[36] + + [36] The notion that rot is occasioned by animalcules getting + into the liver is not confined to this country. Leake, in his + travels in the Morea, alludes to an opinion prevalent there, + that the _vidhéla_ (rot) is caused by the sheep feeding in + marshy places in August and September, when it is imagined that + an insect from the plants finds its way into the biliary + vessels. + + 2. The eggs are believed by a writer in the _Letters of the Bath + Society of Agriculture_, for 1781, to be taken into the blood + along with the chyle from the small intestines, and to be + arrested in the liver by the secretory ducts. This, it must be + clear to every one, is the most absurd of all the notions; for if + a globule of blood, which we must suppose to be the largest body + capable of being absorbed from the intestine, is only about + 1/3000 of an inch in diameter, how can the egg of a fluke worm + pass through the same channel, when Mr King has, by careful + observation, shown it to be 1/300 an inch in its shortest + measurement. Again, allowing that they are taken into the blood, + would they not frequently be hatched there, and would they not + also be found in other quarters besides the liver. But do we ever + find them in the blood? Do we ever see them in other organs? + Certainly not. + + Not one of these theories would ever have been broached had their + authors been aware of two important circumstances. 1. That M. + Schreiber, the director of the Museum at Vienna, has proved that + worms and their ova are not capable, under ordinary + circumstances, of resisting the action of the digestive organs, + and, therefore, that they cannot be introduced into the body by + this channel. "During six months, he fed a pole-cat almost + exclusively on various kinds of intestinal worms, and their eggs + mixed up with milk; and on killing and examining it, at the end + of this period, not a single worm of any kind was found in + it."[37] The reader may perhaps object to this illustration, on + the ground that there is so vast a difference between a sheep and + a pole-cat, that a comparison in regard to their digestive habits + cannot possibly hold good, but if he will turn to paragraph (96), + he will see that the stomach of a sheep is as well fitted as that + of a carnivorous quadruped for the digestion of animal matters. + 2dly, the fluke worm has been found by Frommen in the foetus of + the sheep, into which it could not have been conveyed by + transmission from the mother, as there is no direct vascular + communication between the foetal and maternal side. + + [37] Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, Vol. iv. p. 524. + + From a consideration of all these data, the conclusion must at + once be drawn, that as living flukes cannot reach the liver from + without, they must of a necessity be produced only in particular + states of the animal they inhabit. How they originate we cannot + of course determine, and this is not the place to hazard + physiological conjectures; but it will be found that their + appearance in the bile is always preceded by tuberculous deposits + in the lungs or liver. This I have proved by numerous + dissections, in which I have occasionally found tubercles without + flukes, but never met with flukes where I did not at the same + time discover tubercles. Fluke worms, therefore, can never be + regarded as a cause of rot, they must be looked upon merely as a + symptom. We cannot, however, say that tubercles give rise to the + liver-fluke, for tubercles are often present in cases where + flukes are absent; and if the latter were the effect of the + former, their presence under such circumstances would in all + probability be constant. + + + III. Particular plants have been said to cause rot, but the proofs + of their evil tendencies being in every instance about as logically + supported as the fluke theories already mentioned, I need not + trouble myself or the reader by proceeding to details. + + +_Real Causes of Rot._ Everything that has a tendency to weaken the +animal, will be more or less liable to lead to rot. Exposure to cold +and wet, mishaps at lambing time, food bad in quality or deficient in +quantity, and over-driving, will all predispose the constitution to the +deposition of tubercles. It is from the causes being in this way common +to the whole flock, that contagious properties have been ascribed to +rot, it having been observed, from the time of Virgil, to break out in +many animals at once.[38] + + [38] + + "Nor oftener are the floods disturb'd with wind + Than sheep with rots; nor doth the sickness find + One to destroy, but suddenly doth fall + On root and branch, stock and original." + + _Virgil's Georgics_, Lib. III. + +The reason of so many different things having, from first to last, +been reckoned capable of producing this disease, appears to lie in the +known fact, that if a sheep be exposed to any of the above depressing +agents, rot, if the animal be as yet untainted, will not, at the +moment, shew itself; but a chain of morbid actions will in all +probability then commence, and, being beyond the ken of ordinary +observers, will pass unheeded, till some slight mismanagement in food +or shelter, hastens their progress, and renders them apparent to the +plainest understanding. The final symptoms of rot may thus occur on any +kind of pasture, and the scene of the catastrophe will incur a stigma +which ought to be attached to herbage which the sheep have consumed at +some distant place or date. + +Bad food is justly regarded as one of the most common causes of rot, +and ranks, in my estimation, next to cold and wet, in its power of +producing it. I shall only remark, on this point, that of all the +food on which sheep can possibly be kept, none is known to act so +deleteriously as grass which has sprouted quickly. Rot is well known to +occur most frequently on land which has been irrigated during summer, +for at this season any excess of moisture is peculiarly injurious to +the economy of a plant. + +When plants by heat and moisture are stimulated to increased exertion +on a poor soil, they acquire bulk without having it in their power to +obtain at the same time those saline matters which constitute a healthy +plant, becoming in fact, to the eye of an inexperienced person, +thriving vegetables, while to the palate they prove wersh and watery. + +The same result may follow from a different process. The saline matter +may not be taken up, even when the soil is rich in such ingredients, +from the functional derangement into which the roots or digestive +organs have been thrown by the unnatural circumstances in which it has +been placed. A plant is composed, like all organized bodies, of a +certain number of proximate principles, which are more or less numerous +in different kinds. These are combined with varying quantities of +potass, soda, lime, magnesia, and iron, which, though formerly supposed +to be too trifling in quantity materially to affect the quality of the +plant, have yet been recently and satisfactorily proved completely +to change the character of the compound, even when the excess or +deficiency amounts only to a 1/10000th part so that, supposing an +animal to thrive on plants which contain salts of any or all of the +above bodies, it will soon fall off if these plants are in any way +deprived of a single adjunct; for by the removal of that one salt, +their nature has been entirely altered. + +The certainty and rapidity with which Bakewell could rot his sheep, by +pasturing them, in Autumn, on land over which water had been allowed +to flow during the previous summer, may seem to controvert what I +have above stated, as to time and frequent change of pasture often +intervening between the origin of the disease, and its termination; but +when it is recollected that he pursued the destructive system of +breeding _in_ and _in_, of itself sufficient to induce a tuberculous +predisposition, the reader will perceive that his sheep were, in all +likelihood, more or less tainted, and therefore, sure to fall victims +to the disease the moment they were subjected to the deleterious +influence of an unwholesome pasture.[39] + + [39] When parcels of Mr Bakewell's best sheep became, from any + defect, unserviceable to him, he used to fatten them for the + butcher. But as there was a _probability_ of their becoming + valuable in other hands, he always gave them the rot before he + sold them! An example, which, I hope, for the sake both of man + and sheep, never to see followed. + +Over-driving and hurrying of every kind, is, in my opinion, a fruitful +source of rot, not only from the fatigue it causes, or the risk it +leads to of taking cold, but also from the injury, which in many cases +results, to the delicate texture of the lungs. As shown in the note to +paragraph (157), no animal is more easily put out of breath by running, +than the sheep. Whenever the breathing is hurried, the circulation +through the lungs is quickened also. If the tissue of the lungs be in +any way delicate, the force with which the blood is propelled is sure +to make it yield, and in this manner the animal is often suffocated by +the large quantity of blood, which issues into the air tubes at once +from many points. Fig. 1, Plate VI. exhibits a good illustration of +this taken from a sheep. Numerous red points are seen sprinkled over +the surface of the section, indicating that blood has been effused from +many minute torn vessels. Now, if this animal had survived, each speck +of blood would have formed a centre, round which tuberculous matter, as +in Fig. 2, Plate VI. would have been secreted, and death from rot, at +some ulterior period, would, in all probability, have been the +result.[40] + + [40] Pathologists differ as to whether tubercle is the cause or + consequence of _hemoptysis_, as this effusion of blood into the + tissue of the lungs is termed. Andral, however, is decidedly of + opinion that hemoptysis is one of the exciting causes, and, in + domestic animals, I believe it to precede tubercle more + frequently than is generally imagined. + +(165.) _Treatment of Rot._ As reason and experience have taught us that +tathy herbage is a common cause of this complaint, we should, when it +shows itself, at once remove the animals to a better pasture, where +they should be exempted from teazing of every kind. + +Salt appears, after every trial, to be the best medicine, and to this +they should have, at all times, ready access. Should the disease be +rather far advanced, the breathing hurried, and the cough annoying, +occasional doses of the following infusion will be of service, in +enabling the farmer to keep down the disease, till such time as he can +conveniently dispose of the animal. + + Take of Leaves of Foxglove two ounces, + Boiling water two English pints: + +pour the water on the leaves, cover up the vessel, and keep it in a +warm place for six or eight hours, then strain. + +Two tea-spoonfuls morning and evening may be given to a sheep, but as +the plant is an active poison, and the strength of its infusion liable +to vary, a couple of days should always intervene between every six +doses. + +About the year 1800, a notion prevailed in this country, that an +effectual remedy for rot had been discovered by the Dutch, but this was +quite unfounded, no _cure_ ever having been hit upon for this sweeping +malady; indeed, a cure is fairly out of the question: its prevention +and palliation, but not its eradication, being all that we can hope +for. Sundry plausible plans of treatment have, however, at one time or +another been contrived, some of them, in all conscience, harmless +enough, but others again as well adapted for the destruction of the +animal, as the removal of the disease. + +As fluke worms have usually been reckoned the cause of rot, so the +treatment has principally consisted in attempts to effect their +extermination. With this view, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coule, +in defiance of all preconceived medical opinion, advocated, in his work +on _Sheep_, published in 1809, the employment of mercury to stay the +progress of rot, and in the same work, _or one very like it_, as lately +published anonymously by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge, under the title of the _Mountain Shepherd's Manual_, the +utility of this dangerous procedure is as firmly maintained. At the +same time Sir George, though rather in the dark as to the real nature +of the disease, admits, in both editions, that tubercles exist in rot, +especially in the lungs. Now, if he had inquired of any medical person +what drug ought, when tubercles are present, of all others to be +avoided, he would have found that medicine to be mercury. The +administration of it therefore in rot, no matter what may be the form +or mode in which it is exhibited, will to a certainty aggravate the +symptoms, and shorten life. If, for the sake of doing something, you +will _endeavour_ to remove the worms, Chabert's animal oil will be +found a safe and efficacious remedy; but, if my opinion can have any +weight, I would recommend the farmer to allow them to remain. + +Sheep, when displaying symptoms of rot, should always be kept dry and +warm. If they must be retained throughout the winter, good sound solid +food, such as well made hay or oats, should be afforded them, and the +shelter of a straw yard should if possible be obtained. A liberal +supply of salt should be given with all their provender; and if they do +not seem to relish it, give them occasionally a small quantity in water +as a drench. + +(166.) _Prevention of Rot._ On this head I need do little more than +remark that attention to the causes will go a great way to point out +the necessary means for its prevention. Admission of the sheep to rank +soft grass, heavy stocking, short allowance of food during winter, +every thing in fact which leads to the exposure of the animal should be +scrupulously avoided. The strongest constitution cannot with impunity +be tampered with, and the soundest habit will fall before the mining +attacks of want and weather. Keep your stock always in as high health +as possible, for such is the surest prevention of tuberculous disease. + +As rot is hereditary,[41] the importance of weeding out ewes from the +flock on their first exhibiting appearances of unsoundness, is +acknowledged by all. Many ways have been pointed out for detecting the +incipient symptoms, but none plainer and better than those written by +the late Mr Beattie of Muckledale, and published in the 3d vol. of the +_Highland Society's Transactions_. "The first thing to be observed," +says Mr Beattie, "is in the spring, when they are dropping their lambs. +A sound ewe, in good order, drops a lamb covered with a thick and +yellow slime, which the ewe licks off it, and the rule is, the sounder +and the higher the condition the ewe is in, the darker and thicker will +be the slime; but when they observe a ewe drop a lamb covered with thin +watery bubbles, and very white, they note her down as unsound." + + [41] MM. Dupuy and Andral have seen tubercles in the foetus + of the sheep. + +"About the month of September, when they intend to dispose of their +draught ewes, they put all their sheep into a fold, and draw them by +the hand, that is, they catch them all, viz. the ewes they design to +sell any of, and clapping their hand upon the small of the back, they +rub the flesh backwards and forwards between their fingers and thumb +and the ends of the short ribs: if the flesh be solid and firm, they +consider her as sound; if they find it soft and flabby, and if, when +they rub it against the short ribs, it ripples, as we term it, that is, +a sort of crackling is perceived, as if there were water or blubber in +it, they are certain she is unsound. This is the most certain of all +symptoms, but is not to be discerned with any degree of certainty but +by an experienced hand; for although, as I have here related it, it +seems a very simple affair, and easily acquired, yet it is well known +that many shepherds, who have followed sheep all their lives, never +arrived at any thing like certainty in judging by the hand, whilst men +of superior skill will seldom be mistaken, and will draw by no other +rule. Yet still it must be acknowledged that the seeds of this disease +will sometimes lie so occult, as to baffle all skill, and that no man +can with absolute certainty draw a stock tainted with the rot. There is +another method, to which men of inferior skill resort, which is more +easily acquired. They take a sheep's head between their hands, and +press down the eyelids, they thereby make the sheep turn its eyeball so +that they get a view of the vessels in which the eyeball rolls: if +these are thin, red, and free of matter, they consider the sheep as +sound; but if they are thick, of a dead white colour, and seem as if +there was some white matter in them, they are confident she is rotten. +This is a pretty general rule, and easily discerned; but I think it is +not so certain as when they are judged by the back; for in firm healthy +lands the eye of a sheep is far redder than it is in sheep upon grassy +lands. And in some boggy lands the eye is never very red, be the sheep +ever so sound, so that there you cannot so well judge by the eye; but +when you see the eye of a sheep a good deal whiter and thicker, and +more matter in it (I mean the vessels in which the eyeball rolls) than +the run of the flock amongst which it feeds, you have reason to suspect +it is not sound. + +"There is another method by which I have seen some men attempt to judge +of the soundness of sheep. It is a well known fact, that when sheep are +rotten the lungs swell to a greater size; they therefore lay the sheep +down upon its broad side, and pressing the skin in at the flank, up +below the ribs, _pretend_ to feel the lungs. But if there is anything +to be learned by this I could never perceive it, and have seen some +men, who pretended to know most by it, very often mistaken. + +"These are the principal rules by which the Highland farmers draw their +stocks; and they relate all to ewe stocks; for as to wedders, they are +generally all sold off when they are three years old, and those that +buy them for feeding mostly buy them by the condition they appear +outwardly to be in at the time, and the character of the ground upon +which they were bred." + +(167.) _Jaundice._ I have never seen this disease in the sheep, and +have heard almost nothing of it; indeed it is very rare, few having +ever witnessed cases of it. It is consequently very imperfectly +understood, every one who has written about it assigning for its +occurrence a different cause. The principal symptoms to be depended on, +according to those who have treated it, are a yellowness of the eyes, +and an obstinate sluggishness of the animal, almost amounting to sleep. +Copious bleeding and two ounce doses of Glauber salts have been +recommended for the treatment, which must be gone about promptly, as +the disease is said to be quickly fatal. Reasoning from what is known +about jaundice in man, I would, were a case to occur to me in the +sheep, give a good dose of calomel, say 15 grains, in conjunction with +the salts, unless the disease had supervened on rot, when I would +substitute ten grains of ipecacuanha for the mercury. + +(168.) _Dropsy._ When it is the concluding symptom of a disease, it may +be reckoned part of the complaint itself, and treated accordingly. +Often, however, it is the first thing which attracts the attention of +the shepherd, and when such is the case it will usually be traced to +long exposure to cold and wet. In this event the best plan is to bleed +largely, and give two or three smart doses of Epsom salts. When it +occurs in young lambs, sweet spirit of nitre, given in the quantity of +a tea-spoonful twice a-day, is found to be attended with the happiest +effects. Tapping, or, as it is popularly termed, _stabbing_, or +_sticking_, to permit the escape of the water, is the cure resorted to +in South Africa, when it appears in old sheep, after exposure to rain; +but this ought never to be resorted to unless under the guidance of a +medical person. It would be much better at once to kill the sheep. + +(169.) _Sturdy._ As shown in the tabular view of the diseases, in +foot-note to paragraph (121), this affection may be the result either +of pressure on the brain from an animal growth, or from the +accumulation of a fluid. Serum is in both cases the mechanical cause of +the symptoms, but in the former it is eliminated from neighbouring +parts by a hydatid, while in the latter it is merely deposited in some +of the natural cavities (the ventricles) of the brain, owing to a +congested state of the spinal marrow, the result of continued cold upon +the back. + +Figure 2, Plate VII., taken from Rudolphi, exhibits a view of the +animal which gives rise to the first variety of sturdy. It is the +many-headed hydatid of the brain, _Coenurus Cerebralis_ of naturalists. +Like the _Cysticercus tenuicollis_, already described under the head of +Rot, it consists of a thin membranous cyst, full or otherwise of serous +fluid; but, unlike the aforementioned animal is studded over with +groups of little velvety appendages or heads, each of which has a +series of barbs projecting round the mouth. Figure 2, _a_, Plate VII., +is a highly magnified representation of two of these heads. + +A good idea of the hydatid, as it exists in the sheep, may be derived +from an inspection of Fig 1. Pl. VIII., which has been engraved from a +sketch kindly furnished to me by my friend Dr Kirk of Deal. Fig. 1 +represents the brain of a sheep two years old, which has been affected +with sturdy. The right lobe, _a_, of the cerebellum or lesser brain, is +much distended with fluid, which is enclosed in a membraneous bag, as +shown at _b_, where an incision has been made to expose it, and at _c_, +where it is shining through one of the coverings of the brain, the pia +mater. + +The hydatid is found of all sizes, from that of a pea to that of Fig. +2, Plate VII. Large ones are far from rare, and the ventricle is +frequently enormously distended. The hydatid in the brain from which +Fig. 2, Plate VIII. was taken, though not filled to repletion, +contained ten drachms of serum. The ventricle was consequently much +dilated, as shown at _a_ in that figure, and the usual course and size +of the convolutions completely altered. Instead of being folded, like +the intestines, upon themselves, they proceeded, as seen at _b b_, from +back to front of the brain; while the furrows between them, which are, +in the healthy animal, usually too shallow to be measured, were in +several places as deep as the length of the lines at _c d_. + +This excessive accumulation of fluid within the brain leads, as might +be expected, to the dilatation of the skull, and to the absorption of +its walls, when the bones, young though the animal be when affected +with sturdy, can no longer be made to yield. For this reason the skull, +towards the termination of the disease, generally becomes thin and soft +in front of the root of the horn, and in this way offers a spot which, +from its being easily pierced, is frequently made the seat of surgical +operations. Other parts of the skull also undergo considerable +thinning, more so indeed than in front of the horn. The attention of +the farmer has hardly, if ever, been called to this fact, though I +believe that, for one instance in which perforation occurs in the +frontal bone, it will be noticed a score of times on the sides of the +head. In a head with which I was favoured by Mr Grieve, Branxholm +braes, each temple, exactly beneath the superior extremity of the +upright branch of the lower jaw, displayed a circular opening entirely +through the bone, wide enough to permit the passage of an ounce bullet. + +Whatever may produce pressure on the brain, the symptoms which indicate +it are nearly always the same. The sheep has a dull, stupid look, turns +very often round and round, and will, when water is in its way, stand +staring at it till at last, giddy and confused, it plumps fairly in. +If, when the symptoms are very unpromising, convulsive movements should +occur, they may be taken as a favourable sign, as they indicate a +diminution of the pressure on the brain. A minute description of the +morbid appearances in hydrocephalus could serve no good purpose, I +therefore pass on to the prevention of sturdy. + +(170.) _Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy._ The variety caused by +hydatids can only be prevented by the use of dry, well grown, wholesome +food. Dr Jenner found that he could cause hydatids to form in rabbits +at will, by feeding them on green succulent provision; and it is well +known that this form of sturdy prevails among sheep chiefly in marshy +places, as the fens of Lincolnshire. + +Water in the head is generally induced, as first pointed out by the +Ettrick Shepherd, in the _Farmer's Magazine_ for 1812, by the back of +the animal being chilled, as is evident from the following facts:-- + + "1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety winter. + + "2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill-sheltered, + and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and + showers. + + "3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of + which separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet + and cold. + + "4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to + cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the + disease." + +Bratting is therefore the best preventive, and it is as cheap as it is +effectual. One pair of old blankets, worth only some four or five +shillings, will furnish coverings for forty hogs, and if laid carefully +aside in spring, they will continue serviceable for two or three years. +An operation can avail nothing--slaughtering the sheep is therefore the +only expedient. + +When the existence of a hydatid near the surface of the brain is +denoted by the skull yielding, at some particular spot, to the firm +pressure of the thumb, its extraction must be set about in the manner +described in paragraph (118), where I have also given my objections to +the common modes of operating. + +(171.) _Trembling._ Several affections are included under the name of +_trembling_ or _leaping-ill_, all having, in common, more or less of +the symptoms which these names denote. They may be considered as +arising from exposure to cold and damp, especially on long fatiguing +journies, as in bringing sheep from the Highlands to the south of +Scotland, when it frequently prevails to so great an extent, on +reaching the low country, as to oblige the shepherd to leave eight or +ten behind him at every stage. Injuries of the loins, either inflicted +by themselves in jumping and running, or by others from rough usage in +the fold, are common causes of the disease; but in this variety the +hind quarters only are powerless. Another species is owing to +oppression of the brain from congestion, in this way resembling +incipient sturdy, and occurring only in very fat sheep. + +(172.) _Treatment of Trembling._ The first variety is best met by rest, +shelter, and a supply of nutritious food; but as the animal is +incapable, in many cases, of collecting it, the shepherd must lift it +from one rich part of the field to another, so soon as it has cleared +away the grass within its reach. In the second kind, as caused by +accident, the sheep must be slaughtered, as, should a cure be +attempted, the treatment will be too tedious and complicated to succeed +in ordinary hands. Copious blood-letting, and doses of Epsom salts, +will be found of most advantage in the third species; but if the sheep +can be disposed of so much the better, as this kind of _trembling_ is +almost certain, unless combated by energetic depletion, to end in +sturdy. + +(173.) _Wood Evil_ is nothing more than a cramp of the hind legs, owing +to water dripping upon them from trees after a shower of rain, and is +best treated by enveloping them in flannel, wrung out of hot water; but +if the sheep is at the time very chill, gentle friction must first be +used, else dangerous consequences will ensue. Rubbing with warm +turpentine has been recommended, and is apparently worthy of a trial. + +(174.) _Inflamed Eyes._ The pollen of flowers getting into the eyes +while feeding, is a common cause of this annoyance, which need not be +described, as, from being visible, it is known to all. Examine the +eyes, and remove any irritating body. Then, if the disease be of recent +date, bleed the animal largely from the jugular vein, and give it +several doses of Epsom, or Glauber's salt. After the inflammation is +subdued, or should it be in the suppurating stage when first noticed, +hold the lids asunder, and drop upon the eye, three or four times a +day, a solution of white vitriol, five grains to the ounce of water. +Where this cannot be had, pure _cold_ water dashed against the eyes and +head several times a day will serve as a substitute. + +Though sheep are not so much incommoded by blindness as other animals, +from the instinctive care usually taken of the sufferer by the rest of +the flock, still such a mishap should always be prevented by energetic +treatment at the commencement of the symptoms. + +(175.) _Soft Cancer of the Eye_, or, as it is also called by medical +men, _Fungus Hematodes_, is of very rare occurrence among sheep, and +indeed would not have deserved a notice here, were it not that, from +being a malignant disease, it might be looked upon as quite incurable. +I can only describe it as a soft, spongy tumour, rising from the bottom +of the eye, involving all the textures of that organ, so as to render +them scarcely recognizable, and bleeding on the slightest touch. It is +readily removed by passing a stout thread through the front of the eye +with a needle, so as to afford the operator a hold by which to pull it +outwards with the left hand, while, with the right, he cuts round it +with a narrow-bladed knife. The operation is attended only with slight +pain, but must not be considered the sole curative means; the sheep +must have, at the same time, a frequent change of pasture, to prevent a +recurrence of the tumour. + +There is a very large tumour of this description at present in the +museum of Guy's Hospital, taken from a sheep which recovered perfectly. + + + + +APPENDIX + +REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. + + +As the preceding pages were not written so much for the well-educated +farmer, as for those who practise sheep-husbandry without previous +training, it may not be considered amiss, consistently with the plan +of the work, to sum up the chief points to be attended to in the +management of sheep in Australia. This I shall do from the best +authorities, and guided by the direct advice of extensive sheep +proprietors who have long resided there, and had every experience in +the subject. + +Though it was for some time, according to Dr Lang,[42] a matter of +controversy in the colony, whether the Merino or the Saxon Merino +produced the finer wool or was more profitable for the sheep-farmer; +the preference is now given to the Saxon breed, as they not only yield +an excellent fleece, but are much superior in carcass to the pure +Merino. The fact, however, of Australia having been considered, from +its earliest colonization, as unrivalled by any country in the quality +of its wool, goes far to prove that, with ordinary care, almost any +variety may be brought to yield a very superior produce. The mildness +of the climate, the extensive range of pasture, the steady supply of +food, and the consequent unvarying health of the animal, give the +poorest breeds a superiority which could hardly be attained in any +other quarter of the world. Indeed, as noticed at paragraph (70.), +Australia appears by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine +animals, even from the worst beginnings. + + [42] History of New South Wales, Vol. i. p. 309. + +Great, however, as the capabilities of the colony are for the growth of +the finest wools, the intending emigrant must not suppose that he will +obtain them without devoting to the subject a particular portion of his +regard. Mild warm air, and abundant diet, will go far towards putting +him in possession of a superior flock; but without earnest attention to +the minor details required in the management of his sheep, the most +favourable locality will avail him little. + +Let Australia be ever so much praised, as being peculiarly adapted for +the rearing of sheep, they have there, in common with every kind of +animal in every part of the world, a certain liability to disease. +With all its boasted steadiness of climate, bad seasons occasionally +occur, and lead to sickness among the flocks, and in addition to the +usual chances of loss arising from this cause in other countries, +there is, in some parts of it, a still more dreaded mischief resulting +almost unavoidably from the moral constitution of its society. A +convict-servant who has a pique at his master, has it often entirely in +his own power to subject the flocks under his charge to some one or +other of the serious diseases to which sheep in all countries are +peculiarly liable. He may pasture them on an improper spot, and thus +induce diarrhoea, or even rot; or he may drive them a few miles from +their usual feeding ground, as Dr Lang remarks, when there is nobody +present to take cognizance of the fact, and thereby bring them into +contact with a scabbed flock. "The chief source of the wealth and +prosperity of the colony," says Dr Lang, "is thus, in great measure, at +the mercy of the most worthless of men; and so much is this the case, +that a highly respectable and intelligent magistrate, observed in the +course of a short conversation I had with him before embarking for +England, that if there should not be a large annual importation of free +emigrant shepherds from the mother country into the colony, the owners +of sheep throughout the territory will in future be under the necessity +of reducing, or rather of preventing the increase of, their flocks." +Thus circumstanced, the Australian settler has surely sufficient +reasons for inducing him to make himself familiar with the management +and diseases of the animal, on which he is placing his principal +dependence. + +When the country is destitute of timber, the sheep are very easily +managed, and so many as a thousand may be trusted to a single shepherd; +but in general, they are divided into flocks of about three hundred +breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers. "Every flock," says Mr +Cunningham, "has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before +sunrise in the morning, and brings them in after sunset at night. He +keeps always before the flock to check the forward among them from +running onwards, and wearing out the old, sick, and lame; making all +thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition. In summer, he +sees too that they have water during the heat of the day; and in +drawing up under a tree for shade, when it is too hot for feeding, he +passes occasionally gently among them, spreads them out and makes them +take a fresh position in as small groups as possible, under another +tree; because when they remain too long together in one place, they are +apt to become broken winded. It is a rule that sheep should never +remain in one spot so long as to paddle the ground much with their +feet; and hence, in riding round your sheep stations, you have +something whereby to judge whether or not your instructions are +attended to. The shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is +required to be on the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from +being lost in the woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among +them. They must always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive +that the shepherd can walk quietly among them, without disturbing them, +you may set him down as a gentle and careful man; for if he uses his +flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three flocks +are always penned together under the charge of a watchman, who counts +each regularly _in_ at night, and the shepherds again count them _out_ +in the morning; so that they form a regular check upon each other, and +prevent losses from carelessness or depredation. The watchman has a +small weather-proof watch-box to sleep in, and is assisted by a +watch-dog; he keeps up a good fire, which generally deters all native +dogs from approaching the fold. The hurdles are made of light swamp +oak, iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with five bars, so +close together that a young lamb cannot creep through, and usually cost +about 1s. 6d. a-piece. They are shifted to fresh ground daily, being +sloped outwards, and propped together by means of forked sticks, +driving a stake through between the bars here and there to keep the +hurdles firm, and prevent the wind from blowing them over, little +support being derived from their feet, which are pressed but slightly +into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully removed from the +hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in, to prevent any of the +latter being staked; the hurdles too are never pitched where ant hills +are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon it, while the trees with +black bark are carefully denuded thereof, to prevent discolouration of +the wool." Bells are attached to the necks of the stoutest leaders, to +keep the flock together, and give warning of any thing going wrong +within the fold. + +The breeding season is, in some instances, at the commencement of +summer, in others, at the commencement of winter, but in general it is +in March or April, the rams having been put to the ewes in October. +This deviation from our practice of spring lambing, is owing, according +to Mr Cunningham, to the breeders finding that the pasture is +particularly good in the autumn, from a sort of second spring taking +place, while the lambs stand the cold better than the heat, and are +less annoyed by the gad-flies. The sheep usually double their number +every four years. + +Sheep-shearing takes place at the beginning of summer. The usual plan +of washing is previously had recourse to (see paragraph 99.), but of +late it has become customary, with some proprietors, to wash them with +a spout. This is done by bringing them one by one under a stream of +water, falling from a moderate height; but it is not likely that it +will ever be generally adopted, as it requires very peculiar facilities +in regard to water, and is besides a plan fraught with danger to the +sheep. It ought to be kept in mind, that a stream of water playing on +the body, produces a very stunning effect, which may destroy life in +an inconsiderable time, and has, in this way, been often employed +for putting criminals to death. Be this as it may, the Australian +sheep-farmers have doubtless been led to resort to the spout, owing to +the fleeces being so full of filth as to be cleaned with difficulty in +the common way. The finer the wool, the more abundant is the yolk or +viscid secretion on the skin, and the greater, consequently, is the +quantity of filth which sticks to it. The dirtiness of the wool +becomes, in this way, no mean test of the value of the sheep. Some of +the fleeces lose fully three-fifths of their weight by washing. The +average weight of the fleeces from the improved breeds, is from two to +two-and-a-half pounds. The ewe fleece seldom exceeds one pound and a +half. "The wool is packed in bales, wrapped in canvass, and forwarded +for exportation to Sydney, on drays drawn by oxen. Some of the more +extensive sheep-farmers send home their wool direct to their agents in +London, where it is sold according to its quality, at from one to three +shillings, (the freight to London being only three-halfpence) a +pound."[43] + + [43] Historical Account of New South Wales, by John Dunmore + Lang, D.D., Vol. i. p. 350. + +The highest prices yet obtained for some of the picked parts of the +finest fleeces, are 10s. 6d. per pound. This, however, has been given +only once. + +The quantity of wool shipped in 1835, was 3,776,191 lbs., and was +valued at £380,000 sterling. + +Three acres are required on an average for the support of each sheep, +but on account of the mildness of the climate, there is no necessity +for providing winter food. + +The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep are liable to +comparatively few diseases. The great dryness of the climate, keeps the +fleece always in so comfortable a state, that they are almost never +struck by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits its +eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunningham once observed +summer-dropt lambs with milk blotches, become fly blown, but this was +in wet weather. Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I +need not say any thing here. It never presents much variety, and is a +disease better understood than almost any other. Ample directions for +its treatment are given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is +gone about with determination. The great points are to take it in +hand the moment it appears--for when it gains ground, all chances +of a wool-crop are at an end for that year at least--and to use +tobacco-juice most liberally, as it not only leads to the immediate +death of the itch insect, but appears to have a specific effect in +leading to the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, which is +at present so lauded for accelerating the growth of hair, is supposed, +on good grounds, to be an incognito preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot +is the only other important sheep-disease in the colony. It was unknown +till 1827, when it broke out in a wet lying part of the Bathurst +district, and succeeded, as Cunningham says, in that part of the +country scourged by it, to a long fall of heavy rains, which +supersaturated the blades of grass. For the method of treating this +disease, fortunately rare in Australia, I must, in conclusion, refer to +the body of the work. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Treatise on Sheep:, by Ambrose Blacklock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + +***** This file should be named 38189-8.txt or 38189-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/8/38189/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Sheep: + The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, + and the Treatment of their Diseases. + +Author: Ambrose Blacklock + +Release Date: December 2, 2011 [EBook #38189] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<span class="smaller">A</span><br> + +TREATISE ON SHEEP: +</h1> + +<h3> +<span class="smaller">THE BEST MEANS FOR</span> + +<br> + +<span class="small">THEIR IMPROVEMENT, GENERAL MANAGEMENT, AND THE +TREATMENT OF THEIR DISEASES,</span> + +<br> + +<span class="smaller">WITH</span> + +<br> + +<span class="small">A CHAPTER ON WOOL, AND HISTORY OF THE WOOL TRADE;</span> + +<br> + +<span class="smaller">AND THE</span> + +<br> + +<span class="small">MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA.</span> +</h3> + + +<br> +<h2> +<span class="smaller">BY</span> AMBROSE BLACKLOCK. +</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/quote.jpg" alt="Several sheep in a +pen" width="465" height="350"></div> <p class="caption">Sheep have +golden feet, and wherever the print of them appears,<br>the soil is +turned into gold.—<span class="sc">Swedish Proverb.</span> +</p> + + +<p class="ctr"> +<img src="images/edition.jpg" alt="Twelfth Edition" width="179" height="30"> +</p> +<h4> +LONDON:<br> +GROOMBRIDGE & SONS, 5, PATERNOSTER ROW.<br> +1853. +</h4> + +<h4> +Printed by C. and J. Adlard, Bartholomew Close +</h4> + + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="ctr"> + TO<br> + <big>SIR C. G. STUART MENTEATH,</big><br> + OF CLOSEBURN, HART.,<br> + VICE-LIEUTENANT OF DUMFRIES-SHIRE, &c. &c. &c<br> + WHOSE INTEGRITY AND URBANITY<br> + HAVE ENDEARED HIM TO SOCIETY;<br> + <small>AND</small><br> + WHOSE ZEAL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL,<br> + AND FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER,<br> + HAVE RAISED HIM, BY COMMON CONSENT,<br> + TO THE FIRST RANK<br> + AS AN AGRICULTURIST, AND AS A LANDLORD;<br> + THIS TREATISE ON SHEEP<br> + IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,<br> + BY HIS VERY HUMBLE SERVANT,</p> + +<p class="sig"><big>THE AUTHOR.</big></p> +<hr class="med"> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/001.jpg" alt="PLATE I" +width="276" height="500" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl1" href="#noterefpl1">PLATE I</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/002.jpg" alt="PLATE II" +width="278" height="500" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl2" href="#noterefpl2">PLATE II</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/003.jpg" alt="PLATE III" +width="239" height="500" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl3" href="#noterefpl3">PLATE III</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/004.jpg" alt="PLATE IV" +width="291" height="500" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl4" href="#noterefpl4">PLATE IV</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/005.jpg" alt="PLATE V" +width="302" height="481" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl5" href="#noterefpl5">PLATE V</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/006.jpg" alt="PLATE VI" +width="193" height="400" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl6" href="#noterefpl6">PLATE VI</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/007.jpg" alt="PLATE VII" +width="249" height="400" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl7" href="#noterefpl7">PLATE VII</a> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/008.jpg" alt="PLATE VIII" +width="231" height="400" border="1"></div> <p class="caption"><a name="pl8" href="#noterefpl8">PLATE +VIII</a> </p> + + +<hr class="med"> +<a name="pre"> </a> +<p class="section"> +PREFACE. +</p> + + +<p> +The truth of the Greek proverb, that "<i>a great book is a great +evil</i>," is no where more apparent than in the construction of works +on agricultural concerns. Those who have attended to the subject well +know, that the profitable management of live-stock is by far the most +difficult branch of farming, as it is here that improvement is +peculiarly tardy; and from this we might infer that authors would +endeavour so to arrange and simplify their treatises as to enable every +one to obtain the bearings of the study at the smallest possible +expense and trouble. Such, however, is not the case. Many would appear +to have done their best so to dilute and mystify the little which is +known about the matter, that it is nearly impossible for any one, not +gifted with more than ordinary power of application, to arrive at any +thing like just conclusions. To avoid this error has been my object in +the following pages. Such points only as are of real importance have +been noticed; every thing having been rejected which could not admit of +a practical application. For this reason, also, I have omitted all +allusion to foreign <i>varieties</i> of the sheep, an account of which +is, in some similar works, made to occupy so large a space. The general +laws by which animal bodies are governed, and the changes to which they +are rendered liable by their subserviency to man, are here—and for the +first time as regards the sheep—gone into at considerable length. Too +little value is in general attached to such inquiries; though, when +endeavouring to improve a domesticated race, we must be perfectly +aware, that without this species of knowledge we are like a ship at sea +without the guiding aids of the rudder and the compass, and liable to +be carried in the right or in the wrong direction only as chance +directs. +</p> + +<p> +In conclusion, I need make no apology for any defects that may appear +in this little work, having done my best to make it useful to the +farmer. +</p> + +<p> +<span class="sc">Castle Street, Dumfries</span>, +<br> +<i>July, 1838</i>. +</p> + + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="section"> +CONTENTS. +</p> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="hang"><span class="sc">Preface</span></td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#pre">iii</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">References to the Plates</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#ref">xi</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">HISTORY OF THE SHEEP.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(1) Origin of the Sheep;‌—‌(2) The Argali of Siberia and Mouflon +of Sardinia;‌—‌(3) The Mouflon of America;‌—‌(4) The Mouflon of +Africa;‌—‌(5) British Breeds;‌—‌(6) The Lincolnshire;‌—‌(7) The +Teeswater;‌—‌(8) The Dishley or New Leicester;‌—‌(9) The Devonshire +Nots;‌—‌(10) The Dorsetshire Sheep;‌—‌(11) Herefordshire or Ryeland +Sheep;‌—‌(12) The South Down;‌—‌(13) The Cheviot Sheep;‌—‌(14) Mugg +Sheep;‌—‌(15) The Black-faced or Heath Sheep;‌—‌(16) The +Merino;‌—‌(17) Teeth of Sheep;‌—‌(18) Distinctions between the +Sheep and Goat;‌—‌(19) Horns of Sheep;‌—‌(20) Structure of the +Stomach;‌—‌(21) Digestion;‌—‌(22) Period of Conception;‌—‌(23) Names +applied to Sheep</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#I">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">WOOL.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(24) Wool-bearing Animals;‌—‌(25) Structure of the Skin;‌—‌(26) +Sebaceous follicles;‌—‌(27) Connexion of the Hair with the +Skin‌—‌Yolk;‌—‌(28) Periodical decidence of Wool;‌—‌(29) Falling off +of Wool prevented by Clipping;‌—‌(30) Form of Woolly Fibre;‌—‌(31) +Structure and Properties of Hair and Wool;‌—‌(32) Particular soils +injurious to Wool;‌—‌(33) Felting;‌—‌(34) Different kinds of +Wool;‌—‌(35) Alterations caused by <i>Crossing</i>;‌—‌(36) Bratting +prejudicial to Wool</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#II">16</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">BRITISH WOOL TRADE.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(37) Origin of the Wool Trade;‌—‌(38) Invention of Weaving;‌—‌(39) +Early progress of the Wool Trade;‌—‌(40) Introduction of Weaving +into Britain;‌—‌(41) Importance of the British Woollen +Manufacture;‌—‌(42) Weavers brought by Edward III. from +Flanders;‌—‌(43) Regulations regarding <i>Staples</i>;‌—‌(44) Rapid +advance of the Wool Trade in the 14th century;‌—‌(45) Subsidies +raised by Edward III.;‌—‌(46) Progress of the Wool Trade during +the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI.;‌—‌(47) +Encouragement given by Elizabeth to the Trade;‌—‌(48) Woollen +Cloth monopolized by the Merchant Adventurers;‌—‌(49) Consumption +of Wool in England increased;‌—‌(50) Severity of the Prohibitory +Enactments relating to Wool reprobated;‌—‌(51) Emigration of +English families to Holland, and Prosperity of the Dutch +Manufactures;‌—‌(52) Fluctuating state of the Trade between +1635 and 1698;‌—‌(53) King William discourages the Irish +manufactures;‌—‌(54) Statistics of the British Wool Trade in +1699;‌—‌(55) British Woollen Manufacturers rivalled by the +Swedes;‌—‌(56) Regulations relating to Wool from 1740 to +1742;‌—‌(57) Impulse given to the Trade by the improvements in +Machinery;‌—‌(57) Commencement of the 19th century; Duty imposed +on imported Wool;‌—‌(59) Restrictions on Foreign Wool removed; +increase in Manufacturing prosperity;‌—‌(60) Countries from which +we derive our Wool;‌—‌(61) Statistics of the Wool Trade from 1800 +to 1830;‌—‌(62) Do. in 1832</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#III">28</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(63) Introductory remarks;‌—‌(64) Early Improvers of the +Sheep;‌—‌(65) Modern Breeders and Improvements;‌—‌(66) Varieties +among Animals, how induced;‌—‌(67) Varieties induced by +temperature;‌—‌(68) Adaptation of the Sheep to climate;‌—‌(69) +Changes produced by climate;‌—‌(70) Temperature preferred by +Sheep;‌—‌(71) Extent of the alterations produced by climate;‌—‌(72) +Increase in the number of the Horns;‌—‌(73) Causes of the various +forms of the Horn;‌—‌(74) The proper temperature required for +Sheep;‌—‌(75) Geographical limits of the Sheep;‌—‌(76) Particular +forms induced by geographical limit;‌—‌(77) Influence of +vegetation on form and disposition;‌—‌(78) Breeds required for +Britain‌—‌(79) Varied nature of the food of Sheep;‌—‌(80) Influence +of food on the quality of Mutton;‌—‌(81) Differences in the +quality of Mutton;‌—‌(82) Abuses in Feeding;‌—‌(83) Tendency to +acquire Fat;‌—‌(84) Frequent change of Pasture necessary;‌—‌(85) +Varieties induced by apparently trivial causes;‌—‌(86) Varieties +from mode of Breeding;‌—‌(87) Breeding <i>in</i> and +<i>in</i>;‌—‌(88) Opponents of <i>in</i> and <i>in</i> +Breeding;‌—‌(89) Breeding from different families of the same +race;‌—‌(90) Crossing;‌—‌(91) Things to be attended to in +Crossing;‌—‌(92) Choice of Parents;‌—‌(93) Influence of Sex;‌—‌(94) +Method of obtaining a greater number of one Sex, at the option of +the Proprietor</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#IV">67</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(95) Introductory remarks;‌—‌(96) Putting Tups to Ewes;‌—‌(97) +Early Lambs;‌—‌(98) Lambing-time;‌—‌(99) Washing;‌—‌(100) +Shearing;‌—‌(101) Weaning;‌—‌(102) Smearing;‌—‌(103) Fatting</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#V">128</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(104) Introductory observations;‌—‌(105) Wounds;‌—‌(106) Stoppage +of Bleeding;‌—‌(107) Removal of Extraneous Matter from +Wounds;‌—‌(108) Closure of Wounds;‌—‌(109) Bandaging;‌—‌(110) +After-treatment of Clean Cuts;‌—‌(111) After-treatment of +Punctures;‌—‌(112) Bruises and Sprains;‌—‌(113) Wounds of +Joints;‌—‌(114) Poisoned Wounds;‌—‌(115) Fractures;‌—‌(116) Cutting +Lambs;‌—‌(117) Blood-letting;‌—‌(118) Removal of Hydatids from the +Head</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VI">148</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="sub" colspan="2">DISEASES OF SHEEP.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">(119) Introductory remarks;‌—‌(120) Cautions in Prescribing;‌—‌(121) +Classification of Diseases;‌—‌(122) Blown or Blast;‌—‌(123) +Treatment of Blown;‌—‌(124) Braxy or Sickness;‌—‌(125) Symptoms +of Braxy;‌—‌(126) Appearances on Dissection;‌—‌(127) Causes of +Braxy;‌—‌(128) Treatment of Braxy;‌—‌(129) Prevention of Braxy;‌—‌ +(130) Pining. Symptoms and Causes;‌—‌(131) Treatment and +Prevention of Pining;‌—‌(132) Staggers;‌—‌(133) Diarrhœa;‌—‌ +(134) Treatment of Diarrhœa;‌—‌(135) Dysentery or Cling. +Symptoms;‌—‌(136) Causes of Dysentery;‌—‌(137) Treatment of +Dysentery;‌—‌(138) Prevention of Dysentery;‌—‌(139) Scab or Itch. +Symptoms and Causes;‌—‌(140) Treatment of Itch;‌—‌(141) Prevention +of Itch;‌—‌(142) Erysipelas or Wild-fire;‌—‌(143) Red-water;‌—‌ +(144) Leg-evil. Symptoms and Causes;‌—‌(145) Treatment of +Leg-evil;‌—‌(146) Prevention of Leg-evil;‌—‌(147) The Fly and +Maggot;‌—‌(148) Treatment of Fly-blown Sheep, and Prevention of +attacks from the Fly;‌—‌(149) The Sheep-Fag or Ked, and the +Tick;‌—‌(150) The Œstrus bovis;‌—‌(151) Sore Teats;‌—‌(152) +Foot-rot;‌—‌(153) Causes of Foot-rot;‌—‌(154) Treatment and +Prevention of Foot-rot;‌—‌(155) Insects in the Air Passages;‌—‌ +(156) Removal of Insects from the Nostril;‌—‌(157) Coryza;‌—‌ +(158) Treatment of Coryza;‌—‌(159) Rot. Introductory remarks; +‌—‌(160) Symptoms of Rot;‌—‌(161) Appearances on Dissection;‌—‌ +(162) The Liver-fluke;‌—‌(163) The Hydatid;‌—‌(164) Causes of +Rot;‌—‌(165) Treatment of Rot;‌—‌(166) Prevention of Rot;‌—‌(167) +Jaundice;‌—‌(168) Dropsy;‌—‌(169) Sturdy;‌—‌(170) Treatment and +Prevention of Sturdy;‌—‌(171) Trembling;‌—‌(172) Treatment of +Trembling;‌—‌(173) Inflamed Eyes;‌—‌(174) Soft cancer of the Eye</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VII">161</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="med"> +<a name="ref"> </a> +<p class="section"> +REFERENCES TO THE PLATES +</p> + + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl1" name="noterefpl1">PLATE I.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. The Mouflon of Sardinia. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. and 3. <i>p.</i> The first stomach or paunch; <i>b.</i> +the second stomach, bonnet, king's-hood, or honey-comb; <i>o.</i> the +third stomach, or omasum; <i>a.</i> the fourth stomach, or abomasum; +<i>g.</i> the gullet; <i>py.</i> the pylorus. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 4. Section of a sheep's toe; <i>g.</i> <i>g.</i> the gland +secreting the hoof; <i>c.</i> <i>c.</i> the crust; <i>s.</i> the sole. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 5. View of the interdigital gland; <i>g.</i> the gland; +<i>d.</i> the duct leading from it. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 6. The fluke-worm; <i>a.</i> the mouth; <i>b.</i> the +reproductive apparatus; <i>c.</i> <i>c.</i> vessels for the +distribution of the blood. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl2" name="noterefpl2">PLATE II.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. Dorsetshire Ram. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. South Down Ram. +</p> + +<p> +The figures in this plate are borrowed from the beautiful cuts in the +work on <i>Sheep</i>, published by the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl3" name="noterefpl3">PLATE III.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. New Leicester Ram. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. Cheviot Ram. The portrait of a very superior animal, in +the possession of my friend Mr Laurie of Terregles town. +</p> + +<p> +Premiums were awarded to Mr Laurie for both of these sheep at the last +meeting of the Highland Society in Dumfries. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 3. View of the veins of the face and neck; <i>f.v.</i> +facial vein; <i>j.v.</i> jugular vein. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl4" name="noterefpl4">PLATE IV.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. Black-faced Ram. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. Merino Ram. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl5" name="noterefpl5">PLATE V.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Figs.</i> 1. 2. 3. from the <i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, +represent the most approved mode of washing and shearing sheep. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 4. Tubular structure of hair and wool. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 5. Relative positions of the layers of the skin, mode in +which the hairs rise from, and situation of, the sebaceous follicles; +<i>a.</i> the cuticle; <i>b.</i> the mucous layer; <i>c.</i> the true +skin; <i>d.</i> sebaceous follicles; <i>e.</i> hairs rising from the +true skin; <i>f.</i> the yolk. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl6" name="noterefpl6">PLATE VI.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been +over-driven. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been affected +with Rot. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl7" name="noterefpl7">PLATE VII.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. The <i>Cysticercus tenuicollis</i>. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. <i>a.</i> Head of the same magnified. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. The <i>Cœnurus Cerebralis</i>. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. <i>a.</i> Heads of the <i>Cœnurus</i> magnified. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 3. The <i>pentastoma</i>. Hitherto supposed to exist only +in the dog and wolf, but discovered recently in the frontal sinus of +the sheep by my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, by whom the drawing for +this figure was kindly furnished. +</p> + +<p class="ctrspace"> +<a href="#pl8" name="noterefpl8">PLATE VIII.</a> +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 1. Hydatid in the brain of a sheep (from a drawing by my +friend Dr Kirk of Deal); <i>a.</i> the right lobe of the cerebellum or +lesser brain distended with fluid, inclosed in a membraneous bag, as +shown at <i>b.</i>, where an incision has been made to expose it; and +at <i>c.</i> where it is shining through the <i>pia mater</i>, one of +the coverings of the brain. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Fig.</i> 2. Showing the extent to which hydatids sometimes distend +the ventricles of the brain; <i>a.</i> the dilated ventricle of the +left side; <i>b.</i> <i>b.</i> convolutions passing from back to front; +<i>c.</i> <i>d.</i> depth of the furrows. +</p> + + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="section"> +<big>THE SHEEP.</big> +</p> + + + +<a name="I"> </a> +<p class="firstchapter"> +CHAPTER I. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. +</p> + + +<p> +(1.) <i>Origin of the Sheep.</i>—As the origin of our domesticated +animals has afforded scope for much curious speculation, so none have +attracted a greater degree of attention in this respect than the sheep. +Into these arguments, however, it would be absurd to enter; I shall +therefore content myself with such opinions as are deemed the best. +</p> + +<p> +Placed in the Class Mammalia, and Order Ruminantia, the innumerable +varieties at present existing may, according to Cuvier, whose tact in +arranging animals is universally acknowledged, all be referred to four +species—the Argali of Siberia, the Mouflon of Sardinia, the Mouflon of +America, and the Mouflon of Africa—though to be rigidly accurate in +natural distinctions he would refer them all to three, thereby +excluding the third. +</p> + +<p> +(2.) <i>The Argali of Siberia</i> (<i>Ovis Ammon</i>) inhabits the +mountains of Asia, where it attains the size of a fallow deer. The male +has very large horns, with three rounded angles at the base, flattened +in front, and striated transversely. The horns of the female are +compressed, and hook-shaped. The hair is short in summer, and of a +fawn-coloured grey; in winter it is thick, rigid, and of a reddish +grey, with some white about the muzzle, throat, and under the belly. +The Mouflon of Sardinia (<i>Ovis Musimon</i>, Fig. 1. Pl. I.) differs +from it only in its inferior size, and in the smallness of the horns of +the female. +</p> + +<p> +(3.) <i>The Mouflon of America</i> (<i>Ovis Montana</i>) closely +resembles the Argali, and is supposed by some to be identical with it, +and to have crossed from Asia to America at Behring's Straits by means +of ice. +</p> + +<p> +(4.) <i>The Mouflon of Africa</i> (<i>Ovis Tragelaphus</i>) is +distinguished by its soft and reddish hair, by its short tail, and by a +long mane hanging under the neck, and another at each ancle; it +inhabits the rocky districts of Barbary, and has been observed in +Egypt. +</p> + +<p> +(5.) <i>British Breeds.</i>—The breeds of our island, as they at +present stand, may be divided into two kinds—long-woolled and +short-woolled; the former embracing the Lincolnshire, the Teeswater, +the Dishley, or New Leicester, and the Devonshire Nots; while the +latter will include those of Dorset, Herefordshire, and Sussex, with +the Cheviot, Mugg, and Black-faced variety.<a href="#note1" name="noteref1"> +<small>[1]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(6). <i>The Lincolnshire</i> has no horns; the face is white; the +carcass long and thin; the legs thick, white, and rough; bones large; +pelts thick; and the wool from 8 to 10 inches in length. The ewes weigh +from 14 lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter; and three-year old wethers 20 lbs. +to 30 lbs. The fleece weighs from 8 lbs. to 14 lbs., and covers a +coarse-grained slow-feeding carcass; so slow, indeed, at feeding, that +it cannot be fattened at an early age, except upon rich land; but the +breed is encouraged, from the great weight of wool that is shorn from +them every year. It and its sub-varieties are extremely common in the +English counties. +</p> + +<p> +(7.) <i>The Teeswater</i> sheep were originally bred from the same +stock as the former, but have become different, from the size having +received greater attention than the wool, which is inferior both in +length and weight. They stand upon higher and finer boned legs, which +support a firmer and heavier carcass, much wider upon the back and +sides, and afford a fatter and finer-grained mutton—the two-year-old +wethers weighing from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs. per quarter. Marshall, in his +work on Yorkshire, remarks, that they are not so compact, nor so +complete in their form, as the Leicestershire sheep; nevertheless, the +excellency of their flesh and fatting quality is not doubted, and their +wool still remains superior. For the banks of the Tees, or any other +rich fat land, they are singularly excellent. +</p> + +<p> +(8.) <i>The Dishley</i>, or <i>New Leicester</i>, is distinguished from +other long-woolled breeds, by clean heads, straight broad flat backs, +round bodies, small bones, thin pelts, and a disposition to fatten at +an early age. But more of this hereafter. The weight of three-year-old +ewes is from 18 lbs. to 26 lbs. per quarter; and of two-year old +wethers from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. The wool averages from 6 lbs. to 8 +lbs., and is thought by some to be inferior in quality to that of +Cheviot sheep; but, from being fully fed at all seasons, they yield +great quantities of it. Fig. 1. Pl. III. +</p> + +<p> +(9.) <i>The Devonshire Nots</i> form the fourth hornless variety of +long-woolled sheep. Forty or fifty years ago, they ranked as +middle-woolled sheep; but they now figure among the long-wools, under +the name of Bamptons—their fleece having been lengthened, and rendered +finer, by crossing with the Leicesters. There is yet, however, much +room for improvement in these crosses. They have white faces and legs, +the latter being short, and the bones large, while the necks are thick, +the backs high, and the sides good. They approach in weight to the +Leicester, but the wool is heavier and coarser. In Devonshire are found +a white-faced and horned variety, which are known as the Exmoor kind, +from the place of their nativity. Though delicate in bone, they are not +good, having a narrow flat-sided carcass; while the weight of the +quarters and fleece is a third short of the former variety. +</p> + +<p> +(10.) <i>The Dorsetshire sheep</i> are horned and white-faced, with a +long thin carcass, and high small white legs. Three-year-old wethers +weigh from 16 lbs. to 20 lbs. a quarter; but the wool, being fine and +short, weighs only from 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. a fleece. It is, however, +amply compensated for by the mutton, which is of superior quality. The +peculiar and most valuable property of this breed is the forwardness of +the ewes, which take the ram at any period of the year, often lambing, +so early as September or October. They are, on this account, extremely +useful for supplying large towns with house-lamb at Christmas. Fig. 1, +Pl. II. +</p> + +<p> +(11.) <i>Herefordshire</i> or <i>Ryeland sheep</i> have white legs and +faces, and no horns. The wool grows close to the eyes. They are a small +breed, suited to every market, weighing from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. +a-quarter. The carcass is tolerably well-formed, and the wool fine and +short, each fleece weighing from 1½ lb. to 2½ lbs., rarely, +however, exceeding 2 lbs. They were called <i>Ryeland</i> sheep, from a +district in the southern part of Herefordshire being thought capable of +growing nothing but rye. Though their figure is good, the back is not +so level, nor the ribs so well rounded, as in the improved breeds. They +fatten easily, however, and arrive soon at maturity, though reckoned +inferior in these respects to the Cheviot variety. +</p> + +<p> +(12.) <i>The South Down</i>, like the Ryeland, are, from the delicacy +of their constitution, unadapted for bleak situations, but sufficiently +hardy and active for a low country; their average weight is from 15 +lbs. to 18 lbs. a-quarter; that of the fleece, which is very short and +fine, being from 2½ lbs. to 3 lbs. They are without horns, have grey +faces and legs, a neck low set and small, and a breast neither wide nor +deep; their mutton is fine in the grain, and of an excellent flavour, +having been brought to great perfection by Mr Ellman of Glynd, and +other intelligent breeders. They are mostly found in Sussex, on dry +chalky downs producing short fine herbage, and arrive early at +maturity; in which respect they are equal to the Cheviot, though +inferior to them in quantity of tallow. Formerly they would not take on +fat till four years old; now they are always at market when about two +years of age, and many are killed before that period. Fig. 2. Pl. II. +</p> + +<p> +(13.) <i>The Cheviot Sheep</i> have a bare head, with a long jaw, and +white face, but no horns. Sometimes they have a shade of grey upon the +nose, approaching to dark at the tip; at others, a tinge of lemon +colour on the face, but these markings scarcely affect their value. The +legs are clean, long, and small-boned, and covered with wool to the +hough; but there is a sad want of depth at the breast, and of breadth +both there and on the chine. A fat carcass weighs from 12 lbs. to 18 +lbs. per quarter, and a medium fleece about 3 lbs. The purest specimens +of this breed are to be found on the Scotch side of the Cheviot hills, +and on the high and stony mountain-farms which lie between that range +and the source of the Teviot. These sheep are a capital mountain stock, +provided the pasture resembles the Cheviot hills, in containing a good +proportion of rich herbage. Fig. 2. Pl. III. +</p> + +<p> +(14.) <i>Mugg Sheep.</i>—"In this variety," says Dr Fleming, in his +History of British Animals, "the face and legs are white, or rarely +spotted with yellow, and the forehead covered with long wool. This is +the native breed in Scotland, to the north of the Forth and Clyde. They +are of small size, and seldom weigh above 8 or 10 lbs. per quarter. +Some tribes have horns; others are destitute of them, and they vary in +the length of the tail. They may be considered as the stock of the +numerous modern and valuable varieties, which are bred in the best +cultivated districts. The Shetland sheep belongs to this kind. The fur +consists of firm wool next the skin, with long coarse hairs, +indications of an inhabitant of an arctic climate." +</p> + +<p> +(15.) <i>The Black-faced or Heath Sheep</i> are known by their large +spiral horns, wild-looking eyes, black legs and faces, with short firm +carcasses, covered by long coarse wool, which weighs from 3 lbs. to 4 +lbs. As the form of this sheep has lately been much improved, by +inducing a short and round carcass, they have acquired the name of +<i>short</i> sheep, in contradistinction to the Cheviots, which are +termed long sheep. When three years old, they fatten well, affording +excellent highly-flavoured mutton, and weighing from 10 lbs. to 16 lbs. +a-quarter. They are the most valuable upland sheep in Britain, +abounding in all the western counties of England and Scotland, and are +now becoming great favourites in the London market. Fig. 1. Pl. IV. +</p> + +<p> +(16.) <i>The Merino.</i>—Though many foreign breeds have from time to +time appeared in this country, yet almost all of them have been viewed +merely as objects of curiosity, and, as such, have speedily been +disregarded. Far different, however, was the reception of the Merinos. +Brought into England under the most favourable auspices, and placed at +once under the fostering protection of royalty, their native merits +could not but be speedily appreciated and diffused throughout the +kingdom. They have received the name of <i>Merino</i> from a peculiar +buff or reddish hue of the countenance, and are supposed to have come +originally from Africa; at least Marcus Columella, having seen a +strange variety from that country exhibited at Rome, during some public +games or shows, took them to his farm, and, having crossed them with +the breeds of Tarentum, sent the offspring to Spain. There they throve +remarkably, attracting the attention of other nations, to whom they +were from time to time exported, and at present may be found in almost +every part of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Merinos were brought to England for the first time in 1788, but +attracted little attention, owing to the want of rams. Lord Somerville +went to Portugal in 1801, for the purpose of selecting such animals as +appeared valuable, from uniting a good carcass with a superior fleece, +and he succeeded, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country, +in obtaining specimens, which called forth the praises of the +shepherds, through whose travelling flocks they passed. Public +attention was attracted to them on the commencement of his Majesty's +sales in 1804; and their distribution over the country was accomplished +in 1811, by the formation of the principal landed proprietors and +eminent breeders into a Merino Society. +</p> + +<p> +The Merinos had much prejudice to encounter on being first brought +before the public in 1804; but they soon rose in favour and value, and +steadily progressed till the Merino Society was established, when, +strange though it may appear, all these advantages were at once +destroyed. This paradox may, perhaps, be explained, by supposing that +the institution of local committees, which immediately followed, +allowed the enemies of the change, in distant parts of the kingdom, +ample opportunity of striking at the scheme, now that it was entrusted, +in many instances, to persons ill qualified for the task either of +making converts, or retaining the advantages already gained. +</p> + +<p> +The horns of the Merino are of large size, twisted spirally and +extended laterally, approaching closely in these characters to the +sheep of Mount Parnassus, a specimen of which is delineated in the work +by E. T. Bennett, on the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological +Society. The face has a characteristic velvety appearance, but the +cheeks and forehead are disfigured by coarse hair. The legs are long +and small in the bone; the breast and back are narrow, the sides flat, +and too much of the weight is expended on the coarser parts. There is a +peculiar looseness of skin beneath the throat, which is admired in +Spain as denoting a tendency to weight and fineness of wool, though +regarded in this country as a sign of a bad skin and want of aptitude +to fatten. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is, 8 lbs. from +the ram, and 5 lbs. from the ewe. The abundance of the yolk enables the +wool to detain all the filth which comes in contact with it, so much +so, that by washing the weight is diminished about three-fifths. The +fibre of the wool is finer than that of any other sheep, and the +carcass, when fat, averages from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. a-quarter. They are +quiet and tractable, and possessed of many good qualities, but they are +liable to abortion, are bad nurses, and require a large supply of food, +for which, owing to an unprofitable form, they yield no return. Fig. 2. +Pl. IV. +</p> + +<p> +The Merinos were at one time in great request in various countries, +from a supposition that they would speedily supplant other breeds; but +this has never been the case, as the animal soon degenerates when out +of Spain, and is only valuable so far as giving rise to varieties, +which are equal, if not superior to itself. Large profits were at first +expected from their wool, but these were reduced to a trifle when the +loss of weight, and fineness in the carcass were taken into account. Mr +Hose of Melton Mowbray, put a certain number of Leicester ewes to a ram +of the same breed, and an equal number to a merino ram. The result was, +that the Leicester fleece weighed 7 lbs., and the one from the cross +with the merino, 8 lbs.; and that the former brought in the market 1s. +per lb., and the latter 1s. 6d., being a gain of 5s. on the fleece. The +carcass of the former, however, weighed 27 lbs. per quarter, and the +latter only 25 lbs., being a loss of 5 lbs. on mutton. Much advantage +may, however, be expected from our crosses with the Saxon merino, which +is in every respect well suited to our notions of a fine animal, as it +yields a good wool, and is little inferior in carcass to some of our +best breeds. +</p> + +<p> +(17.) <i>Teeth of Sheep.</i>—In common with the rest of the ruminating +animals, sheep have eight incisors in the lower jaw, unopposed by any +in the upper, a callous pad, which is substituted, being attached to +the distal end of the intermaxillarv bones. Between the incisors and +molars, or grinding teeth, there is a vacant space of about an inch and +a half. There are twenty-four molars, six on each side of each jaw; +their crowns are marked with two double crescents, the convexity of +which is turned inwards in the upper, and outwards in the lower jaw. +The lamb, when newly dropped, is devoid of incisor teeth, though the +two central ones are occasionally above the gum even at this early +period. When one month old, the first set of incisive teeth are +complete. The two fore-teeth of the under jaw drop out at the end of +the first year; six months after the two next to these are lost; and at +the end of five years the teeth are all renewed. When the permanent +teeth are fully grown, it is almost impossible to ascertain the age of +the animal, as the soil, the texture of the provender, and the original +form of the teeth, have all a greater or less influence over their +durability. +</p> + +<p> +(18.) <i>Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat.</i>—Though a +comparison of the most common domesticated breeds of sheep and goats, +tends to confirm the broad distinctions drawn between them, yet these +differences almost entirely disappear, when we attempt to define the +characteristics of those races, which still exist in a wild state in +various parts of both Continents, where it is so far impossible to +determine the precise division to which they belong, that Cuvier holds +them unworthy of a generic separation. Sheep and goats, in fact, agree +in so many points as regards structure, form, stature, and habit, that +were it not that sheep, according to that naturalist, have "their horns +directed backwards, returning more or less forwards in a spiral manner, +with a generally convex line of profile, and no beard," while the goats +have "their horns directed upwards and backwards, their chins generally +decorated with a long beard, and their line of profile almost always +concave," there would hardly exist a difference worth the noting. Some +writers place great reliance on the differences indicated by the +different coverings of the animals, ascribing wool to the sheep, and +hair to the goat, forgetting that most of the wild sheep, and some of +the domesticated races, are covered with hair, while some goats, as +those of Thibet and Angora, are remarkable for the fineness of their +wool. Even supposing these distinctions to hold good, we have still to +combat the fact, that <i>sheep and goats produce mongrels capable of +reproduction</i>, a consideration sufficient of itself to prove, that +the sheep and goat can never be made to form the types of separate +genera.<a href="#note2" name="noteref2"> +<small>[2]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(19.) <i>Horns of Sheep.</i>—As the Chevrotains or Musks are +distinguished, with the Camels, from other animals of this order by the +absence of horns, so are sheep, oxen, goats, and antelopes, +distinguished from the rest of the horned genera of the order, by the +persistence of their frontal prolongations. The horn is an elastic +sheath of <i>agglutinated hairs</i>, which appears within the first +twelve months, though sometimes present at birth, and increases by +layers, one being added every year, so that the age of a ram may be +known by the number of rings. The ewes have commonly no horns, but only +a protuberance in place of them. The horn is supported by, and serves +to cover, a highly vascular prolongation of the frontal bone, and it is +at its root, where large vessels, and nervous filaments are entering, +that blows occasion so great agony to the animal, apart from the damage +which the other bones sustain by the infliction of violence on so +powerful a level. +</p> + +<p> +(20.) <i>Structure of the Stomach.</i>—The term ruminating, indicates +the power possessed by this animal, in common with many others, of +masticating its food a second time, by returning it to the mouth after +a short maceration. This they are enabled to do, from the structure of +the stomachs, or, more correctly speaking, stomach; as anatomists have +now concluded, from all animals being constructed on one common +principle, that ruminating animals are not possessed of four stomachs, +as formerly supposed, but only of one, which they view as being divided +into four compartments. In drawing precise conclusions, we are bound +only to admit the existence of two compartments, the other two +belonging properly to the gullet; and being equivalent to the cheek +pouches of monkeys, or the crop and membranous stomach of birds, may be +viewed as an apparatus designed to serve a nearly similar purpose (that +of moistening and macerating the food); while the real stomach will +cease to excite wonder, or puzzle the ignorant, on being contrasted +with that of other animals, in many of which a division exists, and +from which even the human stomach, though generally a single sac, is +not always exempt,—Dr Knox, of Edinburgh, being in possession of one +that resembles a pair of small globes joined by a narrow tube, and +which, when taken from the body of a person who was advanced in life, +bore every mark of soundness in texture, and must, therefore, have been +congenital. +</p> + +<p> +(21.) <i>Digestion.</i><a href="#note3" name="noteref3"> +<small>[3]</small></a>—The food descends by the gullet after being +partially crushed, into what is called the first stomach, or paunch, in +Latin, <i>rumen</i>, or <i>ingluvies</i>, in which cavity are found +those morbid concretions so much, and so superstitiously, prized in the +Eastern world, under the name of Bezoar stones; from this it passes +into the second, termed bonnet, king's hood, or honey-comb, in Latin +<i>reticulum</i>, which is much smaller than the other, and receives +its name from the inner coat being arranged into cells; here it is +moistened, made into pellets, and, while the animal is at rest, +impelled by the antiperistaltic motion of the tube to the mouth, and +after undergoing a complete mastication, is returned through the gullet +to the third stomach, or smallest compartment, which goes under the +name of <i>omasum</i>, or many-plies, from its resembling a rolled up +hedgehog, and sometimes from the longitudinal <i>laminæ</i> of its +mucous membrane that of leaflet. The food remains but a short time in +the omasum, proceeding into the fourth division, or obomasum, which in +its structure, especially in that of the mucous, or inner membrane, is +nearly allied to the same organ in the human being, and is, by the +French, from its power of coagulating milk, called <i>caillette</i>. +The last compartment is the largest of the four, so long as the animal +continues to live on milk; but the paunch speedily surpasses it in +magnitude when grass becomes the sole provision. The milk always passes +at once into the fourth stomach, there being no reason why it should be +returned. +</p> + +<p> +The intestinal canal is long, commencing at the pylorus or lower +opening of the stomach, and averaging from ninety to one hundred feet. +There are but few enlargements in the great intestines. The fat, like +that of all ruminating animals, becomes, on cooling, hard and brittle. +</p> + +<p> +(22.) <i>Period of Conception.</i>—In this climate, ewes fed on good +pastures admit the ram in August; but September or October is the time +when such would occur if left to nature. They go with young five +months, and in warm climates bring forth thrice a-year; but in Britain, +France, and most of Europe, they do so only once. They give milk for +seven or eight months; live ten or twelve years; and if well managed, +are capable of bringing forth during life, though generally useless for +that process after the seventh or eighth year. The ram lives from +twelve to fourteen years, though instances are recorded of their +enduring till twenty, and becomes unfit for propagating at eight. +</p> + +<p> +(23.) <i>Names applied to Sheep.</i>—The age of sheep is never dated +from the time that they are dropped, as that would be attended with +many inconveniences, but from the time that they are first subjected to +the shears, by which means the first year includes a period of at least +fifteen or sixteen months. +</p> + +<p> +The following is a condensed arrangement of the names by which sheep +are designated at different periods of their existence, in various +parts of England and Scotland:— +</p> + +<table class="border" summary="condensed arrangement of the names by which sheep +are designated at different periods of their existence" border="1" cellspacing="4"> +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="2"><i>From Birth till Weaning.</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c"><span class="sc">Male.</span></td> +<td class="c"><span class="sc">Female.</span></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Tup, Ram lamb, Heeder, Pur.</td> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Ewe or Gimmer lamb, Chilver.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="2"><i>From Weaning till first Clip.</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Hog, Hogget, Hoggerel, Teg. Lamb hog, Tup hog, +Gridling, and, if castrated, a Wether hog. </td> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Gimmer hog, Ewe hog, Teg, Sheeder ewe, Thrave.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="2"><i>From first to second Clip.</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Shearling, Shear hog, Heeder, Diamond or +Dinmont ram, or tup, and, when castrated, a Shearing wether.</td> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Shearing ewe or gimmer, Double-toothed ewe or Teg, Yill gimmer.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="2"><i>From second till third Clip.</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Two shear ram, young wedder.</td> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Two shear ewe, Counter.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="2"><i>From third till fourth Clip.</i></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Three shear ram, old wedder.</td> +<td class="chart" width="40%">Three shear ewe, Fronter.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +And so on, the name always taking its date from the time of shearing. +Broken-mouthed ewes are called <i>crones</i> in Suffolk and Norfolk; +<i>kroks</i>, or <i>crocks</i>, in Scotland; and <i>drapes</i> in +Lincolnshire. In Scotland, ewes which are neither with lamb, nor giving +milk, are said to be <i>eild</i>, or <i>yield</i>. +</p> + + + +<a name="II"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER II. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +WOOL. +</p> + + +<p> +(24.) <i>Wool-Bearing Animals.</i>—In most dictionaries wool is +defined as the fleece of sheep, as if, in fact they were the only +animals which yield it, than which nothing can be more erroneous; since +we are assured by the ablest naturalists, that almost every animal, +from the butterfly up to man, possesses more or less of this covering, +and that some indeed rival the sheep in the quantity they bear. +</p> + +<p> +Though wool is possessed in considerable quantity by carnivorous +animals, especially bears, yet the herbivorous quadrupeds, never to +mention the sheep, are principally noticed for its growth, and for +affording a commodity which becomes an article of profit in the hands +of some tribes. Heriot, in his travels through Canada, remarks, that +"the savage women manufacture thread of the wool of the buffalo, and +weave it into cloth. Most parts of the body are invested with a dusky +wool, which is of a quality extremely fine—is much valued—and can +with great facility be used in manufactures. The quantity usually +contained on one skin is about eight pounds." +</p> + +<p> +So far from the sheep being invariably a wool-bearing creature, it +would appear as liable to be entirely destitute of it as some other +animals; for in Tartary, the eastern parts of India, China, and some +parts of Africa, a hair of varying quality forms their sole covering; +and Sir Joseph Banks imported three from Spain, which were smooth, +sleek, and as short-haired as a horse. +</p> + +<p> +(25.) <i>Structure of the Skin.</i>—The skin is composed of three +coats, or layers; the outermost, the cuticle or scarf-skin, is a thin +delicate membrane, devoid of feeling, and of a scaly texture, pierced +by innumerable small holes, for the passage of the hairs, and +perspiration, and covering the next, or mucous coat, so named from its +pulpy appearance. In this resides the colouring matter, which imparts +its peculiar tints to the hair, and which can only be satisfactorily +demonstrated in the dark races. The existence of this coat has been by +some denied; but it is probable that, though present in all, it can +only be exhibited in such as have depth of tint, to admit of the +display. It is here that sensation principally resides; the nerves, or +rather their terminations, ramifying minutely in its substance, at +which they have arrived by piercing the third tunic, or true skin, a +dense firm elastic membrane, in which the roots of the hairs are +imbedded, and from which, in fact, they take their origin. +</p> + +<p> +(26.) <i>Sebaceous Follicles.</i>—The skin is studded over by small +glands, or what, in anatomical language, would be called sebaceous +follicles, which vary in number in different breeds, and different +parts of the body, being most numerous on the breast and shoulders, and +secreting a peculiar unctuous semi-solid matter, which, as we shall +immediately see, possesses alkaline properties. +</p> + +<p> +(27.) <i>Connection of the hair with the skin</i>—<i>Yolk.</i>—A hair +implanted in the skin may be compared to a plant growing in a +flower-pot which has been sunk in the earth, as the root of the hair +does not rise directly from the true skin, but from a little cup +extending from it to the cuticle, and receiving nourishment from +surrounding vessels. After coming to the surface of these tunics it +has, in the sheep, yet another, and, in some respects, remarkable +covering to pierce, one which has occupied the attention of the most +distinguished chemists, and given rise to a good deal of disputation on +the subject of salving—we allude to the Yolk. It is supposed by many +to be the inspissated secretion of the sebaceous follicles, and +receives its name from its adhesiveness and colour. It is most +plentiful on fine-woolled sheep, those of the south possessing more +than those of the north of our island, while merinos possess most of +all; so that there is apparently some connection between a fine fleece, +and a good supply of this matter. According to the analysis of M. +Vauquelin, it consists principally of a soapy matter, with a basis of +potash; a small quantity of carbonate of potash; a minute quantity of +acetate of potash; lime in an unknown state of combination; and an atom +of muriate of potash. It owes its odour to a small quantity of animal +oil, and is in every respect a true soap, which would permit the sheep +to be completely washed in a stream, but for the existence in the +fleece of an uncombined fatty matter, which remains attached to the +wool, and renders it rather glutinous. +</p> + +<p> +Many have tried to account for the uses of the Yolk, but nothing like +satisfactory conclusions have been come to: some considering it goes to +form the filament, and is consolidated into a transparent mass while +the pile is growing; while others argue, that it is a peculiar +secretion which exudes through the skin, and by mixing with the pile +renders it soft and pliable, affecting it in the way that oil does a +piece of leather. In the latter opinion I coincide. For my part, I view +it as a secretion, depending very much on good food and steadiness of +temperature, and, therefore, indicative of a fine fleece only so far as +the health of the animal is concerned. In the human being the state of +the skin may often guide us, though blind-fold, to the quality of the +hair, so that the latter may be pronounced either dry and coarse, or +glossy, soft, and silky, as the skin may prove either harsh and +ungrateful, or pleasant, and, if I may be allowed the expression, +alkaline to the touch. Every thing having a tendency to affect the +health may always be considered as calculated to diminish this +secretion, and, consequently, to deteriorate the quality of the wool. +</p> + +<p> +The relative positions of the layers of the skin, the mode in which the +hairs rise from them, and the form and situation of the sebaceous +follicles, will be better understood by referring to the following +cross section Fig 5. Pl. V., in which the line marked +</p> + +<ul> +<li><i>a</i> Represents the cuticle,</li> +<li><i>b</i> The mucous layer,</li> +<li><i>c</i> The true skin,</li> +<li><i>d</i> Sebaceous follicles,</li> +<li><i>e</i> Hairs rising from the true skin and inflections of the upper layers and piercing,</li> +<li><i>f</i> The thin film of the yolk.</li> +</ul> + +<p> +(28.) <i>Periodical decidence of Wool.</i>—It is affirmed that the +only real difference between hair and wool is in the latter falling off +periodically; but the same change takes place in animals totally +covered with hair; in fact, almost every animal is subject to moulting, +or a periodical decidence of its protecting covering. The fleece of the +sheep has been proved in many instances not to be liable to +<i>annual</i> changes of this description;—Lord Western having, among +others, shown that the wool of the merino may be retained at least +three years without the slightest disposition to separate. +</p> + +<p> +The annual employment of shearing, to anticipate this falling off of +the wool, is now common in most parts of the world; yet some, as the +Icelanders and Kamtschadales, still retain the primeval custom of +<i>rowing</i>, or pulling off the fleece in a mass, about the end of +May, at which time it is nearly loosened. This loosening of the +attachments of the fibre is supposed to be owing to a diminution, +during winter, of the nutritive process at the root of the hair, so +that the fibre is liable to give way at the tender part when the fleece +becomes heavy during Spring. This attempt at an explanation meets, +however, with the insurmountable objection, that long-woolled are less +liable than short-woolled sheep to this occurrence, a circumstance +which ought to be the reverse, if weight had any thing to do in the +case. +</p> + +<p> +(29.) <i>Falling off of Wool prevented by Clipping.</i>—Clipping has a +curious influence over the duration of the covering of animals, as is +well exemplified by the correct popular idea, that the only way to +prevent the hair of children dropping off (as it sometimes has a +tendency to do) is to cut it short: we may suppose the benefit in this +case to result from the removal of a <i>portion</i> of each hair, +which, if allowed to remain, would lead to a sacrifice of the +<i>whole</i>, by robbing the root of a quantity of nutritious matter, +which, owing to a diminution of reproductive power, it could ill +afford. In this way only can we account for the power which shearing +evinces, in putting a stop to the attempt sometimes made by nature to +change the coverings of some sheep. In the valley which separates the +most eastern chain of the Cordilleras from the central, the wool grows +upon the lambs in the same manner as in temperate climates, provided +they are sheared so soon as it has arrived at a certain thickness; in +which case the wool grows again, preserving the same order. But, if the +period for denuding the animal be allowed to pass, the wool detaches +itself in flakes, leaving behind a short, glossy, and compact hair, +exactly resembling that of the common goat in the same climate. +</p> + +<p> +(30.) <i>Form of woolly fibre.</i>—The fibre of wool is circular, +differing in diameter in the various breeds, and different parts of +the same fleece. The following <i>à propos</i> observations are +from the article on the Sheep, in the Library of Useful Knowledge: +"The filaments of white wool, when cleansed from grease, are +semitransparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, +in others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a +very pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic +microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering +appearance. Very irregularly placed minuter filaments are sometimes +seen branching from the main trunk, like boughs from the principal +stem. This exterior polish varies much in different wools, and in wools +from the same breed of sheep at different times. When the animal is in +good condition, and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the fibre is +really brilliant; but, when the sheep has been half starved, the wool +seems to have sympathized with the state of the constitution, and +either a wan pale light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected." +</p> + +<p> +The more transparent the filament the better is the fleece, and its +value is impaired by the transparency being different in the same +fleece, or, as often happens, in the same filament; while that which +possesses fineness with a close ground, pureness, elasticity, colour, +tenacity, and not much pitch-mark, is the most esteemed, and preferred +by the manufacturer. Wethers have considerably more wool than ewes. In +every fleece there are several qualities, even so many as nine +different sorts, which are all separated from each other in England by +men called woolstaplers, who are appointed for the purpose, and sworn +to do justice between the grower, and the merchant or manufacturer. In +this manner the latter obtains, without trouble or risk, the very kind +which he knows will suit his purpose; for though the sorter, surrounded +by a number of baskets, divides the wool according to its properties +without the slightest hesitation, and with a rapidity truly surprising, +yet such is the amount of the dexterity acquired by practice, that a +mistake seldom occurs, and his judgment can as rarely be disputed. +</p> + +<p> +(31.) <i>Structure and properties of Hair and Wool.</i>—Each hair is +composed of a number of filaments, or smaller hairs, ranged side by +side, and this we can perceive without the slightest trouble, from the +tendency it sometimes has to unravel at the apex; and again, by drawing +a hair through the fingers from point to root, when we feel a roughness +occasioned by projecting filaments, which only proceed a certain +distance up the trunk, the longest being most internal. +</p> + +<p> +Pl. V. Fig. 5, <i>e</i>, exhibits those points in a hair considerably +magnified. +</p> + +<p> +These projections, or serrations, which vary in number in different +specimens of wool, are what it depends on for its felting properties. +They are sharper and more numerous in felting wools than in others, and +the better the felting properties of the wool, the more numerous the +curls; because what induces curling on the animal's back leads to +felting in the hands of the manufacturer. In felting, these projections +catch one upon another, and occasion the hair to move in one direction, +which is invariably root foremost, as we perceive on giving it a +twirling motion between the finger and thumb; and it is only by the +union of curve and serration, that felting can be accomplished +certainly and perfectly. +</p> + +<p> +Woolly fibre consists of a semitransparent stem, or stalk, supposed to +be hollow, as represented at Fig. 4, Pl. V. and is partly distinguished +from hair by the latter being opaque. Next to soundness, there are few +qualities deserving of so much attention as softness, of which the +ancient writers make frequent mention, and for the prevalence of which +in our present wools fashion has done not a little. It is a quality +that tends, in a material degree, to the cheap and easy working of the +cloth, and, as such, is said to render wool 25 per cent. more valuable +to the manufacturer than a harsh and brittle pile. It apparently +depends on the fineness of the fibre, which should not, however, go the +length of weakness. Fineness is in turn mainly connected with the yolk, +the secretion of which ought, on that account, to be promoted by +attention to the general management of the animal, as it is well known +to undergo a change of properties by starvation, exposure, or any +neglect whatever. +</p> + +<p> +(32.) <i>Particular soils injurious to Wool.</i>—Soil, also, has much +influence on the pliability of wool. Chalky lands, which are so +notorious for injuring the fleece, are supposed to act in the manner of +a corrosive, but the correct explanation is, not that the chalky +particles attack the fibre in a direct way, but that they render it +brittle, by absorbing the oily moisture with which it is naturally +imbued. Moreover, the plants growing in such situations cannot but be +injurious to sheep, owing to their impregnation, though a slight one, +with calcareous matter; for grooms know well how soon a horse's coat +becomes disordered by the frequent use of hard or well water, and +prefer, therefore, the river for their steeds.<a href="#note4" name="noteref4"> +<small>[4]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(33.) <i>Felting.</i>—The felting of wool may be defined as a property +depending on the curls and serrations of the fibre, by which it is +allowed to move only with the root foremost, and by which it is enabled +to catch and retain a hold on fibres that are near it, so as to form a +web or cloth. Felting is best brought into operation by alternate +pressure and relaxation, which may be produced in a variety of ways: +the ancient method, and one still pursued by the Tartars, was to tramp +on a mass or layer of moist unwrought wool, so as to form a coarse +cloth or carpet; while the modern, and more perfect plan is, either, as +in hat making, to apply pressure with the hands, or, as in the +finishing of cloth, to pass the fabric repeatedly through rollers. The +way in which a close fabric is formed, by the juxta-position of a few +scattered hairs, gave rise for long, as well it might, to serious +disputations among philosophers; and the favourite theories of each, +unbased as they were on observation, might till now have agitated the +scientific portion of our manufacturers, had not the microscope brought +to light much of what is true and valuable in our researches. +</p> + +<p> +Moisture appears to be of service during the felting of wool, as it +induces it to curl, enabling the fibres to expand, and catch one on +another, after they have been bent and compressed, by the force applied +to them, and is of itself sufficient to felt a fabric, as we frequently +perceive in the instance of stockings, which have been allowed to +remain too long in water, when they become short from undergoing +contraction, and resemble after such treatment an imperfect cloth. It +is for this reason that the hatter, after tumbling over, in all +directions, the fur of which the hat is to be made, wets it before +applying pressure; and, that the woollen manufacturer, after freeing +the web from grease, soaps it before its subjection to the action of +the rollers. +</p> + +<p> +Without felting, cloth would resemble a net, and would unravel on being +cut, from the fibres crossing only in two directions; but the strokes +of the mill put an end to this, by laying the fibres in every possible +direction, and so twining them one with another, as to render them a +coherent mass. +</p> + +<p> +(34.) <i>Different kinds of Wool.</i>—The wool of this country is +divided into two great classes—long and short: the former varies in +length from three to eight inches, and before being made into stuffs +and worsted goods, requires to be deprived of its felting tendencies, +by passing it through heated iron combs, which remove the feathery +parts, or serrations, and make it resemble silk or cotton. +</p> + +<p> +The shorter combing wools are in general used for hose, and are softer +than the long combing wools. Short wool is employed in the cloth +manufacture, and is, on that account, frequently called clothing wool. +It should approach in colour as much as possible to white, as a clear +white ground is required for all cloths that are to be dyed bright +colours, as well as for those dressed white: grey or black hairs injure +the fleece very much, even though few and minute, as they give rise to +reddish spots where the cloth is stoved. Herefordshire sheep are +entirely free from this defect, and are, therefore, reckoned +particularly valuable for clothing purposes. +</p> + +<p> +(35.) <i>Alterations induced by Crossing.</i>—The breed exercises +considerable influence on the wool, some sheep, as the merinos, being +distinguished for the softness and beauty of the fleece; while others, +as some of our small northern varieties, are famed for the very +opposite characteristics. +</p> + +<p> +According to the opinion on the continent, any race of ewes, however +coarse and long in the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the merino +ram, give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. The truth of +this proposition is however doubted, in a communication to the Board of +Agriculture, by Dr Parry of Bath; but it is certain, he adds, that one +cross more will in most cases effect the desired purpose. "If we +suppose," he says, "the result of the admixture of the blood of the +merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, and state +the native blood in the ewe as 64, then the first cross would give +32/64 of the merino, the second 48/64, the third 56/64, the fourth +60/64, the fifth 62/64, and so on. In other words, the first cross +would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English quality; the second +16 parts, or one-fourth; the third 8 parts, or one-eighth; the fourth +four parts, or one-sixteenth; the fifth 2 parts or one-thirty-second; +the sixth 1 part, or one-sixty-fourth; and so on. Now, if the filament +of the Wiltshire, or any other coarse wool, be in diameter double that +of the Ryeland, it is obvious that, according to the above statement, +it would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid wool of the +former to the same fineness as that of the latter. This, I believe, +very exactly corresponds with the fact. The difference between +one-eighth and one-sixteenth is very considerable, and must certainly +be easily perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the cloth which +is manufactured from such wool. In the latter method, it certainly has +been perceived; but I have had hitherto no opportunity of trying the +difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have before observed, +brings the merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as the +merino-Ryeland." +</p> + +<p> +(36.) <i>Bratting injurious to Wool.</i>—Wool rendered fine by +clothing sheep, is never equal to that which owes its perfection to +natural causes. The Saxon wool, which is principally produced by +<i>artificial</i> means, has been compared, from its inelastic sickly +appearance, to grass that has been secluded from the sun. The custom of +<i>bratting</i> is therefore not to be recommended, and indeed is now +nearly laid aside. Housing sheep with the same intentions is also bad, +inasmuch as it must affect their health, and destroy the curl of the +fibre. Shelter is however absolutely necessary from extremes both of +heat and cold, as temperature has much influence on the covering of +animals, and in none more than the sheep. +</p> + + + +<a name="III"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER III. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +BRITISH WOOL TRADE. +</p> + + +<p> +(37.) <i>Origin of the Wool Trade.</i>—Wool, since Eden closed its +gates on our progenitors has been a current coin, an important +material, on which has been employed the skill and industry of almost +every tribe, and been the means of raising many a petty people to the +hard-won dignity of a nation. Man, at first placed in a comfortable +temperature, needed little as a defence against the weather; while +fashion, then unthought of, or only as a sport, failed to interest the +simple-minded races in the cut or texture of the coverings they wore. +That the first dresses of mankind were formed from vegetable materials, +we have the highest authority for believing; and even at present, the +garb of the natives of some of our lately discovered islands, consists +of a simple girdle formed from rough-cut reeds. But as the dawn of +knowledge smiled upon the savage, and animal sacrifice tutored him in +the uncouth rudiments of a coarse anatomy, the superior comfort, even +of the untanned hide would be remarked, and the clumsy mantle of the +Caffre hordes welcomed as a change. Time would not long elapse till +roving dispositions, and the encounter of unstable climates, would show +the wanderer the necessity of a fabric better adjusted by shape and +pliancy, to the nature of his wants; while the clinging of lock to lock +of woolly fibre would plainly tell the superfluous nature of the +supporting skin, and point the way to make an ill-closed cloth. +</p> + +<p> +(38.) <i>Invention of Weaving.</i>—Weaving is not absolutely necessary +for the manufacture of cloth, since wool will felt, though far from +evenly, without the preliminary process of being laid in threads, so +that cloth may have been almost coeval with mankind without our being +required to assign much mechanical ingenuity to its inventors. But we +have tolerably clear evidence in the inspired writings, that weaving +was known in the earliest ages, and that it was trusted principally to +the women:—Thus Delilah wove Samson's hair when he slept in her lap; +and a short time after, it is written, that the mother of Samuel "made +him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year." At a later +period, Solomon thus describes a good wife:—"She seeketh wool and +flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."<a href="#note5" name="noteref5"> +<small>[5]</small></a> That garments were in +those early ages made of several pieces, joined by needle work, is +evident on a perusal of Genesis, xxxvii. 3; Judges, v. 30; and 2 +Samuel, xiii. 13; and this plan is allowed to be even more ancient than +the weaving of flax. Job, who flourished, or is supposed to have +flourished, before the Israelites left Egypt, shows clearly by his +words that flannel clothing was then in vogue: "Let me be condemned if +I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without +covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed +with the fleece of my sheep;" and that the cloth was woven, and not +produced by beating, is evident from his saying, when complaining of +his sad estate, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle." +</p> + +<p> +(39.) <i>The early progress of the Wool Trade</i> is veiled in much +obscurity, and only to be discovered by seeking for it in a mass of +fable, which in many instances enabled the old writers to string +together the dry details of history, in a manner suited to the taste +and habit of their time. The following may be taken as a specimen. +Phryxus, the son of Athamas king of Thebes, fleeing with his sister, +Hellé, from their stepmother, and riding upon (carrying with him) a ram +which had a golden (valuable) fleece, sought to cross the Dardanelles, +when Hellé was drowned, and the sea was ever after called the +Hellespont: but Phryxus arrived safely at Colchis, between the Black +and Caspian seas, and having sacrificed the ram to Mars, hung the +fleece in a temple dedicated to that god. By this the ancients no doubt +meant to intimate, either that Bœotia, the birth-place of so many +talented Greeks, furnished the people of Colchis with sheep, or that +they sent them sums of money in exchange for the wool of Caucasus. That +the latter is the more probable, is apparent from Ovid's account of the +Argonautic expedition, in which he shows the hardships which Jason +encountered in his successful endeavours (B.C. 1225) to bring the +golden fleece from Colchis back to Greece—implying the value of the +article, and leading us to believe, that the Colchians had, by the aid +of severe penalties, long monopolized the growth of wool. Moreover, +Mount Caucasus and its neighbourhood form the favoured nursery whence +the improved fleece-bearing animals have gradually spread over the +world; and as such would be looked upon, at the time I speak of, by +adjacent tribes with jealousy and hatred; for where is the nation that +can calmly behold a compeer engrossing a hoard of wealth, without +struggling to lower their prices by a market of their own? +</p> + +<p> +Thus one country after another became impressed with the advantages to +be derived from the husbandry of sheep. Nation after nation improved +its agriculture, by the introduction of the animal, till at last the +Romans became pre-eminent for their attention to its culture, and to +the manufactures of which it is the fruitful source. Generous even to +an enemy, and attacking only to enrich the countries they subdued, +England may bless the hour which saw the legions of the world's +mistress planting the Imperial Eagle on her shores. +</p> + +<p> +Instead of following the progress of the wool trade among foreign +nations in later times, the limits of the present work compel me to +confine myself to an outline of the British trade from its origin, at +the time of the invasion by the Romans, to the present period. +</p> + +<p> +(40.) <i>Introduction of Weaving into Britain.</i>—It is evident from +ancient history, that the first inhabitants of all the countries of +Europe were either naked, or nearly so, owing to their ignorance of the +clothing art. Such, in particular, was the uncomfortable condition of +the inhabitants of this island, who are supposed to have used the bark +of trees, and to have smeared themselves with unctuous matter, after +the manner of other savages, to protect themselves from cold. Some +writers are of opinion, that the inner bark of trees alone was +employed, and that not till woven into a kind of cloth, such as the +South Sea islanders at present make. They continued the abominable +practice of anointing their bodies, long after the people of France, +Spain, and Germany, were decently clothed, so differently were they +situated in regard to intercourse with strangers, and opportunities of +acquiring the useful arts. It is impossible to discover with certainty +when, or by whom, the custom of wearing clothes was introduced into +Britain. Some suppose that the Greeks, and after them the +Phœnicians, who visited the Scilly islands, and sometimes the +continent of Britain, for trading purposes, first awakened in the +breasts of our savage ancestors a desire for comfortable coverings, as +both these nations were celebrated for elaborate attention to their +attire. +</p> + +<p> +"The Britons," says Cæsar, "in the interior parts of the country are +clothed in skins." These are supposed not to have been sewed together, +but to have been cast over the shoulders as a mantle. Their stiffness, +however, rendered them aught but pleasant, as we may guess from their +endeavours to make them soft and pliable, by steeping in water, beating +them with stones and sticks, and rubbing them with fat. The people of +the southern parts are supposed to have been well acquainted with the +dressing, spinning, and weaving, both of flax and wool, having been +instructed by a Belgic colony, long before the invasion by the Romans. +Two kinds of cloth, which they manufactured at this period, were much +esteemed by their invaders; the one a thick harsh cloth, worn in cold +climates as a sort of mantle, and agreeing in many respects with our +Lowland plaids; the other made of fine wool, dyed of different colours, +woven into chequered cloth, and corresponding to our Highland tartan. +They are also believed to have made felts of wool, without either +spinning or weaving, and to have stuffed mattresses with the portions +shorn from it in dressing. The Britons must have been well acquainted +with the dyeing of wool, as the Gauls were then celebrated, according +to Pliny, for the invention of a "method of dyeing purple, scarlet, and +all other colours, only with certain herbs." The plant, which they +chiefly used for the purpose, was the glastum or woad, and they seem to +have been led to the discovery of its value in dyeing cloth, from their +former use of it in staining their bodies. A deep blue having been the +colour they stained their skins, it long continued a favourite; +particularly, with the Caledonians, as a tint for all their dresses. +Though the most civilized of the ancient Britons were tolerably versed +in the most essential branches of the woollen manufacture, yet that +useful art was not diffused over our island till the landing of the +Romans, whose soldiers, being almost all drawn from the plough, were +well adapted, when settled in the country, to foster the arts of peace. +In order to benefit themselves and the island, their emperors were at +great pains to discover and procure the best artificers of every +description, particularly the best manufacturers of woollen and linen +cloths, whom they formed into colleges, or corporations, endowed with +various privileges, and governed by a procurator, who was under the +direction of that great officer of their empire, the Count of the +Sacred Largesses. In this manner it appears that the first woollen +manufactory was established at Venta Belgarum, now Winchester, a +hundred years after the conquest of the country. +</p> + +<p> +It has been believed, from Britain having been partly peopled from +Spain, that our sheep were originally Spanish; and, as Giraldus +Cambrensis (Collectan. de Reb. Hibern.) affirms, that the Irish in his +time were clothed in black garments, from the wool of their sheep being +so coloured, some have supposed the sheep of that island were imported +from Spain, a supposition rendered probable by Southey telling us, in +his letters from that country, that in the north of the Peninsula the +animals are almost all of a black colour. +</p> + +<p> +No mention ever occurs in the ancient writers, of the importation of +sheep into Britain, from which it may be supposed, that they had found +their way into it long before its forcible separation from the +continent by natural convulsions. Cambden, in his work on Britain, +quotes from an old orator, part of a beautiful panegyric on the great +Constantine, in which the happiness of Britain is eloquently described, +and its advantages in regard to sheep graphically depicted. +"Innumerable are thy herds of cattle, and thy flocks of sheep, which +feed thee plentifully, and clothe thee richly." So that, even allowing +for the high-flown nature of the verbiage, the sheep of the island must +have been far from indifferent, and well worthy of any trouble the +grasping Romans may have been put to, in the erection of manufactories. +</p> + +<p> +(41.) <i>Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture.</i>—The +history of our wool, and the woollen manufacture, is, at one period and +in one point of view, the history of our public revenue, while in a +succeeding period it becomes the capital object of our commerce, and +the important subject of our political councils. The preserving and +supporting it against foreign rivals, the due regulation of its +numerous branches, and the proper restrictions deemed requisite to +ensure to this country the commercial benefits resulting from it, have +occupied our ablest statesmen for many centuries. +</p> + +<p> +The wools of England have always been in the highest repute, and that +more abroad than at home. Their fineness and abundance have been +ascribed by many to the sweet short grass on most of our downs and +pastures, and to the sheep having the privilege of feeding, all the +year round, without being shut in folds; but it cannot be denied, that, +though food and climate may have much concern in the matter, the +energetic industry and persevering attention with which an Englishman +devotes himself to the attainment of an object, have tended more than +any other circumstance to the advancement of our wools, and woollen +manufactures, and to the consequent prosperity of our island. +</p> + +<p> +The reason of the existence of so many laws relating to wool is, that +it continued for ages to be the principal commodity, meeting all +demands for the support of armies, and payment of public revenues, and +affording aids to the crown, which were in general granted therein. The +scarcity of money in England before the discovery of America, rendered +it necessary to levy taxes frequently in kind, and as wool was +abundant, it often figured as the representative of a more portable +currency. Part of the £300,000 demanded by the Emperor of Germany as +the ransom of Richard I., was raised by a loan of wool. Edward I., the +great reformer of our laws, imposed a duty of 6s. 8d. on every sack of +wool exported, and the like sum on every 300 wool-fells; but soon +after, when his necessities demanded a larger income, he laid those +additional duties on foreign merchants, which afterwards became the +tonnage and poundage, so famous in England's history. Among these +additions, the former taxes on wool and fells were increased by forty +pence, while at the same time, like other monarchs of the period, he +occasionally received subsidies of wool. In the same way Edward III., +in attempting, during the twelfth year of his reign, to wrest the crown +of France from the house of Valois, procured a grant of half the wool +in England, amounting to 20,000 packs, which, taking it as valued by +some authors at £40 a pack, must have realized the sum of £800,000. +</p> + +<p> +(42.) <i>Weavers brought from Flanders.</i>—Commerce and industry were +at a very low ebb during the time of Edward III., the principal export +being wool, which only brought into the kingdom about £450,000. Edward +promoted the woollen manufacture by bringing, in 1331, John Kemp, with +seventy Walloon families, weavers, from Flanders, and, owing to the +want of native skill in this department, gave every encouragement to +foreign weavers. (11 Edward III. cap. 5.)<a href="#note6" name="noteref6"> +<small>[6]</small></a> A further encouragement +was given to the home manufacture, by the enactment of a law (11 Edward +III. cap. 2) which prohibited every one from wearing any cloth not of +English fabric. Parliament, however, in an evil hour, thwarted these +benefits, by prohibiting the exportation of woollen goods, certainly an +injurious step, so long as wool was allowed to be shipped from our +ports. +</p> + +<p> +On the introduction of the Flemish weavers, Kendal became the +metropolis of this branch of industry, and was soon equalled in the +extent of its manufactories by many other towns, as Norwich, Sudbury, +Colchester, and York; while woollens were spun and wove, though to a +less extent, in Devonshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, +Berkshire Sussex, and Wales. +</p> + +<p> +(43.) <i>Regulations regarding Staples.</i>—The <i>staple</i>, or +market for wool, was fixed by act of Parliament (27 Edward III.) in +particular towns of England, but was afterwards removed by law to +Calais, and English merchants were prohibited from exporting any goods +from the staple, or, in other words, foreign navigation was abandoned. +To the custom of taking subsidies in kind, may be traced the principle +of those multifarious regulations which fixed the staple in certain +towns, either in England, or more commonly on the continent; and to the +fluctuating state of politics may be ascribed the shiftings which those +staples so frequently underwent; but it is not easy to see the drift of +many of the provisions relating to it, some of which tend to the +benefit of foreign, rather than of British, commerce. +</p> + +<p> +(44.) The progress which this manufacture made in a very short period, +may be well illustrated by the following table of exports and imports +in woollen, about the middle of the fourteenth century, or twenty years +after the arrival of John Kemp and his establishment. +</p> + +<table summary="Exports and imports in woollen"> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="4">EXPORTS.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Thirty-one thousand, six hundred and fifty-one and a +half of wool, at L.6 value each sack,</td> +<td class="r">£189,909</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Three thousand, thirty-six hundred and sixty-five +fells, at 40s. value, each hundred at six score,</td> +<td class="r">6,073</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">1</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">8</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Whereof the custom amounts to</td> +<td class="r">81,624</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">1</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">1</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Fourteen last, seventeen dicker, and five hides of +leather, after L.6 value the last</td> +<td class="r">89</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">5</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Whereof the custom amounts to.</td> +<td class="r">6</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">17</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">6</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">8,061½ of worsted, after 16s. 8d. value, the +price is</td> +<td class="r">6,717</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">18</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">4</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Whereof the custom amounts to</td> +<td class="r"><u> 215</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 13</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 7</u></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Summary of the out-carried commodities in value and +custom,</td> +<td class="r"><u>£285,635</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 17</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 2</u></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="c" colspan="4">IMPORTS.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">1,832 cloths, after L.6 value each,</td> +<td class="r">10,922</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Whereof the custom amounts to</td> +<td class="r"><u> 91</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 12</u></td> +<td class="r" width="3%"><u> 0</u></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang">Summary of the in-brought woollens in value and +custom,</td> +<td class="r">£11,013</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">12</td> +<td class="r" width="3%">0</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +That the imported cloths were much finer than those exported, may be +inferred from their comparative value as here stated, and we may +conclude pretty justly, that the fabrication of coarse cloths +exclusively occupied the manufacturers of Britain, while the finer +fabrics were still brought from abroad, and that, in fact, the wants of +the <i>mass</i> of the people were the regulators of British industry. +</p> + +<p> +(45.) <i>Subsidies raised by Edward III.</i>—In 1338, Edward took a +fifteenth of all the commonalty of his realm in wool, rating the price +of every stone of 14 lbs. at 2s., although, in the previous November, +he had sent the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earls of Suffolk and +Northampton, with one thousand sacks of wool, into Brabant, which, +being sold at L.40 a sack, procured him L.40,000. Edward was apparently +not very sure how far his subjects would submit to so sweeping a +taxation, as we find him addressing a letter, dated Berwick-upon-Tweed, +March 28th, 1338, to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, desiring +the favour of their prayers, and requesting that they would excuse him +to his people, on account of the great taxes he was obliged to lay upon +them. During the summer of 1339, the laity granted to the king the +one-half of their wools throughout the whole realm, a favour his +majesty is reported to have received most graciously; but of the clergy +he levied the whole, compelling them to pay nine merks for every sack +of the best wool. Knighton, who held an office in the Abbey of +Leicester, says that that house alone furnished eighteen sacks. The +revenue officers during this reign appear to have exercised their +calling with great strictness, and to have interfered in an especial +manner with the secret trade of the inhabitants of Bristol, but this +was terminated by the king granting a licence, dated Langley, November +25th, 1339, to their weavers, allowing them "to make woollen cloth +without being liable to any molestation from the king's officers." +</p> + +<p> +(46.) <i>Progress of the trade under Henry VII., Henry VIII., and +Edward VI.</i>—During the bloody and destructive wars of the white and +red roses, when success graced the arms alternately of York and +Lancaster, commercial enterprise was almost at a stand. This unhappy +period brought, however, with all its evils, blessings in its train, +and Henry VII. not only did more for the advancement of the wool-trade +than his predecessors, but also gave it greater vigour than it could +lay claim to at any former period. Fine cloths were much improved in +his reign, and luxury began to be attended to in an article, which, +till then, had only been rendered amenable to comfort. The ostentatious +reign of Henry VIII., gave an additional impulse to the trade, and +cloth was sold in 1512 for five merks, which fifty years before would +only have brought about forty shillings; while, in consequence of +increasing wealth, population, and consumption, the demand was +materially increased. A new market was also opened up for the exit of +their woollens, by the establishment of an intercourse in 1516 with +several islands in the Archipelago, and a few of the towns on the coast +of Syria. +</p> + +<p> +Edward VI., or rather his ministers, for he was then a minor, attempted +to lay a poll-tax upon sheep, every ewe kept in a separate pasture +being charged threepence, every wedder twopence, and all sheep kept on +commons three-halfpence; but it was found to be so oppressive, so +annoying to the people, and so difficult to collect, that it was +repealed during the next year. England made a distinguished figure in +this reign as a commercial nation. The manufacture of woollens was +raised to a great height. Cloth, besides being exported to Flanders, +found its way to Holland, Hamburgh, Sweden, and Russia, whose coarse +warm stuffs were very much wanted, and the trade wore such an air of +affluence, that a tax of eightpence in the pound was laid upon all +cloth made for sale in England. This, however, was speedily repealed, a +very short time serving to point out, that, though made for an +endurance of three prosperous years, the people who were galled by a +trifling impost on their sheep, would not, unless under very favourable +circumstances, submit to imposts on the fabrics which they wore. +</p> + +<p> +During the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI., an undue +preference was given to grazing. Acts were framed to put a stop to this +mismanagement, which was fast ruining the country, by driving people +from it. Henry VII. exempted Norwich from the penalties of the law, on +account of the decay of manufactures from the want of hands; and +shortly after the whole county of Norfolk obtained a like exemption in +regard to some branches of the woollen trade. The practice of +depopulating the country, by abandoning tillage, and throwing the lands +into pasturage, had run to so great an extent in the time of Henry +VIII., that an enactment was made, whereby the king became entitled to +half the rents of the land where any farm-houses were allowed to fall +to decay. The number of sheep in a flock was at the same time limited +to two thousand. Hume conjectures, in his <i>History of England</i>, +that unskilful husbandry was probably the cause why the proprietors +found no profit in tillage;—thus leading a farmer to keep a flock +sometimes of twenty-four thousand as expressed in the statute. This had +the effect of increasing the price of mutton, a remarkable coincidence, +which parliament attributes to the commodity having gotten into few +hands, though Hume ascribes it to the daily increase of money, thinking +it almost impossible that such an article could be engrossed. At the +commencement of the reign of Edward VI., the people were still sadly +deficient in a knowledge of agriculture—a profession, which, as Hume +wisely remarks, of all employments, requires the most reflection and +experience. A great demand having arisen for wool both at home and +abroad, whole estates were laid waste, while the tenants, regarded as a +useless burden, were expelled their habitations, and the cottagers +deprived even of the commons on which they fed their cows; no wonder +there was a decay of the people! +</p> + +<p> +(47.) <i>Wool Trade encouraged by Elizabeth.</i>—Elizabeth extended +her protection to the Protestants who fled from the persecutions of the +Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, and the woollen manufactories became +more flourishing than ever—so much so, that, although in 1552, a large +quantity of raw material was exported, yet in less than thirty years, +the people of Germany, Poland, France, Flanders, Denmark, and Sweden, +were covered with British cloths; two hundred thousand pieces being +annually exported, though the price was nearly tripled. At that time +the processes by which woollens are rendered beautiful were unknown in +England, and as our exports consisted in white undressed cloth, the +profits upon dyeing and finishing, amounting to nearly a million a +year, were lost. This was attempted to be remedied by prohibiting the +exportation of white cloths, but the Dutch and Germans, who benefitted +by the dyeing processes, forbade the entrance of any English woollens +dyed in the piece, into their territories, and the export consequently +fell immediately from 200,000 to sixty pieces. Then the restriction was +taken off. It was at this crisis that the fabrication of medley cloths, +or mixtures of wool dyed of different colours and wrought into the same +web, was commenced. +</p> + +<p> +(48.) <i>Woollen Cloth monopolized by the merchant +adventurers.</i>—Though nine-tenths of the commerce of the kingdom +consisted in the time of James I. of woollen goods, wool was allowed to +be exported till the nineteenth year of his reign, when it was +forbidden by proclamation, but never strictly enforced. The cloth was +very little admired even at home, and though it was the staple +commodity of the realm, a company of merchant adventurers were allowed +by a patent, to possess the sole disposal of it. Elizabeth at one time +attempted to rescue this important trade from the hands of these +merchants, but they instantly conspired, and ceased to make purchases +of cloth, when the queen was necessitated to restore the patent. A +board of trade was brought together by James I. in 1622, and one of the +purposes contemplated was to remedy the low price of wool, which was +leading the people to complain of the decay of the woollen manufacture; +but Hume supposes, and with every appearance of probability, that this +fall of prices proceeded from an increase of wool. +</p> + +<p> +(49.) <i>English consumption of Wool increased.</i>—Till the fifteenth +century our wool was sold in the fleece to such as came to buy it. +Among the principal of our customers were numbered the Flemings, and +Brabanters, and in particular the merchants of Ghent, and Louvain, who +took off vast quantities for the supply of two manufactories, that had +flourished in those cities from the tenth century, and had furnished +the greater part of Europe, and even England itself, with every kind of +woollen cloth. Thus they might have continued, to the great loss of our +island, had not the democratic hands employed in those manufactories +repeatedly revolted, owing to their determination to resist a tax on +looms, and being at length punished and dispersed, found their way in +no long time to Holland. While in the last place, the spirit of +sedition still being dominant, certain of their party attacked and +killed some of the civil authorities, for which they had to make a +precipitate flight to England, where they settled as peaceful citizens, +and instructed our people in the working of wool. This occurred in +1420, from which time neither skill, money, nor enactments, have been +spared to enable us to retain so valuable a trade. In the reign of +Edward IV., every pack of English wool was liable when exported to a +custom of 50s., a goodly sum in those days, and one which brought a +yearly revenue of L 250,000. This excessive custom, almost amounting to +a prohibition, added to the above mentioned opportunities, in a manner +compelled the people to manufacture for themselves, and in this they +succeeded so well, that by the time of Elizabeth, the exportation of +live sheep and wool was prohibited on pain of having the right hand +struck off. It does not appear that this enactment was ever repealed, +though supposed to be so by the 12th of Charles II. cap. 32, see. 3, +which, without taking away the penalties imposed by former statutes, +imposes a new penalty;—20s. for every sheep exported, or attempted to +be exported, together with the forfeiture of the sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(50.) <i>Severity of prohibitory enactments reprobated.</i>—By the +14th of Charles II. chap. 18 the exportation of wool was deemed felony, +and punished accordingly. This tended in no slight degree to the defeat +of the ends intended, by hindering all who were not cold-blooded from +bringing to justice the actors in so trifling an offence. This was soon +however seen through, and corrected, by the 7th and 8th of William III. +chap. 28, sec. 4, in which it was declared, that "Whereas the statute +of the 13th and 14th of King Charles II., made against the exportation +of wool, among other things in the said act mentioned, doth enact the +same to be deemed felony, by the severity of which penalty the +prosecution of offenders hath not been so effectually put into +execution; be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that so +much of the said act, which relates to the making the said offence +felony, be repealed and made void." +</p> + +<p> +Adam Smith, when commenting in his "Wealth of Nations," on the laws +relating to wool, reprobates severely the ill-judged compliance of our +government, in yielding to the solicitation of our merchants, and +allowing them to sway with iron rule the commerce of the world. "The +severity of many of the laws which have been enacted for the security +of the revenue, is very justly complained of, as imposing heavy +penalties upon actions, which, antecedent to the statutes that declared +them to be crimes, had always been understood to be innocent. But the +cruelest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are mild and +gentle in comparison to some of those which the clamour of our +merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for the +support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the laws of +Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood." None of the +laws, however, were effectual, not even the one passed in the middle of +the seventeenth century, by which the offence was rendered capital. In +spite of the vigilance of our government, a contraband trade in wool +was long carried on between the inhabitants of the French and English +coasts, especially those of Sussex, by a class of men called +<i>Owlers</i>, from their only venturing abroad in the night, and who +were tempted to despise the penalty, with an intrepidity astonishing to +the rest of Europe, by the high prices that were sure to be afforded to +them in the Gallic market. Again, during the first half of the +eighteenth century, large quantities of wool were constantly smuggled +from Ireland to France, by which our trading interests were +considerably injured, and the plans for suppressing exportation shown +to be worse than useless. +</p> + +<p> +(51.) <i>Prosperity of the Dutch Manufacturers.</i>—The woollen +manufactures of the Hollanders were first established in 1636, or 1637, +by one hundred and forty English families, who went from Norfolk and +Suffolk, to settle at Leyden, and Alkmaer. The Dutch manufacture of +fine woollen cloths was, however, commenced much earlier, or about +1624, at which time they began to interfere with the English trade in +the Netherlands; insomuch that, in the twenty-second year of the reign +of James I., a certificate was given to the Parliament of 25,000 cloths +having been made that year in Holland. Upon this the House of Commons +resolved, 1st, "That the merchant adventurers setting impost upon our +cloth, is a grievance, and ought not to be continued; and that all +other merchants promiscuously, as well as that company, may transport +everywhere northern and western kersies, and new draperies." +</p> + +<p> +2dly. "That other merchants, besides the Merchant Adventurers' Company, +may freely trade with dyed and dressed cloths, and all sorts of +coloured cloths, into Germany and the Low Countries." Much annoyance +appears to have resulted to this island, from the progress which the +manufacturers in Holland still continued to make, and some curious +speculations were of course formed in the minds of the ingenious. In +1651, a scheme was laid before the English commonwealth, for obtaining +from the court of Spain an exclusive right to purchase <i>all</i> the +Spanish wool; or, in other words, to ruin the Holland market, by +stopping the supplies. The projector observed, "That this proposed +preemption would totally dissolve the woollen manufacture of Holland, +which, by means of that wool (Spanish), hath of late years mightily +increased, to the destruction of the vent of all fine cloths, of +English manufacture, in Holland, France, and the east country; and hath +drawn from us considerable numbers of weavers, dyers, and cloth +workers, now settled at Leyden, and other towns in Holland, by whose +help they have very much improved their skill in cloth, and have made +in that one province (one year with another) 24,000 or 26,000 cloths +yearly. That the Hollanders have of late years bought and exported from +Biscay, four-fifth parts at least of all their wools, and have sold +there proportionally of their own country stuffs." This was certainly a +novel method of accomplishing an end by a sweeping monopoly; but the +theory was too fine-spun ever to be reducible to practice. +</p> + +<p> +(52.) <i>Fluctuating State of the Trade between 1635 and 1693.</i>—By +the great act of tonnage and poundage, passed in 1660, on the +restoration of Charles II., taxes were imposed, among other things, on +the exportation of woollen manufactures, and it was not till the reign +of William, that the wretched policy of such regulations was +discovered, and a law was passed in 1700, by which the duties on +woollens were abolished, because in the words of the act (ll & 12 +William III. chap. 20), "the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom doth, +in a great measure, depend on the improvement of its woollen +manufactures, and the profitable trade carried on by the exportation +thereof." +</p> + +<p> +In the time of Charles II., an act was passed for the erection of +manufactories (Par. I, Sess. I, Cap. 40), by which it is enacted, that +no native or stranger is to export wool nor skins with wool upon them, +until made into work, or put to the best advantage, under the pain of +first value thereof, half to the king, and half to the informer. It is +also, in this act, ordered, "that none forestall the mercat of wooll, +nor keep up the same to a dearth, under the pain against regrators and +forestallers, and that for eschewing the deceit of putting stones, or +the like stuffs therein, no wooll be wrapt up in the fleece, under the +pain of confiscation, half to the king, and half to the discoverer and +pursuer, declaring always that the Exchequer may licence the export of +wool and skins, as they shall see cause." +</p> + +<p> +The French refugees, in 1635, brought money and talent into England, +and contributed greatly to the erection of manufactories for +<i>slight</i> stuffs, and other French fabrics, never before made in +England. The former law for burying in woollen not being well observed, +it was repealed by an Act of Parliament, in the thirtieth year of that +king (cap. 3.), which enacted a register to be kept in every parish, by +the incumbent or his substitute, that every thing about the corpse of +the deceased was made of sheep's wool, of which an affidavit was to be +made by the relation of the deceased, and lodged with the incumbent, +under the penalty of £5, a moiety of which went to the poor of the +parish; the rest to the informer. But this was a sorry check, as vanity +was so predominant among the rich, that they paid the penalty rather +than want the pleasure of adorning their departed relatives with lace +and linen. +</p> + +<p> +In 1667, France supplanted England in many foreign markets, owing to +the care that Colbert at that time took to bring the French woollens to +perfection. The English immediately turned their attention to other +manufactures, in which, as in that of paper, they quickly excelled, and +thus compelled the French to abandon markets, in which they had long +remained without a rival. +</p> + +<p> +In 1698, a problem was started concerning the manufactures of the +country—whether or not a general linen manufacture would prove +beneficial to England? As London at this time abounded with new +projects and schemes, all promising as usual a hoard of wealth, the +question caused much excitement. It was at last determined that a +novelty of this kind would lead to the sowing of a great quantity of +flax in England, and the neglect of the woollen manufacture, which +would follow, might probably lower the price of land; for, as they said +at the time, "it requires about twenty acres of land to breed wool, for +setting on work the same number of hands which one acre of flax would +employ; and yet, in the end, the woollen manufacture will be found to +employ by far the greatest number of hands, and yield the most profit +to the public, as well as to the manufacturers." +</p> + +<p> +(53.) <i>Irish Manufactures discouraged.</i>—In the same year (1698), +the English house of Peers addressed King William with the view of +inducing him to discourage the woollen manufactures of Ireland, which, +in spite of many restrictions, still continued to cause much vexation +to the monopolizers of England. The address ran thus:—"The growing +manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the cheapness of all sorts of +the necessaries of life,<a href="#note7" name="noteref7"> +<small>[7]</small></a> and <i>the goodness of materials for making +all manner of cloth</i>, doth invite his subjects of England, with +their families and servants, to leave their habitation to settle there, +to the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, which makes his +loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive, that the further +growth of it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; and +praying, that his Majesty would be pleased, in the most public and +effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of Ireland, +that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture there, hath +long, and will ever be, looked upon with great jealousy by all his +subjects of this kingdom." A similar address was presented by the +Commons, and this most liberal and enlightened monarch was pleased to +answer, "<i>Gentlemen, I will do all that in me lies to discourage the +woollen manufacture of Ireland.</i>" This was certainly altogether a +strange proceeding, especially when viewed in conjunction with the +cruel prohibitions of former periods.<a href="#note8" name="noteref8"> +<small>[8]</small></a> Their foreign trade is said by +some to have been much diminished by this coolness; but much of the +poignancy and crushing animosity of the request are lost when we +consider that encouragement was at the same time given by England to +the making of Irish linen, his Majesty being desired in the same +address, to forward that manufacture, pursuant to the dictates of an +act passed in 1696. Nay, some are of opinion that these measures +resulted from the soundest views of the relative situations of the +countries, and that the prudent tenor of English enactments was never +better exhibited, than in the discouragement of the woollen and +encouragement of the linen manufactures of Ireland. +</p> + +<p> +(54.) <i>British Trade in 1699.</i>—In 1699 there were 12,000,000 +sheep and lambs in Britain, and the yearly increase was supposed to be +about 3,600,000. The value of each sheep, besides the skin, was 7s. 4d. +The stock was valued at £4,400,000. The value of the wool yearly shorn, +at 3s. 4d. per fleece, came to about £2,000,000. The woollens +manufactured in Britain amounted in value to £5,000,000 per annum, +while our yearly exports of the same were valued at £2,000,000. Many +were at that time afraid of the sinking of the woollen manufacture, +because the accounts of the fine draperies exported were larger than +usual; but, says an anonymous essayist of the period, "such do not +contemplate, that, though the old may be lessened, what is commonly +called the new draperies have increased, consisting in bays, serges, +and stuffs. So that upon the whole, infinitely more of the material of +wool has of late years been wrought up for foreign use, than in former +times; and herein our merchants have been only forced to follow the +modes and humours of those people with whom they deal, and the course +they have pursued has hitherto not been detrimental to the public." +<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> "'Twere better, indeed, that the call from abroad were only for +the fine draperies, because then we should be in a manner without a +rival; no country, but England, and Ireland, having a sward or turf +that will rear sheep, producing the wool of which most of our draperies +are made. 'Tis true the wool of Spain is fine above all others; but +'tis the wear only of the richer sort, and of Spanish cloths not above +nine thousand pieces are sent abroad, one year with another." +</p> + +<p> +(55.) <i>British Woollens rivalled by those of Sweden.</i>—Before the +peace of Utrecht in 1713, we had no rival in the woollen trade but the +Dutch, over whom we had many natural advantages, such as situation, +goodness of our ports, and excellence of the principal constituents of +the manufacture. They were obliged to furnish themselves with the +materials at second-hand. When the trade in woollens was properly set +a-foot in England, during the long and happy reign of Elizabeth, the +interest of money was pretty much the same in both countries; but the +Dutch were engaged in a hazardous and bloody war, and in establishing +their Commonwealth, and East India trade; and, therefore, had not much +time to think of improving any manufacture. Owing to these +circumstances, we came into possession of all the principal marts for +woollens, both in Asia and Europe, and retained them till the beginning +of the war with France and Spain; we then prohibited trade with both +these countries. +</p> + +<p> +About the year 1720, our exportations to Sweden, of cloth, stuffs, and +other woollen manufactures, amounted to £50,000. The Swedes, however, +though situated in a severe climate, tried experiments with English +sheep, and with so great success, that, in 1765, they could boast of +wool little inferior to that of England. They then erected +manufactories, and we were compelled to relinquish a market, which we +had long held to our profit and advantage. +</p> + +<p> +(56.) <i>Regulations from 1740 to 1742.</i>—In the 12th year of King +George II. it was enacted by a statute (cap. 21), "That whereas the +taking off the duties upon woollen or bay yarn imported from Ireland, +may be a means to prevent the exportation of wool, and of woollen +manufactures, from Ireland to foreign parts, and may also be of use to +the manufacturers of Great Britain, that from the first of May, 1740, +the same shall be no longer payable; excepting only the duties upon +worsted yarn of two or more threads twisted or thrown, or on crewel +imported from Ireland." At this time more than 1,500,000 persons were +employed on woollen articles, and were supposed to earn, one with +another, sixpence a-day for 313 working days, amounting in all to +£11,737,500 yearly. +</p> + +<p> +In 1742, the English poor suffered much from the contempt with which +home manufactures were regarded by the nobility, in consequence of +which the latter were speedily the losers. The importation of woollen +broad-cloth, of the manufacture of France, into ports of the Levant, on +behalf of British subjects, being not only prejudicial by discouraging +the woollen manufactures of Britain, but likewise a means of affording +relief to an enemy, and discoveries having been made of British +subjects fraudulently shipping from Leghorn quantities of French +woollen goods for Turkey, under the denomination of British, to the +great detriment of English woollens; an act was passed in the 23d year +of King George II. by which provision was made against these and other +fraudulent practices. +</p> + +<p> +(57.) <i>Improvements in the manufacturing of Woollens.</i>—At the +commencement of the reign of George III. the woollen manufactures +advanced with a rapidity almost unparalleled in modern times as regards +other branches of trade. Till about the year 1770 most of the processes +were conducted by hand. The wool was spun by various persons at +scattered residences, the manufacturers receiving the yarn periodically +from the numerous spinners. This arrangement caused much loss of time, +and gave rise to frequent squabbles between the masters and their +workmen. In fact, all the operations were tardy in the extreme. But at +this period, the spirit of public and private inquiry was happily +directed to our deficiencies in the machinery of manufactures. +Inventions of great beauty and ingenuity were slowly brought forward to +facilitate our commercial acquirements. Human labour has thus been +lightened and abridged,—a greater number of hands have been profitably +employed, and an excellent lesson afforded to the lovers of use and +wont, which will not speedily be forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +By these improved means the cloth is possessed of greater evenness, +less injury is sustained in the dressing and shearing, and greater +beauty is imparted to its appearance. A great advantage is also +obtained by the master knowing the exact duration of each process, so +that he can time his goods for any hour, or market, and is enabled to +circulate his capital with a degree of certainty, and despatch, +formerly looked upon as quite impossible. A few years ago the late Sir +John Throckmorton sat down to dinner, dressed in a coat, the wool of +which, on the same morning, was on the sheep's back. The animals were +sheared, the wool washed, carded, spun, and woven; the cloth was +scoured, fulled, sheared, dyed and dressed, and then made into a coat. +All these complex operations were gone through without hurry, and +without deducting from the work any part of the time usually devoted to +similar fabrics. So great was the advantage derived from this +application of machinery, that in the year 1800 the produce was three +times larger than in the year 1739, though the number of persons +employed was the same in the one year as in the other. +</p> + +<p> +(58.) <i>Duty imposed on imported Wool.</i>—For three centuries a free +importation of foreign wool was permitted by our government, and it was +not till 1803 that any one thought of laying a duty upon it. This duty +was at first comparatively light, amounting only to a halfpenny +a-pound, and it continued under a penny a-pound, till 1819, when Mr +Vansittart raised it to six-pence. The impolicy of this measure is +evident, when we consider, that we were losing our ascendancy in this +manufacture, that our export of woollen goods had been declining for +three years previous to 1819, and that the competition was becoming +every moment more severe. This tax was much dreaded by our merchants, +who, clearly perceiving the state of matters, warned Mr Vansittart, by +representing to him, in the strongest terms, the fatal influence it +would have upon our trade. Its effects are best exhibited by its +disastrous influence on the foreign trade in woollens, which fell off +about a fourth in value, almost immediately after the imposition. The +following table places this in the clearest point of view:— +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> + <i>Declared value of woollens exported.</i> +</p> + +<table summary="Declared value of woollens exported"> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1816,</td> +<td class="c"> </td> +<td class="r">£9,387,455</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1817,</td> +<td class="c"> </td> +<td class="r">7,847,280</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1818,</td> +<td class="c"> </td> +<td class="r">7,177,335</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1819,</td> +<td class="c"> </td> +<td class="r">8,145,327</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1820,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>duty increased</i>)</td> +<td class="r">5,989,622</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1821,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>ditto</i>)</td> +<td class="r">5,587,758</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1822,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>ditto</i>)</td> +<td class="r">6,465,988</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1823,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>ditto</i>)</td> +<td class="r">6,490,454</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1824,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>ditto</i>)</td> +<td class="r">5,635,776</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">1825,</td> +<td class="c">(<i>ditto</i>)</td> +<td class="r">6,045,240</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +The opinions of our merchants ought to have formed the best of all +beacons in pointing the course to be pursued by Mr Vansittart; but, +even if they had been silent on the subject, the evidence of Mr +Bainbridge, before the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in +1820, to inquire into the state of the foreign trade of the country, +might have informed him of the true position of the wool trade, and +directed him in so hazardous an undertaking. When Mr B. was asked +whether he thought that an increase in the means of paying for our +manufactures would produce an increased consumption of them in Russia, +Sweden, and Prussia, he replied:—"I believe the woollen manufactures +in Prussia are in such a state as to be able to compete with us +completely; I speak of it particularly, because we are in the habit of +having transactions with the United States of America; and I find that +a very considerable proportion of fine woollens, and stuffs, are +absolutely shipped from the Netherlands, and from ports contiguous, +part of which I understand to come from the interior of Germany, and +from Saxony in particular; so that a portion of the trade, which we +have been in the habit of transacting with the United States, is +finding its way from the north of Europe. I, therefore, conceive, that +their manufactures are competing with the manufactures of this country, +and, consequently, they would not come to us to receive a supply of +those articles which they can purchase from their own manufacturers at +home." In 1825, at the earnest and obviously well-founded +representations of the manufacturers, Mr Huskisson reverted to the old +system: and it was then wisely enacted, that all foreign wool imported +for home consumption, of the value of 1s. a-pound and upwards, should +pay a duty of 1d. a-pound, but when the value of foreign wool was under +1s., the duty was reduced to a halfpenny per pound. A boon was at the +same time conferred upon the agriculturists, by the introduction of a +new system with respect to the exportation of British wool, the growers +of which were allowed, for the first time, to send it to foreign +markets, on payment of a penny per pound. +</p> + +<p> +(59.) <i>Removal of the Restrictions on Foreign Wool.</i>—The +importation of wool was, by these reductions, speedily increased, and +with it the consumption of our woollens by foreign nations. The wool of +our own gradually augmented flocks being inadequate to the demand, and +that of Spain having been absorbed by our manufactories, large +quantities were imported from Prussia, Saxony, and many parts of the +continent of Europe, from which, antecedent to this run, little had +been drawn. The average annual import of wool during 1765-66-67 was +4,241,364 pounds—the average annual export of woollens during the same +period was £4,630,384; while the average annual import of wool for the +years 1822-23-24 was 18,884,876 pounds, and the average annual export +of woollens during the same time, amounted to £6,200,548, showing that +the importation of foreign wool was absolutely necessary for the +well-being of our manufactures. The importation of forty-four millions +of pounds weight, in the year ending 5th January, 1826, must be +ascribed as much to the spirit of over-trading, which then affected +every branch of industry, as to the reduction of the duty; but the +large importations during 1827, afforded an additional proof of the +necessity of foreign wool to the successful formation of a most +important article of commerce. Mr Gott of Leeds, in his evidence before +the Lords' Committee, on being asked if he could carry on to the same +extent as at present, if he manufactured his cloth of British wool, +replied, that, in certain descriptions of cloth, "<i>he could not make +an article that would be merchantable at all for the foreign market, or +even for the home market, except of foreign wool</i>." He then proceeds +to state, that though the competition is very strong in every +department of the manufacture, yet that foreigners are decidedly +superior to us in some description of low cloths. The following +question was then put, and plainly and emphatically +answered:—"Speaking of the finer cloths, is the competition such as to +render an additional duty on the importation of foreign wool likely to +injure the export trade? <i>I have no doubt, speaking on my oath, that +it would be fatal to the foreign cloth trade of the country. I would +further say, that it would be equally injurious to coarse manufactures +of all kinds made of English wool.</i> The competition now with +foreigners is as nearly balanced as possible, and the disturbing +operation of attacks of that description would necessarily enable the +foreigner to buy his wool cheaper than we should do it in this country; +the result would be, that foreigners would, by such a premium, be +enabled to extend their manufactures to the exclusion of British +manufactures of all descriptions." In another part of his evidence Mr +Gott says, "If two pieces of cloth at 10s. a-yard were put before a +customer, one made of British wool, the other of foreign wool; one +would be sold, and the other would remain on hand; I could not execute +an order with it. If any person sent to me for cloth at 7s. or 8s. +a-yard, and if it were made of English wool it would be sent back to +me, and I must resort to foreign wool, or foreign mixed with British, +to execute that order." In fine, the British wool could not be got rid +of without a copious importation of foreign wool to aid the +manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths are so much better +and more durable in their wear than coarse cloths, that they are coming +more and more into demand, to the almost total exclusion of the latter. +Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun cloth is reviving +among our farmers, and as it is excellently suited for work-day wear, +though necessarily of an inferior gloss, coarse cloths will, to a +considerable extent, cease to be the concern of our manufacturers. The +only cloth, indeed, which the bulk of the people will require, will be +a finer material to form the garb for Sunday and holiday recreation. +</p> + +<p> +(60.) <i>Countries from which we derive our Wool.</i>—Our markets are +supplied with foreign wool principally from the following +places:—Australia, Van Dieman's Land, Cape of Good Hope, Peru, +Germany, Spain, and Russia. The Tasmanian fleeces are preferred to the +Australian, and fetch, in general, higher prices, owing to their being +fit for combing, while the latter, though making considerable advances +in fineness, are still of short staple. Both are favourites with our +manufacturers, from their being firm in the pile, a quality resulting +from the constant good health of the animal in those countries. The +German wool takes precedence of the Spanish, and has done so since 1819 +or 1820. The King of Spain, about the year 1800, presented the Elector +of Saxony with a small merino flock, and, from that period, our +importations from Spain have diminished, as those from Germany have +increased. From the period of its first introduction into Germany, till +1814, when peace once more fell to the lot of Europe, these sheep were +gradually spread over the kingdom of Saxony, and when, by the events of +1815, the continental trade was thrown completely open, the Saxon +dealers, perceiving the value of this new commercial article, commenced +a regular trade in it with England. By this new supply, the Spanish +wool, as here shown, was slowly beaten from its hold on the British +manufacturers. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<i>Importations into England of Wool from Spain and Germany,<br>at three +separate periods.</i> +</p> + +<table summary="Importations into England of Wool from Spain and Germany"> +<tr> +<td class="list"> </td> +<td class="c">1800.</td> +<td class="c">1814.</td> +<td class="c">1827.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Germany,</td> +<td class="r">421,850 lbs.</td> +<td class="r">3,595,146 lbs.</td> +<td class="r">22,007,198 lbs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Spain and Portugal,</td> +<td class="r">7,794,758 lbs.</td> +<td class="r">9,234,991 lbs.</td> +<td class="r">4,349,643 lbs.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +At these periods the ports of these countries were open to British +merchandize, so that we have here a convincing proof, that the wool +growers of Spain do not owe their losses, as supposed by some, to the +hostile incursions of the French, but to the friendly competition of a +neighbouring state. +</p> + +<p> +Wool, both of coarse and fine quality, is daily becoming a more and +more important export from the Black Sea, owing to the great range of +pasturage in Southern Russia. The ordinary wools are very coarse, and +the fleeces dirty and full of grass seeds. Though not subject to export +duty, it is not supposed that it will ever turn out a lucrative article +for the British manufacturer. +</p> + +<p> +(61.) <i>Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830.</i>—The latest tabular accounts +on which much reliance can be placed, are to be found in <i>M'Culloch's +Commercial Dictionary</i>, but of these I am compelled to offer only an +abridgment, and in general nothing but the sum total of his detailed +statements. The number of short-woolled sheep in England in 1800 was +14,854,299; the number of long-woolled sheep in England in the same +year was 4,153,308. The quantity of British wool in 1800 amounted to +325,269 packs; while in 1808 it had increased to 414,502 packs. The +sheep and lambs' wool imported into Great Britain from foreign parts in +1810 was 10,914,137 lbs.; in 1815, 13,640,375 lbs.; in 1820, 9,789,020 +lbs.; in 1825, 43,795,281 lbs.; in 1830, 32,313,059 lbs. The increase +here observable in 1825 is accounted for above in our notice of the +state of the taxes before and at that period. The exports of British +sheep and lambs' wool in 1830 amounted to 2,951,100 lbs.; those of +woollen and worsted yarn to 1,108,023 lbs. By far the larger proportion +of these exports was intended for France and the Netherlands. The +number of persons employed in the manufacture is estimated at from +480,000 to 500,000, and their wages at £9,600,000. The value of the +raw material is calculated at £6,000,000; the total value of the +manufactured articles at £18,000,000 (as wool is supposed in general to +be trebled in value by passing through the hands of the manufacturer); +and the interest on capital, sum to replace wear and tear, and +manufacturers' profits at £2,400,000. +</p> + +<p> +(62.) <i>Wool Trade in 1832 and 1835.</i>—"The total number of pounds +of sheep and lambs' wool imported into the United Kingdom, in 1832, +was—foreign, 28,128,973; produce of the Isle of Man, 13,516; quantity +retained for home consumption, charged 1d. per lb. duty, 23,619,901; +ditto 1/2d., 1,571,328; ditto 6d. (red wool), 1,130; duty free (produce +of British possessions), 2,473,991; total retained for home +consumption, 27,666,350; total quantity re-exported, 555,014. Quantity +of foreign wool warehoused under bond, 5th January, 1833, 3,165,651. +The total quantity of British wool and woollen yarn exported from the +United Kingdom in 1832 was, of the former, 4,199,825 lb.; of the +latter, 2,204,464 lb. The exportation of British woollen manufactures +in 1832 was as follows:—Cloths of all sorts, 396,661 pieces; napped +countings, doffels, &c., 23,453 pieces; kerseymeres, 40,984 pieces; +baizes, 34,874 pieces; stuffs, woollen or worsted, 1,800,714 pieces; +flannel, 2,304,750 yards; blankets and blanketing, 1,681,840 yards; +carpets and carpeting, 690,042 yards; woollens mixed with cotton, +1,334,072 yards; stockings, woollen or worsted, 152,810 dozen pairs. +Sundries, viz., hosiery, rugs, coverlids, tapes, and smallwares, +£55,443 1s. 8d. value. Declared value of British woollen manufactures +exported, £5,244,478 10s. 10d."<a href="#note9" name="noteref9"> +<small>[9]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +"The total quantity of wool imported into the United Kingdom, in the +year 1835, was by weight 42,208,949 pounds, which is rather more than +4,000,000 pounds under the importation of 1834; but on the 5th January, +1835, 6,494,266 pounds remained warehoused under bond; whereas, on the +5th January, 1836, there were no more than 2,846,014 pounds so locked +up. This is an important difference of stock on hand, which, no doubt, +has tended, and will tend, to keep up the price of the article. The +country from which we import the greatest quantity of wool is Germany. +In 1835, the amount was nearly 24,000,000 pounds weight. From Russia, +to which our exports of manufactured woollens is comparatively small, +we imported upwards of 4,000,000 pounds; from New South Wales and Van +Dieman's Land, taken together, about 209,000 pounds weight more than +from Russia. The next largest importations are from Spain, Turkey, and +Italy, which, taken together, supply us with nearly 4,000,000 pounds. +Portugal furnishes 683,000 pounds; Holland, 201,000 pounds; and +Belgium, 231,000 pounds. Of the foreign wool which we have imported, we +re-exported in its unmanufactured state 4,101,700 pounds during 1835. +And of the total quantity imported in 1835, we retained for manufacture +41,718,514 pounds. This is nearly 1,000,000 pounds more than was taken +up by the manufacturers in the preceding year. +</p> + +<p> +"The whole amount of British wool <i>exported</i> in 1835, was +4,642,604 pounds, and of this 3,000,000 pounds were sent to Belgium, +and 1,500,000 pounds to France. +</p> + +<p> +"In 1835, the 'declared value' (which, be it observed, is a real thing, +and very different from the 'official value,' which is of no use except +as an indication of quantity)—the total declared value was £6,840,511; +and of this amount upwards of £2,600,000 worth of woollen goods went to +the United States alone. Next after the United States in the scale of +our customers for woollens comes the East Indies and China. To these we +send the value of upwards of £800,000; to our North American colonies +the value of £418,000; and to the West Indies, £114,200 worth. +</p> + +<p> +"In Europe, our best customer is Germany, which, in 1835, took £631,000 +worth. Besides the more fully manufactured goods, Germany took from us, +in the same year, 1,191,000 pounds weight of woollen yarn. Of European +customers, next after Germany come Portugal, which took, in 1835, to +the amount of £368,000; Holland, £245,629; Italy, £243,582; and +Belgium, £123,727. Russia took only £93,025 worth of woollen goods. The +South American States begin to be good customers; Brazil took, in 1835, +£337,788 worth, and Mexico and other States, £356,700 worth. +</p> + +<p> +"Looking at the aggregate, the export of 1835 was fully a million +sterling in value above that of 1834; but as the price was higher in +1835, this is no certain guide to the proportion of increase in +<i>quantity</i>. In the year 1835, we exported to France only £68,000 +worth of woollen manufactures. +</p> + +<p> +"We have already stated the <i>exports</i> of woollen goods to the +South American States in 1835; the <i>import</i> of unmanufactured wool +from these States in the same year was £2,176,000 pounds; from France +it was 104,000 pounds. +</p> + +<p> +"We have only to add, as fiscal information connected with the +foregoing analysis, that of the wool imported in 1835, 26,877,780 +pounds paid to the revenue a duty of a penny per pound; 10,198,526 +pounds paid one halfpenny per pound; and 6,397 pounds of 'red wool' +paid sixpence per pound. +</p> + +<p> +"The wool imported from British possessions does not pay duty. Of that +there were, in 1835, 4,635,811 pounds imported." +</p> + + + +<a name="IV"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER IV. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. +</p> + + +<p> +(63.) This subject requires for its due consideration some slight +attainments in anatomy and physiology, but as such attainments, slight +though they may be, are as rarely met with as required among the bulk +of mankind, so the want of them may be the less regretted, seeing it is +possible to render even the intricacies of the study plain and simple, +by an appeal to facts of every-day occurrence; which, having attracted +the notice of the most unthinking, will serve as hooks on which I shall +try to hang the better part of an interesting inquiry. +</p> + +<p> +(64.) <i>Early Improvers of Sheep.</i>—There cannot be a more certain +sign of the rapid advances of a people in civilization and prosperity, +than increasing attention to the improvement of live-stock. It tells of +a population limited in regard to soil, and making every effort to +remedy the want, by an economical doubling of the return for the usual +outlay: for, while a tribe wanders at large, remaining at a particular +place only so long as provender holds out, and, striking the tent, +departs for some far-off field, so long will their flocks be suffered +to roam neglected, and flourish or decay, as chance directs. +</p> + +<p> +From the time of Jacob, the possibility of determining the nature of +the offspring, by impressions on the parents, has been apparent to all; +and the best means of perpetuating a good quality, or removing a bad +one, have continued from time to time, to occupy the attention of +patriotic individuals. As much appears to have been known about sheep +two thousand years ago as at present, so true is it, that nothing new +is to be met with; yet, that does not rob our modern improvers of their +merits, for though they deserve little as inventors, they are to be +admired for that strength of mind, and determined perseverance, which +enabled them to rouse their fellows from their lethargy, and compel +them to become in turn, benefactors of their country, and themselves. +The signs of a good ram are concisely laid down by Varro, by Virgil in +his third Georgic, and by Columella; and, though the Spanish nobility +were looked upon with wonder, (till eclipsed by our own extravagance,) +in giving two hundred ducats, or fifty pounds for a ram; yet Strabo +assures us, that in his day (under Tiberius), they gave more than three +times that sum for one of the breed of the Coraxi, a Pontic nation, +believed to have the finest fleece in the world. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest recorded improvers of the sheep in ancient times were +Lucius Columella, and his uncle Marcus Columella, Spaniards of +distinction, who removed to Rome in the reign of Tiberius, and made +agriculture the study and business of their lives. The former commenced +his celebrated treatise on husbandry during the reigns of Tiberius, and +Caligula, and appears to have finished it A.D. 55. It is a work which +may be read with advantage even at present, as it abounds with much +that is valuable, and is accessible to all through its English +translation.<a href="#note10" name="noteref10"> +<small>[10]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(65.) <i>Modern Breeders.</i>—It is only within a very recent period, +that the mode of improving live-stock by skilful breeding, has been +properly attended to. The perfection of breeding formerly, was to have +cows in calf once a-year, and rear calves on as little milk as +possible; and, even yet, there are only a scattered few who devote to +it the attention it requires. The first, in modern times, who arrived +at any thing like eminence in this department, was Joseph Allom, of +Clifton, who raised himself by dint of industry, from a ploughboy, and +for a long time contrived to keep his methods secret, being supposed by +many to have bought his ewes in Lincolnshire, at the very time he was +constantly bringing them from the Melton quarter of Leicestershire. +Though possessing talent, he does not appear to have had education +enough to avail himself of it, and accordingly never gained the +extensive popularity which fell to the lot of his successors. +</p> + +<p> +As the introducers of new and important plans of management in +agriculture, are always rewarded by large profits, and the gratitude of +their countrymen, so none were ever more generously dealt with in +either respect, than Mr Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, and Mr Ellman, of +Glynde. The former, who may be said to have created a <i>variety</i>, +considered that a tendency to acquire fat was the first quality to be +looked to in an animal destined for the food of man; and on this, with +him a fundamental principle, was based the whole of his proceedings. +Different opinions will of course be held on the merits of the theory +on which he acted but all must acknowledge, that we are indebted to his +skill and experience, for the exertions which have been subsequently +made to improve the qualities of live-stock, in every district of the +kingdom. It was by his example, in fact, that the farmers all over the +country were stimulated to exertion, and be the system bad or good, it +ought to have our veneration, seeing that it was the commencement of a +new and most important agricultural era. +</p> + +<p> +John Ellman derives his well-earned fame, from the zealous manner in +which he improved the Southdown sheep, and spread them through the +empire. Till he directed his attention to the subject, every thing +connected with the management of the flock was left to chance, or at +least to the guidance of farm-servants, with whom, of course, it could +not be a matter of interest to select, or <i>sort</i>, suitable animals +for the continuance of the race. He speedily, however, corrected this +mismanagement, and aided by the introduction of turnip-feeding, in no +long time, and without any admixture of foreign blood, materially +improved the breed. +</p> + +<p> +About seventy years ago, improvements also commenced in Scotland. Till +then, in many parishes, no farmer could keep sheep through the winter, +and no place was reckoned so fatal to these animals as the undrained, +and unsheltered parish of Eskdale-Muir, in Dumfriesshire. At last one +William Bryden rented the farm of Aberlosk, and soon, by the +<i>original</i> plan of draining, and building stone enclosures, made +it, to use the words of his able biographer, Mr Scot of Selkirkshire, +"like the land of Goshen, good for cattle which it is to this day." +</p> + +<p> +(66.) <i>Varieties among Animals.</i>—All organized matter is subject +to variety. It may be doubted whether, since the creation of the world, +there have ever occurred, either at the same, or at separate periods, +two individuals in every respect perfectly alike. A plant, or an +animal, may resemble the rest of its species in chemical constitution, +and in the number and situation of its organs, but is sure to differ +from all in size, general configuration, and disposition of its parts: +These shades of difference, endless though they are, may be referred to +two leading causes—climate and descent; the former embracing +deviations induced by temperature and resources of subsistence; the +latter including changes occasioned by management, modes of breeding, +and influence of sex. +</p> + +<p> +(67.) <i>Varieties induced by Temperature.</i>—The influence of +temperature extends chiefly to the <i>colour</i> and <i>development</i> +of animals. In cold regions the skin of the human race is fair, and the +person squat and stunted, but as we approach the equator, the hue +becomes deeper and deeper, till it is jetty black, while at the same +time, the stature attains nearer and nearer to the tallest proportions +to which mankind seem naturally entitled. The animals of the arctic +regions are, for the greater part of the year, covered with a clothing +of the purest white, which is, however, in many of them, abandoned for +one of deeper tints as the solar heat begins to gain the ascendant. But +how very different do we not find the colours of intertropical animals. +There vivid tints, and an almost metallic lustre, pervade animated +beings, from the coral in its submarine abode, to the gallinaceous +birds, the coxcombs of the forest. In this, as in every other +department of nature, the most beautiful harmony, or, in other words, a +union of what is pleasing to the eye, and suited for the comfort of the +creature, every where prevails. The colour of an animal envelope is +never at variance with the tints of surrounding objects. A painter, for +example, would not place a flower or animal of brilliant hue amidst the +monotonous aspect of an arctic landscape; neither would he picture the +faintly-tinted beings of a polar latitude, as surrounded by the warm +and flashy colouring characteristic of an oriental climate. As +temperature, then, determines in a marked degree the colour and +dimensions of every animal, such variations render the division of +living beings into races and varieties, a matter of necessity. Thus all +human beings belong only to one species, which may, however, be divided +into five races, and these again into an infinity of varieties. The +differences between a race and a variety are, that the latter is a +subdivision of the former, and that in the former the modifications are +more profound, the changes not being confined to the surface, but +extending to the frame-work of the body; whereas, to constitute a +variety, nothing more is necessary than the superficial influence of +heat and light on the skin, and its appendages the hairs. The Negro and +the Abyssinian are precisely similar in colour, yet they are by no +means of the same race, as their different features will distinctly +prove; the Abyssinian approaching as much in cast of countenance to the +European, as the negro does to the higher orders of the ape. The same +may be noticed among sheep, but this is sufficient for the present. +</p> + +<p> +The changes induced by climate, result from the working of a power +inherent in most animals and vegetables, by which they are suited +within certain limits, for bearing up against removal from their +ordinary localities, and assuming a different cast, as the place of +their exile may differ in degree from that which they have left. This +gradual adaptation to circumstances by an accommodating power is +termed, in philosophical language, acclimation. +</p> + +<p> +(68.) <i>Adaptation of the Sheep to Climate.</i>—No animal varies more +than the sheep, and none so speedily adapts itself to climate; it would +almost appear that nature, convinced of its great utility, had bestowed +upon it a constitution so pliant, as to enable it to accommodate itself +to any point in a wide scale of temperature; for though its natural +situation as a wool-bearing animal, like that of man appears to be the +wine countries, yet with him, it has spread to every quarter of the +globe, becoming impressed at every change with some peculiarity, +alterable only by a change of situation, and varying, we might almost +affirm, with the weather; for, where the temperature is equable, there +does the animal preserve unchanged an atmospheric stamp, and defies our +efforts to alter the breed; while under a fluctuating sky we can model +it at will, though in this case, continued exertions are required to +secure them for any length of time in an undeviating course. +</p> + +<p> +(69.) <i>Changes produced by Climate.</i>—The wonderful power of +temperature in effecting changes upon animals, is well illustrated by +the Portuguese, who, after a residence of three hundred years in India, +are said to be at present almost as black as Caffres. Bishop Heber, +speaking of India, says, "It is remarkable to observe how surely all +these classes of men (whites—Persians, Greeks, Tartars, Turks, and +Arabians), in a few generations, even without any inter-marriage with +the Hindoos, assume the deep olive tint, little less dark than a negro, +which seems natural to the climate." Buchanan also in his travels +through the same country, alludes to a tribe of black Jews who have, in +all probability, been settled in the district ever since the period of +the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, 3000 years ago, and who retain all +the national peculiarities of their race, with the exception of their +colour, which is now as dark as that of the surrounding tribes. These +examples, however, it may be affirmed, are not to the point, as +embracing theories in regard to peculiar changes in an animal different +from the sheep, but such objections are perfectly groundless, as what +will affect colour in mankind, will lead to changes even of a more +wonderful nature in the sheep, seeing that it is abandoned more +entirely to such an influence. +</p> + +<p> +(70.) <i>Temperature preferred by Sheep.</i>—Sheep, though capable of +thriving in a great variety of climates, seem to prefer such as are +temperate, and in these only do they arrive at perfection. They are +common on the Cordilleras at an elevation of from 3300 to 8200 feet, +within which limits they propagate readily without any care; but the +reverse is the case in hotter regions, it being difficult to rear lambs +in the plains of Meta, and no sheep are to be met with from the river +to the foot of the Cordilleras, though their skins, from being in +demand for making parchment, sell as high as those of the ox. Sheep +were at one time, according to Thunberg, the scarcest articles in +Batavia, as their woolly coat rendered the heat of the climate quite +insupportable; but this inconvenience was at last remedied by sending +them, on their arrival from the Cape, further up the country, to the +Blue Mountains, where the air is several degrees colder. The question +then naturally occurs, if an elevation of temperature is, as in this +instance, fatal to these animals, how do they happen to have spread +over a vast tract of country in spite of such extremes? Simply for the +reason, that when an animal is left to the exercise of its own free +will, and the dominion of its instincts, it will not subject itself to +the danger of an extreme in any thing. It will not traverse several +hundred miles in a single season, and thus expose itself to sudden +changes. The natural dispersion of all animals is gradual, so that +their constitutions are enabled, from the slowness of the transition, +to accommodate themselves, by an alteration in covering and habit, to +surrounding circumstances, which would, were the variations abrupt, +speedily destroy it. The reason why a race of animals occasionally +thrives so well in a country to which it may be removed, appears to lie +in its being suited, I may say, accidentally, by peculiar conformation, +to the temperature to which it is transplanted. There are some happy +climates where, introduce what animals you will, no matter how stunted +they are, or how different the degree of warmth may be, their offspring +will thrive, proving large and vigorous, and every way worthy of being +placed at the head of its species. These are, however, cases where the +transition is from an extreme of heat or cold to a temperate +atmosphere. Witness what Mr Dawson, the manager of the Australian +Agricultural Company, says in his private journal (quoted in +<i>Cunningham's New South Wales</i>). "Both the climate and the soil +appear by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine animals too, +<i>even from the worst beginnings</i>. The latter seems a paradox. The +extensive range afforded to every animal keeps it in good condition, +and, perhaps, the natural grasses may have more of good in them than +their appearance indicates. However this may be, the climate clearly +has a wonderful effect on the size of all animals, even upon man, who +is universally tall here, though born of diminutive parents. From this +I am led to believe, that the climate governs chiefly, and thus every +breeding animal introduced here will attain a size not known in +Europe." +</p> + +<p> +(71.) <i>Extent of the Alterations produced by Climate.</i>—Changes +occasioned by climate are always limited to the fleece, horns, and +disposal of the fat, and never extend to those parts, on the permanence +of which the animal depends for its station in the scale of being, as +the feet, teeth, and digestive organs. In tropical countries we find +the fleece approaching more to hair than wool, as in the sheep of +Thibet, so celebrated for the silky nature of their coat. Burchell +remarks, that the skins he brought from the Cape of Good Hope were +often taken for those of an unknown quadruped, from the <i>furry</i> +nature of their wool, if such it can be called, and thinks it is owing +as much to the pasture, which is well adapted for giving these animals +a soft and useful <i>fur</i>, though not suited, like New South Wales, +for the growth of the finest wool, and that the colony might turn this +to great advantage. In cold regions the hairy covering is more +developed and fully coarser, but always mingled with a proportion of +hard rough wool. The influence of climate on portions of the fleece and +skin is well illustrated by circumstances which have occurred in +Galloway, even within the limits of our traditionary writings.<a href="#note11" name="noteref11"> +<small>[11]</small></a> The +native sheep of the Highlands of that district is supposed to have been +a small, handsome, <i>white-faced</i> breed; at least so thinks John +MacLellan, who wrote an account of Galloway in 1650, from the wool +being much praised, and eagerly bought up by merchants, which would not +have been the case if taken from the <i>black-faced</i> animal; yet how +happens it that at present the native breed exists only in the lower +parts of Kirkcudbrightshire, the high country exhibiting +<i>black-faced</i> sheep, which, after every trial, have been found +best adapted to the climate, and pasture of the moors and Highlands; +while Chalmers owns that it has not been ascertained when or whence +this hardy breed were brought to their present locality? Why, it is +tolerably plain, that though the <i>white-faced</i> sheep might be +placed there originally, yet they would speedily lose every trace of +their origin, and become <i>black-faced</i> when placed on a hilly +country, and subjected to the slow but certain influence of peculiar +food and climate. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Culley imagines, that the dun-faced sheep were the earliest tenants +of the Scottish hills, but so far as my researches extend, that +supposition is entirely contradicted. Chalmers remarks, that the +black-faced animals superseded the goats, which were at one time a +source of subsistence to the farmers, and it is exceedingly probable, +that as the old white-faced began to change their appearance, and +became gradually able to withstand the rigours of a mountain fare, and +winter under a dun skin, and short rough wool, so would they recommend +themselves as the best of all stock to the hard-driven agriculturalist. +</p> + +<p> +(72.) <i>Increase of the Number of the Horns.</i>—As much wonder is +sure to be excited by the fact, that bony prominences are subjected +with as great certainty to the modelling hand of climate as softer +parts, I give the following from a recent work, entitled, "<i>Gardens +and Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated</i>," premising, +however, that, in my opinion, temperature has a vast deal more to do +with alterations in the horns than domestication or cultivation. "One +of the most curious modifications produced by cultivation in the +domesticated sheep consists in the augmentation of the number of its +horns; two, three, or even four supplementary appendages of this +description being occasionally produced in addition to the normal +number. Under these circumstances the additional horns usually occupy +the upper and fore part of the head, and are of a more slender shape, +and take a more upright direction than the others, thus approaching in +character to those of the goats, while the true horns retain more or +less of the spiral curve that distinguishes those of the sheep. There +exists a strong tendency to the propagation of this monstrosity, which +is extremely frequent in the Asiatic races, but is also met with in a +breed that is common in the north of Europe, and is said to have been +originally derived from Iceland, and the Feroe Islands. In this case it +is unconnected with any other anomaly, but in the flocks of the nomad +hordes of Tartary, it is usually combined with an enlargement of the +tail, and adjacent parts, by the deposition of fat, frequently to an +enormous extent." +</p> + +<p> +(73.) <i>Causes of the various forms of the Horn.</i>—Horns are seldom +met with in the sheep of hot climates, occurring more frequently in +cold and temperate regions; thus following closely the development of +the other coverings, to which, as before stated (19), they are strictly +analogous. The fleece consists of two portions—hair and wool, the one +predominating more or less over the other, as the climate may direct. +The form of the horns is always in unison with the character of the +fleece: thus, if the animal is covered with hair, as in the goat, the +horns will be straight; but if it is clothed with wool, as in the +sheep, the horns will be curved. The same holds good in other animals. +The reason of this appears to lie in the tendency which the hair or +wool, constituting the horny sheath, has to model the form of the +supporting bone. The fibre of hair is nearly straight; that of wool is, +on the other hand, remarkable for the number of tufted curls, or small +spiral ringlets, into which it naturally contracts; so that a Merino +ram, for example, will never be found with rectilinear horns, nor a +true goat with twisted ones. The truth of these remarks is borne out by +observations on animals on whose heads more than two horns are +occasionally met with. We always in such instances notice, that the +additional horns are straight, thus indicating the presence of a +considerable quantity of hair among the wool. The curve will be more +decided, and the twists more numerous, in proportion as the fibre comes +nearer and nearer to a perfect wool—evidence of which we have in the +beautifully-tufted and spiral horns of the Merino ram, which are as +opposite in this respect to those of the goat, as is its fleece to the +hairy coat of the latter. From these considerations I am led to +believe, that the form of the horn, when present, is an excellent guide +to the nature and quality of the other coverings, and an index to every +gradation which can possibly occur between wool and hair. +</p> + +<p> +(74.) <i>The proper Temperature required for Sheep.</i>—Regular warmth +is absolutely necessary for the production of a good animal and a fine +fleece, and is only to be obtained by attending to the draining and +clearing of land, so as to dissipate moisture, and allow currents of +air to play freely across the country.<a href="#note12" name="noteref12"> +<small>[12]</small></a> An atmosphere which holds +suspended a large quantity of watery vapour, is always extremely +chilling to an animal body. This is accounted for by the well-known +fact, that a moist air, being a better conductor of caloric than a dry +one, robs an animal more quickly of heat. Thus, in passing from the dry +air of the hills into the vapour of the valleys in a winter morning, we +feel as if the transition had been from a temperate to an icy region. +Hence one of the reasons why sheep thrive best in a rather elevated +situation. Moist air, however, is exceedingly oppressive in hot +weather, because evaporation, from the surface of the body, is to a +great extent diminished; and it is only by the perspiration being +allowed to escape rapidly, and to convey away the heated particles, +that we can manage to be in any degree comfortable during the heat of +summer. This free evaporation we endeavour in every way to obtain, and +often in a manner that ignorant people would consider as the reverse of +sensible. It is well known that draughts of <i>cold liquids</i> are +very far from answering the purpose of lowering our temperature when +above a pleasant standard; but we find that a basin <i>of hot soup, or +tea</i>, will speedily bring about the desired end, by producing a +copious determination of fluid to the skin. Yet, if the air contained +no moisture, we should experience sensations just as unpleasant as +those already mentioned; for evaporation from our bodies would proceed +at such a rate, that we would soon be parched. It is to counteract this +tendency of dry air that the Americans are in the habit of placing a +small vessel of water on their stoves, by which contrivance a quantity +of vapour is diffused through the apartment, sufficient to balance the +loss from the arid warmth of the fire. +</p> + +<p> +That an equable temperature is only to be obtained by draining and +clearing a marshy and wooded country, is sufficiently authenticated. In +the thickly wooded and swampy territories of Guiana, rain falls +continually during nearly eight months of the year; and the cold is so +intense, that fires are necessary in the houses throughout the night. +But in Cayenne and its neighbourhood, which were cleared of wood about +one hundred and fifty years ago, the increase of temperature is now so +great, that during the night the people are annoyed by the warmth, and +the rains are neither so frequent nor so heavy as in the rest of the +country. Paris and Quebec are nearly under the same latitude; yet the +air of the latter is much colder than that of the former, evidently +from its being surrounded by forests so dense and umbrageous, that sun +and wind are alike denied access to the earth. The difference between a +cleared and an uncleared country, in regard to wool, is well +illustrated, by contrasting North America, its heavy woods and stagnant +atmosphere, with the thinly timbered surface and constantly renovated +air of New South Wales. It is only within the last few years that +Canada has been enabled to compete with Britain in the article of wool, +and that the sheep, which were of the coarsest kind, have been so +improved as to do away with the prejudices against their mutton. +Australia, on the other hand, has, from its earliest colonization, +figured as a sheep-rearing country of the first importance; and nothing +has conduced so much to this as its freedom from closely planted trees, +by the absence of which the settler is enabled at once to stock his +farm with the best of sheep. Nature, in fact, could never have intended +sheep to pasture in a wooded country, as is clearly evinced by their +coat, to which every thing in the shape of bush or tree is in the +highest degree inimical. +</p> + +<p> +(75.) <i>Geographical limits of the Sheep.</i>—Every plant and animal +has certain geographical limits, out of which it cannot exist. With the +exception of man and the dog, no animal has a wider range than the +sheep, extending as it does from Iceland almost to the equator, and +from a few degrees south of that to the polar extremity of South +America. But though existing under so great a variety of exposures, it +must not be inferred that it can come to perfection in them all. On the +contrary, it rather delights in the temperate zones, and can evidently +only be raised to its highest point of excellence in the countries of +the vine. The western parts of continents produce better sheep than the +eastern, and the southern hemisphere better than the northern; as in +the former situations the temperature is more nearly equable than in +the latter. The same may be said of maritime districts, as compared +with such as are inland. Temperature is affected in the same way by +elevation as by northern or southern position—the mean heat +diminishing in the same ratio when ascending a mountain, as in receding +from the equator. On this account, Humboldt compared the earth to two +mountains with their bases at the equator, and their summits at the +poles. The mean temperature, when resulting from the height of the +place above the level of the sea, is at the same time influenced by the +nature of the aspect, as we notice in the Alps, where the Glacier +exists on the northern side, at the same elevation at which the +vineyard yields a perfect fruit upon the southern. +</p> + +<p> +(76.) <i>Particular forms induced by certain limits.</i>—The character +which a predominance of heat, or cold, impresses on the animal as a +whole, extends also to individual parts of the body. The sheep of South +Africa are, as all the world know, remarkable for the magnitude of the +tail, which forms an immense fatty appendage. The sheep of Persia, +Tartary, and China, are distinguished from all others by the tail +forming a <i>double globe</i> of fat. The North of Europe, and North of +Asia, are overrun by a breed in which the tail is almost wanting, while +that of Southern Russia, India, and Guinea, stands pre-eminent from the +elongation of the tail, and, in respect to that of the two last named +places, also of the legs. +</p> + +<p> +(77.) <i>Influence of vegetation on form and +disposition.</i>—Vegetation influences, to a great extent, the form +and disposition of the animal. Such changes may be brought about either +by the plenty, or scarceness, of the herbage; or by the nature of the +country on which that herbage is produced. Animals found on hilly +countries are always widely different from those of the plains. Their +bodies are light, their legs long, and their habits of that unquiet +kind which renders them hostile to any thing like restraint. It is for +these reasons, that when once a flock attaches itself to a range of +hills, and becomes suited to the means of subsistence, it may preserve +itself for ages apart from neighbouring varieties, and present, after a +long series of years, those qualities in their native purity for which +it was noted by the earliest observers. The sheep of a level country +are distinguished, on the contrary, by heavy bodies, short legs, and +easy tempers. They are, in fact, constructed on Dutch proportions, and +are imbued, as a natural consequence, with those imperturbable and +steady-going habits so characteristic of the bulbous bottomed +Hollander. Subdued as they are by the nature of their locality, they +readily submit to man, who tutors them at will, and works on them those +profitable changes from which have originated our improved varieties. +As connected with the unquiet dispositions of hill sheep, I may mention +the prevalence of a notion, that domesticated sheep cannot by any +possibility become wild. From all that I have seen, and read, I am led +to believe, though the sheep, according to Greek, Roman, and Oriental +philosophers, was the first animal domesticated, that when at liberty +it will soon return to its primitive and instinctive habits. +Bonnycastle, in his work on Spanish America, remarks, that sheep are +found in a state of nature, in the northern parts of New Spain, "having +multiplied to an extraordinary degree in the wide-spread plains, and +savannahs." In ascending our Scottish mountains, every one must observe +the state bordering upon wildness, in which the sheep appear, roving in +detached but well-led parties; bounding away to the most inaccessible +places on the approach of danger, and peering from the eminences in all +the pride of scornful independence. Professor Blumenbach at one time +doubted the possibility of domestic sheep ever becoming wild; but his +opinion was changed on perusing the work of Vincentius, where there +occurs a remarkable passage, in which Nearchus, when speaking of the +desert island of Cataia, on the coast of Caramania, says, that the +inhabitants of the neighbouring islands yearly carried thither sheep, +as offerings to Venus and Mercury, and that, in course of time, they +became wild in the deserts.<a href="#note13" name="noteref13"> +<small>[13]</small></a> Constant attendance is, therefore, +called for on the part of man, to ensure that untroubled reliance on +his care so conducive to the welfare of the flock, for even on a +temporary cessation of his protection, those instincts, which can be +subdued but not eradicated, are brought into operation, and their +presence will go far to retard the advancement of those qualities, on +the perfection of which a profit can alone be hoped for. +</p> + +<p> +(78.) <i>Breeds required for Britain.</i>—Of the numerous breeds at +present in our island, a few only are indispensably necessary for the +continuance of its prosperity. These stand, according to Marshall, +thus:—A very long-woolled sheep, as the Lincolnshire, or Teeswater, +for the richest grass lands, and finest worsted manufactures—the New +Leicester, for less fertile grass land, and for rich enclosed arable +land, on which the fold is not used; intended to supply coarser +worsted, stockings, coarse cloths, blankets, and carpets—a +middle-woolled breed, as the Wiltshire, the Norfolk, or the Southdown, +for arable lands on which folding is practised, and for cloths of +middle qualities—a fine-woolled, as the Ryeland, for the finest +cloths; and a hardy race for heathy mountains. +</p> + +<p> +Some argue, and rightly, that only three breeds are necessary for +Scotland, inasmuch as only three are required by the nature of the +country. Scotland may be regarded, in an agricultural point of view, as +divided into highland, upland, and plain. The highland consists of +primitive rocks, covered by peaty soil and heath, on which these +indefatigable gleaners, the black-faced sheep, alone can gain a +subsistence. The upland is formed by the transition series of rocks, +covered with grass; and to it the Cheviots appear indigenous. The plain +is formed by alluvial deposits, covered with rich pasture, and capable +of supporting races of large sheep, as the Leicesters. +</p> + +<p> +Sheep are the only kind of live-stock which ought to be kept in +mountainous districts, especially when green crop cannot be cultivated. +Sheep-farming must necessarily prevail in the Highlands, where there +are few tracts suited for the pasturage of black cattle: The value of +its adaptation to the natural circumstances of that district is proved +by the rapid progress which it made, and the profits which resulted to +the individuals with whom it originated. Places which formerly were not +of the slightest utility, now yielded heavy rents. The spots among the +mountains, susceptible of cultivation, were found to be advantageously +kept in grass, to serve as pasture for the flock during the rigour of +winter, and it was well ascertained that more than double rent might be +paid by stocking with sheep in preference to cattle. +</p> + +<p> +The Dishley sheep are excellent specimens of what may be done with the +form of an animal, when the endeavours of the breeder are seconded by a +pasture suitable for the intended breed. They are admirably adapted, as +every breed ought to be, to the soil and situation where they were +called into existence; and their crosses are now spread over most part +of the country; principally the corn districts, as they are supposed to +be the most profitable kind on farms where the best tillage crops are +combined with the fattening of livestock, though Marshall supposes they +will only be reckoned profitable so long as other breeds of +long-woolled sheep remain with thin chines, and loose mutton; or, in +other words, that there are plenty of kinds which would prove equal, if +not superior, to the present, if they only received the same studied +attention. +</p> + +<p> +(79.) <i>Varied nature of the food of Sheep.</i>—Sheep will take, +sometimes from choice, sometimes from necessity, to food of a directly +opposite nature to what they have been used. "The mutton," says the +Rev. George Low, writing of Orkney, "is here in general but ordinary, +owing to the sheep feeding much on sea-ware, to procure which these +creatures show a wonderful sagacity, for no sooner has the tide of ebb +begun to run, but they, though at a great distance, immediately betake +themselves full speed, one and all, to the shore, where they continue +till it begins to flow." The sheep of Iceland are content during severe +winters to feed, and be preserved, on messes of chopped fish-bones, +being all that the ingenuity of their masters can provide in the way of +a precarious sustenance. During the long continuance of snow-storms, +when the herbage is beyond the reach of their utmost efforts, sheep are +known to devour the wool on each other's backs, and, in some instances +to acquire a relish for this unnatural food, which adheres to them +through life. This, though on first thoughts hardly credible, is +scarcely more wonderful than the partiality which cows display, when +instigated by the depraved appetites created by pregnancy, for +blankets, and any similar domestic articles which may be exposed to the +gratification of their longings. +</p> + +<p> +The Puruk sheep of Ladusk, in the Himalaya mountains, is, as described +by Mr Moorecraft, in the <i>Transactions of the Asiatic Society</i>, in +respect to the varied nature of its food, a most remarkable animal. +"The Puruk sheep, if permitted, thrusts its head into the cooking pot, +picks up crumbs, is eager to drink the remains of a cup of broth, and +examine the hand of its master for barley, flour, or a cleanly picked +bone, which it disdains not to nibble; a leaf of lettuce, a peeling of +turnip, the skin of the apricot, give a luxury; and the industry is +indefatigable with which this animal detects, and appropriates +substances, so minute and uninviting as would be unseen and neglected +by ordinary sheep; perhaps the dog of the cottager is not so completely +domesticated as it is." That Mr Moorecraft is correct in this statement +of its omnivorous propensities, there cannot be the slightest doubt, as +any farmer can testify from what he has seen of lambs reared by +children for amusement. The celebrated John Hunter showed, that a +pigeon might be made to live on flesh, and that its stomach became +adapted to the nature of this food: and I have somewhere read of a +sheep, which, after being long on ship-board, and accustomed, from +scarcity of vegetables, to an animal diet, could never after be +prevailed upon to take to grass. Nor need these circumstances excite +surprise, since the food of every living creature is, for a certain +period at the commencement of existence, limited to such as is purely +animal. But to keep to our subject. Those in the habit of opening the +stomachs of sheep, must have remarked the eroded appearance which the +inner coat occasionally presents. This phenomenon is owing to the +action of the gastric juice, which, if competent to turn at once from +the food with which it is mingled to attack the texture which has +secreted it, will also be, during life, capable of digesting with +tolerable ease, such dead animal matter as may be brought into contact +with it. +</p> + +<p> +In regard to vegetable food, they will, when necessary, devour such as +is even of an acrid nature, and calculated to poison any animals but +themselves. Thunberg, while in Southern Africa, frequently noticed +sheep eating, with impunity, the <i>Mortimia acris</i>, the <i>Rhus +lucidum</i>, and the <i>Lycium afrum</i>, which are all of a poisonous +nature; and, in this country, hemlock is known to be quite innocuous to +sheep. What is poison to one animal often constitutes a wholesome food +for others, and that which will, when given in immediate large doses, +destroy an animal, will, when taken in a gradually-increasing +allowance, prove extremely salutary. +</p> + +<p> +(80.) <i>Influence of the food on the quality of Mutton.</i>—Diet has +a powerful influence on the constituents of the body. A rank succulent +pasture taints the flesh, or renders it insipid and unpleasant, while a +dry aromatic herbage communicates a delightful flavour, and enables +people versed in the pleasures of the table easily to discriminate +between turnip-fed and grass-fed mutton; and again, between the latter, +and that which has spent its existence on the hills. In Touchwood's +Syllabus of Culinary Lectures, appended to the <i>Cook and Housewive's +Manual</i>, by Mistress Dods, we are briefly informed, that "the +black-faced, or short-sheep, are best for the table, though <i>more +depends on the pasture than the breed</i>." More, in fact, depending on +feeding and management, than on the variety of the animal, though this +of course is not to be neglected. A notion has been advanced in this +country, that artificial pastures are less nutritious than natural +ones, and that the animals which are raised upon them are, +consequently, of a laxer fibre, and the flesh less wholesome, as well +as less savoury. This, I have no doubt, is perfectly correct, as many +<i>diseases</i> may be traced to such improper food, and what is +calculated to produce in some cases actual disease, cannot fail to +prove at all times capable of retarding the advancement of the animal. +These soft succulent pastures appear not to be positively poisonous, +but to be negatively so from their deficiency in saline matter; the +rapid growth of the plant preventing the elimination and absorption, of +many of these ingredients with which the soil abounds. This is proved +by the greater necessity which exists for the use of salt in the food +of the herbivorous animals of hot climates, than in that of such as +inhabit temperate, or cold latitudes; vegetation being in the former +more rapid in its details, and in certain states of the atmosphere +hurried in the extreme, while in the latter the process proceeds with +that leisure which enables the plant to make good the measure of its +constituents, as it increases in size. In many parts of North America +it is well known, that, at certain seasons, the wild animals make +eagerly for the salt <i>licks</i>; and, following up this hint, the +settlers easily induce their oxen to keep near their dwellings, by +serving them periodically with salt. When the wild cattle of South +America had greatly increased, it was discovered that they could not +exist unless they had access to streams which had acquired brackish +particles from the soil. <i>If salt, in places devoid of it, was not +furnished to them by man, they became stunted, unfruitful, and the +herds soon disappeared.</i> Even in this country, the free use of salt +is found to be highly beneficial to our domestic animals, preventing +the occurrence of many of those diseases which are otherwise sure to +follow the use of food such as is mentioned above, and ensuring that +sound health which is so conducive to the accumulation of fat. +</p> + +<p> +(81.) <i>Differences in the quality of Mutton.</i>—I shall now enter a +little into the manner in which the <i>quality</i> of the flesh may be +affected, and the methods of judging of the different states or +conditions, in which it may be found under various circumstances; +premising that it requires much experience, to enable a person to +pronounce with confidence, as to the value of the muscular parts, from +the inspection of a living animal:—The flesh of different specimens of +the same animal, varies not so much from breed or descent, as from age, +feeding, and exercise. That of the young is soft and gelatinous, the +fibres being small, weak, and much interspersed with a substance +termed, from its loose appearance, cellular tissue. This tissue +exhibits in the spaces between the muscles (<i>layers of flesh</i>) +small masses of delicate fat. The greater bulk of the latter is +situated immediately beneath the skin, and occasions that beautiful +rotundity so much admired in children. As the animal advances in life, +the fibres become firmer, larger, and more approximated, the cellular +tissue disappears to a great extent, the fat shifts from the outward to +the inward parts, allowing the outline of the muscles to be distinctly +seen, but giving at the same time to the figure that portly symptom of +good keeping, so unpleasant to the eye when carried to the extent of +Aldermanic dignity. All these appearances are, however, varied by +exercise, which tends, in a marked degree, to increase the muscular +parts at the expense of the fat—the former becoming, when employed +within proper limits, large, and unyielding to the touch, while at the +same time the colour is heightened from a pale or purple hue, to the +bright vermilion so justly relied upon by housewives, as a guarantee +for the superior qualities of the article. The wild horses in South +America, which form the principal part of Indian diet, are said by +these epicures to be much improved for the table by gentle labour, and +to be quite on a par when thus cared for, with some of our best beef. +This plan is, however, only pursued for the purpose of rendering the +flesh of their horses moderately firm; but where an opposite effect is +desired it is readily, though cruelly, produced by putting the animal +to a lingering death; examples of which practice are to be met with in +the annals of most civilized nations; as in the German mode of whipping +pigs, and the English custom of baiting bulls;<a href="#note14" name="noteref14"> +<small>[14]</small></a> both tending to the +same end, by so exhausting vital contractibility as to prevent its last +and faint display in the stiffening of the carcass. +</p> + +<p> +Marshall, who touches very slightly on the subject, says, "The flesh of +sheep when slaughtered is well known to be of various qualities: some +is composed of large coarse grains, interspersed with wide empty pores, +like a sponge; others of large grains, with wide pores filled with fat; +others of fine close grains with smaller pores filled with fat; and a +fourth of close grains without any mixture of fatness. The flesh of +sheep when dressed is equally well 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 plump, short, +and palatable, affording a mixture of white and red gravy. A fourth +likewise plump, and well-flavoured, but discharging red gravy only, and +this in various quantities. It is likewise observable that some mutton, +when dressed, appears covered with a thick, tough, parchment-like +integument; others with a membrane comparatively fine and flexible." +This membrane ought to be rather thin than thick, as, when of the +latter texture, you may safely affirm that the animal was aged. +<i>Looseness</i> is reckoned a bad quality of the flesh of sheep during +life, as indicating a coarse-grained porous mutton, and as equally +exceptionable with that of <i>hardness</i>: while <i>mellowness</i>, +and firmness, are much to be desired, as forming a happy mixture, +deemed by some the point of perfection. The tendency to become fat at +an early age, though a valuable one in some points, is not so in +others. Premature decay is always the result, showing with certainty +that a healthy action has not been going on. An animal when +<i>loaded</i> with fat cannot be looked upon otherwise than as in a +diseased state, and liable to embarassment of many organs, especially +of the heart and brain. Sudden death on any hurried exertion is far +from rare, and life, from the difficulty of enjoying it, is any thing +but desirable. +</p> + +<p> +(82.) <i>Abuses in Feeding.</i>—The custom of over-feeding was carried +to an absurd extent on the promulgation of Bakewell's method, nothing +less being aspired to than the glory of laying seven or eight inches of +fat on the ribs of sheep. This folly however had its day: the +ridiculous parts of the system have to a great extent disappeared, +while attention to the production of an increased quantity of mutton, +without too great an abundance of fat, has remained to prove to the +world the value of the benefits which the English farmer conferred upon +his country. Overgrown sheep are indeed good for nothing "save" in the +words of Meg Dods, "to obtain premiums at cattle shows, and deluge +dripping-pans with liquid fat;" and in this every one will agree, +excepting always boarding-school cooks, and others who depend for their +principal perquisites on the over-roasting of oily meat! The fat, +though not reckoned as offal in the slaughter-house, will speedily show +itself as such in the kitchen, by the waste during the cooking process, +even in England where fat meat is so much admired; and it is surely +absurd to pay the price of good mutton for tallow, when if the latter +were really wanted, it could be procured at a cheaper rate by itself, +than when forming part of a dear commodity. The only way in which +over-fat meat can at all be reckoned profitable, is in its application +to the wants of the working classes, whose bodily labour enables them +to enjoy what would to others prove displeasing in the extreme, and to +digest and assimilate with ease, food which to the sons of sloth would +prove a poison. So far as these wants have been supplied, the attempt +of Bakewell has been attended with the happiest results, as he and his +disciples have placed by their well-spent exertions much good food +within the reach of the poorer classes, which they must otherwise have +gone without; while in many instances it has driven bacon from the +market, being a cheaper and more palatable commodity, which cannot but +contribute to the health of the people, seeing the continued use of +salted meat is calculated to injure the body, and render it liable to +many diseases. Marshall remarks, that fat, like charity, covers a +multitude of faults: and he is right, for an ill-shaped animal if well +fed, has all its angles speedily effaced, and if its ugliness has not +amounted to absolute deformity, it acquires that rotundity of contour +so pleasing to the eye, and so apt to mislead us. +</p> + +<p> +The rapidity is various with which animals take on fat, much depending +on hereditary predisposition, and the nature of the food; and much also +on the state of the atmosphere, and quiet habits; a moist and rather +warm air tending greatly to the advancement of the process, some birds +becoming fat in twenty-four hours of wet weather. Children that have +been emaciated by diseases often resume their original plump condition +in a few days; and animals that have been famished, as hogs, afterwards +fatten very rapidly. Moderate and repeated bleedings, mild farinaceous +diet, and emasculation conjoined, tend to the repletion of the body, +and to the speedy deposition of fat; yet it would appear, that when +acquired in this rapid manner, it never possesses the value in a +culinary point of view, that is yielded to such as has been slowly +formed, when, as one may say, the worthless particles have had time to +be removed, and the remaining part to become a firm and healthy +deposit. It is partly owing to this, that animals are never at their +best when forced to take on fat at an early age, but are most esteemed +by the gourmand when they, as in the case of the sheep, have lived from +three to four years. +</p> + +<p> +(83.) <i>Tendency to acquire Fat.</i>—A disposition to early obesity, +as well as a tendency to that form which indicates a propensity to +fatten, is materially promoted by a good supply of rich food, while the +animal is in a growing state. The Spanish shepherds are so well aware +of this, that half of the lambs are annually killed, that the survivors +may obtain every indulgence in the way of milk. Care should be taken +never to place animals suddenly on food much superior in feeding +qualities to what they have left. Very lean sheep are never put to full +turnips in winter, nor to rich pastures in summer, but are prepared for +turnips on good grass lands, and kept on second years' leys, and +afterwards given a moderate allowance of turnips if they are to be +fatted on pastures. It is an invariable rule with all good managers, +never to allow this or any other animal, reared solely for the +shambles, to lose flesh from its earliest age till it is sent to the +butcher as more food is necessary to bring it to a certain condition +than to keep it at it. In the case of the Dishleys, it is customary to +keep all in a state of fatness, except those intended for breeding, and +after full feeding on turnips during winter and spring, to finish them +on the first year's clover early in summer, when the prices of meat are +usually the highest; so that this variety is always fit for market at +eighteen months, while the Highland breeds, though prepared by means of +turnips, a year at least, sooner than in former times, do not usually +go to the shambles till from three to four years old. +</p> + +<p> +(84.) <i>Frequent change of Pasture necessary.</i>—Sheep ought never +to be permitted to remain too long on one pasture:—Great benefit will +be derived from their removal from time to time to different parts even +of the same farm, by which arrangement a change of herbage will be +ensured. No animal can be kept for any length of time in health, if +restricted to one unvarying routine of diet. This has been +satisfactorily proved by the experiments of Majendie, who found that +health could not be sustained on one or even two kinds of food beyond +the thirtieth day. Now, though such immediate injury cannot result to a +flock from retention on a particular pasture, owing to the variety of +sustenance being considerable, yet proportional harm will ensue +sufficient to induce us not to repeat the risk. Nature, the best of +guides in all that relates to the protection of her creatures, is no +where more pointed in her directions than on this head. A necessity for +a variety of food, and a desire to secure it, are implanted in the +disposition of every animal; and where is the creature more prone to +extensive rambles than the sheep? We limit it to a paltry +pasture-ground of roods and acres, but does it not show, by its +determination to transgress our barriers, that such is not the +treatment nature has designed for it? There is something more than +wildness of character, and restless disposition, in the powerful +attempts it continually makes to defy our artificial boundaries. There +is in these efforts a longing for fresh fields and other herbage, an +instinctive feeling that all is not as it ought to be; and yet we +attend not to the hint! Nothing will conduce so much to the health of +the sheep, and to the speedy taking on of fat, as the frequent shifting +of the flock. Disease will doubtless still affect the animals, but +illness will be rare, and mortality diminished, if by the care of their +rulers, they are enabled to obtain what instinct tells them is the best +of medicine. +</p> + +<p> +(85.) <i>Varieties induced by apparently trivial +causes.</i>—Surrounded in a civilized state, by all that can minister +to the supply of wants, whether real or supposed, man is not on that +account to be imagined as always so situated. Look to savage nations, +and remark their destitute condition, their dependence on the uncertain +proceeds of the chase, and their reliance on modes of agriculture as +unprofitable as they are unmatured. Countries there are certainly to be +found, where the "elements of temperature," are so fortunately balanced +and combined as to produce only good effects, and in which the rude +inhabitants reap the fruits of a spontaneous plenty; but these form +only a small proportion of the globe, and in most regions man must give +his unceasing endeavours to the cultivation of a plant or animal, +before he can raise it from the miniature condition in which he finds +it, to such a size and richness as will satisfy his wants. Nor need we +go far for illustrations. The crab has been transformed into the apple, +and the sloe into the plum. None of our cereal grasses, as now +cultivated, are to be met with in a wild state; they have evidently +been brought to their present fulness by the care of ages. The red +cabbage and the cauliflower are the altered descendants of a widely +different sea-side plant. The different races of cabbages are examples +of a wonderful deviation from the natural type, and they all require +much nicety in cultivation to prevent them assuming the characters of +the original stock, as, when permitted to grow wild, especially on a +sterile soil as that of the sea coast, they are sure in no long time to +become exact counterparts of their originals. Cultivation, also, though +taken in rather a different sense, influences to a great extent the +form and features of animals. In proof of this may be adduced the +differences that exist between different ranks of inhabitants in almost +all countries. Buffon says, that in France you may distinguish by their +aspect not only the nobles from the peasantry, but the superior orders +of nobility from the inferior—these from citizens, and citizens from +peasants. The African field-slaves in America, are extremely different +from the domestic servants of the former nation, retaining as they do +their original peculiarities from poor living and degrading duties; +while the latter have nearly approached to the habits and modes of +thinking of their masters, from living with them, and being well +treated under the same roof. "The South Sea islanders," says Dr +Elliotson, "who appear to be all of one family, vary according to their +degree of cultivation. The New Zealanders, for example, are savages, +and chiefly black; the New Hollanders half civilized, and chiefly +tawny; the Friendly islanders are more advanced, and not quite so dark; +several are lighter than olive colour, and hundreds of European faces +are found among them." Indeed the examples are almost endless which I +could bring forward to aid my explanations; but these it would be +needless to give, since it is in the power of every one to study the +differences in form and features of the classes of society in our own +island, and by so doing understand the influence of otherwise trivial +and unimportant circumstances, on an animal at all times so easily +moulded to situation as the sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(86.) <i>Varieties from mode of Breeding.</i>—Changes are wrought for +the most part by attention to the mode of propagation of the plant or +animal, by the plan of crossing; and by careful selection of the parent +stock. Every one must be struck with the varieties constantly occurring +in the vegetable world: Flowers change their colours, and become +double; and these characters can be perpetuated by seed. Hedge-row +plants may be observed to vary even in the limits of an ordinary walk, +and to be continued as varieties so long as they remain in the same +locality. The following striking example of the extent to which plants +may be made to vary by altering their circumstances, is related by Mr +Herbert in the <i>Horticultural Transactions</i>, vol. iv:—"I raised +from the natural seed of an umbel of a highly manured red cowslip, a +primrose, a cowslip, oxlips of the usual and other colours, a black +polyanthus, a hose-in-hose cowslip, and a natural primrose bearing its +flower on a polyanthus stalk. From the seed of that very hose-in-hose +cowslip, I have since raised a hose-in-hose primrose. I therefore +consider all these to be only local varieties, depending upon soil and +situation." "Fifty years ago," says Buffon (writing in 1749), "our +pot-herbs consisted of a single species of succory, and two of lettuce, +both very bad; but we have now more than fifty kinds of lettuce and +succory, all of which are good. Our best fruits and nuts, which are so +different from those formerly cultivated that they have no resemblance +but in the name, must likewise be referred to a very modern date. In +general, substances remain, and names change with times: but in this +case names remain, and substances are changed. Our peaches, our +apricots, our pears, are new productions with ancient names. To remove +every doubt upon this subject, we have only to compare our flowers and +fruits with the descriptions, or rather notices of them transmitted to +us by the Greeks and Romans. All their flowers were single, and all +their fruit-trees were wild stocks, and their species very ill-chosen. +Their fruits of course, were small, dry, sour, and had neither the +flavour nor the beauty of ours. These new and good species originally +sprung from the wild kinds; but how many times have their seeds been +sown before this happy effect was produced? It was only by sowing and +rearing an infinite number of vegetables of the same species, that some +individuals were recognized to bear better and more succulent fruit +than others; and this first discovery, which supposes much care and +observation, would have remained for ever useless if a second had not +been made, which implies an equal degree of genius as the first +required of patience—I mean the mode of multiplying by engrafting +those precious individuals which unfortunately cannot propagate or +transmit their excellent qualities to their posterity. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> In the +animal kingdom, most of those qualities which appear to be individual +are propagated and transmitted in the same manner as their specific +qualities. It was therefore more easy for man to have influence upon +the nature of animals than upon that of vegetables. Particular races in +any species of animals, are only constant varieties, which are +perpetuated by generation. But in the vegetable kingdom there are no +races, no varieties so constant as to be perpetuated by reproduction. +In the species of the hen and pigeon, a great number of races have been +very lately produced, all of which propagate their kinds. In other +species, we daily rear and improve races by crossing the breeds." +</p> + +<p> +(87.) <i>Breeding in-and-in.</i>—Though there are several methods +pursued by breeders for the improvement of flocks, the one most in +vogue is, that of choosing individuals of the same family, and breeding +<i>in-and-in</i>. It is however a plan requiring, for the safety of the +flock, either very great skill in selecting the males and females, or +only to be followed to a very limited extent. No subject ever called +forth so much random controversy, and no evil has ever so clearly shown +itself as such; yet it is only recently, that people have opened the +intellectual eye to the dangers of a practice, against which the ablest +pens were long and vainly blunted. The object of breeding +<i>in-and-in</i> is to strengthen good qualities and get rid of bad +ones, as speedily as possible; and it is plain, that if we happen to +select animals with slight imperfections, these imperfections will +become hereditary, and will go on assuming a worse and worse type till +the breed be destroyed. Culley, however, was of opinion, that less risk +is run by breeding <i>in-and-in</i> than is generally supposed, and +instances the wild cattle in Chillingham Park, in the county of +Northumberland, which, having been confined for several hundred years +without intermixture, must have bred from the nearest affinities, and +yet are just as they were five hundred years since. With all due +deference, however, to the opinion of the late Mr Culley, I must +assert, that I cannot perceive in what manner wild cattle can be made +to illustrate the case in point, as it must be evident, that animals in +a state of nature differ essentially from those in charge of man, in +regard to the propagation of infirmities, as the former, if born with a +radical defect, will, ten to one, never see the age which suits them +for reproduction; while the latter, from the care bestowed upon them, +will, even when very delicate, in many instances be bolstered up till +they have entailed upon posterity an accumulation of their already +aggravated maladies. The system of breeding <i>in-and-in</i> proves, in +fact, as destructive to flocks, as marriages of near relations to the +human kind. We would not witness an every-day entailment of diseases, +if people would forego their unnatural love of money, and cease their +endeavours to keep it in "the family," by forming matrimonial alliances +with those who are near of kin. The law of God forbids us to wed those +who stand in certain degrees of propinquity; but, if we and our +descendants avail ourselves of the limits of this law, and marry on its +verge a certain number of times, misery must infallibly be the lot even +of the tenth generation; and instead of being fathers of a mighty +people, few and full of sorrow will be the days of our children; while +in place of retaining in their possession our darling wealth, it will, +ere long, pass into the hand of the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +(88.) <i>Opponents of in-and-in breeding.</i>—Different individuals at +various times, and in widely separate places, have by their +observations rendered the criminal absurdity of this system perfectly +apparent to all, who, unbiased by party principle, are anxious for a +knowledge of the truth. A few of these I shall mention. Ezra +L'Hommedieu, Vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New York, +collected, in the year 1800, a great many observations on the breeding +of sheep, and came to the conclusion, that changing and crossing the +breed of the animals is a matter of great importance, in preventing a +dwindling and degeneracy of the flock. Dr Coventry, in his pamphlet on +<i>Live-Stock</i>, gives it as his opinion, that "The most perfect race +of animals may be debased by improper mixture, or injured by improper +treatment. Indiscriminate matches in breeding, and inattentive +management in rearing, are alike capable of producing a worthless +progeny." Here the matter is made very plain, from comparing an evil, +the progress of which is insidious, with the injurious consequences, +which the most unobserving can easily trace to a parallel neglect. Mr +Dick of Edinburgh, so well known for the valuable and trustworthy +information he has accumulated, has been informed by eminent farmers, +"that cattle bred <i>in-and-in</i>, are very subject to <i>clyers</i> +in the throat after they have attained their first year." By clyers are +meant enlarged lymphatic glands, which are a sure sign of what is +termed a scrofulous habit, a breaking up of the constitution, which, +though produced by a variety of causes, is yet frequently the result of +an "<i>owr sib</i>" connection. These are, I may say, the accidental +opinions of men who had no point to make good, in which their credit +was at all at stake, and who are not endeavouring to support the crude +opinions of former years. For these reasons, they possess a value which +ought to give them a proportional weight in an investigation like the +present. Mr Bakewell succeeded in bringing his sheep to great +perfection as regards form, and rapidity of fattening, by breeding in +the same family for a great many years; but it was attended with +considerable deterioration in the quality of the wool, and engendered a +liability to disease, sufficient to deter any one from proceeding a +similar length in the same track, to what is so dubiously called +improvement. See what Mr Dickson says to this effect, in a recent +number of the <i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>. "The evil of +breeding <i>in-and-in</i>, or in other words, producing too great +refinement of tone, is manifested in the first instance by a tenderness +of constitution; the animals not being able to withstand the extremes +of heat and cold, rain and drought. If the evil is prolonged through +several generations, the forms of the animals become affected, the bone +becomes very small, the neck droops, the skin of the head becomes tight +and scantily covered with hair, the expression of the eye indicates +extreme sensibility, the hair on the body becomes thin and short, and +the skin as thin as paper; the <i>points</i> continue good, and +predisposition to fatness increases, but the whole carcass becomes much +diminished in size, though retaining its plumpness, and beautiful +symmetry. The evil, however, does not terminate in the production of +these symptoms. Internal diseases ensue, such as disorganization of the +liver, or rot, polypi in the trachea, clyers, malformation of the bones +of the neck and legs, and general deformity." This position, however, +will be strengthened by drawing attention to insulated portions of our +race, where the effects of such a system are exhibited on a +considerable scale. The Members of the Society of Friends were, at one +time, supposed to be of all others the least subject to insanity; but +the very reverse is the case; being, from the limited nature of their +sect, driven to frequent intermarriages, and to a consequent +deterioration of the most active part of the human frame—the brain. It +is for the same reason, that almost every royal family contains a large +proportion of idiots, or, at the best, persons of very weak intellect; +and, such will continue to occur, till legislators fall on some plan of +striking at the groundwork of the mischief. If the laws of God and man +define to us so clearly the evils of intermarrying with relatives; and +if, as all animals are constructed on one grand plan, we admit the +proximity of the sheep to the human race, it follows, that what is +destructive, in this respect, to the one, is destructive to the other; +and that we should seek, by a nearly similar, if not wider, range of +rules, to obviate many of those diseases of which, when under our +protection, they are so frequently the subjects. +</p> + +<p> +(89.) <i>Breeding from different families of the same race.</i>—Mr +Culley, though believing that no great harm can result from breeding +in-and-in, yet appears to have in a manner preferred the preferable +practice of breeding from different families of the same race; as he, +for many years, hired his rams from Mr Bakewell, at a time when other +breeders were paying a liberal price for his own valuable animals. This +is of all methods deservedly the best, as the males, which are +inter-changed, have always had shades of difference impressed upon +them, by various soils and treatment, so that the defects of each +family have a good chance to be counteracted by the perfections of the +other. By this means the bad points are gradually exhausted, and their +valuable properties as gradually heightened. Breeders have been much +aided in the furtherance of this desirable plan, by the rearing of +superior rams having become, of late years, a separate pursuit. The +letting of them out to distant parts of the country has long been a +branch of this speculation; diffusing some of the most valuable points +of particular breeds, and leading to a spirit of competition. The +practice has been reprobated, but, I presume, rather hastily; for with +all its attendant evils, such as leading to deception, by what is +termed the <i>making up</i> of rams, it possesses excellencies which +will, I hope, lead to its continuance. +</p> + +<p> +(90.) <i>Crossing.</i>-The only other method of improving a breed is by +crossing two distinct races, one of which possesses the properties it +is desirable to acquire, and wants the defects we wish to remove. This, +however, is a measure not to be recommended, and only to be resorted to +when neither of the others will do; for it is scarcely possible to +obtain the desirable properties without at the same time imparting +qualities sufficient to neutralize them; and with which, in fact, we +would rather dispense. To cross, as Mr Cleghorn remarks, any mountain +breed with Leicester rams, with a view to obtain a propensity to fatten +at an early age, would be attended with an enlargement of size, which +the mountain pasture could not support, and the progeny would be a +mongrel race, not suited to the pastures of either of the parent +breeds. The folly of such a proceeding is beautifully shown in the +failure of the attempts made, some years ago, to better the fleece of +the mountain sheep, in the South of Scotland. To effect this desirable +end, rams were brought from the Cheviot range of hills, and the +consequences were, as described by Mr William Hogg, of Stobbo, in the +<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, just what a preliminary +consideration of the existing circumstances would have proved to be +unavoidable. "The independent habits of the mountain flocks were lost, +and a mongrel progeny, of a clumsy figure, occupied the lowest and +warmest of the pastures. As they were very improper subjects to breed +from, they were often a drug in the market: <i>but the store-master had +no other resource, but to struggle on against the opposition which the +animal itself made to the change</i>, and, also, against the influence +of bad seasons, in order to get the influence of the Cheviot breed +fully established. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> With its shaggy coat the animal lost its bold +independent look, its stout shape, its unvitiated taste, and its sound +constitution. A course of severe winters too occurred during the time +of changing, while every property calculated to resist privation and +fatigue was unconfirmed in the progeny; and, in consequence, the +ravages by rot, and poverty, among the flocks that occupied soft +pastures were immense." How did it happen, that the store-master had no +other resource but to persevere in an unprofitable course? Was he +obliged to strive against natural obstacles, which even a short +experience might have taught him were, in that manner, insurmountable? +Why not recur <i>at once</i> to the old mode of management, rather than +injure himself by kicking against the pricks. "Sundry store-masters +were not aware," says Mr Hogg, "that their old breed would so +obstinately resist the impression of the Cheviot blood, nor did they +ever dream that the mongrel issue would be so easily subdued by the +hardships and cold of winter: thus finding their scheme opposed, at +points where they anticipated little resistance, they gave up the +experiment ere it was <i>half completed</i>, and introduced mountain +rams to the mongrel issue." Enough, however, has been said to prove +that this plan ought not to be pursued: let me now say a few words as +to the reasons which should deter us from its adoption. To take a +familiar illustration:—How would one of the worshipful company of +Aldermen, or a dignitary of the Church, manage to keep up an +<i>appearance</i>, if suddenly transported from the luxurious plenty +which surrounds him, to the meagre fare, and churlish climate, of our +Highlands? Would their offspring, which ten to one would be prone to +rapid growth, and, therefore, requiring at the least a large supply of +porridge and milk; would they, I ask, arrive at a healthy maturity, if +supported only on the oaten cake, and <i>whang</i> of skimmed-milk +cheese, of the hardy Northern? The answer is, they would not. They +would, doubtless, bear the climate; but the habit of body imprinted on +them, by the full living of the parents, would require a more +nutritious food to bring it to the adult age, than what might be +necessary for the sustenance of any child descended from the possessors +of the soil. If such then is the case with the young of an animal +shielded from inclemency on every hand, how can we expect the progeny +of a rather heavy variety of a defenceless creature like the sheep to +thrive, in defiance of every thing ungenial, on a pasture which +requires for its collection, in any quantity, a degree of experience +and activity, the result of time and well-trained instinct. The mongrel +is not unfitted for the locality, as Mr Hogg would have it, by a +weakness resulting from "the constant and continued exertions of the +two bloods, the one endeavouring to overpower the other," there is no +war waging in the progeny between the blood of sire and dam; the secret +lies in the animal being unsuited for the pasture where it is produced. +Place it in a country possessing a herbage something between that of +the Highland and Cheviot hills, and it will do passing well; but do not +ascribe the want of success to a natural hatred of the breeds. Again, +do not fall into the error, that "the figure, wool, and other +qualities, of the Cheviot ram, are most conspicuous (in this cross) in +the smallest and feeblest of the progeny, while the properties of the +mountain breed are more fully exhibited in the strongest and most +robust lambs," a circumstance which, unfortunately, induced many of the +store-farmers "to throw aside the best of the lambs, and select those +to breed from, which had apparently most of the Cheviot figure;" or, in +other words, do not suppose, as Mr Hogg strangely enough infers, that +only the weak animals took on the Cheviot form, and only the strong +ones assumed the Highland character. The correct explanation is, that +such as had most Cheviot blood were sure to become puny, from being +unadapted to a herbage on which those that resembled the mountain stock +throve tolerably well. Strength and feebleness were, in this instance, +mere secondary matters. +</p> + +<p> +(91.) <i>Things to be attended to in Crossing.</i>—The fact is, that, +if you wish to have a <i>particular kind</i> of sheep, you must first +of all be in possession of a pasture suitable for the new comers. You +must consider the influence of the individual parents on the progeny, +the size of the animals, their habits and dispositions, and their +peculiarities in regard to the time of their maturity, and fattening +properties; and, having anticipated these apparently trifling affairs, +you must see that the surface of your farm, its degree of exposure, and +the quantity and quality of its productions, are calculated for the +profitable maintenance of the animal in view. Far too little attention +is bestowed, at the commencement of such an undertaking, on these +all-swaying matters. Farmers enter upon this, the most arduous of all +professions, with the settled conviction, that nothing is so simple as +the engrafting of a race of animals on a particular part of a country. +They have read, or heard, of others who have gained fame, and a +fortune, by successful endeavours of the kind, and they think that +nothing is easier than to follow their example; but they forget the +thoughtful hours, and irksome duties, these men had to tolerate, before +they could speak of any thing like success. No animal can be made to +forego at once a long used food, an ancient locality, peculiarity of +clime and season, and the instinctive habits that have been long +nurtured by these, without both it and its progeny suffering from the +change:—Nature cannot thus be made to bend to human intention; it will +give way in the attempt. +</p> + +<p> +In crossing there are several important things to be attended to. Well +formed parents ought to be selected, and, if enlargement of the carcass +be wanted, the issue should be better fed than its originators, which +ought to be of a size rather under, than above what the pasture is +capable of supporting. The size of the parents should not be much +disproportioned at first, as nature abhors sudden extremes, and does +every thing in the most gradual manner. It is better, when some +increase has been attained, to bring the breed to the required size by +one or two crossings.<a href="#note15" name="noteref15"> +<small>[15]</small></a> In choosing a breed, we should adopt that +which affords the greatest quantity of market produce, in return for +the food consumed;<a href="#note16" name="noteref16"> +<small>[16]</small></a> and a particular breed ought always to be +preferred to the sheep of a district. We must not imagine, that when, +by dint of crossing, we have obtained the variety wanted, that it will +remain in the condition to which we have brought it, without the +slightest liability to alter. Many farmers believe they have done all +that is required, if they subject their stock to three or four +crossings with a breed of acknowledged excellence. They think that the +improved animals they have obtained will support their acquired +characters, uninfluenced by extraneous agency. Now nothing can be more +faulty than this mode of management, as is proved by a comparison of +stock so treated, with flocks which have uninterruptedly received that +undeviating attention, which can alone ensure a continuance of the +properties desired. Such men forget, that the climate is operating with +as great certainty on the animals as on the rocks around; and that as +the herbage is determined by the nature of the adjacent rocks, so are +the peculiarities of the sheep influenced by the herbage; and that if +they manage to change the characters of the breed, it can, in a +majority of cases, be only for a time, unless the tendencies of the +surrounding elements are counteracted, by a constant recurrence to the +originators of the flock. "I am sorry," says Little, in his valuable +practical observations, "to say, that there are too many examples of +those, who thought themselves at the head of improvement in stock, +relaxing their exertions, and keeping by their own stock; and the +consequence has been, that such stocks have degenerated, become +delicate, tender, and diminutive in size; and from no other cause but +that the same pains have not been taken to preserve the improvement, +that was taken to effect it. I could mention many improvers who were of +the first class formerly, but who are now only in the second." Changes, +in fact, by crossing are not to be effected in a short space of time; +you must look forward to several years of constant exertion, before you +can hope, in this manner, to alter your stock.<a href="#note17" name="noteref17"> +<small>[17]</small></a> Then, again, we must +be aware of the tendency which nature, in numerous instances, displays +to perpetuate diseases, dispositions, and aberrations from the normal +structure. Many qualities and diseases, are known, in man, to be +hereditary; of the former, I may instance peculiarities in walking, and +writing; a passion for intoxicating liquors, and other habits too +trivial to mention; and of the latter, gout, pulmonary consumption, and +blindness from cataract, which are well known to harass a family for +generations. Features, in like manner, may remain for ages of the same +undeviating cast; thus the Jews of to-day are the very counterparts of +the Jews of three thousand years back, and, in all likelihood, will so +remain till the end of time. A predisposition to many diseases is +engendered in the sheep, by too great a refinement in breeding, which +tends to diminish the size of the animal, prevents them feeding to +perfection, destroys their fecundity, and imparts great tenderness of +constitution. Accidental deviations from the natural type may, also, be +hereditary, as is seen in those races of dogs which have a +supernumerary toe on the hind foot, and tarsal bones to correspond. In +the human race also several generations of a particular family have +been distinguished, by having six fingers and six toes, on their hands +and feet. It is in like manner to an accidental malformation, that the +Americans are indebted for their Otter breed of sheep. Mr Livingston, +who wrote in 1811, thus describes them: "The Otter sheep were first +discovered on some island, on the eastern coast, and have spread to the +adjoining states. The sheep are long-bodied rather than large, and +weigh about 15 lbs. a quarter. Their wool is of a medium fineness, and +a medium length; but that which particularly characterizes these sheep +is the length of their bodies, and the shortness of their legs, which +are, also, turned out in such a manner as to appear rickety. They +cannot run, or jump, and they even walk with some difficulty. They +appear as if their legs had been broken and set by some awkward +surgeon. They can scarcely exist in a deep country, and they cannot +possibly be driven to a distant pasture or market." Dr Dwight, in his +travels in New England, remarks of this curious variety, that the fore +legs are remarkably short, and bent inward, "so as distinctly to +resemble what are called club-feet."<a href="#note18" name="noteref18"> +<small>[18]</small></a> I believe this to be the only +instance where man has availed himself of a defect in the animal +kingdom, and turned it to his advantage. Attention ought also to be +bestowed on the order in which different parts of the animal are +subjected to changes during crossing. These, according to Dr Sturm, the +latest observer on this head, are first exhibited in those parts that +possess a power of being reproduced, as the hair, horns, and hoofs. The +fleshy parts change slowly, in proportion as the mother has much of the +blood of the original race. The first changes take place in the head, +and are gradually developed towards the hind quarters. Lastly, look to +the condition in which your sheep are as regards fatness. If fat, they +will be averse to becoming pregnant, and considerable annoyance will, +in all likelihood, be experienced. A moderately low diet is most +suitable for ewes, for some time before the ram is admitted, in the +same way that fruit trees, when unproductive in a rich soil, are +rendered fertile by placing straw and stones between their roots and +the too nutritious earth. A rather poor diet, also, during pregnancy, +will be found to obviate many of those risks which are sure to be +incurred from repletion during this period. +</p> + +<p> +(92.) <i>Choice of Parents.</i>—However faulty sheep may be, some are +always to be found surpassing their fellows, and these it ought to be +the aim of every breeder to discover. Without acknowledge of an +animal's <i>points</i>, it is in vain that the breeder can hope for +improvement. He may by accident make a lucky hit, but, unless he has +studied his business from the bottom, he cannot follow up and avail +himself of an advantage, which a more knowing individual would, from +previous training, turn at once to a profitable account. Much may be +done by letter-press description; and this I shall endeavour to +achieve; but more will be accomplished by a close and attentive +examination of a few well-selected animals, which it is now no +difficult matter to get a view of, as, thanks to the spirited exertions +of the Highland Society, valuable specimens are far from rare. In +breeding and rearing rams, two divisions of these animals are +recognised,—ram getters, and wedder getters,—the former, from their +fineness, being kept for the procreation of animals like themselves, +while the latter, from their coarseness, are set aside as fitted only +for parent stock for grazier's sheep, the mere grazier liking a ram no +worse for having a massy frame, and being less scrupulous about his +form than the ram breeder, whose grand object is fineness, and who +trusts to the ewes for giving the offspring size and substance. The +principal ram-breeders are guided in the choice of their ram-lambs, +more by blood or parentage, than by form, on which, at so early an age, +little dependance can be placed. In the case of the Dishleys, they +allow them every indulgence, from the time of weaning till that of +shearing, as they push them forward with the intent of letting them the +first season, while yet yearlings. It is this early arrival at +maturity, which is, with truth, supposed by some to occasion their +early falling off; for by a law of the animal economy, premature adult +age is always succeeded by premature decay; life appearing to be dated +from the time the animal enters on the fulfilment of the ends for which +it was created. +</p> + +<p> +According to Mr Bakewell, the shape which should be the criterion of a +sheep, is that of a hogshead or firkin, truly circular, with small and +as short legs as possible: upon the plain principle, that the value +lies in the barrel, not in the legs; and all breeds the backs of which +rise in the least ridge are bad. Their bodies should be as true barrels +as can be seen, their backs round and broad, and their legs not much +exeeeding six inches in length. The following is a measurement of a +three-years' old ram of Mr Bakewell, +</p> + +<table summary="A measurement of a +three-years' old ram"> +<tr> +<td class="list"> </td> +<td class="c">Feet.</td> +<td class="c">Inches.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Girth,</td> +<td class="r">5</td> +<td class="r">10 </td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="list">Height,</td> +<td class="r">2</td> +<td class="r">5 </td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="list">Breadth of Collar,</td> +<td class="r">1</td> +<td class="r">4 </td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="list">Breadth of shoulders,</td> +<td class="r">1</td> +<td class="r">11½</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="list">Breadth across the ribs,</td> +<td class="r">1</td> +<td class="r">10½</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="list">Breadth across the hips,</td> +<td class="r">1</td> +<td class="r">9½</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +A most unusual proof of kindly feeding in the animals of this shape, is +their feeling quite fat, just within their fore legs, on the rib; a +point in which sheep are seldom examined, from common breeds never +carrying fat there. They are particularly distinguished by the +lightness of the offal, the bones being one-half smaller than in some +other breeds, and the meat proportionally thicker, while the pelt is +thin, and the head small—a thing of some consequence in most parts of +England, where that Scottish luxury, sheep-head broth, is so cordially +despised. +</p> + +<p> +The best form for a cheviot ram is thus described by Mr Cully, in his +excellent work on <i>Live-Stock</i>: "His head should be fine and +small; his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather +bold or daring; ears thin; his collar full from his breast and +shoulders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and +head join, which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free +from any coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, +which must at the same time join so easy to the collar forward and +chine backward, as to leave not the least hollow in either place; the +mutton upon his arm or fore-thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs +upright, with a clean fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous +skin and coarse hairy wool from the knee and hough downwards; the +breast broad and well forward, which will keep his forelegs at a proper +wideness; his girth or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow +behind the shoulders, that part by some called the fore-flank, should +be quite full; the back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which +the ribs must rise in a fine circular arch; his belly straight; the +quarters long and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which +should neither stand in nor out; his twist deep, wide and full, which, +with the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright; the +whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with bright soft wool. +The nearer any breed comes up to the above description, the nearer they +approach towards excellence of form." As an amusing contrast to this +well drawn picture, I give an extract from the work of that ancient +agriculturist Columella. +</p> + +<p> +"Therefore, the way to judge and approve of a ram, is not only that of +observing if he is clothed with a white fleece, but also if his palate +and tongue are of the same colour with his wool; for when these parts +of his body are black or spotted, there arises a black or speckled +offspring. And this, among other things, the same poet I mentioned +above, (Virgil, Georg. Lib. iii.) has excellently pointed out in such +numbers as these:" +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Reject him, tho' the ram himself be white,</p> +<p>Under whose ousy palate lies concealed</p> +<p>A black or spotted tongue; for with black spots</p> +<p>He'll stain the fleeces of his future race."</p></div></div> + +<p> +After some amusing remarks on the same subject, delivered in a very +quaint way, he concludes his description with the mention of "twisted +horns,"—"not because this last is more useful, (for a ram without +horns is better,) but because horns that are twisted and bended inwards +are not at all so hurtful as those that are set upright and expanded. +Nevertheless, in some countries where the climate is wet and windy, we +would wish for he-goats and rams even with the very largest horns; +because, when they are high and extended, they defend the greatest part +of the head from the storm." +</p> + +<p> +It is thus that among some of his most beautiful remarks, we have +generally a something occurring which upsets the gravity of the whole +by its childish absurdity. +</p> + +<p> +(93.) <i>Influence of Sex.</i>—In early ages, the greater share of +attention appears to have been bestowed on <i>male</i> domesticated +animals, on account of the more numerous offspring of which they would +become the parents; and from this, as the Rev. Henry Berry, of Acton +Beauchamp, Worcestershire, supposes, (in a valuable essay on the +breeding of live stock, published in the <i>British Farmer's +Magazine</i>,) has originated the prevalent idea, that the male has a +more decided influence, than the female, on the form of the progeny. +"The ideas entertained respecting the useful qualities of an animal +would (in former times) be very similar, and lead to the adoption of a +general standard of excellence, towards which it would be required that +each male should approximate; and thus there would exist, among what +may be termed fashionable sires, a corresponding form and character, +different from, and superior to, those of the general stock of the +country. This form and character would, in most instances, have been +acquired by <i>perseverance in breeding from animals which possessed +the important or fancied requisites</i>, and might, therefore, be said +to be almost <i>confirmed</i> in such individuals. Under these +circumstances, striking results would doubtless follow the introduction +of these sires to a common stock; results which would lead superficial +observers to remark, that individual sires possessed properties as +<i>males</i>, which, in fact, were only assignable to them as +<i>improved</i> animals." +</p> + +<p> +In general, the qualities of the male and female parents are visible to +an equal extent in the offspring, as is well exemplified among horses, +in the mixture of the blood and cart breed, where the great difference +in form and character is nicely blended; but, occasionally, the +peculiarities of the male, or female, are visible only on some +particular part of the offspring, as in the crossing of the Merino ram +with the Ryeland ewe, when the former affects the fleece, and the +latter the carcass. +</p> + +<p> +Though there are many opinions as to the comparative influence of the +sexes on the progeny, yet, as before stated, the majority of voices +represent the male as the more influential. Mr Boswell, in his essay on +this subject, published in the <i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, +and in the <i>Farmer's Magazine</i>, is decidedly of this opinion, +"Being fully convinced of the power of the male on the offspring, I +have always accounted it as a loss to put a bad male to a high bred +female, and have never done so. I have, however, observed, where the +country people have purchased high bred sheep at any sale of mine, and +bred from them with the ordinary rams, that the breed very quickly got +bad: whereas, when a Bakewell ram had been purchased, I have seen a +most remarkable change on the quality of the sheep; and, in several +instances, where the ewes (Highlanders) had been tolerable from which +they had bred, the cross was so nearly resembling a new Leicester, as +to deceive any one who was not a thorough judge." Bewick, the natural +historian, supports this opinion when speaking of the original breed of +wild cattle, still to be found in a few English and Scottish parks. +They are uniformly pure white, with black or red ears and noses. He +says, that cows, when in season, used often to be turned into the park +at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, and that, when covered by the +wild bull, <i>all their produce was uniformly white, with red ears and +noses</i>. On the other hand, the female is, also, prevalently believed +to have some share in the matter, and much may be adduced as evidence +of its power over the form of the offspring, equally authentic with the +former. Mr Ferguson, in a paper on live-stock, in the <i>Quarterly +Journal of Agriculture</i>, relates the following apposite and amusing +story:— +</p> + +<p> +"Naturalists are, I believe, nearly agreed, that the influence of the +male exceeds that of the female in communicating qualities to the +offspring, and a very providential arrangement it is, in respect that +good points may be thus diffused with far more rapidity than could +otherwise occur. The choice of the female is by no means, however, a +matter of indifference, and it is only by due attention to both that +perfection can be looked for. I recollect several years ago, at a +distinguished breeder's in Northumberland, meeting with a shrewd +Scottish borderer, (indeed, if report be true, the original and +identical Dandy Dinmont,) who, after admiring, with a considerable +<i>spice of national pique</i>, a very fine short-horn bull, demanded +anxiously to see the dam. The cow having been accordingly produced, and +having undergone a regular survey, Dandy vociferated, with +characteristic <i>pith</i>, '<i>I think naething o' your bull now, wi' +sic a caumb</i>;' and, unquestionably, the mould or '<i>caumb</i>' must +have its own share in producing shapes, though in his haste to detract, +(as he thought,) from the merits of the bull, poor Dandy totally +overlooked the additional compliment paid to the judgment of the +'<i>Southron</i>.'" +</p> + +<p> +It is in general supposed, that if the female be by descent small, that +the length of the legs of the issue will not be influenced by the male. +The weight of the carcass is a good deal affected by the male, but not +so much as by the female. The impressions of one or other, especially +of the male, do not cease on the birth of the fruits of a connection, +for though he may have no further meeting with that female, yet are the +succeeding offspring tinged with his peculiar colour, or modelled after +his form. This is well illustrated by a fact which came under the +notice of the Earl of Morton. His lordship bred from a male quagga and +a mare of seven-eights Arabian blood, a female hybrid, displaying in +form and colour her mixed origin. The mare was then given to Sir Gore +Ouseley, who bred from her first a filly and afterwards a colt, by a +fine black Arabian horse, but both these, in their colour and in the +hair of their manes, strongly resembled the quagga. This isolated fact +would be, however, but of small value if unsupported by others, which +are luckily now of common occurrence, among which the following tends +strongly to its corroboration:—In the <i>Philosophical +Transactions</i> for 1821, Dr Wollaston relates that D. Giles, Esq., +had a sow of the black and white kind, which, after littering by a +chestnut boar of the wild breed, was put, some time after the death of +this, to boars of quite a different variety, yet the offspring were +covered with chestnut marks, so as closely to resemble the +long-departed animal. +</p> + +<p> +The progeny of most domesticated animals often bear a striking +resemblance to the grandmother or grandfather, and it is well known +that the desired changes cannot be effected on a breed, or that the +desired breed cannot be produced, till the third, fourth, or even the +fifth crossing, so that the importance of having few defects in a stock +will be readily admitted, seeing their debasing consequences are +carried through whole generations, and that though absent in one +remove, yet that they may appear in the next. Both sire and dam should +be chosen as free from defects as possible, a thing often neglected in +rearing domestic animals, especially horses, where the opinion is in +vogue, that no matter how debilitated and worn out may be the dam, yet +that if coupled with a young and perfect sire, a healthy handsome +offspring will be the issue; than which idea nothing can be more +absurd, as such animals, if left to nature, would seldom or never come +in contact, owing to the one party never attaining a decrepit age, but +perishing on its verge. +</p> + +<p> +(94.) <i>The sex of the progeny is supposed to be the result of the +relative ages of the parents</i>; thus, issue from a young male and an +old female will in general be feminine, while that from an old male +and a young female will generally be masculine; and it has been +proposed to turn this, apparently a law of nature, to account, in the +management of flocks, as it must often be of consequence to obtain, at +will, a considerable increase of the sex most wanted. On this subject +there will be found an interesting paper in the first number of the +<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, entitled, "A method of +obtaining a greater number of One Sex at the option of the Proprietor, +in the Breeding of Live-Stock," and from this I extract the +following:— +</p> + +<p> +"In the <i>Annales de l'Agriculture Française</i>, Vols. xxxvii. and +xxxviii., some very interesting experiments are recorded, which have +lately been made in France, on the breeding of live-stock. M. Charles +Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultural +Society of Séverac, on the 3d of July, 1826, to divide a flock of sheep +into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males or females, at +the choice of the proprietor, should be produced from each of them. Two +of the members of the society offered their flocks to become the +subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been +communicated, which are in accordance with the author's expectations. +</p> + +<p> +"The first experiment was conducted in the following manner:—He +recommended very young rams to be put to the flock of ewes from which +the proprietor wished the greater number of females in their offspring +and also, that during the season when the rams were with the ewes, they +should have more abundant pasture than the other; while to the flock +from which the proprietor wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, he +recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams, four or five years +old. The following tabular view contains the result of his experiment:— +</p> + +<table class="border" summary="Experiment results on the breeding of +live stock" border="1"> + +<tr> +<td class="pad" colspan="3">Flock for female lambs.</td> +<td class="pad" colspan="3">Flock for male lambs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="pad">Age of the mothers.</td> +<td class="pad" colspan="2">Sex of the Lambs.</td> +<td class="pad">Age of the mothers.</td> +<td class="pad" colspan="2">Sex of the Lambs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list"> </td> +<td class="c">Males.</td> +<td class="c">Fem.</td> +<td class="list"> </td> +<td class="c">Males.</td> +<td class="c">Fem.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Two years,</td> +<td class="r">14</td> +<td class="r">26</td> +<td class="list">Two years,</td> +<td class="r">7</td> +<td class="r">3</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Three years,</td> +<td class="r">16</td> +<td class="r">29</td> +<td class="list">Three years,</td> +<td class="r">15</td> +<td class="r">14</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Four years,</td> +<td class="r"><u> 5</u></td> +<td class="r"><u>21</u></td> +<td class="list">Four years,</td> +<td class="r"><u>33</u></td> +<td class="r"><u>14</u></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="listindent">Total,</td> +<td class="r">35</td> +<td class="r">76</td> +<td class="listindent">Total,</td> +<td class="r">55</td> +<td class="r">31</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="list">Five years and older,</td> +<td class="r"><u>18</u></td> +<td class="r"><u> 8</u></td> +<td class="list">Five years and older,</td> +<td class="r"><u>25</u></td> +<td class="r"><u>24</u></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="listindent">Total,</td> +<td class="r">53</td> +<td class="r">84</td> +<td class="listindent">Total,</td> +<td class="r">80</td> +<td class="r">55</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="hang" colspan="3"> N.B.—There were three twin-births in this flock. Two rams served +it; one fifteen months, the other nearly two years old.</td> +<td class="hang" colspan="3"> N.B.—There were no twin-births in this flock. Two strong rams, +one four, the other five years old, served it.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +"The general law, as far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, +that when animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with +food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they are most +likely to produce females. Or, in other words, when a race of animals +is in circumstances favourable for its increase, Nature produces the +greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, is +most efficient for increasing the number of the race. But if they are +in a bad climate, or on a stinted pasture, or if they have already +given birth to a numerous offspring, then Nature, setting limits to +the increase of the race, produces more males than females. Yet, +perhaps, it may be premature to attempt to deduce any law from +experiments which have not yet been sufficiently extended. M. Girou +is disposed to ascribe much of the effect to the age of the ram, +independent of the condition of the ewe." +</p> + + + +<a name="V"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER V. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. +</p> + + +<p> +(95.) Those who have attended to the subject are well aware, that the +profitable management of livestock is the most difficult department in +the business of a farm. So much depends on the nature of the locality +where sheep are kept, and on its situation in regard to markets for the +disposal of its produce, that little but what is of general application +need be written on this head. Precise rules for agricultural conduct +can seldom be laid down with any probability of their being followed, +as it must necessarily vary less or more with the peculiar +circumstances of the estate, and must, therefore, to a great extent, be +trusted to the intelligence of the farmer. All, therefore, that I shall +aim at in treating of this division, will be the giving an outline of +the more important matters connected with sheep-husbandry, leaving the +tyro to use it as circumstances may point out. For obvious reasons, a +natural arrangement of the subject is the best; and to this, therefore, +I shall, as much as possible, adhere. +</p> + +<p> +(96.) <i>Putting Tups to Ewes.</i> The middle of November is the time +at which this is usually done, but the season is anticipated or delayed +according as the spring provender is expected to be early or late, +plentiful or scarce. When the sheep are spread over a wide track, one +ram is in general allotted to thirty ewes; but when the latter are on a +limited range of pasture, the proportion of one to fifty may be +reckoned ample. The rams ought not to be left with the ewes above four +or five weeks, as it does not do to have lambs dropped after the middle +of May; indeed much trouble will be saved to the shepherd if he can +contrive to have all the lambs yeaned about the same time, as the flock +will, from its numbers being of a similar standing, be healthier, and +every way easier to manage, than one in which there is a great +diversity of ages. Such ewes, therefore, as have not evinced an +inclination for the male, ought, before the above period has elapsed, +to be driven into a barn or small inclosure, and made to run about till +they have become a little heated, after which, when the ram is +introduced, the desired effect will doubtless follow. Delay will in +many cases be unavoidable, owing to the ewes being in too high +condition; but this the shepherd should try to obviate, by +administering one or two doses of Epsom salts, which, by reducing the +plethora, will increase the activity of the animal, and render it in +many ways more prone to pregnancy. +</p> + +<p> +As it is an object of some importance to retard the yeaning of gimmer +hogs till the spring be well advanced, the rams are never sent to them +till a fortnight after they have been put to the older ewes. Much +nicety is always required in choosing the time at which rams mould be +put to gimmers, as they are in general sorry nurses, and sure, in bad +seasons, to lose many lambs. +</p> + +<p> +When a farm is provided with suitable enclosures, careful selection of +both ewes and rams should always be attended to, taking care to make +the good points of the one remedy the defects of the other; but where a +farm is destitute of such accommodation, the next best plan is to send +the finest rams to the ewes for a few days before the rest of the males +are admitted. +</p> + +<p> +Great ewes ought always to be well looked after. The driest and best +sheltered fields should be set apart for them, and turnips, when +forming part of their food, should, when they are about to yean, always +be carted to their pasture. When they roll <i>awald</i>, and cannot +regain their feet, prompt assistance should be afforded them, else they +will soon die. Death in this case occurs from suffocation, though the +morbid appearances exhibited by the carcass are frequently mistaken for +those of braxy. Udder locking ought never to be attempted, as it often +leads to abortion, and is, besides, not of the slightest utility. +</p> + +<p> +(97.) <i>Early Lambs.</i> Though in the greater number of our breeds +the arrival of the rutting season is fixed and regular, yet there are +several in which pregnancy may, by proper management, be induced at any +period. Of these the Dorsetshire and Wicklow varieties are the most +noted, and are on this account selected for the rearing of house-lambs +in the vicinity of towns, the inhabitants of which are opulent enough +to create a demand for so expensive an article. +</p> + +<p> +The beginning of June is the time chosen for the admission of the rams, +so that by the month of January the greater proportion of the ewes have +yeaned. According to the plan pursued in Middlesex, "The sheep, which +begin to lamb about Michaelmas, are kept in the close during the day, +and in the house during the night, until they have produced twenty or +thirty lambs. These lambs are then put into a lamb-house, which is kept +constantly well littered with clean wheat straw; and chalk, both in +lump and in powder, is provided for them to lick, in order to prevent +looseness, and thereby preserve the lambs in health. As a prevention +against gnawing the boards, or eating each other's wool, a little wheat +straw is placed, with the ears downwards, in a rack within their reach, +with which they amuse themselves, and of which they eat a small +quantity. In this house they are kept with great care and attention +until fit for the butcher. +</p> + +<p> +"The mothers of the lambs are turned, every night at eight o'clock, +into the lamb-house to their offspring. At six o'clock in the morning +these mothers are separated from their lambs, and turned into the +pastures; and, at eight o'clock, such ewes as have lost their own +lambs, and those ewes whose lambs are sold, are brought in and held by +the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean: they are then turned +into the pasture; and at twelve o'clock, the mothers of the lambs are +driven from the pasture into the lamb-house for an hour, in the course +of which time each lamb is suckled by its mother. At four o'clock, all +the ewes that have not lambs of their own are again brought to the +lamb-house, and held for the lambs to suck; and at eight, the mothers +of the lambs are brought to them for the night. +</p> + +<p> +"This method of suckling is continued all the year. The breeders select +such of the lambs as become fat enough, and of proper age (about eight +weeks old) for slaughter, and send them to the market during December +and three or four succeeding months, at prices which vary from one +guinea to four, and the rest of the year at about two guineas each. +This is severe work for the ewes, and some of them die from exhaustion. +However, care is taken that they have plenty of food; for when green +food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover, &c.) begins to fail, +brewers' grains are given them in troughs, and second-crop hay in +racks, as well to support the ewes as to supply the lambs with plenty +of milk; for if that should not be abundant, the lambs would become +stunted, in which case no food would fatten them. +</p> + +<p> +"A lamb-house to suckle from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and +eighty lambs at a time, should be seventy feet long and eighteen feet +broad, with three coops of different sizes at each end, and so +constructed as to divide the lambs according to their ages."<a href="#note19" name="noteref19"> +<small>[19]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +In the county of Wicklow it is the practice to divide the twenty-four +hours by four equal periods, and to feed the lambs with ewe's milk and +cow's milk alternately. When commencing with cow's milk, a quarter of a +pint is given, twice a-day, to each lamb, and this is gradually +increased to a pint, exclusive of the milk from the ewe. This method of +feeding has been cavilled at, but I think unjustly, as the ewe is thus +saved from the bad effects of exhaustion, and the lambs are fit for the +butcher when six weeks old, or sooner. +</p> + +<p> +(98.) <i>Lambing time.</i> When the ewes begin to drop their lambs, a +time which ordinarily happens in the first or second week of April, but +which, in other modes of management, must be dated twenty-two weeks +after the tupping season, the shepherd has many calls upon his skill +and watchfulness. In bad seasons, sheep are apt to prove unkind to +their offspring, and none more so than the Cheviots. In this event, the +best pastures should be selected for them, or turnips may be carted to +them; but as gimmer hogs are often quite incapable of furnishing the +necessary quantity of milk, the shepherd ought always to be provided +with a bottle of milk, which he should drop from his own mouth into +that of any lambs which may require it. Such mothers as appear to +suffer in bringing forth, should be relieved with the utmost +gentleness; and when a miscarriage occurs, if the weather be at the +same time unfavourable, the dam ought to receive the shelter of a roof. +When the ewe is lost in yeaning, her lamb, if it survive her, must be +reared by another dam. Some little artifice is always necessary to +induce a ewe to adopt the offspring of another. Covering the lamb with +the skin of her own dead one, is sometimes resorted to, but this is +hardly required, as any dam will take to another's offspring if the +parties be shut up for some time together. Ewes that are late in +lambing should be collected together, so as to be more under the care +of the shepherd, and ought to be well fed, for the sake of bringing +forward their lambs. Those lambs which are very far behind the rest +must be prepared for the butcher, as they would make but a poor figure +at the Lammas sales. +</p> + +<p> +(99.) <i>Washing.</i> The time for clipping varies much, being earlier +in seasons which have been preceded by favourable weather and an +unstinted allowance of food, than in such as have followed a rigorous +winter, disease, or any other cause calculated to arrest the growth of +wool. The season may be said to be limited by the middle of May and the +middle of July; but this should not be taken as a rule of conduct, the +best guide being the state of the new coat, which ought always to be +well above the skin before shearing is attempted. The wool, unless +among some mountain flocks, is always, in this country, washed prior to +its removal from the sheep's back; but in Spain that operation is +always deferred till the fleeces have been collected, when they are +subjected to a thorough scouring, in public buildings appropriated to +the purpose, and termed <i>lavatories</i>. This is a plan in many +respects superior to ours. Its adoption by our farmers has been +recommended by Dr Parry. There cannot be a doubt of its being the +preferable mode as regards the saving it would effect in the lives of +sheep; but as it is well known that shearing is much facilitated by +washing, and that on the neatness with which the clipping is +accomplished the quality of the succeeding crop in a great measure +depends, some little time will be necessary to determine the +comparative value of either mode. In New South Wales it is customary to +make the sheep swim across a stream for two or three mornings before +being washed, by which means the yolk is softened, and the removal of +grease and dirt much promoted; but this, though a good plan in that +mild and even climate, could not be looked upon as safe in a +temperature so variable as that of Britain. In cases however, where +great nicety is required, the plan in vogue in the former country, that +of dipping each sheep, before washing, into a caldron of warm water, +might be beneficially adopted. +</p> + +<p> +Mountain sheep are cleaned by being forced to swim across a pool, but +the finer or lowland breeds are washed entirely by the hand. The latter +method alone demands a short explanation. Dry, and, if possible, sunny +weather, is selected for the operation, on the morning of which the +lambs are separated from the flock, and the latter is conveyed to the +margin of some pebbly-bottomed pool. Here they are penned or otherwise +kept together, while they are seized, one by one, by a man standing +mid-thigh deep near the water-edge, and turned back downwards, the head +alone being above the surface. Plate V. fig. 1.<a href="#note20" name="noteref20"> +<small>[20]</small></a> It is then turned +from side to side, and moved backwards and forwards, so as to make the +wool catch upon the stream and wave about. When the first washer has +held it for a few minutes, and partially cleansed the fleece, he passes +it <i>up the river</i> to the next, who goes through the same routine, +and, on being convinced that the skin is free from filth, compels the +sheep to land by swimming in an oblique direction up the water. Three +and even four men are sometimes employed in washing sheep, but two, as +here described, will, under ordinary circumstances, be found +sufficient. The bank on which the dripping sheep are collected, should +have a clean and firm turf, and the flock should, till fairly dry and +fit for shearing, be kept on heavy grass land, or, what is better, in +straw-bedded folds. +</p> + +<p> +(100.) <i>Shearing.</i> After allowing eight days, off or on, to elapse +from the time of washing, so as to permit the wool to gain a fresh +supply of yolk, and along with it lustre and elasticity, the sheep may +be stripped of its fleece. As there is no saving in employing an +unskilful clipper, every encouragement should be given to induce +servants to cut close, smoothly and evenly, and to avoid injuring the +skin, or going twice over the same part. There are two ways in this +country of depriving sheep of their wool. In the first, or coarser +method, which is only adopted in the case of Cheviot and heath sheep, +the operator sits upon the ground, and placing the animal on its back +between his knees, shears the wool first from the belly and legs, and +then, after tying the latter, proceeds to clear the back. In the second +method, the legs are never tied, as the disposition of the sheep is +such as to render it unnecessary. The animal is placed as in Fig. 2, +Plate V., and the shearer clips first one side, cutting from the middle +of the belly to that of the back, down to the loins. It is then placed +on its side, as in Fig, 3, Plate V., the knee of the operator pressing +on its neck, and the wool is removed from the legs and buttocks. The +fleece is next rolled up, with the cut side outwards, commencing at the +tail, and using the wool of the other extremity as a fastening for the +bundle. +</p> + +<p> +A cool dry apartment should be selected in which to store the wool, +always remembering that <i>heat</i> and <i>damp</i> are equally +injurious to it, and that the greater the perfection in which it +retains its <i>natural oily moisture</i>, the more valuable will it +prove both to the grower and the manufacturer. +</p> + +<p> +(101.) <i>Weaning</i>, where milking is not practised, ought to be set +about in the end of July or beginning of August. In some places the ewe +lambs are never speaned, but allowed to go at large with their mothers; +and though by this plan the dam is apt to be kept in poor condition, +yet is this counterbalanced by the comparative freedom of the hogs from +braxy. As an improvement, however, the gimmer lambs may be withheld for +a fortnight from their mothers, and at the end of that time may be +permitted to pasture with them. In the few places where the farmer +continues to manufacture ewe-milk cheese and butter, speaning is +carried into effect somewhat earlier, and is of course attended, in the +long run, with no little detriment to the stock and its proprietor. The +sooner that the practice be laid aside the better; for though ewe-milk +cheese is pretty universally relished and admired, yet those who are +acquainted with the scenes which happen at the bughts, know well that +the cheese itself cannot but contain much, the mere mention of which +would pall at once the appetite even of the least fastidious. In +addition to this, a great waste of grass is occasioned by the sheep +going to and from the bught, while the inconveniences they are on every +hand exposed to, at a season when they are peculiarly liable to disease +and accident, ought of themselves to lead to the abolition of the +practice. +</p> + +<p> +When the udders of the ewes appear, after their separation from the +lambs, to be much distended, they may be once or twice milked, to +prevent bad consequences; but it is much better to obviate the +necessity for this, by reducing their allowance of food for a few days. +When the animal seems to suffer much irritation about the udder, it +will always be safe to give a brisk dose of any of the common saline +purgatives. +</p> + +<p> +The store lambs are at this period sent to good pasture, or, where the +farm cannot afford it, are <i>summered</i> at a distance; that is to +say, the farmer pays so much a head for permission to feed his flock, +during a couple of months, on another person's ground, at the end of +which period they are turned upon the pasture which has just been +vacated by the gimmers, they having been sent to join the older ewes. +</p> + +<p> +(102.) <i>Smearing</i>, in those places where it is still carried on, +is performed in two ways, according to the quality of the wool. +<i>Slipping</i>, as the one method is termed, is only employed in high, +wet districts, where the sheep are covered with long wool; while +<i>rolling</i>, as the other is usually called, is only required for +such as, in dry situations, are surrounded by a short close pile. In +pursuing the former plan, the smearer takes up the mixture on the +forefinger of his right hand, and while holding the locks of wool apart +with his arms and left hand, allows the salve to drop into the groove +or shed, along which it is spread by the other fingers. +</p> + +<p> +In <i>rolling</i>, a small quantity only of smearing stuff is raised on +the <i>point</i> of the forefinger, with which it is laid evenly upon +the skin. This is by far the neater way of salving, as less of the +ointment is permitted to get upon the wool; but as it is altogether a +tardier process, it is not so frequently resorted to. +</p> + +<p> +November is the month usually chosen for this operation, but as it +cannot be properly done unless the day fixed upon has been preceded by +dry weather, the time ought rather to be selected by the aspect of the +season. +</p> + +<p> +The composition of smearing stuffs is so very various, that it is quite +beyond my power to give the reader even a list of the ordinary +ingredients and their proportions; nor need I recommend any of them in +particular to the attention of the shepherd, knowing, as I do, the +bigoted opinions which are held upon the subject, and the aversion with +which every one regards a mixture not of their own composing. I can +only observe, that where tar is employed, it ought to be well diluted +with grease, so as to enable two English quarts of it to be spread over +six sheep. In this way it will be less liable to adhere to the wool, +and will be much more readily laid upon the skin. When sheep are salved +without due attention to the even spreading of the mixture, the insects +with which the skin is infested are, instead of being destroyed, +allowed here and there a resting place; and as the severity of their +attack is in proportion to the limited nature of their range, the skin +at these points soon becomes crusted with scabs. The smaller the +quantity of tar employed, as consistent with the keeping down of +vermin, so much the better, as the wool is of more value to the +manufacturer, the sheep is saved the discomfort of having its fleece +plastered and matted, and the shepherd is spared the vexation of losing +lambs through their inability to reach an udder surrounded by locks of +hard and tangled wool. +</p> + +<p> +(103.) <i>Fatting.</i> The age at which sheep are prepared for the +butcher depends upon the breed, its situation, and its propensity to +take on fat. The heath sheep may be considered as requiring to be the +greatest length of time in the hands of the farmer, and the Leicesters +as the reverse; wethers of the former variety being usually disposed +off when from three to four years old, and ewes when from four to five; +while wethers of the latter kind are fit for market often at eighteen +months, and the ewes are in general fed off after the third year. +</p> + +<p> +Sheep, in spring and autumn, are peculiarly liable to diseases of the +intestines, a circumstance mainly to be ascribed to the changes which +are, in these seasons, constantly occurring in the nature of their +food. Much of this is owing to careless management in the economy of +the pastures, and to restricting them for great lengths of time to one +kind of provender, a thing guarded against by all good breeders. Sudden +transitions, however, from a poor to a nutritive pasture, and the +reverse, are always bad, and therefore to be avoided; but change of +feeding ground, with these restrictions, cannot be too much +inculcated—it is, in fact, the soul of sheep husbandry. The bleakest +portions of a farm should be pastured off in autumn, so as to reserve +the sheltered spots for winter use. The cast ewes may then be drafted +off to feed on a more succulent herbage, previous to being penned on +turnips. +</p> + +<p> +Most of the points worthy of attention in sheep feeding having already +been detailed in the article on <i>Crossing</i>, I shall only add a few +particulars in regard to management on turnips. +</p> + +<p> +When sheep are fed on turnips, they are in general confined to a +particular portion of the field by nets or hurdles. The latter, when +made of Scotch fir, cost about a shilling each; but, when constructed +of larch, the price is fourteen-pence. Those made of larch are by far +the more durable, and will last three years if kept under cover during +summer. Two men are required to set them up, besides a horse and cart +to take them to the field, on which account nets have a decided +preference, being easy of transportation, and requiring little +house-room. Though valuable in windy situations, nets cannot be used to +enclose horned sheep, as their heads become entangled with the cords. +They will seldom serve for more than three years, but as they cost only +threepence per yard, they may be considered as every way cheaper than +hurdles. +</p> + +<p> +When the turnips allotted to the sheep, which seldom exceed a week's +supply, are consumed, another portion of the field is enclosed; while +the shells are torn up with a two-pronged hook, and either left there +to be consumed by the flock, or carted to another field for the use of +sheep not then intended to be fattened. A fresh supply should always be +afforded them before the old one is eaten clean, otherwise their +fattening will be much retarded. It is usual to allow them at the same +time plenty of salt, placed up and down the field in troughs or +boxes,<a href="#note21" name="noteref21"> +<small>[21]</small></a> and about a ton of hay in the ten or fourteen days, to every +hundred sheep; though that number, if supplied with what, and permitted +to run about, will consume that quantity in a week. In spring, from +half a pound to a pound of oil cake is given daily to each of them, +along with turnips. +</p> + +<p> +In places where the cold during spring is any way severe, the Swedish +turnip ought always to be preferred for feeding sheep, as from the +formation of the upper part of the bulb, water cannot collect within it +as it does in other varieties, to their serious injury when frost sets +in. +</p> + +<p> +Turnips must be cut for such sheep as are shedding their teeth. The +mouths of those that refuse to eat them should be examined, that in the +event of a tooth being loose or broken it may be removed. Occasionally +a sheep will be unable to gnaw a turnip, owing to a peculiar formation +of the head, the lower jaw being so very short as to give the profile +some resemblance to that of a pig. Such deformed animals are said in +this quarter to be <i>grun</i>-(ground)-mouthed: I believe from the +elongation of the nose suiting them better for poking in the earth than +for feeding in the usual way. +</p> + +<p> +The fattening of sheep on turnips is much promoted by their having +access to a grass field, more especially if it happen to contain whins +or heather. It is from want of attention to this that sheep are so +liable to disease when eating turnips, for, apart from the benefit that +accrues to them from a dry lair, they are enabled to turn their food to +better account when consuming bitter herbs. It is no unusual thing for +turnip-fed sheep and cattle to become quite lean, as the farmers say, +"almost at the lifting," for no other reason than that they have been +confined too strictly to one article of diet. They have been denied +access to plants containing of all things the one most necessary for +the maintenance of their health—<i>bitter extractive matter</i>—as it +is called by chemists—without a due proportion of which the most +nutritious substances cannot be turned to account. "As an essential +ingredient in the provender of herbivorous animals, it may, I think, be +admitted as a fact, that its importance is <i>in an inverse ratio</i> +with the nutritive powers of the food."<a href="#note22" name="noteref22"> +<small>[22]</small></a> Thus accounting for the +length of time that sheep will continue to thrive on turnips alone. +</p> + +<p> +With all the advantages, however, which accrue to the sheep when on +turnips, from the quantity of nutritive matter which these roots +contain, its progress when restricted to them frequently falls very far +short of the expectations of the owner. In the greater number of +instances, also, farmers are unable to account for their want of +success in this department, so that I may be excused for endeavouring +to point out, at some length, the causes of their failure. To +proceed:— +</p> + +<p> +The point in sheep management in which our farmers are most deficient, +is turnip-feeding; one upon which most will pique themselves as being +perfect, though, speaking guardedly, hardly one man in twenty +understands the rudimentary principles on which sheep-feeding should be +conducted. They are unacquainted with the habits of the wild animal, +and, unlike any other class of men, interest themselves little in the +fundamental study of their calling. There is not a showman, or a +bird-fancier, but knows to a tittle the peculiarities of the creature +that he has in charge, and endeavours, to the best of his ability, to +provide such food as its instincts crave. Not so, however, with the +store-farmer. He cares not to inquire whether the sheep is naturally +calculated to subsist on one kind of nutriment; and if so, whether they +will, when left to the exercise of instinct, resort to turnips of their +own accord; whether the sheep is usually restricted to confined +localities similar to our fields, or is the unrestrained rover over an +extensive pasture. Yet it is from investigations of this kind that we +are to derive our mode of treating sheep, and are to form plans +beneficial to ourselves, from their being, in a manner, improvements +upon nature. We find, from a perusal of the works of travellers, and +from the anatomical peculiarities of the sheep, that it is fitted for +residence in countries precipitous in surface, and scantily supplied +with herbage; consequently, it must range over a vast extent of ground +for a subsistence, and its food must, owing to the varied features of +the country, consist, not of one or of a few plants, but of a most +extensive mixture of herbage. Experiment also points out that the +deductions from these observations are correct. Sheep, in fact, consume +a greater number of plants than any other domestic animal. Linnæus, in +examining into this subject, found, by offering fresh plants to such +animals, in the ordinary mode of feeding, that horses ate 262 species, +and refused 212; cattle ate 276 species, and refused 218; while sheep +took 387 species, and only refused 141. We find, too, great difficulty +in preventing sheep from springing over the dykes and hedges that we +place as boundaries to their rambling habits, yet how seldom do we see +the true cause of their determination to set them at defiance. We may +partly account for it by considering their analogy to the goat, and +their propensity to scale rugged eminences; but I think these movements +rather indicate an anxiety to change a pasture already exhausted of +variety, for fresh fields, and herbage abounding in that miscellaneous +provision which nature apparently reckons essential for them. Shepherds +own as much, and will tell you that frequent change of pasture is the +soul of sheep husbandry, though they see no reason why sheep should not +be kept for many successive weeks on a patch of turnips. They admit the +necessity of a frequent shifting in the one case, but deny it in the +other. Magendie, a celebrated French physiologist, has shown, by +experiment, that it is impossible to keep an animal in a healthy state +longer than six weeks on one article of diet, death frequently taking +place even before the end of that period; but our sheep-farmers, in +happy ignorance of the fact, confine their flocks for months to turnips +only. And what, may I ask them, is the consequence of the practice? +Why, that it is not unusual to meet with sheep-owners who lose at least +one out of every fifteen, and all owing, as may easily be proved, to +this mode of management. In the first place, the turnip is a kind of +food entirely foreign to the nature of the sheep, and one to which, at +first, they evince great repugnance. There are many varieties of sheep +incapable of feeding on turnips, owing to the form of the face, the +upper-jaw projecting considerably past the lower, hindering the +chisel-shaped teeth from being brought to bear upon the root. None of +our British breeds certainly have this as a regular feature, +nevertheless they are liable to it; and there are few farmers that have +not, several times in their lives, met with <i>grun-mouthed</i> sheep, +as they are called in Scotland, from their profile resembling that of +the pig, and suiting them for poking in earth, rather than for eating +in the usual way. Again, if the structure of the sheep's mouth proves +that it is not adapted for eating turnips, the composition of the +turnip no less satisfactorily shows that it is not calculated as food +for sheep. Bitterness is essentially necessary in the food of all +herbivorous animals; without it, indeed, they sooner or later fall into +ill health. This property is shown by chemists to reside in the +extractive matter of plants, which has, therefore, been called +<i>bitter extractive</i>. The quantity is also found to be in the +inverse ratio of the nutritive powers of the plant; that is to say, +where the plant abounds in alimentary matter, the proportion of bitter +extractive is small, compared with what it is where the former is +deficient. Turnips contain a large quantity of matter capable of +affording nourishment to the body, but they yield little or none of the +bitter principle. In consequence of this, sheep acquire fat rapidly for +a time, when placed on turnips; but, experiencing a want of the +medicinal bitter, begin with equal rapidity to lose the advantages they +so recently gained. Their appetite becomes depraved, and, from being +shut out from access to the stomachic intended for them by nature, they +take to devouring earth, or any substance capable of serving as a +substitute for it. "With regard to the natural use of bitter +extractive, it may be laid down as a truth, that it stimulates the +stomach,—corrects putrefying and unwholesome nutriment,—promotes +tardy digestion,—increases the nutritive powers of those vegetable +substances to which it is united,—and furnishes a natural remedy for +the deranged functions of the stomach in particular, and through the +sympathetic medium of that organ, for the atony of remote parts in +general."<a href="#note23" name="noteref23"> +<small>[23]</small></a> All, indeed, concur in setting a high value on this +constituent of plants—all, with the exception of those whose interests +are most deeply concerned in a knowledge of its importance. Farmers, in +general, cannot perceive the utility of attending to concerns +apparently so trifling, though in the right conduct of these they +depend materially for success. Nay, I have known men arguing, that in +six weeks they have given ordinary sheep an excellent coating of fat, +by keeping them on turnips only; though, on strict inquiry being made +into the nature of the field in which they had been penned, it has +always turned out that the sheep had access to other things, their +owners having wilfully shut their eyes to the true circumstances of the +case. Depend on it, no sheep will continue in health during six weeks +on turnips alone, much less will it continue throughout that time to +take on fat. Much of the mischief attending a want of bitter matter is +obviated by the plan of allowing the sheep corn, salt, oilcake, and +hay, which, serve, especially the last, as tolerable substitutes for +it. Good hay ought always to be plentifully supplied to sheep on +turnips, as, from the variety of the plants composing it, it contains +much that is not to be found in turnips. Besides, one of the most +useful bitters with which we are acquainted (the <i>Bogbean—Menyanthes +Trifoliata</i>) occurs in meadow hay, and is a plant sufficient of +itself to save the animal from the consequences of neglect. Whenever +you hear of remarkable instances of sheep becoming quickly fat on +turnips, you may safely believe they have had liberty to nibble +something in addition to the ordinary provender. They have had access +to broom or whins, perhaps only to bushes that are laid as a defence on +dykes, or only to the scanty pickings on the edges of fields—still +they have by such means in a manner satisfied the craving for bitter +aliment, and enabled their stomachs to turn to better account the +otherwise unprofitable turnips. Broom is at all times an excellent +medicine for sheep, and one which they are partial to, and which ought, +therefore, to be placed, if possible, within their reach. +</p> + + + +<a name="VI"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VI. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS. +</p> + + +<p> +(104.) Sheep being about as liable as other animals to a variety of +accidents, it is necessary that the shepherd should possess a competent +knowledge of the means which art affords for the remedy of those +mishaps. It is from a want of such knowledge that farmers are +frequently led to slaughter valuable sheep, though only labouring under +the effects of some commonplace disease or accident. If the animal is +attended by a professional person, an expense is sure to be incurred +nearly equal to the worth of the patient, and in so far as they +endeavour to obviate this, by killing the sheep, they are free from +blame; but why not rather contrive to save the cost of veterinary +attendance, by making themselves conversant with its diseases, and able +to prescribe for their own flocks, in which there can be no difficulty, +as the remedies are, in the majority of cases, few, simple, and of easy +application. In the surgical and medical management of flocks, much +mystery has, as in other matters, all along existed; but that fantastic +age is well nigh its close, and thanks to the spirit of candid inquiry +now abroad, we may hope ere long to boast of valuable information in +this department. The spread of correct ideas regarding the nature and +treatment of accidents and diseases, has from first to last been +prevented by the diffuseness of those who have written on the subject, +and by their so clothing it in a mass of verbiage, as to render +scarcely intelligible what would otherwise be easy of acquirement. To +obviate the liability to a similar charge, the following observations +are given as briefly as is consistent with a due regard to the +importance of the subject. +</p> + +<p> +(105.) <i>Wounds.</i> All the wounds which can be inflicted may be +classed under the heads of incised, punctured, and lacerated. +</p> + +<p> +An incised wound is one made by a cutting instrument, such as a knife +or a piece of glass. +</p> + +<p> +Punctured wounds are those produced by sharp pointed bodies, such as +pins or thorns. +</p> + +<p> +Lacerated wounds are those occasioned by blunt bodies, as the teeth of +the dog, tearing rather than cutting the flesh. +</p> + +<p> +When a sheep has received any of these injuries, the following rules +ought to be attended to, and in the order here recommended:— +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + 1st. Arrest the bleeding, if profuse, and likely to endanger life. +</p> + +<p> + 2d. Clip away the wool for a few inches around the injured part. +</p> + +<p> + 3d. Remove dirt or other foreign body from the wound. +</p> + +<p> + 4th. Bring the separated parts as nearly together as circumstances + will at the moment permit, and retain them there by suitable + apparatus. +</p> +</div> +<p> +(106.) <i>To stop Bleeding.</i> Bleeding will, if no large arteries are +divided, cease on the free exposure of the surface for a few minutes to +the air; but when a large vessel has been cut, more determined means +must be had recourse to. Pressure on the bleeding surface and its +neighbourhood will in many cases succeed, but this or any similar +method is far inferior to that of securing the open vessel by a thread. +To accomplish this, the mouth of the vein or artery must be slightly +drawn out from the contiguous surface, by means of a small hook, called +by surgeons a tenaculum, and easily procured from any blacksmith. While +the mouth of the vessel is thus held exposed, an assistant must +surround it with a noose of thread, which, on being secured with a +double knot, will effectually close it. The thread ought to be of white +silk, though any undyed thread, which is firm, round, and capable of +standing a pull, will answer the purpose. Care must be taken to place +the thread, before tying it, fairly behind the point of the tenaculum, +so as to avoid including the instrument within the ligature, a +circumstance which would lead to the slipping of the noose and failure +of the operation. The hook is now to be withdrawn, and one end of the +ligature cut off by scissars within a little of the noose. The +remaining threads are allowed to hang out of the wound, so as to admit +of their removal when they become loose, which does not, however, take +place till the termination of the first four days, and they are +frequently retained for a much longer period. At each time the wound is +dressed, after the fourth day, the ligatures should be <i>gently +pulled</i>, or, which is preferable, <i>twisted</i>, to disengage them, +if at all loose, so that the wound may be more speedily closed. Before +proceeding to any operation where bleeding is expected, the operator +should provide himself with a few well-waxed threads, each twelve +inches long, so that no delay may ensue on a division of large vessels. +</p> + +<p> +(107.) <i>Removal of Extraneous Matter.</i> Dirt is best removed by +washing with a sponge or old linen rag and warm water. Other foreign +bodies may in general be extracted by the finger and thumb. In some +cases, however, it may be necessary to dilate or enlarge the wound with +a fine-edged knife, in order to facilitate the removal of substances +which, from their shape or situation, cannot be otherwise displaced. +</p> + +<p> +(108.) <i>Closure of a Wound.</i> The last thing to be done is to bring +the edges of the wound into as accurate contact as the state of the +parts will at the moment permit, without, however, using any force. +This, with a little care, is readily accomplished, the only difficulty +being to retain them in the desired position. They may be held in +contact either by <i>stitches</i>, (sutures,) <i>plasters</i>, or +<i>bandages</i>, or by a union of the three. Stitches are only required +when the wound gapes to a considerable extent, as it will always do +when running across a muscle. They may be applied in the following +manner. Transfix one side of the wound with a curved needle (armed with +a well waxed thread) forcing the needle <i>from without</i> obliquely +towards the bottom of the wound, then carry it through the opposite +side <i>from within</i>, taking care to bring it out about the same +distance from the edge as that at which it entered on the other margin. +The needle must now be removed, by cutting the threads close to its +eye, and while the ends are allowed to hang loose, the same operation +should be repeated, at the distance of an inch or an inch and a half +from the first stitch, as often as the length of the wound may render +necessary. Your assistant will now bring the sides of the wound +together as accurately as possible, and retain them there till you have +tied the corresponding ends of the threads in a double knot. +</p> + +<p> +(109.) <i>Bandaging.</i> Adhesive plaster is in some instances of +service, but upon the whole ought rather to be dispensed with, being of +difficult application, and moreover tending to the accumulation of +filth and the discomfort of the animal. Nothing will be found to serve +the purpose of supporting the parts so well as a properly adjusted +bandage, which is useful in every instance, and sure to stay on if +sewed here and there to the fleece. The bandage should never be omitted +where the wound has any tendency to gape, as too great a strain upon +the stitches cannot but lead to delay in the healing process. In +bandaging a limb or part of a limb, commence <i>always at the foot</i>, +and proceed upwards; in other parts of the body begin where you find it +most convenient. Before applying a bandage to an injured surface, a +couple of pieces of old linen of cotton rag should be folded into pads +or compresses, and laid <i>one on each side of the cut</i>, and over +these the bandage should be rolled, evenly and with moderate and +uniform firmness. By this plan the separated surfaces are supported and +preserved in close juxtaposition, especially at the bottom of the +wound, a thing of some importance where the cavity is deep. Transverse +cuts of the limbs of sheep require more careful and more complicated +treatment than cuts in other parts, as there is a constant tendency of +the edges to retract. This retraction of the edges may be in some +degree obviated by the application of a splint, which may be made of a +slip of stiff leather (such as is used for saddle flaps) well wetted, +so as to be easily adapted to the form of the limb. It is intended to +impede the motion of the leg, which occasions the gaping of the wound, +and must therefore be made to pass over one or more joints as +circumstances may require. Tow must be laid along the surface (a sound +one if possible) on which the leather is to be placed, and a bandage +then rolled over it so as to make all secure. +</p> + +<p> +(110.) <i>Clean cuts</i>, as every one knows, heal readily in a healthy +animal, seldom demanding above three dressings; lacerations, on the +other hand, require a longer period for their reparation, inasmuch as +the process which nature goes through is more complicated. In the +former, the parts are speedily glued together, so soon almost as in +contact, and the union is generally complete within the first +thirty-six hours. Not so, however, with the latter. Here the parts are +bruised, torn, and perhaps to a considerable extent awanting. Some of +the bruised portions may die, and are of course to be renewed. This is +a process requiring a great effort on the part of the vital powers, +which are often inadequate to the task, and on this account we ought, +when the injury is severe, to sacrifice the animal rather than run the +risk of its dying during the process of the attempted cure. To replace +the lost part, suppuration, or the formation of <i>matter</i> +commences; while under cover of this, a crop of fleshy particles +(granulations) rise to fill the vacancy. Granulations are best promoted +by warm emollient applications, such as poultices of oatmeal, +linseed-meal, or barley-flour, which ought to be frequently renewed to +prevent their becoming cold or dry. When the granulations become too +luxuriant, and rise, as they are apt to do, above the level of the +skin, the poultices must be laid aside, the sore washed once or twice +a-day with a <i>solution</i> of sulphate of copper (made by dissolving +two or three drachms of blue vitriol in an English pint of soft water), +and covered carefully over with a pledget of fine tow, spread with +lard, or any simple ointment, by which means, conjoined with +cleanliness, a cure will easily be accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +(111.) <i>Punctured Wounds.</i> The orifice being small in these, and +the depth considerable, the sides are apt to adhere irregularly, and +prevent the free escape of matter, which is certain to collect at the +bottom. To avoid such occurrences, it is in many cases proper to +convert a punctured into an incised wound. When, from neglecting this, +the matter is denied an outlet, an incision must be made to allow it to +escape, otherwise much harm will ensue from its burrowing between the +different textures. Fomentations will also here be serviceable, and +should be preferred to poultices. To apply them, place well-boiled +meadow hay, when very hot and moist, within a fold of old blanket or +woollen cloth, and lay it on the injured parts, taking care to renew +the heat frequently, by dipping the bundle in the hot decoction. +</p> + +<p> +(112.) <i>Bruises and Sprains.</i> These, unless severe, need not be +interfered with. When the shepherd, however, considers it necessary to +make any application, he cannot do better than foment the part for an +hour or so with meadow hay, in the same manner as recommended for +punctured wounds. +</p> + +<p> +(113.) <i>Wounds of Joints.</i> Such wounds are highly dangerous and +apt to baffle the most experienced. <i>The grand object in every case, +however, where a cure is attempted, is to produce a speedy union of the +wound, as directed in</i> (108) to (109). If the injury be extensive, +the best thing the farmer can do is to slaughter the animal. +</p> + +<p> +(114.) <i>Poisoned Wounds.</i> It is said that sheep are sometimes +bitten by snakes, and strange stories are told of their milk being +sucked by these reptiles. In such a case but small dependence can be +placed on any inward treatment, beyond the administration of one or two +full doses of castor oil. If the bite can be discovered, the part +should be frequently fomented with a decoction of meadow hay and +foxglove (<i>fairy-cap</i> of the Irish, and <i>bluidy-finger</i> of +the Scotch). +</p> + +<p> +(115.) <i>Fractures.</i> If there be no wound of the soft parts, the +bone being simply broken, the treatment is extremely easy. Apply a +piece of wet leather, as recommended at (109), taking care to ease the +limb when swelling supervenes. When the swelling is considerable, and +fever present, you cannot do better than open a vein of the head or +neck, allowing a quantity of blood to escape, proportioned to the size +and condition of the animal and the urgency of the symptoms. The +exhibition of purgatives should never be neglected. Epsom salt, in one +ounce doses, given either as a gruel or a drench, will be found to +answer the purpose well. If the broken bones are kept steady, the cure +will be complete in from three weeks to a month, the process of reunion +always proceeding faster in a young than in an old sheep. Should the +soft parts be injured to any extent, or the ends of the bone +protruding, recovery is very uncertain, and it will become a question +whether it would not be better at once to convert the animal into +mutton; indeed, removal of portions of bone and amputation, of which +some well known writers on the surgery of the sheep speak so learnedly +and confidently, may be viewed, as, in this case, chimerical, if not +absurd. +</p> + + +<p class="ctrspace"> +OPERATIONS. +</p> + +<p> +(116.) <i>Cutting Lambs.</i> Polled sheep should be castrated about the +tenth day after birth, but the end of the fifth week is soon enough for +horned sheep, as early castration has always a tendency to spoil the +beauty of the horns. The risk is always in proportion to the age, +therefore no great length of time ought ever to elapse from the period +of birth to that of the operation. A large flock of ewes and lambs +should never be collected preparatory to cutting, as the latter, from +the excitement and crowding, are less likely to recover from the +operation. It is much better to take up a small number so soon as they +are ready. Instead of driving them about in attempts to secure them, it +will be safer to station a person at a division of the fold, who may +lay hold of them individually as they are made to pass through slowly. +The best method of cutting is to grasp the bag containing the testicles +with the left hand, so as to tighten the skin, and push them forward, +after which an incision may be made through the skin at the end of the +bag, large enough to permit the stones to pass. They may then be +removed either by cutting or tearing; the latter plan, however, is the +better, as there is little risk of bleeding, which is almost sure to +prove troublesome if the former be adopted. At this time a portion of +the tail ought to be removed, if it has not been done at an earlier +period, as a remedy for pinding. The bleeding will serve to lessen the +danger consequent on the previous operation. When all have been +operated on, the ewes may be allowed to find their lambs, and the whole +conducted <i>quietly</i> to their pasture. +</p> + +<p> +(117.) <i>Blood-letting.</i> In describing this operation, too much +stress is always laid on the importance of opening particular veins, or +divisions of a vein, in certain diseases. Such directions are +altogether unnecessary, as <i>it matters not from what part of the +animal the blood be drawn, provided it be taken quickly</i>. Nothing +tends so much to the recovery of an animal from a disease in which +bleeding is required, as the rapid flow of the blood from a large +orifice. Little <i>impression</i> can be made on an acute disease by +the slow removal of even a large quantity of blood, as the organs have +time to accommodate themselves to the loss, which might, for any good +it will do, as well be dispensed with. Either bleed rapidly or not at +all. The nearer the commencement of an ailment, in which you employ +bleeding, the operation is resorted to, the greater the chance of its +doing good; no time ought, therefore, to be lost in using the lancet, +when once it is known to be required. Bleeding by nicking the under +surface of the tail does very well where no great deal of blood is +required, but it is not to be thought of if the veins of the face or +neck can possibly be opened. These are to be taken in preference to a +vein on the leg, as they are much more readily got at. The facial vein +(<i>f.v.</i> Fig. 3. Pl. III.) commences by small branches on the side +of the face, and runs downwards and backwards to the base of the jaw, +where it may be felt within two inches of the angle, or opposite the +middle grinding tooth. It is here that the orifice must be made, the +thumb of the left hand being held against the vein, so as to prevent +the flow of blood towards the heart, will make it <i>rise</i>. Some +prefer opening the jugular vein (<i>j.v.</i> Fig. 3. P1.), which +commences behind the eye and runs down the side of the neck. This +vessel is, however, more difficult to open than the former, being +better covered with wool, and not so easily exposed or made to swell. +<i>Stringing</i> is the mode commonly resorted to for this end; that is +to say a cord is drawn tightly round the neck, close to the shoulder, +so as to stop the circulation through the vein, and render it +perceptible to the finger. A lancet is the instrument generally used in +bleeding, though a well-pointed pen knife will do at a pinch. The +opening must always be made obliquely, in the direction marked in the +cut; but before attempting this, the animal must be secured, by placing +it between the operator's legs, with its croup against a wall. The +selected vein is then fixed by the fingers of the operator's left hand, +so as to prevent it rolling or slipping before the lancet. Having +fairly entered the vein, the point of the instrument must be elevated, +at the same time that it is pushed a little forward, by which motion it +will be lifted from or cut its way out of the vein. <i>A prescribed +quantity of blood should never be drawn</i>, for the simple reason that +this can never be precisely stated. If the symptoms are urgent, as in +all likelihood they will, your best plan is not to stop the flow of +blood till the animal fall or is about to fall. When this occurs, run a +pin through the edges of the orifice, and finish by twisting round it a +lock of wool. +</p> + +<p> +(118.) <i>Removal of Hydatids from within the head.</i> This animal, +and the symptoms which it causes, I have fully described at (169). +Their removal has been attempted in a variety of ways, but the simplest +method, and one most likely to succeed, is that followed in this +quarter. A couple of incisions, forming when completed the letter T, +are made in the integument covering the soft part of the bone under +which the hydatid is supposed to be. Two flaps are in this way marked +out, and are dissected back so as to expose the skull. The yielding +portion of the latter is then pared away, which brings the sac into +view. This will be seen alternately to sink and rise, following in this +respect the motions of the brain. A moderate-sized needle, slightly +curved and filled with thread, is now passed through the exposed +portion of the cyst, and the thread allowed to remain. The fluid is +thus permitted slowly to escape, and at the same time the sac becomes +collapsed, after which it is easily removed by pulling gently at the +thread with which it is connected. As good a hold should be taken with +the string as possible, and all the water should be allowed to flow out +before any attempt is made to extract the remains of the hydatid. To +conclude the operation, lay down the flaps of skin in their original +position, covering them with a small piece of folded linen smeared with +lard, and over all apply a cap. Never try to save the bone which you +cut, by turning it back in the form of a lid, for by so doing you will +only endanger the life of the animal, which is otherwise in little +jeopardy. +</p> + +<p> +It will often happen that the hydatid, from being in the interior of +the brain, will not be brought into view by the removal of a portion of +the skull. In this case the brain must be punctured in order to reach +the sac and evacuate its contents. +</p> + +<p> +When the skull above the eye is very thin, the disease may be at once +ended by cautiously thrusting a short, stout, sharp-pointed piece of +steel wire through the skin and bone down towards the centre of the +brain, taking care to pull the skin a little to one side before making +the puncture, so that on letting it loose the openings in the skull and +integument will not be opposite to one another. This plan is much +superior to that of thrusting a needle up the nostril, in the manner +devised by Mr Hogg, as in his way we are always poking in the dark, in +ignorance of the situation of the instrument, and are in all +probability doing so much injury to the delicate parts within the nose +as to preclude the possibility of recovery. Indeed, I some time ago +examined a head on which Mr Hogg's operation had been twice +unsuccessfully performed, and found traces of inflammation at the upper +part of the nostril severe enough of itself to have occasioned death. +The needle had not entered the brain, but the ethmoid was very much +injured. I believe the instrument is very seldom pushed more than half +way through the bone, at least it never reaches the hydatid, which +would appear to be destroyed rather by the inflammatory process which +follows the attempt, unfitting the brain for supplying it with the +secretions on which it lives, than by any direct injury done to it by +the needle. +</p> + + + +<a name="VII"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VII. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +DISEASES OF SHEEP. +</p> + + +<p> +(119.) There is no department in the management of sheep so little +understood as the nature and treatment of their diseases. Every part of +the sheep itself has been used, at one time or another, in this +country, as medicine for <i>man</i>, a folly still prevailing among the +boors of Southern Africa, who, according to Thunberg, employ the inner +coat of the stomach, dried and powdered, as a safe emetic. Quackish +absurdities of so glaring a nature have, however, long been scorned in +civilized society. Not so, however, when the sheep is the object of +treatment. Scientific innovations have been slow in reaching it, and +specimens of barbarian usage are far from rare. We may feel for the +benighted credulity which could place reliance, for a rescue from +mortal ailment, on the secretions or excretions of a sheep; but we are +compelled to laugh on reading, in the <i>Family Dictionary</i>, +published in 1752, the following:— +</p> + +<p> +"In general, 'tis affirmed that the belly of a sheep boiled in water +and wine, and given the sheep to drink, cures several diseases incident +to them." +</p> + +<p> +Only fancy a farmer dosing a sheep with mutton broth, and adding, for +its stomach's sake, a little wine! I suspect the prescriber was, in +this instance, putting himself, in point of intellect, far below the +level of his patient. Thanks to him, however, for the benefit he has +thus unwittingly conferred, by holding ignorance up to the derision it +so richly merits; no means being so powerful as broadly-drawn +caricatures in exposing the extent of such delusions. Though faith has +long since ceased to be reposed in the medicinal virtues of mutton +broth, a variety of nostrums have from time to time appeared, the +composition and application of which are invaluable for the amount of +<i>negative</i> information they are calculated to convey. Further +notice of these trashy recipes it is not my intention to take, as a +list of them alone would make a volume;—they are in the hands of every +one. +</p> + +<p> +(120.) <i>Cautions in prescribing.</i> Great reliance is in general +placed upon prescriptions, which profess to suit diseases in every +stage and circumstance.—Than this, however, scarcely any thing can be +more absurd. It is an opinion engendered not so much by ignorance as by +laziness, a determination not to be put about by thinking of a remedy +for the evils which surround us, but, while we contrive to soothe +ourselves by doing <i>something</i>, to leave every thing to the +hit-or-miss practice of charlatans.<a href="#note24" name="noteref24"> +<small>[24]</small></a> There are many, who on being +informed of the presence of disease in a neighbour's flock, confidently +advise the employment of a favourite nostrum, on the empirical +supposition that because it cured, or was thought to cure, one flock, +it will cure another. Nothing is taken into account saving that, in +both cases, the affected animals are sheep; and it is at once +concluded, that what benefited one will benefit another. The many +niceties in prescribing are never thought of: oh no, that would be of +no use! of course it can be of no importance to give a moment's +attention to age and sex, pasture and situation, or to leanness or +fatness, or to the presence of pregnancy! These are of trifling moment, +and only to be despised by a person armed with a recipe, which some one +has shown to be capable of walking like a constable through the body, +and bearing off the intruder! But enough of this; sufficient has, I +think, been said to prove the utter folly of confiding in things of the +above nature or intention, and to show that such confidence can lead to +nothing but a waste of life and capital. Even though the remedy is a +harmless one, it ought (unless calculated from <i>known</i> powers to +arrest the disease) to be viewed with distrust, as incurring a loss of +time, during which other and better measures might have been resorted +to. +</p> + +<p> +(121.) <i>Classification of diseases.</i><a href="#note25" name="noteref25"> +<small>[25]</small></a> As the acquirement of +correct ideas regarding the treatment of diseases is much facilitated +by a simple arrangement of the diseases themselves, numerous attempts +have been made to accomplish it, and in a variety of ways. The best of +these tabular views with which I am acquainted is the one laid before +the Highland Society some years ago, by Mr Stevenson, who appears to +have been the first to publish any thing like a satisfactory +classification. His arrangement is, however, defective in several +points, more especially as it necessitates the placing in the same +division diseases of organs essentially different. Thus he is compelled +to admit under "Diseases of the head" <i>Scabs on the mouth</i> side by +side with <i>Sturdy</i>, and <i>Louping ill</i>: in this way mingling +affections of the skin with diseases of totally different organs—the +brain and spinal marrow—and causing much embarassment to the reader. +To obviate this inconvenience, as well as to render the remembrance of +the remedies an easy matter, I have adopted the above arrangement, in +which each disease is placed opposite the textures it invades. +</p> + +<p> +(122.) <i>Blown or Blast.</i> Can scarcely be reckoned a disease as it +is but a symptom caused by a mechanical impediment to respiration and +circulation. When a sheep has been brought from a poor pasture to a +rich one it is prone to gorge itself to an extent which may endanger +life. The lower end of the gullet becomes obstructed, the gases which +accumulate in the paunch are hindered from escaping, and the latter +becomes so enormously distended as speedily to suffocate the animal by +being forced into the chest. +</p> + +<p> +(123.) <i>Treatment<a href="#note27" name="noteref27"> +<small>[27]</small></a> of Blown.</i> If the difficulty in breathing be +only slight, keep the sheep moving <i>gently</i> up and down as the air +will thus have a chance of escaping from the stomach. If the symptoms +are more alarming, pass the elastic tube employed in the same complaint +in cattle down the throat, or if that cannot be procured use a cane +with an ivory or wooden bullet at the end of it. Never <i>stick</i> the +animal, as recovery by this plan is almost hopeless. If you cannot +obtain the aforesaid instruments, bleed the animal till it becomes very +faint, and if this is of no avail proceed to kill it. Shepherds often +prescribe a purgative dose after this occurrence. In general, however, +it is not required. To prevent a flock becoming <i>blown</i>, always +when, for the first time on rich pasture, make the dog move leisurely +among them so as to prevent them feeding hastily. +</p> + +<p> +(124.) <i>Braxy or Sickness.</i> Six or eight species of braxy are +enumerated by shepherds, but as they all bear a striking resemblance +one to another, in their origin and progress, it is preferable to treat +of them as one disease. Indeed wire-drawn distinctions, though +occasionally serviceable in cattle-medicine, ought in most instances to +be avoided, as they are of but little avail, and in this disease +straw-splitting can only serve to tantalize the farmer, by giving rise +to ideas of finical modes of treatment, which before the Chapter ends +are reduced to the simplest aids which medicine affords. Whatever may +be the seat or seats of the disease, the identically same resources are +employed in all:—why therefore ought the reader to be troubled with a +hundred trifling phases, which, not being <i>essential</i> to the +malady, can only tend to perplex him in his search for the little that +is practically available. +</p> + +<p> +(125.) <i>Symptoms of Braxy.</i> In those rare cases where the animal +is seen at the commencement of the disease, it will appear uneasy, +lying down and rising up repeatedly, loathing food, and drinking +frequently. In a little while the symptoms become more decided, and +fever shows itself. The wool is clapped, the skin hot, the pulse quick +and strong, respiration is rapid and laborious, while the blood is +thick and black, issuing from the orifice, in attempts at bleeding, +drop by drop. Sometimes the heart beats irregularly: the mouth is +parched, and the eyes are red, languid, partly closed, and watery. The +head is down, the back drawn up, and the belly swollen; there is +scarcely any passage through the bowels, the urine is small in +quantity, high coloured, and sometimes bloody. The sheep shuns the +flock, slowly dragging itself to some retired spot, where convulsed and +screaming it shortly dies. Death may occur in a few hours, or may, in +some rare cases, be delayed for a week. A fatal termination is not so +sudden as some have fancied, since the animal is in general seriously +ill for many hours before it is discovered. +</p> + +<p> +(126.) <i>Appearances on dissection.</i> Though many parts are commonly +implicated in the <i>sickness</i>, there is every reason for believing +the <i>reed</i> to be primarily affected. Inflammatory appearances, and +mortification, the usual result of violent inflammation in this +quarter, are visible on its coats, especially at the pyloric extremity +(Plate I. Fig. 2, <i>py</i>.) The inner coat presents a blackish-red, +and gelatinous appearance,—the entire bowel being soft, pulpy, and +easily permeable to the finger. The intestines, kidneys, and bladder, +will, in all probability, exhibit similar changes, while the lining +membrane of the abdomen (the <i>peritoneum</i>) is frequently affected: +when this membrane has been much inflamed, the intestines are glued +together, are surrounded with bloody or floculent serum, occasioning +before death tumidity of the under part of the belly, and +communicating, when struck, a feeling of fluctuation to a hand placed +at a distance from the blow. The muscles in various parts of the body +frequently participate in the disease, bloody serum being infiltrated +between the layers. As the brain, in severe cases, exhibits symptoms of +oppression, so on dissection it will be found red and turgid, enabling +us to account for the convulsive movements during the termination of +the malady. The whole body, more particularly the abdomen, gives out a +fetid gangrenous odour, which has procured for braxy the pastoral +appéllation of "<i>stinking ill</i>" and renders the dissection far +from pleasant. After death putrefaction goes on with great rapidity, +especially in moist weather, hence the necessity of testing the +solidity of the carcass by giving it, as is customary in some parts, +<i>three shakes</i> before proceeding to prepare it for household use! +</p> + +<p> +(128.) <i>Causes of Braxy.</i> Whatever tends to constipate the bowels +may be reckoned a predisposing cause. Whenever constipation occurs, +especially if on a sickrife pasture, the sheep may be looked upon as +ripe for the disease. Any crude indigestible substance, taken into the +stomach when the animal is in this state, will have a tendency to +kindle braxy, and the liability to it will not only be heightened, but +the chances of recovery will also be lessened, by the animal being in +high condition. +</p> + +<p> +Wedder hogs are peculiarly its victims, but only when hirsled, as when +allowed to pasture with their mothers they are less liable to it. This +is accounted for by the fact, that hirsled hogs are comparatively +<i>dull</i>, not being familiar with the proper times for feeding, and +incapable of selecting the suitable herbage, from having wanted the +tutoring of the mother. +</p> + +<p> +From the beginning of November till the middle of March, +<i>sickness</i> commits its greatest ravages, especially among heath +sheep, from their being more confined than others to dry binding +provender. Frozen grass is also a common exciting cause, rapidly +inducing inflammation by lowering the temperature of the stomachs so +very much as to arrest digestion, and lead to its acting as an +irritant. The succulent grass in the sheltered hollows of mountains is +more liable to frost than a sapless herbage, and to it, owing to its +moisture, the young sheep resort, devouring it eagerly to assuage their +thirst. Braxy, however, may arise from other and more obvious causes. +The sheep, perhaps when heated by rash dogging, is suddenly chilled by +exposure to a shower, or a plunge in a morass, and if the bowels be at +the time any way bound up, immediate mischief cannot but ensue. One of +the rarest accidents to which it has been attributed is the prevention +of the passage of the fæces by a knot, or intussusception, forming on +the intestines, but this occurrence would be of difficult discovery, +and even if made known, our treatment, though not differing much from +that of braxy, could hardly be successful. +</p> + +<p> +(128.) <i>Treatment of Braxy.</i> Recovery is in many instances almost +hopeless, owing to the length of time which in general elapses between +the onset of the disease and the shepherd's discovery of the animal. +Nevertheless, the best treatment ought in every instance to have a +proper trial, as life may often be saved when such a result is least +expected. Many plans have been resorted to, but none are found to suit +so well as that of bleeding and purging. The first thing to be +attempted is the procuring of a copious flow of blood, but, as before +mentioned, this is a difficult matter, owing to the stagnant state of +the circulation at the surface of the body. Its abstraction may, +however, be rendered easy, by placing the sheep in a tub of warm water, +or, where this cannot be procured, by rolling a blanket wrung out of +hot water round the body of the animal. The tub of water should always +be preferred, and the moment the sheep is placed in it, the tail should +be nicked, and one or both jugular veins opened. +</p> + +<p> +Retain the sheep in the bath for half an hour, adding hot water from +time to time, so as to sustain the original temperature. This of itself +will alleviate the sufferings of the animal. +</p> + +<p> +When a copious flow of blood has been obtained, remove the sheep from +the tub, and administer two ounces of Glauber's or Epsom salt, +dissolved in warm water, substituting a handful of common salt when +these cathartics cannot be procured. It is needless to give a purgative +without bleeding, as, till this is done, it will not operate. When in +spite of this the bowels continue obstinately constipated, give a +glyster of tobacco decoction, made by boiling a drachm of the leaf (the +full of a pipe will do) for a few minutes in a pint of water. Half of +this only should be injected, using the other if circumstances require +it. Place the sheep in a house, or any comfortable situation, bed it +with straw, throw a horse-rug over it, and promote the purging by warm +gruels. When out of danger supply it with moderate quantities of +laxative provender, and keep it for ten days apart from its fellows, by +which time it will, in all likelihood, be well recruited. +</p> + +<p> +(129.) <i>Prevention of Braxy.</i> Change of pasture will at once +suggest itself. Let it be to a succulent one, on which old sheep have +been for some time feeding; the hogs will thus be hindered from filling +their paunches too rapidly. But, if heathy food is the staple +provender, allow your sheep four or five hours of turnips in the +twenty-four, permitting at the same time free access to common salt. +These, from their laxative effects, will serve as antidotes to the dry +sapless grasses, which have led to the disease. Such places as mossy +soils, abounding in evergreen plants, will also serve the purpose. Burn +your ley heather, as nothing is more decidedly prejudicial, not only +from its constipating qualities, but also from being surrounded by a +grass, which is so much relished by the sheep, that they resort to the +spot long after it has been eaten to the quick, and devour in their +eagerness much that is foul and unwholesome from frequent puddling. You +thus obtain a good supply of sprouts, as invaluable for opening +qualities, as the old heather is to be dreaded for its astringency. +Finally, be aware that careful herding is not the least efficacious of +preventives; a quiet, even-tempered, and thoughtful shepherd, being +here of far more value than the stores of the apothecary. +</p> + +<p> +(130.) <i>Pining.</i> <i>Symptoms and Causes.</i> The name has arisen +from the rapid wasting, which is a prominent symptom in this complaint. +A farm can hardly be subject to a more ruinous distemper, as the same +sheep will be affected by it year after year, and if a ewe be attacked +during autumn it is ten to one she will not have a lamb in the ensuing +season. Pining only seizes on thriving sheep, preferring young ones, +those more especially of the larger breeds, and is confined to farms +where the land is principally micaceous and covered with occasional +stripes of benty grasses. A whole flock sickens at once, their usual +alacrity appears to have deserted them, their eyes are dull, and the +whole animal seems weary and languid. At a more advanced stage the wool +acquires a bluish tinge, the blood becomes thick, diminishing in +quantity, and the muscles assume a pale and bloodless appearance. The +bowels are constipated, and to this the feverish symptoms apparently +owe their origin. If the disease progress, death will ensue in about a +month.<a href="#note28" name="noteref28"> +<small>[28]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(131.) <i>Treatment and Prevention.</i> The first object is to obtain a +free discharge from the bowels by means of purgatives, as, whenever a +flux appears, the animal is safe. Two ounces of Castor oil given in a +gruel, or the same quantity of Epsom salts, will do, care being taken +that the purging be carried to some length. +</p> + +<p> +Removal to a rich pasture is the only preventive. That pasture should +be preferred which contains a good proportion of bitter plants, for the +emaciation appears to be owing in a considerable degree to torpor of +the bowels occasioned by long abstinence from these necessaries. +</p> + +<p> +(132.) <i>Staggers.</i> The symptoms nearly resemble those of sturdy, +which I have afterwards to describe, and with which indeed I might have +classed it, were it not that it appears to be merely the result of a +poisonous plant being taken into the stomach. It is rarely seen +hereabouts; I shall, therefore, quote the account of it presented to +the Highland Society by Mr Stevenson:—"This is a disease seldom or +never affecting the sheep in this country, those excepted which feed in +forests, or amongst planting. The symptoms of it are more violent than +those of sturdy, during the time of their continuance. The animal, +after staggering for some time, falls on the ground, when a general +trembling comes on over the limbs; they are violently convulsed, and +quite insensible to every thing. During the continuance of the paroxysm +they throw the body into various positions, and sometimes roll to a +considerable distance. The fit continues for a quarter, sometimes half +an hour, or an hour. When they rise, they seem perfectly bewildered, +till they regain the flock, when they continue to feed well, till +another paroxysm supervenes. This disease appears in Autumn, and +various causes are said to produce it. Improper food, the leaves of the +oak, from their astringent quality, cobwebs sprinkled with dew, have +all been reckoned as causes. I am inclined, however, to suppose, that +it arises from the action of a poisonous grass (<i>Lolium +temulentum</i>), which is the only one of that description in this +country, and grows only in those situations where staggers prevail. +What effect these causes have on the brain to produce this disease, I +cannot explain. When it continues for any time on the same individual, +it is apt to be fatal." +</p> + +<p> +"Change of pasture is the only effectual cure for it." +</p> + +<p> +(133.) <i>Diarrhœa.</i> By this is meant a constant purging, +affecting the younger portions of the flock between April and June, +leading to great emaciation, and proceeding from one of the following +causes. +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + 1st. Eating a soft tathy pasture, particularly if fouled by the + inundations of the previous winter. +</p> + +<p> + 2d. Feeding on too rich a pasture, or a sudden change from an + herbage deficient in nutritive qualities, to one that is much + superior. +</p> + +<p> + 3d. Transitions from heat to cold. +</p> + +<p> + 4th. Weakness and relaxation of the bowels. +</p> +</div> +<p> +(134.) <i>Treatment of Diarrhœa.</i> When either of the first two +causes has given rise to purging, a moderate allowance of good hay will +gradually stop it. This may be discontinued when the sheep has +<i>taken</i> with its altered fare. +</p> + +<p> +When diarrhœa has been occasioned by exposure to damp, or sudden +transitions from heat to cold, it may be arrested by keeping the animal +in a house for a few days, and feeding it on any dry aliment, but when +crude trashy matter has been swallowed, and keeps up irritation by its +presence, medicine must be resorted to. Administer an ounce of castor +oil in gruel, adding twenty drops of Laudanum if there has been +straining or evidences of pain. When the bowels have been <i>thoroughly +cleared</i> by this cathartic, it will be proper, if the discharge +still continue, to check it by astringents. The medicine found by +experience to answer best, is prepared as follows:— +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>Logwood four ounces,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Extract of Catechu (Japan earth) one drachm,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Cinnamon two drachms,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Water three English pints.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +Boil for a quarter of an hour, strain, and then add sixty drops of +Laudanum. Administer half an English pint of this night and morning so +long as the flux continues. +</p> + +<p> +Diarrhœa seldom proves fatal, and is indeed an easily managed +disease; but as it is frequently only a symptom of some other +affection, or a critical effort of the constitution to ward off some +more serious mischief, the attempts at stopping it should always be +cautiously conducted. +</p> + +<p> +(135.) <i>Dysentery.—Symptoms.</i> The pulse is quick and the +respirations hurried. The skin is harsh and hot, and the wool in +general clapped. The mouth is dry, the eyes red and languid, and the +ears drooping. Food is taken only in small quantities and rumination is +stopped. The discharges from the bowels are frequent, slimy, sometimes +green, and a little further on in the disease are mixed with blood. The +belly is drawn towards the back. It is knotted and lumpy to the touch +and a rumbling noise (<i>borborygmus</i>) is heard within it. As a +careless observer might have some difficulty in distinguishing +dysentery from diarrhœa the following diagnostic summary, drawn up +by Professor Duncan, will be found of service. +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + 1. Diarrhœa attacks chiefly hogs and weak gimmers and dinmonts; + whereas dysentery is frequent among older sheep. +</p> + +<p> + 2. Diarrhœa almost always occurs in the spring, and ceases about + June, when dysentery only commences. +</p> + +<p> + 3. In diarrhœa there is no fever or tenesmus, or pain before the + stools, as in dysentery. +</p> + +<p> + 4. In diarrhœa the fæces are loose, but in other respects + natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery, the + fæces consists of hard lumps passed occasionally without any blood + or slime. +</p> + +<p> + 5. There is not that degree of fœtor in the fæces in diarrhœa + which takes place in dysentery. +</p> + +<p> + 6. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone, in diarrhœa it is + rather sharper than usual. +</p> + +<p> + 7. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly, but by diarrhœa only + a temporary stop is put to its thriving, after which it makes rapid + advances to strength, vigour and proportion. +</p> +</div> +<p> +If dysentery continue to advance it will terminate fatally within a +fortnight. Death is generally preceded by the "<i>black scour</i>," +which is only an aggravation of the purging, the stools being mixed +with shreds of dark gangrenous matter from the decomposed interior of +the intestines. +</p> + +<p> +(136.) <i>Causes of Dysentery.</i> Many absurd opinions have gone +abroad regarding the contagious nature of this affection. Contagion, +however, has nothing to do with the matter, the spread of the disease +depending entirely on the state of the atmosphere and the nature of the +locality. When dysentery occurs the weather is usually sultry, the +ground upon which the flock has been going, foul, and the management of +the sheep so improper, as to be sufficient of itself to produce the +disease very generally. There is in fact only one proof of a disease +being infectious, viz., its immediate occurrence on the introduction of +an affected animal among such as are in good health, on sound food, and +in easy circumstances. This proof, however, in regard to dysentery has +never been established, and no medical person will now affirm that it +is contagious. Some think that it travels from flock to flock in the +direction of the wind, but its appearing simultaneously in many folds +ought rather to be charged to the fact of the predisposing causes being +nearly similar in all. +</p> + +<p> +(137.) <i>Treatment of Dysentery.</i> Bleed freely if the disease has +continued only for a few days, but moderately if a longer time has +unfortunately elapsed. Stoving, by which is meant shutting the animal +in a wash-house, and allowing the apartment to become filled with +steam, though urged by some writers, cannot here be recommended. The +intended object is the promotion of perspiration, by exciting the +action of the skin, but this may be brought about by means much more +conducive to the safety of the animal. After the bleeding immerse the +sheep in a tub of hot water, and retain it there for twenty minutes; +then administer an ounce of Castor oil, with thirty drops of Laudanum, +and cover the sheep up in a snug corner. After the oil has operated, +thin well-boiled flour-porridge, given at intervals, in small +quantities, will help to defend the ulcerated bowels, sooth the pain, +and stop the purging. If these fail, you may use the astringent mixture +recommended in diarrhœa at page 175, and in the same manner, adding +to each dose a grain of ipecacuanha. When the appetite returns, and the +stools begin to acquire consistency, speedy recovery may be +prognosticated. +</p> + +<p> +During recovery part of the wool always falls off. +</p> + +<p> +(138.) <i>Prevention of Dysentery.</i> If you wish your sheep to take +the disease, do as some wiseacres recommend—put tar upon their tails, +and noses; you will thus render them feverish, and uncomfortable, and +every way fit for an attack. +</p> + +<p> +Gathering sheep into confined places is always bad, nothing will tend +more to ward off dysentery than an open frequently-changed easy-lying +pasture, combined with gentle usage on the part of the shepherd. +</p> + + +<p class="ctrspace"> +DISEASES OF THE SKIN. +</p> + +<p> +(139.) <i>Scab, or Itch.</i>—<i>Symptoms and Causes.</i> These are so +well known that they hardly merit a description. Little white specks +appear upon the wool, and are soon followed by a small pustule at the +root. The pustules are produced by a minute insect burrowing in the +skin, which accounts for one external application of any active +substance being sufficient to eradicate the malady. The infected sheep +is restless, tearing off the wool with its teeth, and rubbing itself +against every resisting body. The skin is red and fretted, discharging +an ichor which hardens into crusts. These gradually extend, inducing a +premature failure of the wool. +</p> + +<p> +If the sheep be not relieved, it sinks under its accumulated miseries. +</p> + +<p> +Scab was little known any where, but in the Highlands, and the south of +England, till the good old custom of smearing with tar and butter gave +way before the elegant modern innovations. Into flocks anointed in the +old manner it may be carried by infection, but will seldom or never +arise spontaneously among them. +</p> + +<p> +It usually commences in spring among hogs, making its first appearance +among the rams, especially those of the fine-woolled breeds, and is +supposed to be induced by overheating, want, or even excess of +nutriment, or pasturing on wet lands in rainy seasons. +</p> + +<p> +(140.) <i>Treatment of Itch.</i> Subject the flock to a minute +examination whenever the movements of any animal excite suspicion, and +remove every one that is in the least affected. Place them in a +separate enclosure, and apply either of the following recipes. +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>Mercurial Ointment four pounds,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Venice Turpentine half a pound,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Oil of Turpentine one pint:</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +mix thoroughly. +</p> + +<p> +Separate the wool from the head to the tail and draw the fore finger +loaded with a portion of the ointment, along the bottom of the groove. +Then make lines from the middle of the back down each leg and score +them in the same manner, thus concluding the operation. Some farmers +prefer rubbing the size of a walnut of the ointment into the delicate +skin inside the thigh. The former plan is, however, the better of the +two, and is the one recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, who communicated +the recipe to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, +and Commerce, in the 7th volume of whose transactions it was published. +</p> + +<p> +A most important benefit to be derived from the application of the +mercurial ointment, is the security it affords the sheep from the +attack of the sheep fag or ked (<i>Hippobosca ovina</i>). The wool of +sheep annoyed by this fly always contains joints or knots, owing to the +occasional stoppage of its growth consequent on the fretting of the +irritated animal. On this account dealers in wool are said to give a +higher price for fleeces having the mercurial tinge, as they are +supposed to be sound in the pile from having been exempted from the +fly. +</p> + +<p> +The next prescription is one of very great efficacy where the disease +has reached the length of scabs, and has, with many variations, gone +the round of almost every agricultural publication. The form I prefer +is one submitted to me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, near Dumfries, +who at one time, several years ago, applied it with immediate good +effects, to six hundred infected sheep. +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>Tobacco scrapings one pound,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Strong decoction of Broom six gallons:</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +boil for half an hour, and then add three English pints of spirit of +tar. +</p> + +<p> +This quantity is sufficient to cover two dozen of sheep. The scabs, if +large, should be raised a little with a knife to permit the free +contact of the fluid, and no more of it should be applied than is here +directed; for though it be in this dose comparatively harmless, a very +small addition will destroy the animal. +</p> + +<p> +A very good French remedy is made by melting a pound of fat or suet, +and mixing with it (when off the fire) a fourth part of oil of +turpentine. Rub it into the affected parts. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever outward means may be employed, laxative medicines ought never +to be neglected. One of the best and most generally used, consists of a +tea-spoonful of flour of sulphur, given for two or three successive +nights in double the quantity of molasses. +</p> + +<p> +If ill-conditioned sheep are the victims of itch, convey them to a +better pasture, but where the animals are fat, reduce their diet, and +give each a dose of Epsom salts. +</p> + +<p> +(141.) <i>Prevention of Itch.</i> Do not turn a healthy flock on to +pasture, from which itchy sheep have recently been driven. If the +disease occasionally breaks out on your ground, apply the mercurial +ointment at clipping time: and, when you salve, add a pound of sulphur +to every tub of smearing composition whatever it may be. +</p> + +<p> +(142.) <i>Erysipelas or wild-fire.</i> This is an inflammatory +affection of the skin, sometimes accompanied by blebs or blisters, +occurring in August and September, and spreading rapidly through a +flock. Though there is considerable ambiguity in the employment of +these terms, I believe they are synonymous with red-water, the disease +of which I have next to treat. +</p> + +<p> +(143.) <i>Red-water.</i> The occurrence of this disease among sheep is +very rare. Its nature and treatment are however allowed, by those who +have seen it, to be admirably described by Mr Stevenson, in the 3d vol. +of the <i>Highland Society's Transactions</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"This disease commonly makes its appearance about the beginning, or end +of winter, and first affects about the breast and belly, although at +times it spreads itself over other parts of the body. It consists in an +inflammation of the skin, that raises it into blisters which contain a +thin, reddish, and watery fluid. These continue for a short time, +break, discharge their matter, and are followed by a blackish scab. +When the sheep are exposed to cold or wetness, the skin being fretted +makes the blisters rise, or they often arise from cold, affecting the +animal internally, thus producing a slight fever, which throws out +these vesicles on the body, similar to the scabby eruptions, which +appear about the face, and more particularly the mouth of those persons +affected with cold. The blood in this disease is but little affected, +though a little of it oozes into the vesicles on the skin, and +communicates to them that reddish tinge, which gives origin to the +name. +</p> + +<p> +"Red-water is a disease that but seldom appears in this country, and is +almost never fatal. In cases where the disease is violent, a little +blood should be taken. <span class="asterisk">* * * *</span> The sheep should be placed in a fold by +itself, <span class="asterisk">* * * *</span> and the following medicine may be given for three or +four mornings successively:— +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>Flour of Sulphur two ounces,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Molasses three ounces:</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +mix them, and divide them into six doses, of which one may be given +every morning, in half a pound (half a mutchkin) of warm water. If this +is found unsuccessful, half an ounce of nitre, mixed with the foregoing +recipe, will be attended with good effects; after which, a dose of +salts may be given, and the body washed with lime-water upon the part +affected." +</p> + +<p> +(144.) <i>Leg Evil.</i>—<i>Symptoms and Causes.</i> Like many other +diseases, this is usually supposed to be contagious, merely because it +often spreads quickly through a flock; the obvious fact of the exposure +of the animals composing it to the same causes, such as peculiar diet +and atmospheric variations, being entirely overlooked; but, as I have +already remarked in paragraph (136), the only proof of a disease being +contagious, is its spreading rapidly on the introduction, from a +distance, of an infected individual into a previously-healthy flock. +</p> + +<p> +Sheep which acquire fat at an early age, are peculiarly liable to this +disease: a sufficient argument, if all others were wanting, against the +unnatural and foolish practice of accumulating a load of grease on the +bodies of young animals. By so doing, the action of the heart and lungs +is materially embarrassed, and, on the animal being chilled, or the +balance of its circulation otherwise accidentally deranged, +mortification (leg evil) is almost certain to occur. Even simple +scratches are often fatal in these over-fat animals, from inducing +gangrene. +</p> + +<p> +The first intimation the shepherd has of the approach of leg evil, is +the occurrence of fever and lameness, accompanied by blue or livid +patches on the leg, generally about the upper part of the hoof or knee. +The skin on the affected parts, in a few days, exhibits scattered +vesicles, not unlike the blebs which form in erysipelas; it then gives +way, and the parts beneath are seen of a darker tinge, soft, pulpy, and +completely gangrenous. +</p> + +<p> +Leg evil may prove fatal in a few days, or not for several weeks, much +depending on the extent of the sloughing portions, which may include +the entire leg, or legs, or may be limited to a single patch. +</p> + +<p> +(145.) <i>Treatment of Leg Evil.</i> When the animal is in high +condition, and the disease has arisen spontaneously, bleeding is the +first thing to be thought of. It must, however, be conducted +cautiously, it being better to use the lancet a second time, than, by +withdrawing too much blood, to reduce the vital powers below the +standard which is necessary for replacing the gangrenous portions. +Should a leg be affected to any extent, the sheep must be at once +destroyed, as there is scarcely a possibility of its surviving, without +a degree of care and nicety in the treatment, which it is beyond the +power of unprofessional persons to bestow. Where the livid spots are +limited, rags dipped in spirit of turpentine, which has been heated by +immersing the bottle containing it in hot water, may be laid upon the +skin; but when dead portions have begun to separate, the best +application is either a warm poultice, made of carrots, which have been +boiled and mashed, or one made of boiled oatmeal, which has been +fermented by adding to it a table-spoonful of yeast, and placing it for +an hour before a fire. When the sore is becoming clean, and the +granulations are rising freely, pursue the methods recommended in +paragraph (110). +</p> + +<p> +(146.) <i>Prevention of Leg Evil.</i> Remove the diseased animals from +the flock, and, in dressing their sores, never use a sponge, or any +thing which, from its value, is apt to be preserved, and, perhaps, +applied in no long time to the cuts or scratches of a healthy animal; +for, though leg evil is not communicable by ordinary means, yet is it +readily excited by inoculation, or the application of putrid matter to +a broken surface. If the odour from the affected parts is any way +offensive, wash them with, and sprinkle round the fold, either a weak +solution of <i>chloride of lime</i>, or the disinfecting liquid of +Labarraque, articles which may now be procured from every provincial +apothecary. Finally, let the shepherd <i>wash his hands carefully</i> +before going from diseased to healthy sheep, using, if need be, a +little of either of these solutions; and let him look well to any +injuries which his charges may receive in July, August, and September, +for these are the months most favourable to the occurrence of leg evil. +</p> + +<p> +(147). <i>Inflammation caused by Maggots.</i> The insects passing under +the name of "Fly," though most troublesome in August, attack the sheep +from the month of May to September, inclusive, depositing their eggs +among the wool, in general about the tail, the roots of the horns, or +any part which affords, from its filthy appearance, a prospect of +suitable provision for the maggot. When these eggs are hatched, a +process which is, in sultry weather, almost instantaneous, the maggot +erodes the skin, and speedily brings the adjacent parts into a fit +condition for the reception of succeeding numbers of its species. +</p> + +<p> +The backs of long-woolled sheep are, from their exposure, more liable +to be selected by the flies, as a receptacle for their eggs, than the +corresponding parts in such as are covered by a short thick fleece. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner has the maggot begun its operations, than the sheep becomes +uneasy and restless, rubbing itself on stones and trees, and +endeavouring, by every means in its power to free itself from the +annoyance. Teazed by the constant irritation, fever soon sets in, and, +if the sheep be unrelieved by the shepherd's aid, death ensues in +four-and-twenty hours. +</p> + +<p> +It is only lately that attention has been paid to the history of the +insect pests which originate the mischief, so little damage do they +appear to have occasioned in former periods. In a valuable paper, +containing the result of observations made on this subject in the +Highlands, and published in the second number of the <i>Quarterly +Journal of Agriculture</i>, they are thus described:— +</p> + +<p> +"The fly which is the immediate cause of this disease, seems, as far as +my observations could extend, to consist of four species, viz.—the +<i>Musca Ceasar</i>, <i>Cadaverina</i>, <i>Vomitoria</i>, and +<i>Carnaria</i>, of Linnæus. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +</p> + +<p> +"<i>M. Ceasar</i> is of a shining green colour. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>M. Cadaverina</i>, the thorax shining bluish, the abdomen green, +like the <i>Ceasar</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>M. Vomitoria</i>, thorax black, or dark-blue grey, abdomen dark +glossy blue. This is the common <i>Blue-Bottle</i> or <i>Flesh-fly</i>. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>M. Carnaria</i>, grey; the thorax has three black longitudinal +markings on the upper surface; the abdomen is checquered, in some +positions shining whitish. +</p> + +<p> +"In all those instances in which I observed them, the green flies were +the first to attack, and this is the common opinion among the +shepherds. After a time, when the larvæ (maggots) commenced gnawing the +flesh, the putrid stench, which was thereby occasioned, attracted +numerous other species. The <i>Vomitoria</i> (<i>blue-bottle</i>) was +very common, more numerous than both the former species, and perhaps +contributed most to accelerate the death of the animal, after the +others had commenced. The <i>Carnaria</i> was rare. I observed but few +of them, and these seemed not concerned; which is the more remarkable, +as in the fenny counties of England it is said to be most troublesome. +All the species of this genus resemble one another closely, both in +appearance and mode of life. They are exceedingly voracious, feeding +upon carcasses and filth of every description. In five days after being +hatched they arrive at full growth, provided they have plenty of food; +they then cease to eat, and seek to assume the pupa state, crawling +under ground two or three inches. Here they remain about fourteen days, +when the shell cracks, and the imago, or fly, appears. In this last +state, they feed also on putrid juices, sucking them through their +probosces." +</p> + +<p> +The correctness of this description of their transformations I can +attest, from having watched their habits during my anatomical pursuits +in the summer months. +</p> + +<p> +(148.) <i>Treatment of Fly-blown Sheep.</i> When the sheep is +fly-blown, dislodge the maggots with a knife, and shake a little +powdered white lead into the wound. Do not apply tar to the abraded +surface, as, from its cauterizing effects, the wound will be enlarged, +and a repetition of the visit speedily ensured. To ward off the onset +of the flies, various substances noxious to them are rubbed or poured +upon the wool. Tar, in small quantities, and of pungent quality, is by +some daubed upon the ears, horns, and tail. Others prefer rubbing a +little melted butter, thickened by flour of sulphur, along the sheep's +back: this is an effectual preventive. Some, again, prefer dressing the +sheep, when in low situations, with the following recipe, which I take +the liberty of copying from Mr Mather's paper on the fly, in the +<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, No. XXIV. +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>"Take of</td> +<td>Arsenic, finely pounded, one pound</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Potash twelve ounces,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Common yellow soap six ounces,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Rain or river water thirty gallons.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +"Boil the ingredients together for fifteen minutes. <span class="asterisk">* * * *</span> The liquid +is in no degree injurious to wool. It cleans and dries the offensive +perspiration of the sheep, and destroys the smell caused by the dew in +the mornings, or by damp hot weather. In most situations, one dressing +in July and another in August will suffice; but as the expense is +trifling, and the process simple, it may be better to apply it more +frequently, especially in low and damp situations." The liquid is +applied only in dry weather. A teapot, or any vessel of a similar form, +is filled with it, and one person pours it on the wool, while another +rubs the fleece to facilitate the passage of the fluid. At the times of +using the solution, all superfluous wool ought to be shorn from the +buttocks, but not too closely. +</p> + +<p> +When the insects are very troublesome, drive the sheep if possible to +higher ground. Examine carefully all wounds and ulcers, however +trifling, and dress them with any simple ointment containing a small +proportion of sulphur, mercury, or white-lead. Lastly, bury all useless +carcasses as speedily as possible, by which means you will keep down +the number of the flies. +</p> + +<p> +(149.) <i>The Sheep-Fag or Ked</i> (<i>Hippobosca ovina</i>) and <i>The +Tick</i> (<i>Acarus reduvius</i>), are destroyed or stopped in their +attacks by the same remedies and preventives detailed in the preceding +paragraphs on the fly. +</p> + +<p> +(150.) <i>Inflammation produced by the Œstrus bovis.</i> This insect +infests not only cattle but also sheep and goats, depositing its eggs +on the back of the animal, where it forms a small tumour, in which the +larvæ remain from autumn till the commencement of the ensuing summer. +Only the fattest and most vigorous animals are attacked, and the larvæ +are very difficult to destroy. Fischer found, from numerous +experiments, that even spirits, and a strong solution of salt, could +not affect them. The fumes of burning sulphur alone seemed to annoy +them, and to it they speedily fell victims. This, however, is a remedy +which cannot be applied to the skin of the sheep, so that our only +resource is the repeated application of turpentine to the tumours on +the back, taking care to slit them up so as to facilitate its action. +</p> + +<p> +(151.) <i>Sore Teats.</i> When a ewe is observed to hinder the lamb +from sucking, its teats should be examined. If much inflamed, a +poultice should be applied, and the lamb placed under the charge of +another nurse. Suppuration will thus be promoted, and the matter may be +allowed to escape by making an opening for it at the place it points. +If there is only a little tenderness of the skin, all that is required +is the washing it with a solution either of sugar of lead or sulphate +of zinc, eight grains to the ounce of water. +</p> + +<p> +(152.) <i>Foot-rot.</i> No disease occasions more acute suffering to +the sheep, and annoyance to the farmer, than foot-rot, and no disease +has led to longer arguments as to its contagious or non-contagious +nature. Thanks, however, to Mr Dick of Edinburgh, these disputes are +closed for ever, as any one may be convinced, by perusing his clever +and sarcastic paper at page 852, Vol. ii. of the <i>Quarterly Journal +of Agriculture</i>. His excellent remarks on the popular ideas of the +infectious nature of foot-rot, I have not space to quote, but shall lay +before the reader his views as to the situations and circumstances +which give origin to the disease.<a href="#note29" name="noteref29"> +<small>[29]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(153.) <i>Causes of Foot-rot.</i> "What do we gain," says Mr Dick, "by +enticing the sheep from his native and natural haunts to the richer +pasturage of our meadows or lawns? There the animal enjoys a more +luxuriant repast; it fattens to a larger size, and will, in this +respect, repay the increased allowance which has been made to it. But +instead of moving about in small troops, with the alacrity of the wild +kinds, the sheep are seen in flocks of thousands, moving slowly over +their pastures, and gorging themselves to an extent which cuts short +the thread of life, by the advancement of various diseases. Instead of +wandering from the summit of one peak to another, in quest of a scanty +subsistence, or instead of being compelled to descend from the summits +of the mountain in the morning, and ascend again in the evening, they +are compelled, in many cases, to remain within a few yards of a +particular spot for weeks together, and there engorge themselves to +satiety. +</p> + +<p> +"But what, it may be asked, has this to do with the foot-rot? More, I +am inclined to think, than is generally imagined. The hoofs of the +sheep being intended to receive a degree of friction from hard +surfaces, are not acted upon when the animal is placed under such +circumstances; and the necessary consequence is an overgrowth of the +hoof. The crust,—the part naturally intended to support the weight of +the animal, and to endure the greatest share of fatigue,—is here +allowed to grow out of all due bounds, because the softness of the +pasturages, upon which it now moves, presents little, if any, of that +rough friction to which the feet of the animal is naturally intended to +be exposed. The crust, therefore, grows unrestrained, until it either +laps over the sole, like the loose sole of an old shoe, and serves to +retain and accumulate earth and filth, or is broken off in detached +parts, in some cases exposing the quick, or opening new pores, into +which the particles of earth or sand force their way, until reaching +the quick, an inflammation is set up, which, in its progress, alters or +destroys the whole foot." +</p> + +<hr class="short"> + +<p> +"The finest and richest old pastures and lawns are particularly liable +to this disease; soft, marshy, and luxuriant meadows are equally so; +and it is also found in light, soft or sandy districts. In the first of +these it is perhaps most prevalent in a moist season, and in the latter +in a dry one; in short, it exists to a greater or less extent in every +situation which has a tendency to increase the growth of the hoofs +without wearing them away, and more especially where they are kept soft +by moisture. It is so prevalent in fine lawns and pleasure grounds, +that they are, in many instances, reduced in value to a mere trifle as +a pasture for sheep; they are said to be <i>infected</i> with this +disease, and having once become so, the vicissitudes of <i>seven</i> +seasons are scarcely sufficient to destroy the contagion! A luxuriant +herbage, on soft pastures, is equally subject to it; and, in both +cases, the disease is increased in a wet season. +</p> + +<p> +"The reason why, in these situations, sheep are so liable to the +disease, is quite obvious. They are generally brought from lands where +their range of pasturage was greater than in these situations. In their +former state, from the exercise which the animal took, and the nature +of the grounds on which it pastured, the hoof was worn down as it grew; +but, under the state in question, the hoofs not only continue to grow, +but, where the land is moist, that growth is greatly increased; and the +animal does not tread upon hard ground, nor has it exercise to wear +them down. Now, in the case of man himself, when the nails of his +fingers or toes exceed the proper length, they break, or give him such +uneasiness as to induce him to pare them. And the same takes place with +the hoof of sheep. But there is this difference in the case of the +latter, that when their hoof once breaks, as the animal has not the +power of paring it, the part thus broken must continue a wound. Some +parts grow out of their natural and proper proportions; the crust of +the hoof (<i>c.c.</i>) grows too long; and the overgrown parts either +break off in irregular rents and unnatural forms, or, by over-shooting +the sole (<i>s.</i>), allow small particles of sand or earth to enter +into the pores of the hoof. These particles reach the quick, and set up +an inflammation, which is followed by the destructive effects which are +too well known to require description. +</p> + +<p> +"Similar effects are produced on soft, wet grounds. The feet, in such a +situation, are not only not subject to a proper degree of friction to +wear down the hoofs, but the growth of the hoofs is materially +increased by the soft and moist state in which they are kept. And this +state renders the feet the more liable to the disease, as it opens up +the pores of the horn, and allows the earth or sand to penetrate, and +wound the quick, in the manner I have already stated. On soft sandy +ground, of a dry nature, the same circumstances may occur. The soft +sand gives way by the weight of the animal, and the crust of the hoof +is not worn down. The sand penetrates between the sole and the crust, +as has been already explained, and produces inflammation. The disease, +however, is not so common on sand as in the other situations to which I +have alluded, the sand seldom being found in such a loose state." +</p> + +<p> +Another variety of foot-rot is produced by the friction of long grass +between the hoofs, but is mostly confined to hill sheep, when first +pastured on lowland districts. These animals, from having been +accustomed to collect their food on extensive ranges of bare pasture, +are more exposed than heavy breeds to this frequent exciting cause of +the complaint. The rubbing of the grass frets the skin in the cleft of +the hoof, the gland in that situation swells, becomes enlarged, and +suppurates, and in no long time the animal is compelled to rest upon +its knees.<a href="#note30" name="noteref30"> +<small>[30]</small></a> This complaint is, however, more readily remedied than +the former, and does not cause nearly so much suffering to the sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(154.) <i>Treatment and Prevention of Foot-rot.</i> As foot-rot, in +nine cases out of ten, is an attempt on the part of nature to get rid +of a portion of the hoof, which ought, in the proper course of things, +to have been worn away as fast as it appeared, the prevention and +treatment of the first stage of the complaint will naturally suggest +themselves. "As this disease," says Mr Dick, at the conclusion of the +aforementioned paper, "arises in consequence of the hoofs not being +exposed to sufficient friction to wear them down, or keep them in their +proper state, or where their natural growth is increased by the nature +and moisture of the ground, the hoofs of all the flock should be +regularly rasped or pared at short intervals, say from eight days to a +fortnight, according to the rapidity with which a particular pasture +produces the disease. In certain situations, they might be made to +travel upon a hard surface, similar to natural sheep tracts, or be +folded in a place purposely prepared, upon which they could move about +and wear their hoofs. For that purpose, they should be placed in it +every day." +</p> + +<p> +When foot-rot has fairly commenced, pare the hoof from the affected +part, and trim away any ragged portions, wash the foot with soap and +water, and place the animal in a situation where as few irritating +things as possible will be in the way of the tender surface, and give a +purgative. If not properly attended to, the suppuration soon terminates +in mortification. Cleanliness in every stage and variety of foot-rot, +is of the first importance. Many corrosive preparations are recommended +for the cure of this disease, but I have decided objections to one and +all of them. When the foot is clean, endeavour, by frequent +applications of soap and water, to keep and treat the ulcers as +directed in paragraph 110. +</p> + +<p> +(155.) <i>Inflammation produced by Insects in the Air Passages.</i> +Much annoyance is caused to the sheep by the presence of animals in the +air passages. The <i>Œstrus ovis</i> deposits its eggs on the margin +of the nostril in autumn; these are soon hatched, and the larvæ +immediately find their way up the interior of the nose, till they +arrive at the frontal sinus, a cavity situated between the layers of +the frontal bone, and of considerable size in the sheep. Here they +remain till the following spring, when they quit their hold, become +winged insects, and enter upon the career of torment so ably gone +through by their predecessors. +</p> + +<p> +The <i>Pentastoma</i>, an animal supposed at one time only to exist in +the frontal sinus and lungs, and on the surface of the liver, of the +dog, wolf, and horse, as well as in some reptiles, has been discovered +by an able naturalist, my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, in the frontal +sinus of the sheep. It spends its whole existence there, and is +distinguished from other entozoa by having the mouth between two pores +on each side, through which a spicular process comes out. Figure 3, +Plate VII. is taken from a drawing kindly furnished by Mr Rhind. +</p> + +<p> +(156.) <i>Removal of Insects from the Nostril.</i> The <i>Œstrus +ovis</i> occasions much distress to the sheep at the moment of +depositing its eggs within the nostril. The animal on feeling the +movements of the fly, rubs its nose against the ground, or, carrying it +low, darts off at a rapid pace, vainly endeavouring to escape from its +tormentor. During this period, a thin limpid fluid distils from the +nostrils, leading a careless observer to confound the symptoms with +those which accompany Coryza. In general the irritation is now +terminated, as, while in the larvæ state, the insects are incapable of +offensive measures. If they are clustered in considerable numbers in +the frontal sinuses, they will doubtless lead to great suffering, +parallel to what is recorded to have followed the nestling of insects +in the same situation in the human being; and it is, therefore, +advisable, when the cause of sturdy (paragraph 169) is in any way +doubtful, first to apply those substances to the nostril, which are +calculated to destroy both these larvæ and the <i>pentastoma</i>, +should they happen to be there. Tobacco smoke is the only available +remedy, and a very good one, being easily brought in contact with the +worms, and, when properly administered, certain in its effects. One +person secures the sheep holding the head in a convenient position, +while another, having half filled a pipe with tobacco, and kindled it +in the usual manner, places one or two folds of a handkerchief over the +opening of the bowl, then passes the tube a good way up the nostril, +applies his mouth to the covered bowl, and blows vigorously through the +napkin. When this has continued for a few seconds, the pipe is +withdrawn, and the operation repeated on the other nostril. +</p> + +<p> +The round hair-worm (<i>strongylus filaria</i>) has been found in great +numbers in the trachea and bronchii of calves by Camper, and of the +sheep by Daubeuton. It has also been found in the reed and duodenum of +the latter animal by Rudolphi. Two other species of the genus +<i>Strongle</i>, the <i>S. contortus</i> and <i>S. filicollis</i>, have +been detected in the sheep, the former in the belly, the latter in the +small intestines. They all appear to originate only in such sheep as +are exposed to the sapping influence of low damp situations, combined +with stinted diet. Those occuring in the air tubes give rise to +irritation, and a consequent harassing cough, which is only to be +arrested by removing the sheep to a dry airy locality, and a nutritious +pasture. Unless portions of the worms are thrown up during coughing, +they cannot be pronounced with confidence to exist, as the symptoms +which they produce are very similar to those which accompany the two +following diseases. +</p> + +<p> +(157.) <i>Coryza.</i> During the winter months, this affection is of +very frequent occurence among sheep; but health is only in a few +instances seriously affected. It is brought on by the exposure of the +animal to intense cold, or to sudden chills, after it has been heated. +In slight cases, the only annoyance to which the sheep is subjected, is +from matter accumulating in the nostril, and plugging up the orifice, +so that the poor creature is compelled to raise its head every three or +four minutes, and labour hard for breath.<a href="#note31" name="noteref31"> +<small>[31]</small></a> When the inflammation +extends further down the air tubes, the symptoms assume a severer type, +and death soon occurs, in general from suffocation. If the inflammation +of the bronchial tubes becomes chronic, that is to say, if it goes on +in a mild form for a length of time, pulmonary consumption (rot) will +in all probability succeed, and destroy the sheep in a more lingering +manner. +</p> + +<p> +(158.) <i>Treatment of Coryza.</i> Should this disease prevail in a +lenient form among your sheep, removal to a sheltered field, and a dose +of purgative medicine, are all that is required. If, however, the +feverish symptoms are severe, besides giving a purgative, bleed at the +outset of the disease, and administer ten grains of the following fever +powder, dissolved in a tea-cupful of warm water:— +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>powdered Digitalis (Foxglove) half a drachm.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Tartarized Antimony fifteen grains</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Nitre two drachms.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +Rub them well together, and divide the mixture into fifteen parts or +powders. Half an hour after the powder is swallowed, give the sheep a +basin of warm gruel, and repeat the powder at the end of six hours, if +the symptoms are not considerably abated. When the sheep is recovering, +keep it on juicy food, and do not expose it to inclement weather, as it +will be very liable to another and more severe attack. Those sheep +which are subject to cough on slight changes of temperature, should +always be picked out, fattened for the market, and disposed of at the +earliest opportunity, as they will, in all probability, sooner or +later, fall victims to the following disease. +</p> + +<p> +(159.) <i>Rot.</i> Every animal, from the serpent up to man, that is to +say, every animal possessed of lungs, is liable to <i>rot</i>. The +inelegance of the term might be overlooked, provided a precise meaning +were attached to it. Every one, however, seems to place some peculiar +signification, and to hang some favourite theory, upon it, so that +little wonder need be expressed either at the varying tenor of the +treatment, or at the unsatisfactory conclusions which have been drawn +regarding it. The word "<i>rot</i>," when employed in speaking of man, +implies what, in popular language, is called "<i>consumption</i>," and +is applied to that disease only when it affects the lungs. Thus the +fork-grinders of Sheffield, who, from the nature of their employment, +are much exposed to the exciting causes of consumption, and who, at an +early age, fall victims to it, are said, by the people of that town, to +die of rot. The term, however, so far as it has yet been used in +relation to the sheep, has figured as the representative of a host of +diseases, and, in becoming standard from frequent usage, has only +rendered confusion worse confounded. "<i>Rot</i>," says the late +Professor Coventry, in his <i>Introductory Discourses</i>, "is a word +which has been employed to express a variety of disorders affecting +this animal, with no small confusion and detriment. Indeed, in few +instances has senseless indiscrimination done more mischief; for means +inapt and injurious have been had recourse to, where skilful and timely +interference would have had the happiest effects. Sheep are sometimes +said to have the rot, when they labour under <i>phthisis pulmonalis</i> +(consumption of the lungs), which they do but rarely; or under +disorders of the liver, as <i>hepatitis chronica</i>, and that state of +the same organ produced, or attended by the <i>fasciolæ hepaticæ</i> +(fluke worms), <i>hydatides</i>, &c., which affections of the liver are +not unfrequent. But the most common rot is still another and very +distinct disorder, resembling, in many points, and probably the very +same in its nature with, <i>scorbutus</i> (scurvy) in the human +species, or that <i>miseranda lues</i>, that direful ruin of the +general health and constitution, which silently supervenes from +deficient or depraved aliment; and from which, as numerous observations +testify, every flock, every sufferer, may be recovered by simple means +seasonably used; but against which, in its advanced stage, all remedies +prove of no avail. Perhaps, as the last symptoms of debility are very +similar, and are most taken notice of by ordinary observers, the +different kinds of rot might conveniently enough pass under the names +of pulmonic, hepatic, and general rot." +</p> + +<p> +Setting aside, for the moment, the inaccuracy of part of the above +observations, I shall only remark, that, though Dr Coventry, in thus +calling attention to the conflicting state of opinions on the subject, +has accomplished much in reconciling discrepancies, he has still left +something to be done in simplifying the matter; while he has, at the +same time, rendered that something difficult of execution, from his own +high authority being associated with the blunder. The only way, +therefore, to remedy the thing, is to quit for the present the views of +that learned gentleman, while I endeavour to give a plain account of +the disease, its causes, and effects. +</p> + +<p> +(160.) <i>Symptoms of Rot.</i> The first thing which indicates the +presence of the disease, is the unwillingness of the affected animal to +move about. It lags behind the flock, ascends a slope with difficulty, +and has a listless, heavy, pithless appearance. Cough varying in +frequency and violence, but extremely harassing, is present at every +period of the disease, and is always increased on the slightest +exertion.<a href="#note32" name="noteref32"> +<small>[32]</small></a> At first this is accompanied by expectoration of the +mucus of the air tubes; but in no long time purulent matter, indicative +of more extensive inroads on the constitution, begins to be coughed up, +and goes on increasing in quantity and becoming worse in quality till +the termination of the disease. The wool becomes fine, white, thin, and +brittle in the pile, and is easily brought away in masses by the +slightest pull. The appetite is, throughout the disease, voracious, and +though all the bad symptoms may be present, still the animal keeps up +an appearance of plumpness. This, however, is hollow and deceitful, and +the rapid loss of flesh which immediately succeeds, shows with what +insidious certainty the malady has been progressing. Owing to the +falling off in flesh and in fat, the neck appears to have acquired +additional length, and the eyes to have sunk within the head. Sooner or +later the skin beneath the neck becomes distended with serous fluid, +and from this the disease has acquired the name of <i>Poke</i>. The +word, however, is far from applicable, as it might, with equal +propriety, stand for any other disease attended with dropsical +accumulations. Violent purging soon terminates the disease, death being +generally preceded by the evacuation of a quantity of blackish matter. +</p> + +<p> +(161.) <i>Appearances on Dissection.</i> The first thing which strikes +a person on viewing the carcass of a sheep which has died of rot, is +its leanness. In conducting the examination, the fell appears of a +bluish white, the muscles are pale and wasted, and fat hardly to be met +with. Where it once existed, a tough yellow substance alone remains, +which is so destitute of all pretentions to the name of suet, that it +cannot, even when thrown upon a fire, be made to blaze. Dropsical +accumulations are found in the legs, chest, neck, and belly. On opening +the chest, the lungs are often seen adhering at intervals to the lining +membrane of the ribs, and have always a shrunk, diminutive appearance. +These adhesions are frequently seen where there are no tubercles, and +are in that case simply the result of exposure to cold; but where they +are coincident with tubercles, they may be ascribed either to the +animal having been exposed to cold, or to the inflammatory action set +up by the tubercles themselves. The lungs are always the principal, and +I may also, from my own experience, add, the primary seat of the +affection. When examined in the early stage of rot, they have a hard +lumpy feel, especially at the upper part or lobe, and at this time a +great number of irregular yellowish white, patchy-looking bodies +(<i>Plate</i> VI. <i>fig. 2.</i>), will be seen shining through the +membrane, <i>pleura</i>, which surrounds the organ. These +<i>tubercles</i>, as the hard white bodies are called, vary in size +from that of a mustard seed to that of a pea. They are sprinkled +through all parts of the lung, and will in every dissection, be found +in a variety of stages, from the firm condition in which they were +deposited, to the softened state which denotes their speedy +expectoration. Each tubercle, however small, usually holds a particle +of calcareous matter in its centre. The lungs, in the advanced stage of +rot, will be full of cells or caverns, owing to the destruction of its +texture by suppuration in those parts where tubercles existed. The +cells or sacs are of all sizes, from that of a bean to that of a goose +egg; but if the animal has been taken care of during the progress of +the complaint, and lingered long, the abscesses will be so numerous, +and so closely situated, as to give the remains of the lung the +appearance of a large bag. Extreme cases of this nature are, however, +rare; as the sheep, in general, either falls before the knife, or is +killed from exposure to cold long ere the disease has reached its +farthest limit. These sacs contain purulent matter, of all shades and +odours, and identical with that which the animal coughed up. +</p> + +<p> +Tubercles, and all their concomitants as above detailed, are also met +with in the liver, though not so frequently as in the lungs. They +constantly occur in the <i>clyars</i> (mesenteric or lacteal glands) +which on this account are much above their usual size, and are +occasionally found in other parts; but I need not proceed in their +description, as sufficient has been said about them to enable the +unprofessional reader to understand their relation to the complaints. +</p> + +<p> +Fluke worms and hydatids are almost constant attendants on rot, and +seemingly most important ones, especially the former, which have, I may +say, kept a great bulk of the learned and unlearned for many years in a +perpetual bustle, and have so effectually hoodwinked writers on this +subject, as to prevent them seeing the truly important points in the +disease. For this reason, I hold them worthy of particular description; +as it is only by becoming acquainted with their history and habits that +we can form correct ideas either of their mode of origin or of their +supposed ability to cause rot. +</p> + +<p> +(162.) <i>The Liver Fluke</i> (<i>fasciola hepatica</i> or <i>distoma +hepaticum</i>, <i>Fig. 6.</i> <i>Plate</i> I.) derives its name from +the resemblance it bears to the plaice or flounder, though its shape +has been more aptly compared to that of a melon seed. It is flat and +oval, of a brownish-yellow colour, and varies in size from that of a +pin-head to one inch in length, and half an inch in breadth. Each worm +is bisexual or hermaphrodite, on which account they multiply with great +rapidity. The generic name—<i>distoma</i>—signifies having two pores, +<i>a.b. Fig. 6, Plate</i> I., and is for this reason applied to it. +The nipple-like body at the extremity <i>a.</i> contains the orifice of +the pore or opening leading to the female division of the generative +apparatus, situated between <i>a.</i> and <i>b.</i> In this cavity are +formed the eggs, which are at intervals protruded, to be hatched when +floating in the sheep's bile. The male organ is situated in front of +the ventral pore. The anterior opening <i>b.</i> is equivalent to a +mouth, and leads inwards and backwards, communicating with the +intestinal canals <i>c.</i>, which are easily made out in the recent +animal, from their containing dark bile, and which, as in other +creatures low in the scale of being, serve the double purpose of a +digestive and circulatory apparatus; that is to say, the stomach first +prepares a fluid which is equivalent to blood, and then distributes it +throughout the body.<a href="#note33" name="noteref33"> +<small>[33]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Flukes are never found in the <i>arteries</i> of the liver, as has been +erroneously stated by some writers, their abode being limited to the +gall bladder and its ducts. In these they are often present in such +numbers as to cause great distention of the sac and tubes, and in some +instances the irritation produced by them leads to the thickening of +the walls of the gall bladder, and to a deposition of calcareous matter +between its coats; frequently also to complete obliteration of portions +of the ducts. Hence the crackling sound sometimes perceived when +handling the liver of a rotten sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(163.) <i>The Hydatid or Blob</i> (<i>Cysticercus tumicollis</i>, +<i>Fig. 1.</i> <i>Plate</i> VII.) so frequently found in sheep, is in +form one of the simplest of the entozoa (literally dwellers within), +being little more than a bag containing a quantity of fluid. As relates +to outline, this hydatid bears no small resemblance to a Florence +flask. It is said to have a head, <i>h.</i>—a neck, <i>n.</i>—a body, +<i>b.</i>— and a posterior or caudal vesicle, <i>c.v.</i> Its claims +to the title of an animal have been much disputed, but as it has been +seen to move spontaneously, and as the contained fluid is always +essentially different from that by which the hydatid is surrounded, the +question may be looked upon as set at rest.<a href="#note34" name="noteref34"> +<small>[34]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +The method of their reproduction is in unison with their structure, +simple in the extreme. Nothing, however, very precise is known about +the process. The vesicle which acts as heart and stomach serves also as +the reproductive cavity, but how or by what means it is fecundated +would be difficult to determine. The young hydatids are found adhering +to the inner surface of the parent cavity. When they have attained +maturity, the parent dies and shrivels, and the young ones begin to +eliminate their nourishment from the juices of the quadruped which they +infest. +</p> + +<p> +These entozoa are found in general on the surface of the intestines, +between them and their outer membrane (<i>peritoneum</i>), and on the +exterior of the lungs and liver. They are always included in a cyst, to +the inner surface of which they adhere by means of two hook-shaped +processes projecting from the head. These cysts are always on the +surface of the different viscera of the sheep, and in this way may be +distinguished from another sacular animal, or rather supposed animal, +termed acephalocyst or headless bag, which is sometimes found in +clusters in the substance of the lungs, liver, &c. and is often +confounded with the true hydatid. +</p> + +<p> +(164.) <i>Causes of Rot.</i> If any one had been asked, thirty years +ago, the cause or rather causes of the appearances which pass under the +name of rot, he could not have enumerated them even in a day, for at +that time each symptom was a disease, and as such was reckoned worthy +of a separate and proximate cause. Nor could any person have had the +courage to promulgate a common-sense opinion on the subject; for simple +views regarding the diseases of domestic animals were then either not +deemed worthy of a moment's notice, or, if considered, were swept at +once, by the strong current of prejudice, into the foul ocean of +predetermined disapproval. Opinions in cattle medicine were at that +time valued according to the prolixity of their detail; and the more +improbable the dependence of the effects upon the cause assigned, so +much more was its discoverer lauded, and in like proportion was the +chimerical fabric he had raised admired. Times are, however, now +happily changed; that potent oculist, the march of intellect, has +cleared the film from the public eye, and no one need, at present, be +afraid to state the unaspiring fact, that <i>tubercles</i> are the sole +and proximate cause of the disease called rot. +</p> + +<p> +The observations of the late Dr Coventry, already quoted, would lead us +to suppose that tubercles are of rare occurrence in the lungs of sheep, +but in refutation of this assertion, I need only request the reader to +take a ramble through a butcher-market, and he will perceive, even on +cursory inspection, the fallacy of this conclusion. What the state of +the liver is which is attended with flukes and hydatids, he has left us +to make out. Chronic hepatitis, which accompanies tubercles in the +liver, goes for nothing as a disease of sheep, and therefore does not +require a notice; besides, it is not rot, and is quite incompetent of +itself to cause it. As for the scurvy of which he speaks, he evidently +means the disease now generally known by the name of <i>Pining</i>, but +which, as it has no connexion with rot, and has only become prevalent +within the last sixteen years, could not be very well known to him. +</p> + +<p> +The following questions will naturally occur to many of my readers. +What gives rise to these tubercles? what are the predisposing causes +which lead to their formation? and, when formed, how do these +apparently unirritating bodies produce effects so baneful? Queries like +these, however, cannot shortly be replied to, leading, as they do, to +discussions which embrace many curious theories; but as the negative +mode of teaching is often of avail where the positive or more direct +would fail to bring conviction, I shall, before proceeding to allude to +what the causes are, endeavour to state what they are not. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Imaginary Causes of Rot.</i> The liver-fluke has long been looked +upon as the origin of rot, and this opinion has now become so deeply +rooted, and taken so fast a hold of the public mind, that if I were to +contradict it by plain assertion, I should only be striving to buffet +singly a tide of opposition. The best way, therefore, will be to +examine a few of the theories supposed to be confirmatory of the notion +that fluke worms are the beginning of the mischief, and then see +whether their supporters have managed to make good the point. +</p> + +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + I. The fluke is supposed to get into the liver of the sheep by + being swallowed, and this, according to our theorists, may be + brought about in some of the following ways:— +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> + +<p> + 1. The eggs may be floating in the air, and thus accidentally + reach their destination. This is the view taken by the celebrated + Clater; but if he had been, in this instance, a man of + experiment, rather than of idle conjecture, he would have found, + as any one readily may, that the eggs of the fluke worm sink in + water, and, consequently, that they cannot float in air.<a href="#note35" name="noteref35"> +<small>[35]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> + 2. The Rev. Dr Singer, to whom Scotland at large, and + Dumfries-shire in particular, is much indebted for numerous and + valuable papers on agricultural subjects, states, in the third + volume of the <i>Highland Society's Transactions</i>, page 478, + that "The spawn or eggs of the liver fluke are most probably + <i>conveyed upon the grass</i> by summer watering, and afterwards + taken into the stomach with it." A few lines further on, he + speaks of the eggs being "wafted thither by harvest waterings." + Now, as the fluke is only produced within the sheep, I need only + put the unanswerable questions—How are they conveyed to the + grass? and from whence are they wafted? to refute at once this + hasty notion. +</p> + +<p> + 3. The eggs may be voided by the sheep, may fall upon the + herbage, and there remain till they are eaten. Such is the + supposition published by Mr King of Hammersmith, in the + <i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i>, No. XXXI. p. 331, in + which, after showing the vast number of eggs which must fall upon + the grass, he says, "We must cease to wonder that so many sheep + die of rot; the miracle is, that every sheep does not die of + it."! I cannot, however, for my part, see a miracle in the + matter, for the simple reason, that the eggs of the entozoa are + not capable of retaining their vitality when absent even for a + very short time from the place of their nativity, and therefore + may be eaten with impunity. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + II. Supposing the eggs to have reached the sheep's stomach in a + condition to allow of their being hatched, they, according to + popular voice, find their way into the gall bladder by one of two + routes. +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + 1. Mr King, the gentleman above spoken of, conjectures, in the + same paper, that the fluke, after leaving the egg in the stomach + of the sheep, <i>makes its way up the gall vessels</i>. This is, I + am sorry to say, a very idle conjecture, as, from the valvular + nature of the opening of the gall duct into the duodenum, an + entrance from that intestine to the gall bladder is perfectly + impracticable to any of the entozoa.<a href="#note36" name="noteref36"> +<small>[36]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> + 2. The eggs are believed by a writer in the <i>Letters of the + Bath Society of Agriculture</i>, for 1781, to be taken into the + blood along with the chyle from the small intestines, and to be + arrested in the liver by the secretory ducts. This, it must be + clear to every one, is the most absurd of all the notions; for if + a globule of blood, which we must suppose to be the largest body + capable of being absorbed from the intestine, is only about + 1/3000 of an inch in diameter, how can the egg of a fluke worm + pass through the same channel, when Mr King has, by careful + observation, shown it to be 1/300 an inch in its shortest + measurement. Again, allowing that they are taken into the blood, + would they not frequently be hatched there, and would they not + also be found in other quarters besides the liver. But do we ever + find them in the blood? Do we ever see them in other organs? + Certainly not. +</p> + +<p> + Not one of these theories would ever have been broached had their + authors been aware of two important circumstances. 1. That M. + Schreiber, the director of the Museum at Vienna, has proved that + worms and their ova are not capable, under ordinary + circumstances, of resisting the action of the digestive organs, + and, therefore, that they cannot be introduced into the body by + this channel. "During six months, he fed a pole-cat almost + exclusively on various kinds of intestinal worms, and their eggs + mixed up with milk; and on killing and examining it, at the end + of this period, not a single worm of any kind was found in + it."<a href="#note37" name="noteref37"> +<small>[37]</small></a> The reader may perhaps object to this illustration, on + the ground that there is so vast a difference between a sheep and + a pole-cat, that a comparison in regard to their digestive habits + cannot possibly hold good, but if he will turn to paragraph (96), + he will see that the stomach of a sheep is as well fitted as that + of a carnivorous quadruped for the digestion of animal matters. + 2dly, the fluke worm has been found by Frommen in the fœtus of + the sheep, into which it could not have been conveyed by + transmission from the mother, as there is no direct vascular + communication between the fœtal and maternal side. +</p> + +<p> + From a consideration of all these data, the conclusion must at + once be drawn, that as living flukes cannot reach the liver from + without, they must of a necessity be produced only in particular + states of the animal they inhabit. How they originate we cannot + of course determine, and this is not the place to hazard + physiological conjectures; but it will be found that their + appearance in the bile is always preceded by tuberculous deposits + in the lungs or liver. This I have proved by numerous + dissections, in which I have occasionally found tubercles without + flukes, but never met with flukes where I did not at the same + time discover tubercles. Fluke worms, therefore, can never be + regarded as a cause of rot, they must be looked upon merely as a + symptom. We cannot, however, say that tubercles give rise to the + liver-fluke, for tubercles are often present in cases where + flukes are absent; and if the latter were the effect of the + former, their presence under such circumstances would in all + probability be constant. +</p> +</div> + +<p> + III. Particular plants have been said to cause rot, but the proofs + of their evil tendencies being in every instance about as logically + supported as the fluke theories already mentioned, I need not + trouble myself or the reader by proceeding to details. +</p> + +</div> + + +<p> +<i>Real Causes of Rot.</i> Everything that has a tendency to weaken the +animal, will be more or less liable to lead to rot. Exposure to cold +and wet, mishaps at lambing time, food bad in quality or deficient in +quantity, and over-driving, will all predispose the constitution to the +deposition of tubercles. It is from the causes being in this way common +to the whole flock, that contagious properties have been ascribed to +rot, it having been observed, from the time of Virgil, to break out in +many animals at once.<a href="#note38" name="noteref38"> +<small>[38]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +The reason of so many different things having, from first to last, been +reckoned capable of producing this disease, appears to lie in the known +fact, that if a sheep be exposed to any of the above depressing agents, +rot, if the animal be as yet untainted, will not, at the moment, shew +itself; but a chain of morbid actions will in all probability then +commence, and, being beyond the ken of ordinary observers, will pass +unheeded, till some slight mismanagement in food or shelter, hastens +their progress, and renders them apparent to the plainest +understanding. The final symptoms of rot may thus occur on any kind of +pasture, and the scene of the catastrophe will incur a stigma which +ought to be attached to herbage which the sheep have consumed at some +distant place or date. +</p> + +<p> +Bad food is justly regarded as one of the most common causes of rot, +and ranks, in my estimation, next to cold and wet, in its power of +producing it. I shall only remark, on this point, that of all the food +on which sheep can possibly be kept, none is known to act so +deleteriously as grass which has sprouted quickly. Rot is well known to +occur most frequently on land which has been irrigated during summer, +for at this season any excess of moisture is peculiarly injurious to +the economy of a plant. +</p> + +<p> +When plants by heat and moisture are stimulated to increased exertion +on a poor soil, they acquire bulk without having it in their power to +obtain at the same time those saline matters which constitute a healthy +plant, becoming in fact, to the eye of an inexperienced person, +thriving vegetables, while to the palate they prove wersh and watery. +</p> + +<p> +The same result may follow from a different process. The saline matter +may not be taken up, even when the soil is rich in such ingredients, +from the functional derangement into which the roots or digestive +organs have been thrown by the unnatural circumstances in which it has +been placed. A plant is composed, like all organized bodies, of a +certain number of proximate principles, which are more or less numerous +in different kinds. These are combined with varying quantities of +potass, soda, lime, magnesia, and iron, which, though formerly supposed +to be too trifling in quantity materially to affect the quality of the +plant, have yet been recently and satisfactorily proved completely to +change the character of the compound, even when the excess or +deficiency amounts only to a 1/10000th part so that, supposing an +animal to thrive on plants which contain salts of any or all of the +above bodies, it will soon fall off if these plants are in any way +deprived of a single adjunct; for by the removal of that one salt, +their nature has been entirely altered. +</p> + +<p> +The certainty and rapidity with which Bakewell could rot his sheep, by +pasturing them, in Autumn, on land over which water had been allowed to +flow during the previous summer, may seem to controvert what I have +above stated, as to time and frequent change of pasture often +intervening between the origin of the disease, and its termination; but +when it is recollected that he pursued the destructive system of +breeding <i>in</i> and <i>in</i>, of itself sufficient to induce a +tuberculous predisposition, the reader will perceive that his sheep +were, in all likelihood, more or less tainted, and therefore, sure to +fall victims to the disease the moment they were subjected to the +deleterious influence of an unwholesome pasture.<a href="#note39" name="noteref39"> +<small>[39]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +Over-driving and hurrying of every kind, is, in my opinion, a fruitful +source of rot, not only from the fatigue it causes, or the risk it +leads to of taking cold, but also from the injury, which in many cases +results, to the delicate texture of the lungs. As shown in the note to +paragraph (157), no animal is more easily put out of breath by running, +than the sheep. Whenever the breathing is hurried, the circulation +through the lungs is quickened also. If the tissue of the lungs be in +any way delicate, the force with which the blood is propelled is sure +to make it yield, and in this manner the animal is often suffocated by +the large quantity of blood, which issues into the air tubes at once +from many points. Fig. 1, Plate VI. exhibits a good illustration of +this taken from a sheep. Numerous red points are seen sprinkled over +the surface of the section, indicating that blood has been effused from +many minute torn vessels. Now, if this animal had survived, each speck +of blood would have formed a centre, round which tuberculous matter, as +in Fig. 2, Plate VI. would have been secreted, and death from rot, at +some ulterior period, would, in all probability, have been the +result.<a href="#note40" name="noteref40"> +<small>[40]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +(165.) <i>Treatment of Rot.</i> As reason and experience have taught us +that tathy herbage is a common cause of this complaint, we should, when +it shows itself, at once remove the animals to a better pasture, where +they should be exempted from teazing of every kind. +</p> + +<p> +Salt appears, after every trial, to be the best medicine, and to this +they should have, at all times, ready access. Should the disease be +rather far advanced, the breathing hurried, and the cough annoying, +occasional doses of the following infusion will be of service, in +enabling the farmer to keep down the disease, till such time as he can +conveniently dispose of the animal. +</p> + +<table summary="Ingredients of the medicine"> + +<tr> +<td>Take of</td> +<td>Leaves of Foxglove two ounces,</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td>Boiling water two English pints:</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p> +pour the water on the leaves, cover up the vessel, and keep it in a +warm place for six or eight hours, then strain. +</p> + +<p> +Two tea-spoonfuls morning and evening may be given to a sheep, but as +the plant is an active poison, and the strength of its infusion liable +to vary, a couple of days should always intervene between every six +doses. +</p> + +<p> +About the year 1800, a notion prevailed in this country, that an +effectual remedy for rot had been discovered by the Dutch, but this was +quite unfounded, no <i>cure</i> ever having been hit upon for this +sweeping malady; indeed, a cure is fairly out of the question: its +prevention and palliation, but not its eradication, being all that we +can hope for. Sundry plausible plans of treatment have, however, at one +time or another been contrived, some of them, in all conscience, +harmless enough, but others again as well adapted for the destruction +of the animal, as the removal of the disease. +</p> + +<p> +As fluke worms have usually been reckoned the cause of rot, so the +treatment has principally consisted in attempts to effect their +extermination. With this view, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coule, +in defiance of all preconceived medical opinion, advocated, in his work +on <i>Sheep</i>, published in 1809, the employment of mercury to stay +the progress of rot, and in the same work, <i>or one very like it</i>, +as lately published anonymously by the Society for the Diffusion of +Useful Knowledge, under the title of the <i>Mountain Shepherd's +Manual</i>, the utility of this dangerous procedure is as firmly +maintained. At the same time Sir George, though rather in the dark as +to the real nature of the disease, admits, in both editions, that +tubercles exist in rot, especially in the lungs. Now, if he had +inquired of any medical person what drug ought, when tubercles are +present, of all others to be avoided, he would have found that medicine +to be mercury. The administration of it therefore in rot, no matter +what may be the form or mode in which it is exhibited, will to a +certainty aggravate the symptoms, and shorten life. If, for the sake of +doing something, you will <i>endeavour</i> to remove the worms, +Chabert's animal oil will be found a safe and efficacious remedy; but, +if my opinion can have any weight, I would recommend the farmer to +allow them to remain. +</p> + +<p> +Sheep, when displaying symptoms of rot, should always be kept dry and +warm. If they must be retained throughout the winter, good sound solid +food, such as well made hay or oats, should be afforded them, and the +shelter of a straw yard should if possible be obtained. A liberal +supply of salt should be given with all their provender; and if they do +not seem to relish it, give them occasionally a small quantity in water +as a drench. +</p> + +<p> +(166.) <i>Prevention of Rot.</i> On this head I need do little more +than remark that attention to the causes will go a great way to point +out the necessary means for its prevention. Admission of the sheep to +rank soft grass, heavy stocking, short allowance of food during winter, +every thing in fact which leads to the exposure of the animal should be +scrupulously avoided. The strongest constitution cannot with impunity +be tampered with, and the soundest habit will fall before the mining +attacks of want and weather. Keep your stock always in as high health +as possible, for such is the surest prevention of tuberculous disease. +</p> + +<p> +As rot is hereditary,<a href="#note4" name="noteref41"> +<small>[41]</small></a>1 the importance of weeding out ewes from the +flock on their first exhibiting appearances of unsoundness, is +acknowledged by all. Many ways have been pointed out for detecting the +incipient symptoms, but none plainer and better than those written by +the late Mr Beattie of Muckledale, and published in the 3d vol. of the +<i>Highland Society's Transactions</i>. "The first thing to be +observed," says Mr Beattie, "is in the spring, when they are dropping +their lambs. A sound ewe, in good order, drops a lamb covered with a +thick and yellow slime, which the ewe licks off it, and the rule is, +the sounder and the higher the condition the ewe is in, the darker and +thicker will be the slime; but when they observe a ewe drop a lamb +covered with thin watery bubbles, and very white, they note her down as +unsound." +</p> + +<p> +"About the month of September, when they intend to dispose of their +draught ewes, they put all their sheep into a fold, and draw them by +the hand, that is, they catch them all, viz. the ewes they design to +sell any of, and clapping their hand upon the small of the back, they +rub the flesh backwards and forwards between their fingers and thumb +and the ends of the short ribs: if the flesh be solid and firm, they +consider her as sound; if they find it soft and flabby, and if, when +they rub it against the short ribs, it ripples, as we term it, that is, +a sort of crackling is perceived, as if there were water or blubber in +it, they are certain she is unsound. This is the most certain of all +symptoms, but is not to be discerned with any degree of certainty but +by an experienced hand; for although, as I have here related it, it +seems a very simple affair, and easily acquired, yet it is well known +that many shepherds, who have followed sheep all their lives, never +arrived at any thing like certainty in judging by the hand, whilst men +of superior skill will seldom be mistaken, and will draw by no other +rule. Yet still it must be acknowledged that the seeds of this disease +will sometimes lie so occult, as to baffle all skill, and that no man +can with absolute certainty draw a stock tainted with the rot. There is +another method, to which men of inferior skill resort, which is more +easily acquired. They take a sheep's head between their hands, and +press down the eyelids, they thereby make the sheep turn its eyeball so +that they get a view of the vessels in which the eyeball rolls: if +these are thin, red, and free of matter, they consider the sheep as +sound; but if they are thick, of a dead white colour, and seem as if +there was some white matter in them, they are confident she is rotten. +This is a pretty general rule, and easily discerned; but I think it is +not so certain as when they are judged by the back; for in firm healthy +lands the eye of a sheep is far redder than it is in sheep upon grassy +lands. And in some boggy lands the eye is never very red, be the sheep +ever so sound, so that there you cannot so well judge by the eye; but +when you see the eye of a sheep a good deal whiter and thicker, and +more matter in it (I mean the vessels in which the eyeball rolls) than +the run of the flock amongst which it feeds, you have reason to suspect +it is not sound. +</p> + +<p> +"There is another method by which I have seen some men attempt to judge +of the soundness of sheep. It is a well known fact, that when sheep are +rotten the lungs swell to a greater size; they therefore lay the sheep +down upon its broad side, and pressing the skin in at the flank, up +below the ribs, <i>pretend</i> to feel the lungs. But if there is +anything to be learned by this I could never perceive it, and have seen +some men, who pretended to know most by it, very often mistaken. +</p> + +<p> +"These are the principal rules by which the Highland farmers draw their +stocks; and they relate all to ewe stocks; for as to wedders, they are +generally all sold off when they are three years old, and those that +buy them for feeding mostly buy them by the condition they appear +outwardly to be in at the time, and the character of the ground upon +which they were bred." +</p> + +<p> +(167.) <i>Jaundice.</i> I have never seen this disease in the sheep, +and have heard almost nothing of it; indeed it is very rare, few having +ever witnessed cases of it. It is consequently very imperfectly +understood, every one who has written about it assigning for its +occurrence a different cause. The principal symptoms to be depended on, +according to those who have treated it, are a yellowness of the eyes, +and an obstinate sluggishness of the animal, almost amounting to sleep. +Copious bleeding and two ounce doses of Glauber salts have been +recommended for the treatment, which must be gone about promptly, as +the disease is said to be quickly fatal. Reasoning from what is known +about jaundice in man, I would, were a case to occur to me in the +sheep, give a good dose of calomel, say 15 grains, in conjunction with +the salts, unless the disease had supervened on rot, when I would +substitute ten grains of ipecacuanha for the mercury. +</p> + +<p> +(168.) <i>Dropsy.</i> When it is the concluding symptom of a disease, +it may be reckoned part of the complaint itself, and treated +accordingly. Often, however, it is the first thing which attracts the +attention of the shepherd, and when such is the case it will usually be +traced to long exposure to cold and wet. In this event the best plan is +to bleed largely, and give two or three smart doses of Epsom salts. +When it occurs in young lambs, sweet spirit of nitre, given in the +quantity of a tea-spoonful twice a-day, is found to be attended with +the happiest effects. Tapping, or, as it is popularly termed, +<i>stabbing</i>, or <i>sticking</i>, to permit the escape of the water, +is the cure resorted to in South Africa, when it appears in old sheep, +after exposure to rain; but this ought never to be resorted to unless +under the guidance of a medical person. It would be much better at once +to kill the sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(169.) <i>Sturdy.</i> As shown in the tabular view of the diseases, in +foot-note to paragraph (121), this affection may be the result either +of pressure on the brain from an animal growth, or from the +accumulation of a fluid. Serum is in both cases the mechanical cause of +the symptoms, but in the former it is eliminated from neighbouring +parts by a hydatid, while in the latter it is merely deposited in some +of the natural cavities (the ventricles) of the brain, owing to a +congested state of the spinal marrow, the result of continued cold upon +the back. +</p> + +<p> +Figure 2, Plate VII., taken from Rudolphi, exhibits a view of the +animal which gives rise to the first variety of sturdy. It is the +many-headed hydatid of the brain, <i>Cœnurus Cerebralis</i> of +naturalists. Like the <i>Cysticercus tenuicollis</i>, already described +under the head of Rot, it consists of a thin membranous cyst, full or +otherwise of serous fluid; but, unlike the aforementioned animal is +studded over with groups of little velvety appendages or heads, each of +which has a series of barbs projecting round the mouth. Figure 2, +<i>a</i>, Plate VII., is a highly magnified representation of two of +these heads. +</p> + +<p> +A good idea of the hydatid, as it exists in the sheep, may be derived +from an inspection of Fig 1. Pl. VIII., which has been engraved from a +sketch kindly furnished to me by my friend Dr Kirk of Deal. Fig. 1 +represents the brain of a sheep two years old, which has been affected +with sturdy. The right lobe, <i>a</i>, of the cerebellum or lesser +brain, is much distended with fluid, which is enclosed in a membraneous +bag, as shown at <i>b</i>, where an incision has been made to expose +it, and at <i>c</i>, where it is shining through one of the coverings +of the brain, the pia mater. +</p> + +<p> +The hydatid is found of all sizes, from that of a pea to that of Fig. +2, Plate VII. Large ones are far from rare, and the ventricle is +frequently enormously distended. The hydatid in the brain from which +Fig. 2, Plate VIII. was taken, though not filled to repletion, +contained ten drachms of serum. The ventricle was consequently much +dilated, as shown at <i>a</i> in that figure, and the usual course and +size of the convolutions completely altered. Instead of being folded, +like the intestines, upon themselves, they proceeded, as seen at <i>b +b</i>, from back to front of the brain; while the furrows between them, +which are, in the healthy animal, usually too shallow to be measured, +were in several places as deep as the length of the lines at <i>c +d</i>. +</p> + +<p> +This excessive accumulation of fluid within the brain leads, as might +be expected, to the dilatation of the skull, and to the absorption of +its walls, when the bones, young though the animal be when affected +with sturdy, can no longer be made to yield. For this reason the skull, +towards the termination of the disease, generally becomes thin and soft +in front of the root of the horn, and in this way offers a spot which, +from its being easily pierced, is frequently made the seat of surgical +operations. Other parts of the skull also undergo considerable +thinning, more so indeed than in front of the horn. The attention of +the farmer has hardly, if ever, been called to this fact, though I +believe that, for one instance in which perforation occurs in the +frontal bone, it will be noticed a score of times on the sides of the +head. In a head with which I was favoured by Mr Grieve, Branxholm +braes, each temple, exactly beneath the superior extremity of the +upright branch of the lower jaw, displayed a circular opening entirely +through the bone, wide enough to permit the passage of an ounce bullet. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever may produce pressure on the brain, the symptoms which indicate +it are nearly always the same. The sheep has a dull, stupid look, turns +very often round and round, and will, when water is in its way, stand +staring at it till at last, giddy and confused, it plumps fairly in. +If, when the symptoms are very unpromising, convulsive movements should +occur, they may be taken as a favourable sign, as they indicate a +diminution of the pressure on the brain. A minute description of the +morbid appearances in hydrocephalus could serve no good purpose, I +therefore pass on to the prevention of sturdy. +</p> + +<p> +(170.) <i>Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy.</i> The variety caused by +hydatids can only be prevented by the use of dry, well grown, wholesome +food. Dr Jenner found that he could cause hydatids to form in rabbits +at will, by feeding them on green succulent provision; and it is well +known that this form of sturdy prevails among sheep chiefly in marshy +places, as the fens of Lincolnshire. +</p> + +<p> +Water in the head is generally induced, as first pointed out by the +Ettrick Shepherd, in the <i>Farmer's Magazine</i> for 1812, by the back +of the animal being chilled, as is evident from the following facts:— +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + "1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety winter. +</p> + +<p> + "2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill-sheltered, + and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and + showers. +</p> + +<p> + "3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of + which separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet + and cold. +</p> + +<p> + "4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to + cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the + disease." +</p> +</div> +<p> +Bratting is therefore the best preventive, and it is as cheap as it is +effectual. One pair of old blankets, worth only some four or five +shillings, will furnish coverings for forty hogs, and if laid carefully +aside in spring, they will continue serviceable for two or three years. +An operation can avail nothing—slaughtering the sheep is therefore the +only expedient. +</p> + +<p> +When the existence of a hydatid near the surface of the brain is +denoted by the skull yielding, at some particular spot, to the firm +pressure of the thumb, its extraction must be set about in the manner +described in paragraph (118), where I have also given my objections to +the common modes of operating. +</p> + +<p> +(171.) <i>Trembling.</i> Several affections are included under the name +of <i>trembling</i> or <i>leaping-ill</i>, all having, in common, more +or less of the symptoms which these names denote. They may be +considered as arising from exposure to cold and damp, especially on +long fatiguing journies, as in bringing sheep from the Highlands to the +south of Scotland, when it frequently prevails to so great an extent, +on reaching the low country, as to oblige the shepherd to leave eight +or ten behind him at every stage. Injuries of the loins, either +inflicted by themselves in jumping and running, or by others from rough +usage in the fold, are common causes of the disease; but in this +variety the hind quarters only are powerless. Another species is owing +to oppression of the brain from congestion, in this way resembling +incipient sturdy, and occurring only in very fat sheep. +</p> + +<p> +(172.) <i>Treatment of Trembling.</i> The first variety is best met by +rest, shelter, and a supply of nutritious food; but as the animal is +incapable, in many cases, of collecting it, the shepherd must lift it +from one rich part of the field to another, so soon as it has cleared +away the grass within its reach. In the second kind, as caused by +accident, the sheep must be slaughtered, as, should a cure be +attempted, the treatment will be too tedious and complicated to succeed +in ordinary hands. Copious blood-letting, and doses of Epsom salts, +will be found of most advantage in the third species; but if the sheep +can be disposed of so much the better, as this kind of <i>trembling</i> +is almost certain, unless combated by energetic depletion, to end in +sturdy. +</p> + +<p> +(173.) <i>Wood Evil</i> is nothing more than a cramp of the hind legs, +owing to water dripping upon them from trees after a shower of rain, +and is best treated by enveloping them in flannel, wrung out of hot +water; but if the sheep is at the time very chill, gentle friction must +first be used, else dangerous consequences will ensue. Rubbing with +warm turpentine has been recommended, and is apparently worthy of a +trial. +</p> + +<p> +(174.) <i>Inflamed Eyes.</i> The pollen of flowers getting into the +eyes while feeding, is a common cause of this annoyance, which need not +be described, as, from being visible, it is known to all. Examine the +eyes, and remove any irritating body. Then, if the disease be of recent +date, bleed the animal largely from the jugular vein, and give it +several doses of Epsom, or Glauber's salt. After the inflammation is +subdued, or should it be in the suppurating stage when first noticed, +hold the lids asunder, and drop upon the eye, three or four times a +day, a solution of white vitriol, five grains to the ounce of water. +Where this cannot be had, pure <i>cold</i> water dashed against the +eyes and head several times a day will serve as a substitute. +</p> + +<p> +Though sheep are not so much incommoded by blindness as other animals, +from the instinctive care usually taken of the sufferer by the rest of +the flock, still such a mishap should always be prevented by energetic +treatment at the commencement of the symptoms. +</p> + +<p> +(175.) <i>Soft Cancer of the Eye</i>, or, as it is also called by +medical men, <i>Fungus Hematodes</i>, is of very rare occurrence among +sheep, and indeed would not have deserved a notice here, were it not +that, from being a malignant disease, it might be looked upon as quite +incurable. I can only describe it as a soft, spongy tumour, rising from +the bottom of the eye, involving all the textures of that organ, so as +to render them scarcely recognizable, and bleeding on the slightest +touch. It is readily removed by passing a stout thread through the +front of the eye with a needle, so as to afford the operator a hold by +which to pull it outwards with the left hand, while, with the right, he +cuts round it with a narrow-bladed knife. The operation is attended +only with slight pain, but must not be considered the sole curative +means; the sheep must have, at the same time, a frequent change of +pasture, to prevent a recurrence of the tumour. +</p> + +<p> +There is a very large tumour of this description at present in the +museum of Guy's Hospital, taken from a sheep which recovered perfectly. +</p> + + + + +<p class="chapter"> +APPENDIX +</p> + +<p class="head"> +REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. +</p> + + +<p> +As the preceding pages were not written so much for the well-educated +farmer, as for those who practise sheep-husbandry without previous +training, it may not be considered amiss, consistently with the plan of +the work, to sum up the chief points to be attended to in the +management of sheep in Australia. This I shall do from the best +authorities, and guided by the direct advice of extensive sheep +proprietors who have long resided there, and had every experience in +the subject. +</p> + +<p> +Though it was for some time, according to Dr Lang,<a href="#note42" name="noteref42"> +<small>[42]</small></a> a matter of +controversy in the colony, whether the Merino or the Saxon Merino +produced the finer wool or was more profitable for the sheep-farmer; +the preference is now given to the Saxon breed, as they not only yield +an excellent fleece, but are much superior in carcass to the pure +Merino. The fact, however, of Australia having been considered, from +its earliest colonization, as unrivalled by any country in the quality +of its wool, goes far to prove that, with ordinary care, almost any +variety may be brought to yield a very superior produce. The mildness +of the climate, the extensive range of pasture, the steady supply of +food, and the consequent unvarying health of the animal, give the +poorest breeds a superiority which could hardly be attained in any +other quarter of the world. Indeed, as noticed at paragraph (70.), +Australia appears by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine +animals, even from the worst beginnings. +</p> + +<p> +Great, however, as the capabilities of the colony are for the growth of +the finest wools, the intending emigrant must not suppose that he will +obtain them without devoting to the subject a particular portion of his +regard. Mild warm air, and abundant diet, will go far towards putting +him in possession of a superior flock; but without earnest attention to +the minor details required in the management of his sheep, the most +favourable locality will avail him little. +</p> + +<p> +Let Australia be ever so much praised, as being peculiarly adapted for +the rearing of sheep, they have there, in common with every kind of +animal in every part of the world, a certain liability to disease. With +all its boasted steadiness of climate, bad seasons occasionally occur, +and lead to sickness among the flocks, and in addition to the usual +chances of loss arising from this cause in other countries, there is, +in some parts of it, a still more dreaded mischief resulting almost +unavoidably from the moral constitution of its society. A +convict-servant who has a pique at his master, has it often entirely in +his own power to subject the flocks under his charge to some one or +other of the serious diseases to which sheep in all countries are +peculiarly liable. He may pasture them on an improper spot, and thus +induce diarrhœa, or even rot; or he may drive them a few miles from +their usual feeding ground, as Dr Lang remarks, when there is nobody +present to take cognizance of the fact, and thereby bring them into +contact with a scabbed flock. "The chief source of the wealth and +prosperity of the colony," says Dr Lang, "is thus, in great measure, at +the mercy of the most worthless of men; and so much is this the case, +that a highly respectable and intelligent magistrate, observed in the +course of a short conversation I had with him before embarking for +England, that if there should not be a large annual importation of free +emigrant shepherds from the mother country into the colony, the owners +of sheep throughout the territory will in future be under the necessity +of reducing, or rather of preventing the increase of, their flocks." +Thus circumstanced, the Australian settler has surely sufficient +reasons for inducing him to make himself familiar with the management +and diseases of the animal, on which he is placing his principal +dependence. +</p> + +<p> +When the country is destitute of timber, the sheep are very easily +managed, and so many as a thousand may be trusted to a single shepherd; +but in general, they are divided into flocks of about three hundred +breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers. "Every flock," says Mr +Cunningham, "has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before +sunrise in the morning, and brings them in after sunset at night. He +keeps always before the flock to check the forward among them from +running onwards, and wearing out the old, sick, and lame; making all +thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition. In summer, he +sees too that they have water during the heat of the day; and in +drawing up under a tree for shade, when it is too hot for feeding, he +passes occasionally gently among them, spreads them out and makes them +take a fresh position in as small groups as possible, under another +tree; because when they remain too long together in one place, they are +apt to become broken winded. It is a rule that sheep should never +remain in one spot so long as to paddle the ground much with their +feet; and hence, in riding round your sheep stations, you have +something whereby to judge whether or not your instructions are +attended to. The shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is +required to be on the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from +being lost in the woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among +them. They must always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive +that the shepherd can walk quietly among them, without disturbing them, +you may set him down as a gentle and careful man; for if he uses his +flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three flocks +are always penned together under the charge of a watchman, who counts +each regularly <i>in</i> at night, and the shepherds again count them +<i>out</i> in the morning; so that they form a regular check upon each +other, and prevent losses from carelessness or depredation. The +watchman has a small weather-proof watch-box to sleep in, and is +assisted by a watch-dog; he keeps up a good fire, which generally +deters all native dogs from approaching the fold. The hurdles are made +of light swamp oak, iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with +five bars, so close together that a young lamb cannot creep through, +and usually cost about 1s. 6d. a-piece. They are shifted to fresh +ground daily, being sloped outwards, and propped together by means of +forked sticks, driving a stake through between the bars here and there +to keep the hurdles firm, and prevent the wind from blowing them over, +little support being derived from their feet, which are pressed but +slightly into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully removed +from the hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in, to prevent any +of the latter being staked; the hurdles too are never pitched where ant +hills are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon it, while the trees +with black bark are carefully denuded thereof, to prevent +discolouration of the wool." Bells are attached to the necks of the +stoutest leaders, to keep the flock together, and give warning of any +thing going wrong within the fold. +</p> + +<p> +The breeding season is, in some instances, at the commencement of +summer, in others, at the commencement of winter, but in general it is +in March or April, the rams having been put to the ewes in October. +This deviation from our practice of spring lambing, is owing, according +to Mr Cunningham, to the breeders finding that the pasture is +particularly good in the autumn, from a sort of second spring taking +place, while the lambs stand the cold better than the heat, and are +less annoyed by the gad-flies. The sheep usually double their number +every four years. +</p> + +<p> +Sheep-shearing takes place at the beginning of summer. The usual plan +of washing is previously had recourse to (see paragraph 99.), but of +late it has become customary, with some proprietors, to wash them with +a spout. This is done by bringing them one by one under a stream of +water, falling from a moderate height; but it is not likely that it +will ever be generally adopted, as it requires very peculiar facilities +in regard to water, and is besides a plan fraught with danger to the +sheep. It ought to be kept in mind, that a stream of water playing on +the body, produces a very stunning effect, which may destroy life in an +inconsiderable time, and has, in this way, been often employed for +putting criminals to death. Be this as it may, the Australian +sheep-farmers have doubtless been led to resort to the spout, owing to +the fleeces being so full of filth as to be cleaned with difficulty in +the common way. The finer the wool, the more abundant is the yolk or +viscid secretion on the skin, and the greater, consequently, is the +quantity of filth which sticks to it. The dirtiness of the wool +becomes, in this way, no mean test of the value of the sheep. Some of +the fleeces lose fully three-fifths of their weight by washing. The +average weight of the fleeces from the improved breeds, is from two to +two-and-a-half pounds. The ewe fleece seldom exceeds one pound and a +half. "The wool is packed in bales, wrapped in canvass, and forwarded +for exportation to Sydney, on drays drawn by oxen. Some of the more +extensive sheep-farmers send home their wool direct to their agents in +London, where it is sold according to its quality, at from one to three +shillings, (the freight to London being only three-halfpence) a +pound."<a href="#note43" name="noteref43"> +<small>[43]</small></a> +</p> + +<p> +The highest prices yet obtained for some of the picked parts of the +finest fleeces, are 10s. 6d. per pound. This, however, has been given +only once. +</p> + +<p> +The quantity of wool shipped in 1835, was 3,776,191 lbs., and was +valued at £380,000 sterling. +</p> + +<p> +Three acres are required on an average for the support of each sheep, +but on account of the mildness of the climate, there is no necessity +for providing winter food. +</p> + +<p> +The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep are liable to +comparatively few diseases. The great dryness of the climate, keeps the +fleece always in so comfortable a state, that they are almost never +struck by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits its +eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunningham once observed +summer-dropt lambs with milk blotches, become fly blown, but this was +in wet weather. Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I +need not say any thing here. It never presents much variety, and is a +disease better understood than almost any other. Ample directions for +its treatment are given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is +gone about with determination. The great points are to take it in hand +the moment it appears—for when it gains ground, all chances of a +wool-crop are at an end for that year at least—and to use +tobacco-juice most liberally, as it not only leads to the immediate +death of the itch insect, but appears to have a specific effect in +leading to the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, which is +at present so lauded for accelerating the growth of hair, is supposed, +on good grounds, to be an incognito preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot +is the only other important sheep-disease in the colony. It was unknown +till 1827, when it broke out in a wet lying part of the Bathurst +district, and succeeded, as Cunningham says, in that part of the +country scourged by it, to a long fall of heavy rains, which +supersaturated the blades of grass. For the method of treating this +disease, fortunately rare in Australia, I must, in conclusion, refer to +the body of the work. +</p> + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="ctr"> +<b>Footnotes</b> +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note1" href="#noteref1"> [1]</a> Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th Edition, Article Agriculture. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note2" href="#noteref2"> [2]</a> For further information on this subject, see that excellent paper +on the Natural History of the Sheep and Goat, by James Wilson, Esq. in +No. IX. of the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note3" href="#noteref3"> [3]</a> See Figs. 2 and 3, Plate I. with their references. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note4" href="#noteref4"> [4]</a> I am surprized to find it asserted at page 76 of the book on Sheep, +published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, that +the depilatory action of lime-water on raw hides is a "<i>striking +elucidation</i>" of the injurious effects of chalk on wool. Lime +removes hair from a skin because it is a powerful caustic, and, as +such, speedily decomposes the animal matter, but the carbonate of lime +(chalk) is perfectly innocuous to wool, except so far as it combines +with its oil; and is as little <i>corrosive</i> to the fleece, as +pipe-clay to a soldier's coat. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note5" href="#noteref5"> [5]</a> The art of weaving was first practised at Arach in Babylonia, and +spread thence to neighbouring cities, and in process of time to the +most remote parts of the world.—<i>Bryant's Ancient Mythology</i>, +Vol. v. p. 173. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note6" href="#noteref6"> [6]</a> Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce, agrees with Bloomfield the +historian of Norfolk, that a colony of Flemish weavers settled so early +as 1327, at Worsted, a village in that county, and bestowed upon it the +name it bears. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note7" href="#noteref7"> [7]</a> The people of Ireland produced worsted and woollen yarn at a +cheaper rate than we could, owing to their poor being able to work on +lower terms than those of England. This was owing to the rent of land +being less in Ireland than in England. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note8" href="#noteref8"> [8]</a> By the 18th of Charles II. the importation from Ireland into +England of great cattle, sheep, swine, beef, pork and bacon, and +shortly after of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, was declared a +common nuisance, and forbidden on pain of forfeiture. Thus, the +principal resource of a poor country in the neighbourhood of a rich +one, was unfeelingly denied to it, till the reign of George III., when +the hated edict was repealed. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note9" href="#noteref9"> [9]</a> Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 24. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note10" href="#noteref10">[10]</a> I allude to this, as the author of the work on Sheep, published by +the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, at page 123 of that +book, laments the want of an English translation of Columella. An +excellent quarto translation of his twelve books on Husbandry, and one +on Trees, was published at London, in 1745. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note11" href="#noteref11">[11]</a> Chalmers' Caledonia—Article, Galloway. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note12" href="#noteref12">[12]</a> It is to secure equality of temperature that the Spanish flocks +are twice in the year exposed to the hazard of an overland journey of +400 miles, that they may pass the summer in the mountains of the north, +and the winter in the southern plains. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note13" href="#noteref13">[13]</a> Edin. Philosophical Journal. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note14" href="#noteref14">[14]</a> By the old English law, no bull beef could be sold unless the bull +had been baited. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note15" href="#noteref15">[15]</a> Dr Cline, in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, observes +on this point: "Experience has proved, that crossing has only succeeded +in an eminent degree, in those instances in which the females were +larger, than in the usual proportion of females to males, and that it +has generally failed when the males were proportionally large." +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note16" href="#noteref16">[16]</a> It was owing to a peculiar view taken of this maxim, that so +enormous sums were asked and given, for the hire of rams, at the time +Mr Bakewell brought the new Leicester to perfection. That gentleman +would never have obtained 1200 guineas for the hire of three rams if +the speculators had not intended to procure nearly similar prices for +the use of the offspring of these animals; and it may be pretty safely +affirmed, that this traffic was ultimately the cause of much mischief +to the breed in question, by inducing many to speculate on what was +likely to prove a fashionable article, without caring much for the +endurance of the really valuable points. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note17" href="#noteref17">[17]</a> Dr Sturm, professor of Agriculture, at Bonn, says, that a new race +may be produced in the same number of years as are required for +perfecting the teeth. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note18" href="#noteref18">[18]</a> Sheep are as liable to distortions of the skeleton as other +animals. The Museum of Guy's Hospital contains a very good specimen of +distorted spine taken from a sheep. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note19" href="#noteref19">[19]</a> Middlesex Report, p. 355. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note20" href="#noteref20">[20]</a> For the figures 1, 2 and 3 in Plate V. I am indebted to the +<i>Quarterly Journal of Agriculture</i> for 1832, p. 869. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note21" href="#noteref21">[21]</a> Old casks, wanting ends, form the best of all contrivances for +holding salt for sheep, as when laid on their sides, and retained in +that position by stakes, they allow the sheep free admission, at the +same time that the salt is defended from rain. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note22" href="#noteref22">[22]</a> Paris's Pharmacologia, sixth edition, vol. i. p. 147. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note23" href="#noteref23">[23]</a> Paris's Pharmacologia, vol. i. p. 146. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note24" href="#noteref24">[24]</a> Whenever we hear a person recommending a medicine of universal +virtues, we may safely set him down either for a fool or an impostor. +Things which are good for every thing are good for nothing. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note25" href="#noteref25">[25]</a> +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +Diseases affecting +</p> + +<table summary="Diseases affecting body parts" width="80%"> + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="8">The Stomach and Intestines.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="8"><img src="images/largebrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="31" height="219"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Blown or Blast.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Braxy, Sickness, or Blood.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Pining, Daising, Vinquish or Vanquish.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Staggers.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Diarrhœa or Rush.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Dysentery, Cling, Breckshaw or Breckshuach.</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="12">The Skin and Hoofs.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="12"><img src="images/largebrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="35" height="257"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Scab or Itch.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Erysipelas or Wild-fire.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Red Water.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Leg Evil or Black-leg.<a href="#note26" name="noteref26"> +<small>[26]</small></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="4">Inflammatory appearances caused by the</td> +<td>{1. Maggot.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{2. Ked.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{3. Tick.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{4. Œstrus bovis.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Sore Teats.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Foot-rot.</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="6">The Air Passages.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="6"><img src="images/fourthbrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="11" height="90"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="3">Inflammation caused by the</td> +<td>{1. Œstrus ovis.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{2. Pentastoma.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{3. Strongylus filaria.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Coryza.</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="5">Glandular tissues,—viz. the Lungs, Liver, & Kidney.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="5"><img src="images/fourthbrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="11" height="90"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Rot.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Jaundice.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Dropsy.</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="6">The Brain and Spinal Marrow.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="6"><img src="images/thirdbrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="16" height="125"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="2">Sturdy, Gid or Dizzy, caused by</td> +<td>{1. Hydatids or Bloba.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>{2. Hydrocephalus, or Water in the Head.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Trembling, Thwarter or Leaping-ill.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Wood Evil.</td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="mid" rowspan="4">The Eye.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td rowspan="5"><img src="images/smallbrace.jpg" alt="A bracket" width="8" height="70"></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Ophthalmia.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>Soft Cancer.</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note26" href="#noteref26">[26]</a> Leg evil ought properly to be classed with diseases of the +vascular system, being in many instances merely a symptom of disease in +the heart or great vessels; but as the same results are arrived at by +placing it under the present head, nicer distinctions would only tend +to create confusion. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note27" href="#noteref27">[27]</a> In speaking of remedial measures, the word treatment ought to be +used in preference to "<i>cure</i>" which figures at the head of the +medical advice in veterinary works. It is sheer nonsense to blazon such +a word in pages having any pretentions to candour, for how seldom are +we able conscientiously to affirm that our endeavours will be followed +by a <i>cure</i>. All we can do is to pursue the <i>treatment</i> best +adapted for the attainment of so desirable an end. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note28" href="#noteref28">[28]</a> A gradual wasting of the animal, similar to what occurs in pining, +may result from the irritation consequent on swallowing pointed bodies, +as pins or needles. I have in my possession a very stout needle, given +me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, which was found buried in the coats +of the stomach of a young sheep which died under the above symptoms, +having been ill about three months. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note29" href="#noteref29">[29]</a> To enable the reader more easily to understand Mr Dick's views of +this disease, I have added a drawing of the foot of the sheep, which it +may be well to consult before entering on the subject. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<i>Fig. 4. Plate.</i> I. Section of a toe:—<i>c. c.</i> Crust of the +hoof; <i>s.</i> Sole; <i>g. g.</i> Gland which secretes the hoof. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note30" href="#noteref30">[30]</a> <i>Fig. 5. Plate.</i> I. Gives a view of the inner surface of the +toe of a sheep, with the interdigital gland laid open. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<i>g.</i> The gland. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<i>d.</i> The duct of the gland, opening upon the anterior surface of +the leg. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +When the interdigital gland is much enlarged, it becomes necessary to +cut it out. This ought to be a last resource, as the part appears to be +of too much importance to be easily dispensed with. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note31" href="#noteref31">[31]</a> The sheep is more inconvenienced by Coryza than other animals, +owing to the naturally small calibre of the nostrils, the inferior +turbinated bone being of large dimensions, and occupying the greater +part of the nasal cavity. It is from this peculiar formation of the +nose, that sheep are so very easily blown, when made to exert +themselves in running. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note32" href="#noteref32">[32]</a> It is quite possible that a sheep may die of true pulmonary +consumption and yet have scarcely any cough. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note33" href="#noteref33">[33]</a> The examination of fluke worms is much facilitated by placing +several of various sizes flat upon a slip of glass, and allowing them +to dry in this position. On holding the glass between a bright light +and a lens, and looking through the latter, the distribution of the +vessels, and the position and form of the eggs, are beautifully +displayed. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note34" href="#noteref34">[34]</a> The property of acting on organized matter, so as to convert it +into substances similar to those which constitute the agent, is +characteristic of a vital power. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note35" href="#noteref35">[35]</a> To obtain the eggs of the fluke worm for examination, hold a +saucer under the gall bladder, make an opening in it with scissors, and +the bile containing the eggs will flow into the dish. Pick out any +fluke worms that may be in the fluid, then dilute it with about twelve +times its bulk of water, agitate for a few minutes, and filter. The +eggs will be found in the corner of the filtering paper. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note36" href="#noteref36">[36]</a> The notion that rot is occasioned by animalcules getting into the +liver is not confined to this country. Leake, in his travels in the +Morea, alludes to an opinion prevalent there, that the <i>vidhéla</i> +(rot) is caused by the sheep feeding in marshy places in August and +September, when it is imagined that an insect from the plants finds its +way into the biliary vessels. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note37" href="#noteref37">[37]</a> Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, Vol. iv. p. 524. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note38" href="#noteref38">[38]</a> +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Nor oftener are the floods disturb'd with wind</p> +<p>Than sheep with rots; nor doth the sickness find</p> +<p>One to destroy, but suddenly doth fall</p> +<p>On root and branch, stock and original."</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p><i>Virgil's Georgics</i>, Lib. III.</p></div></div> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note39" href="#noteref39">[39]</a> When parcels of Mr Bakewell's best sheep became, from any defect, +unserviceable to him, he used to fatten them for the butcher. But as +there was a <i>probability</i> of their becoming valuable in other +hands, he always gave them the rot before he sold them! An example, +which, I hope, for the sake both of man and sheep, never to see +followed. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note40" href="#noteref40">[40]</a> Pathologists differ as to whether tubercle is the cause or +consequence of <i>hemoptysis</i>, as this effusion of blood into the +tissue of the lungs is termed. Andral, however, is decidedly of opinion +that hemoptysis is one of the exciting causes, and, in domestic +animals, I believe it to precede tubercle more frequently than is +generally imagined. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note41" href="#noteref41">[41]</a> MM. Dupuy and Andral have seen tubercles in the fœtus of the +sheep. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note42" href="#noteref42">[42]</a> History of New South Wales, Vol. i. p. 309. +</p> + +<p class="fn"> +<a name="note43" href="#noteref43">[43]</a> Historical Account of New South Wales, by John Dunmore Lang, D.D., +Vol. i. p. 350. +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Treatise on Sheep:, by Ambrose Blacklock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + +***** This file should be named 38189-h.htm or 38189-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/8/38189/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Treatise on Sheep: + The Best Means for their Improvement, General Management, + and the Treatment of their Diseases. + +Author: Ambrose Blacklock + +Release Date: December 2, 2011 [EBook #38189] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +A TREATISE ON SHEEP: + +THE BEST MEANS FOR + +THEIR IMPROVEMENT, GENERAL MANAGEMENT, AND THE +TREATMENT OF THEIR DISEASES, + +WITH + +A CHAPTER ON WOOL, AND HISTORY OF THE WOOL TRADE; + +AND THE + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. + + + +BY AMBROSE BLACKLOCK. + + +[Illustration: Sheep have golden feet, and wherever the print of them +appears, the soil is turned into gold.--SWEDISH PROVERB.] + + +Twelfth Edition. + +LONDON: +GROOMBRIDGE & SONS, 5, PATERNOSTER ROW. +1853. + +Printed by C. and J. Adlard, Bartholomew Close + + + + + TO + SIR C. G. STUART MENTEATH, + OF CLOSEBURN, HART., + VICE-LIEUTENANT OF DUMFRIES-SHIRE, &c. &c. &c + WHOSE INTEGRITY AND URBANITY + HAVE ENDEARED HIM TO SOCIETY; + AND + WHOSE ZEAL FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL, + AND FOR THE PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER, + HAVE RAISED HIM, BY COMMON CONSENT, + TO THE FIRST RANK + AS AN AGRICULTURIST, AND AS A LANDLORD; + THIS TREATISE ON SHEEP + IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, + BY HIS VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, + THE AUTHOR. + +[Illustration: PLATE I] + +[Illustration: PLATE II] + +[Illustration: PLATE III] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV] + +[Illustration: PLATE V] + +[Illustration: PLATE VI] + +[Illustration: PLATE VII] + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The truth of the Greek proverb, that "_a great book is a great evil_," +is no where more apparent than in the construction of works on +agricultural concerns. Those who have attended to the subject well +know, that the profitable management of live-stock is by far the most +difficult branch of farming, as it is here that improvement is +peculiarly tardy; and from this we might infer that authors would +endeavour so to arrange and simplify their treatises as to enable +every one to obtain the bearings of the study at the smallest possible +expense and trouble. Such, however, is not the case. Many would appear +to have done their best so to dilute and mystify the little which is +known about the matter, that it is nearly impossible for any one, not +gifted with more than ordinary power of application, to arrive at any +thing like just conclusions. To avoid this error has been my object in +the following pages. Such points only as are of real importance have +been noticed; every thing having been rejected which could not admit +of a practical application. For this reason, also, I have omitted all +allusion to foreign _varieties_ of the sheep, an account of which is, +in some similar works, made to occupy so large a space. The general +laws by which animal bodies are governed, and the changes to which +they are rendered liable by their subserviency to man, are here--and +for the first time as regards the sheep--gone into at considerable +length. Too little value is in general attached to such inquiries; +though, when endeavouring to improve a domesticated race, we must be +perfectly aware, that without this species of knowledge we are like a +ship at sea without the guiding aids of the rudder and the compass, +and liable to be carried in the right or in the wrong direction only +as chance directs. + +In conclusion, I need make no apology for any defects that may appear +in this little work, having done my best to make it useful to the +farmer. + +CASTLE STREET, DUMFRIES, + +_July, 1838_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PREFACE iii + +References to the Plates xi + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. + +(1) Origin of the Sheep;--(2) The Argali of Siberia and Mouflon +of Sardinia;--(3) The Mouflon of America;--(4) The Mouflon of +Africa;--(5) British Breeds;--(6) The Lincolnshire;--(7) The +Teeswater;--(8) The Dishley or New Leicester;--(9) The Devonshire +Nots;--(10) The Dorsetshire Sheep;--(11) Herefordshire or Ryeland +Sheep;--(12) The South Down;--(13) The Cheviot Sheep;--(14) Mugg +Sheep;--(15) The Black-faced or Heath Sheep;--(16) The Merino;-- +(17) Teeth of Sheep;--(18) Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat; +--(19) Horns of Sheep;--(20) Structure of the Stomach;--(21) +Digestion;--(22) Period of Conception;--(23) Names applied to +Sheep 1 + +CHAPTER II. + +WOOL. + +(24) Wool-bearing Animals;--(25) Structure of the Skin;--(26) +Sebaceous follicles;--(27) Connexion of the Hair with the +Skin--Yolk;--(28) Periodical decidence of Wool;--(29) Falling off +of Wool prevented by Clipping;--(30) Form of Woolly Fibre;--(31) +Structure and Properties of Hair and Wool;--(32) Particular soils +injurious to Wool;--(33) Felting;--(34) Different kinds of +Wool;--(35) Alterations caused by _Crossing_;--(36) Bratting +prejudicial to Wool 16 + +CHAPTER III. + +BRITISH WOOL TRADE. + +(37) Origin of the Wool Trade;--(38) Invention of Weaving;--(39) +Early progress of the Wool Trade;--(40) Introduction of Weaving into +Britain;--(41) Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture;--(42) +Weavers brought by Edward III. from Flanders;--(43) Regulations +regarding _Staples_;--(44) Rapid advance of the Wool Trade in +the 14th century;--(45) Subsidies raised by Edward III.;--(46) +Progress of the Wool Trade during the reigns of Henry VII., Henry +VIII., and Edward VI.;--(47) Encouragement given by Elizabeth +to the Trade;--(48) Woollen Cloth monopolized by the Merchant +Adventurers;--(49) Consumption of Wool in England increased;-- +(50) Severity of the Prohibitory Enactments relating to Wool +reprobated;--(51) Emigration of English families to Holland, and +Prosperity of the Dutch Manufactures;--(52) Fluctuating state of +the Trade between 1635 and 1698;--(53) King William discourages +the Irish manufactures;--(54) Statistics of the British Wool +Trade in 1699;--(55) British Woollen Manufacturers rivalled by +the Swedes;--(56) Regulations relating to Wool from 1740 to 1742; +--(57) Impulse given to the Trade by the improvements in Machinery; +--(57) Commencement of the 19th century; Duty imposed on imported +Wool;--(59) Restrictions on Foreign Wool removed; increase in +Manufacturing prosperity;--(60) Countries from which we derive our +Wool;--(61) Statistics of the Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830;--(62) +Do. in 1832 28 + +CHAPTER IV. + +IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. + +(63) Introductory remarks;--(64) Early Improvers of the Sheep;--(65) +Modern Breeders and Improvements;--(66) Varieties among Animals, how +induced;--(67) Varieties induced by temperature;--(68) Adaptation of +the Sheep to climate;--(69) Changes produced by climate;--(70) +Temperature preferred by Sheep;--(71) Extent of the alterations +produced by climate;--(72) Increase in the number of the Horns;--(73) +Causes of the various forms of the Horn;--(74) The proper temperature +required for Sheep;--(75) Geographical limits of the Sheep;--(76) +Particular forms induced by geographical limit;--(77) Influence of +vegetation on form and disposition;--(78) Breeds required for +Britain--(79) Varied nature of the food of Sheep;--(80) Influence of +food on the quality of Mutton;--(81) Differences in the quality of +Mutton;--(82) Abuses in Feeding;--(83) Tendency to acquire Fat;--(84) +Frequent change of Pasture necessary;--(85) Varieties induced by +apparently trivial causes;--(86) Varieties from mode of Breeding; +--(87) Breeding _in_ and _in_;--(88) Opponents of _in_ and _in_ +Breeding;--(89) Breeding from different families of the same +race;--(90) Crossing;--(91) Things to be attended to in Crossing; +--(92) Choice of Parents;--(93) Influence of Sex;--(94) Method of +obtaining a greater number of one Sex, at the option of the +Proprietor 67 + +CHAPTER V. + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. + +(95) Introductory remarks;--(96) Putting Tups to Ewes;--(97) Early +Lambs;--(98) Lambing-time;--(99) Washing;--(100) Shearing;--(101) +Weaning;--(102) Smearing;--(103) Fatting 128 + +CHAPTER VI. + +ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS. + +(104) Introductory observations;--(105) Wounds;--(106) Stoppage +of Bleeding;--(107) Removal of Extraneous Matter from Wounds;-- +(108) Closure of Wounds;--(109) Bandaging;--(110) After-treatment +of Clean Cuts;--(111) After-treatment of Punctures;--(112) Bruises +and Sprains;--(113) Wounds of Joints;--(114) Poisoned Wounds;-- +(115) Fractures;--(116) Cutting Lambs;--(117) Blood-letting;-- +(118) Removal of Hydatids from the Head 148 + +CHAPTER VII. + +DISEASES OF SHEEP. + +(119) Introductory remarks;--(120) Cautions in Prescribing;--(121) +Classification of Diseases;--(122) Blown or Blast;--(123) Treatment +of Blown;--(124) Braxy or Sickness;--(125) Symptoms of Braxy;--(126) +Appearances on Dissection;--(127) Causes of Braxy;--(128) Treatment +of Braxy;--(129) Prevention of Braxy;--(130) Pining. Symptoms and +Causes;--(131) Treatment and Prevention of Pining;--(132) Staggers; +--(133) Diarrhoea;--(134) Treatment of Diarrhoea;--(135) Dysentery +or Cling. Symptoms;--(136) Causes of Dysentery;--(137) Treatment +of Dysentery;--(138) Prevention of Dysentery;--(139) Scab or Itch. +Symptoms and Causes;--(140) Treatment of Itch;--(141) Prevention +of Itch;--(142) Erysipelas or Wild-fire;--(143) Red-water;--(144) +Leg-evil. Symptoms and Causes;--(145) Treatment of Leg-evil;--(146) +Prevention of Leg-evil;--(147) The Fly and Maggot;--(148) Treatment +of Fly-blown Sheep, and Prevention of attacks from the Fly;--(149) +The Sheep-Fag or Ked, and the Tick;--(150) The OEstrus bovis;--(151) +Sore Teats;--(152) Foot-rot;--(153) Causes of Foot-rot;--(154) +Treatment and Prevention of Foot-rot;--(155) Insects in the Air +Passages;--(156) Removal of Insects from the Nostril;--(157) Coryza; +--(158) Treatment of Coryza;--(159) Rot. Introductory remarks;-- +(160) Symptoms of Rot;--(161) Appearances on Dissection;--(162) +The Liver-fluke;--(163) The Hydatid;--(164) Causes of Rot;--(165) +Treatment of Rot;--(166) Prevention of Rot;--(167) Jaundice;--(168) +Dropsy;--(169) Sturdy;--(170) Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy; +--(171) Trembling;--(172) Treatment of Trembling;--(173) Inflamed +Eyes;--(174) Soft cancer of the Eye 161 + + + + +REFERENCES TO THE PLATES + + +PLATE I. + +_Fig._ 1. The Mouflon of Sardinia. + +_Fig._ 2. and 3. _p._ The first stomach or paunch; _b._ the second +stomach, bonnet, king's-hood, or honey-comb; _o._ the third stomach, +or omasum; _a._ the fourth stomach, or abomasum; _g._ the gullet; +_py._ the pylorus. + +_Fig._ 4. Section of a sheep's toe; _g._ _g._ the gland secreting the +hoof; _c._ _c._ the crust; _s._ the sole. + +_Fig._ 5. View of the interdigital gland; _g._ the gland; _d._ the +duct leading from it. + +_Fig._ 6. The fluke-worm; _a._ the mouth; _b._ the reproductive +apparatus; _c._ _c._ vessels for the distribution of the blood. + +PLATE II. + +_Fig._ 1. Dorsetshire Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. South Down Ram. + +The figures in this plate are borrowed from the beautiful cuts in the +work on _Sheep_, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge. + +PLATE III. + +_Fig._ 1. New Leicester Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. Cheviot Ram. The portrait of a very superior animal, in the +possession of my friend Mr Laurie of Terregles town. + +Premiums were awarded to Mr Laurie for both of these sheep at the last +meeting of the Highland Society in Dumfries. + +_Fig._ 3. View of the veins of the face and neck; _f.v._ facial vein; +_j.v._ jugular vein. + +PLATE IV. + +_Fig._ 1. Black-faced Ram. + +_Fig._ 2. Merino Ram. + +PLATE V. + +_Figs._ 1. 2. 3. from the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, represent +the most approved mode of washing and shearing sheep. + +_Fig._ 4. Tubular structure of hair and wool. + +_Fig._ 5. Relative positions of the layers of the skin, mode in which +the hairs rise from, and situation of, the sebaceous follicles; _a._ +the cuticle; _b._ the mucous layer; _c._ the true skin; _d._ sebaceous +follicles; _e._ hairs rising from the true skin; _f._ the yolk. + +PLATE VI. + +_Fig._ 1. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been over-driven. + +_Fig._ 2. Section of the lung of a sheep which has been affected with +Rot. + +PLATE VII. + +_Fig._ 1. The _Cysticercus tenuicollis_. + +_Fig._ 1. _a._ Head of the same magnified. + +_Fig._ 2. The _Coenurus Cerebralis_. + +_Fig._ 2. _a._ Heads of the _Coenurus_ magnified. + +_Fig._ 3. The _pentastoma_. Hitherto supposed to exist only in the dog +and wolf, but discovered recently in the frontal sinus of the sheep by +my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, by whom the drawing for this figure +was kindly furnished. + +PLATE VIII. + +_Fig._ 1. Hydatid in the brain of a sheep (from a drawing by my friend +Dr Kirk of Deal); _a._ the right lobe of the cerebellum or lesser +brain distended with fluid, inclosed in a membraneous bag, as shown at +_b._, where an incision has been made to expose it; and at _c._ where +it is shining through the _pia mater_, one of the coverings of the +brain. + +_Fig._ 2. Showing the extent to which hydatids sometimes distend the +ventricles of the brain; _a._ the dilated ventricle of the left side; +_b._ _b._ convolutions passing from back to front; _c._ _d._ depth of +the furrows. + + + + +THE SHEEP. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. + + +(1.) _Origin of the Sheep._--As the origin of our domesticated animals +has afforded scope for much curious speculation, so none have +attracted a greater degree of attention in this respect than the +sheep. Into these arguments, however, it would be absurd to enter; I +shall therefore content myself with such opinions as are deemed the +best. + +Placed in the Class Mammalia, and Order Ruminantia, the innumerable +varieties at present existing may, according to Cuvier, whose tact in +arranging animals is universally acknowledged, all be referred to four +species--the Argali of Siberia, the Mouflon of Sardinia, the Mouflon +of America, and the Mouflon of Africa--though to be rigidly accurate +in natural distinctions he would refer them all to three, thereby +excluding the third. + +(2.) _The Argali of Siberia_ (_Ovis Ammon_) inhabits the mountains of +Asia, where it attains the size of a fallow deer. The male has very +large horns, with three rounded angles at the base, flattened in +front, and striated transversely. The horns of the female are +compressed, and hook-shaped. The hair is short in summer, and of a +fawn-coloured grey; in winter it is thick, rigid, and of a reddish +grey, with some white about the muzzle, throat, and under the belly. +The Mouflon of Sardinia (_Ovis Musimon_, Fig. 1. Pl. I.) differs from +it only in its inferior size, and in the smallness of the horns of the +female. + +(3.) _The Mouflon of America_ (_Ovis Montana_) closely resembles the +Argali, and is supposed by some to be identical with it, and to have +crossed from Asia to America at Behring's Straits by means of ice. + +(4.) _The Mouflon of Africa_ (_Ovis Tragelaphus_) is distinguished by +its soft and reddish hair, by its short tail, and by a long mane +hanging under the neck, and another at each ancle; it inhabits the +rocky districts of Barbary, and has been observed in Egypt. + +(5.) _British Breeds._--The breeds of our island, as they at present +stand, may be divided into two kinds--long-woolled and short-woolled; +the former embracing the Lincolnshire, the Teeswater, the Dishley, or +New Leicester, and the Devonshire Nots; while the latter will include +those of Dorset, Herefordshire, and Sussex, with the Cheviot, Mugg, +and Black-faced variety.[1] + + [1] Encyclopedia Britannica, 7th Edition, Article Agriculture. + +(6). _The Lincolnshire_ has no horns; the face is white; the carcass +long and thin; the legs thick, white, and rough; bones large; pelts +thick; and the wool from 8 to 10 inches in length. The ewes weigh from +14 lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter; and three-year old wethers 20 lbs. to +30 lbs. The fleece weighs from 8 lbs. to 14 lbs., and covers a +coarse-grained slow-feeding carcass; so slow, indeed, at feeding, that +it cannot be fattened at an early age, except upon rich land; but the +breed is encouraged, from the great weight of wool that is shorn from +them every year. It and its sub-varieties are extremely common in the +English counties. + +(7.) _The Teeswater_ sheep were originally bred from the same stock as +the former, but have become different, from the size having received +greater attention than the wool, which is inferior both in length and +weight. They stand upon higher and finer boned legs, which support a +firmer and heavier carcass, much wider upon the back and sides, and +afford a fatter and finer-grained mutton--the two-year-old wethers +weighing from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs. per quarter. Marshall, in his work on +Yorkshire, remarks, that they are not so compact, nor so complete in +their form, as the Leicestershire sheep; nevertheless, the excellency +of their flesh and fatting quality is not doubted, and their wool +still remains superior. For the banks of the Tees, or any other rich +fat land, they are singularly excellent. + +(8.) _The Dishley_, or _New Leicester_, is distinguished from other +long-woolled breeds, by clean heads, straight broad flat backs, round +bodies, small bones, thin pelts, and a disposition to fatten at an +early age. But more of this hereafter. The weight of three-year-old +ewes is from 18 lbs. to 26 lbs. per quarter; and of two-year old +wethers from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. The wool averages from 6 lbs. to 8 +lbs., and is thought by some to be inferior in quality to that of +Cheviot sheep; but, from being fully fed at all seasons, they yield +great quantities of it. Fig. 1. Pl. III. + +(9.) _The Devonshire Nots_ form the fourth hornless variety of +long-woolled sheep. Forty or fifty years ago, they ranked as +middle-woolled sheep; but they now figure among the long-wools, under +the name of Bamptons--their fleece having been lengthened, and +rendered finer, by crossing with the Leicesters. There is yet, +however, much room for improvement in these crosses. They have white +faces and legs, the latter being short, and the bones large, while the +necks are thick, the backs high, and the sides good. They approach in +weight to the Leicester, but the wool is heavier and coarser. In +Devonshire are found a white-faced and horned variety, which are known +as the Exmoor kind, from the place of their nativity. Though delicate +in bone, they are not good, having a narrow flat-sided carcass; while +the weight of the quarters and fleece is a third short of the former +variety. + +(10.) _The Dorsetshire sheep_ are horned and white-faced, with a long +thin carcass, and high small white legs. Three-year-old wethers weigh +from 16 lbs. to 20 lbs. a quarter; but the wool, being fine and short, +weighs only from 3 lbs. to 4 lbs. a fleece. It is, however, amply +compensated for by the mutton, which is of superior quality. The +peculiar and most valuable property of this breed is the forwardness +of the ewes, which take the ram at any period of the year, often +lambing, so early as September or October. They are, on this account, +extremely useful for supplying large towns with house-lamb at +Christmas. Fig. 1, Pl. II. + +(11.) _Herefordshire_ or _Ryeland sheep_ have white legs and faces, +and no horns. The wool grows close to the eyes. They are a small +breed, suited to every market, weighing from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. +a-quarter. The carcass is tolerably well-formed, and the wool fine and +short, each fleece weighing from 1-1/2 lb. to 2-1/2 lbs., rarely, +however, exceeding 2 lbs. They were called _Ryeland_ sheep, from a +district in the southern part of Herefordshire being thought capable +of growing nothing but rye. Though their figure is good, the back is +not so level, nor the ribs so well rounded, as in the improved breeds. +They fatten easily, however, and arrive soon at maturity, though +reckoned inferior in these respects to the Cheviot variety. + +(12.) _The South Down_, like the Ryeland, are, from the delicacy of +their constitution, unadapted for bleak situations, but sufficiently +hardy and active for a low country; their average weight is from 15 +lbs. to 18 lbs. a-quarter; that of the fleece, which is very short and +fine, being from 2-1/2 lbs. to 3 lbs. They are without horns, have +grey faces and legs, a neck low set and small, and a breast neither +wide nor deep; their mutton is fine in the grain, and of an excellent +flavour, having been brought to great perfection by Mr Ellman of +Glynd, and other intelligent breeders. They are mostly found in +Sussex, on dry chalky downs producing short fine herbage, and arrive +early at maturity; in which respect they are equal to the Cheviot, +though inferior to them in quantity of tallow. Formerly they would not +take on fat till four years old; now they are always at market when +about two years of age, and many are killed before that period. Fig. +2. Pl. II. + +(13.) _The Cheviot Sheep_ have a bare head, with a long jaw, and white +face, but no horns. Sometimes they have a shade of grey upon the nose, +approaching to dark at the tip; at others, a tinge of lemon colour on +the face, but these markings scarcely affect their value. The legs are +clean, long, and small-boned, and covered with wool to the hough; but +there is a sad want of depth at the breast, and of breadth both there +and on the chine. A fat carcass weighs from 12 lbs. to 18 lbs. per +quarter, and a medium fleece about 3 lbs. The purest specimens of this +breed are to be found on the Scotch side of the Cheviot hills, and on +the high and stony mountain-farms which lie between that range and the +source of the Teviot. These sheep are a capital mountain stock, +provided the pasture resembles the Cheviot hills, in containing a good +proportion of rich herbage. Fig. 2. Pl. III. + +(14.) _Mugg Sheep._--"In this variety," says Dr Fleming, in his +History of British Animals, "the face and legs are white, or rarely +spotted with yellow, and the forehead covered with long wool. This is +the native breed in Scotland, to the north of the Forth and Clyde. +They are of small size, and seldom weigh above 8 or 10 lbs. per +quarter. Some tribes have horns; others are destitute of them, and +they vary in the length of the tail. They may be considered as the +stock of the numerous modern and valuable varieties, which are bred in +the best cultivated districts. The Shetland sheep belongs to this +kind. The fur consists of firm wool next the skin, with long coarse +hairs, indications of an inhabitant of an arctic climate." + +(15.) _The Black-faced or Heath Sheep_ are known by their large spiral +horns, wild-looking eyes, black legs and faces, with short firm +carcasses, covered by long coarse wool, which weighs from 3 lbs. to 4 +lbs. As the form of this sheep has lately been much improved, by +inducing a short and round carcass, they have acquired the name of +_short_ sheep, in contradistinction to the Cheviots, which are termed +long sheep. When three years old, they fatten well, affording +excellent highly-flavoured mutton, and weighing from 10 lbs. to 16 +lbs. a-quarter. They are the most valuable upland sheep in Britain, +abounding in all the western counties of England and Scotland, and are +now becoming great favourites in the London market. Fig. 1. Pl. IV. + +(16.) _The Merino._--Though many foreign breeds have from time to time +appeared in this country, yet almost all of them have been viewed +merely as objects of curiosity, and, as such, have speedily been +disregarded. Far different, however, was the reception of the Merinos. +Brought into England under the most favourable auspices, and placed at +once under the fostering protection of royalty, their native merits +could not but be speedily appreciated and diffused throughout the +kingdom. They have received the name of _Merino_ from a peculiar buff +or reddish hue of the countenance, and are supposed to have come +originally from Africa; at least Marcus Columella, having seen a +strange variety from that country exhibited at Rome, during some +public games or shows, took them to his farm, and, having crossed them +with the breeds of Tarentum, sent the offspring to Spain. There they +throve remarkably, attracting the attention of other nations, to whom +they were from time to time exported, and at present may be found in +almost every part of the world. + +Merinos were brought to England for the first time in 1788, but +attracted little attention, owing to the want of rams. Lord Somerville +went to Portugal in 1801, for the purpose of selecting such animals as +appeared valuable, from uniting a good carcass with a superior fleece, +and he succeeded, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country, +in obtaining specimens, which called forth the praises of the +shepherds, through whose travelling flocks they passed. Public +attention was attracted to them on the commencement of his Majesty's +sales in 1804; and their distribution over the country was +accomplished in 1811, by the formation of the principal landed +proprietors and eminent breeders into a Merino Society. + +The Merinos had much prejudice to encounter on being first brought +before the public in 1804; but they soon rose in favour and value, and +steadily progressed till the Merino Society was established, when, +strange though it may appear, all these advantages were at once +destroyed. This paradox may, perhaps, be explained, by supposing that +the institution of local committees, which immediately followed, +allowed the enemies of the change, in distant parts of the kingdom, +ample opportunity of striking at the scheme, now that it was +entrusted, in many instances, to persons ill qualified for the task +either of making converts, or retaining the advantages already gained. + +The horns of the Merino are of large size, twisted spirally and +extended laterally, approaching closely in these characters to the +sheep of Mount Parnassus, a specimen of which is delineated in the +work by E. T. Bennett, on the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological +Society. The face has a characteristic velvety appearance, but the +cheeks and forehead are disfigured by coarse hair. The legs are long +and small in the bone; the breast and back are narrow, the sides flat, +and too much of the weight is expended on the coarser parts. There is +a peculiar looseness of skin beneath the throat, which is admired in +Spain as denoting a tendency to weight and fineness of wool, though +regarded in this country as a sign of a bad skin and want of aptitude +to fatten. The average weight of the fleece in Spain is, 8 lbs. from +the ram, and 5 lbs. from the ewe. The abundance of the yolk enables +the wool to detain all the filth which comes in contact with it, so +much so, that by washing the weight is diminished about three-fifths. +The fibre of the wool is finer than that of any other sheep, and the +carcass, when fat, averages from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs. a-quarter. They +are quiet and tractable, and possessed of many good qualities, but +they are liable to abortion, are bad nurses, and require a large +supply of food, for which, owing to an unprofitable form, they yield +no return. Fig. 2. Pl. IV. + +The Merinos were at one time in great request in various countries, +from a supposition that they would speedily supplant other breeds; but +this has never been the case, as the animal soon degenerates when out +of Spain, and is only valuable so far as giving rise to varieties, +which are equal, if not superior to itself. Large profits were at +first expected from their wool, but these were reduced to a trifle +when the loss of weight, and fineness in the carcass were taken into +account. Mr Hose of Melton Mowbray, put a certain number of Leicester +ewes to a ram of the same breed, and an equal number to a merino ram. +The result was, that the Leicester fleece weighed 7 lbs., and the one +from the cross with the merino, 8 lbs.; and that the former brought in +the market 1s. per lb., and the latter 1s. 6d., being a gain of 5s. on +the fleece. The carcass of the former, however, weighed 27 lbs. per +quarter, and the latter only 25 lbs., being a loss of 5 lbs. on +mutton. Much advantage may, however, be expected from our crosses with +the Saxon merino, which is in every respect well suited to our notions +of a fine animal, as it yields a good wool, and is little inferior in +carcass to some of our best breeds. + +(17.) _Teeth of Sheep._--In common with the rest of the ruminating +animals, sheep have eight incisors in the lower jaw, unopposed by any +in the upper, a callous pad, which is substituted, being attached to +the distal end of the intermaxillarv bones. Between the incisors and +molars, or grinding teeth, there is a vacant space of about an inch +and a half. There are twenty-four molars, six on each side of each +jaw; their crowns are marked with two double crescents, the convexity +of which is turned inwards in the upper, and outwards in the lower +jaw. The lamb, when newly dropped, is devoid of incisor teeth, though +the two central ones are occasionally above the gum even at this early +period. When one month old, the first set of incisive teeth are +complete. The two fore-teeth of the under jaw drop out at the end of +the first year; six months after the two next to these are lost; and +at the end of five years the teeth are all renewed. When the permanent +teeth are fully grown, it is almost impossible to ascertain the age of +the animal, as the soil, the texture of the provender, and the +original form of the teeth, have all a greater or less influence over +their durability. + +(18.) _Distinctions between the Sheep and Goat._--Though a comparison +of the most common domesticated breeds of sheep and goats, tends to +confirm the broad distinctions drawn between them, yet these +differences almost entirely disappear, when we attempt to define the +characteristics of those races, which still exist in a wild state in +various parts of both Continents, where it is so far impossible to +determine the precise division to which they belong, that Cuvier holds +them unworthy of a generic separation. Sheep and goats, in fact, agree +in so many points as regards structure, form, stature, and habit, that +were it not that sheep, according to that naturalist, have "their +horns directed backwards, returning more or less forwards in a spiral +manner, with a generally convex line of profile, and no beard," while +the goats have "their horns directed upwards and backwards, their +chins generally decorated with a long beard, and their line of profile +almost always concave," there would hardly exist a difference worth +the noting. Some writers place great reliance on the differences +indicated by the different coverings of the animals, ascribing wool to +the sheep, and hair to the goat, forgetting that most of the wild +sheep, and some of the domesticated races, are covered with hair, +while some goats, as those of Thibet and Angora, are remarkable for +the fineness of their wool. Even supposing these distinctions to hold +good, we have still to combat the fact, that _sheep and goats produce +mongrels capable of reproduction_, a consideration sufficient of +itself to prove, that the sheep and goat can never be made to form the +types of separate genera.[2] + + [2] For further information on this subject, see that + excellent paper on the Natural History of the Sheep and Goat, + by James Wilson, Esq. in No. IX. of the Quarterly Journal of + Agriculture. + +(19.) _Horns of Sheep._--As the Chevrotains or Musks are distinguished, +with the Camels, from other animals of this order by the absence of +horns, so are sheep, oxen, goats, and antelopes, distinguished from +the rest of the horned genera of the order, by the persistence of +their frontal prolongations. The horn is an elastic sheath of +_agglutinated hairs_, which appears within the first twelve months, +though sometimes present at birth, and increases by layers, one being +added every year, so that the age of a ram may be known by the number +of rings. The ewes have commonly no horns, but only a protuberance in +place of them. The horn is supported by, and serves to cover, a highly +vascular prolongation of the frontal bone, and it is at its root, +where large vessels, and nervous filaments are entering, that blows +occasion so great agony to the animal, apart from the damage which the +other bones sustain by the infliction of violence on so powerful a +level. + +(20.) _Structure of the Stomach._--The term ruminating, indicates the +power possessed by this animal, in common with many others, of +masticating its food a second time, by returning it to the mouth after +a short maceration. This they are enabled to do, from the structure of +the stomachs, or, more correctly speaking, stomach; as anatomists have +now concluded, from all animals being constructed on one common +principle, that ruminating animals are not possessed of four stomachs, +as formerly supposed, but only of one, which they view as being +divided into four compartments. In drawing precise conclusions, we are +bound only to admit the existence of two compartments, the other two +belonging properly to the gullet; and being equivalent to the cheek +pouches of monkeys, or the crop and membranous stomach of birds, may +be viewed as an apparatus designed to serve a nearly similar purpose +(that of moistening and macerating the food); while the real stomach +will cease to excite wonder, or puzzle the ignorant, on being +contrasted with that of other animals, in many of which a division +exists, and from which even the human stomach, though generally a +single sac, is not always exempt,--Dr Knox, of Edinburgh, being in +possession of one that resembles a pair of small globes joined by a +narrow tube, and which, when taken from the body of a person who was +advanced in life, bore every mark of soundness in texture, and must, +therefore, have been congenital. + +(21.) _Digestion._[3]--The food descends by the gullet after being +partially crushed, into what is called the first stomach, or paunch, +in Latin, _rumen_, or _ingluvies_, in which cavity are found those +morbid concretions so much, and so superstitiously, prized in the +Eastern world, under the name of Bezoar stones; from this it passes +into the second, termed bonnet, king's hood, or honey-comb, in Latin +_reticulum_, which is much smaller than the other, and receives its +name from the inner coat being arranged into cells; here it is +moistened, made into pellets, and, while the animal is at rest, +impelled by the antiperistaltic motion of the tube to the mouth, and +after undergoing a complete mastication, is returned through the +gullet to the third stomach, or smallest compartment, which goes under +the name of _omasum_, or many-plies, from its resembling a rolled up +hedgehog, and sometimes from the longitudinal _laminae_ of its mucous +membrane that of leaflet. The food remains but a short time in the +omasum, proceeding into the fourth division, or obomasum, which in its +structure, especially in that of the mucous, or inner membrane, is +nearly allied to the same organ in the human being, and is, by the +French, from its power of coagulating milk, called _caillette_. The +last compartment is the largest of the four, so long as the animal +continues to live on milk; but the paunch speedily surpasses it in +magnitude when grass becomes the sole provision. The milk always +passes at once into the fourth stomach, there being no reason why it +should be returned. + + [3] See Figs. 2 and 3, Plate I. with their references. + +The intestinal canal is long, commencing at the pylorus or lower +opening of the stomach, and averaging from ninety to one hundred feet. +There are but few enlargements in the great intestines. The fat, like +that of all ruminating animals, becomes, on cooling, hard and brittle. + +(22.) _Period of Conception._--In this climate, ewes fed on good +pastures admit the ram in August; but September or October is the time +when such would occur if left to nature. They go with young five +months, and in warm climates bring forth thrice a-year; but in +Britain, France, and most of Europe, they do so only once. They give +milk for seven or eight months; live ten or twelve years; and if well +managed, are capable of bringing forth during life, though generally +useless for that process after the seventh or eighth year. The ram +lives from twelve to fourteen years, though instances are recorded of +their enduring till twenty, and becomes unfit for propagating at +eight. + +(23.) _Names applied to Sheep._--The age of sheep is never dated from +the time that they are dropped, as that would be attended with many +inconveniences, but from the time that they are first subjected to the +shears, by which means the first year includes a period of at least +fifteen or sixteen months. + +The following is a condensed arrangement of the names by which sheep +are designated at different periods of their existence, in various +parts of England and Scotland:-- + + _From Birth till Weaning._ + MALE. FEMALE. + + Tup, Ram lamb, Heeder, Pur. | Ewe or Gimmer lamb, Chilver. + + _From Weaning till first Clip._ + + Hog, Hogget, Hoggerel, Teg. | Gimmer hog, Ewe hog, Teg, + Lamb hog, Tup hog, Gridling, | Sheeder ewe, Thrave. + and, if castrated, a Wether | + hog. | + + _From first to second Clip._ + + Shearling, Shear hog, Heeder, | Shearing ewe or gimmer, + Diamond or Dinmont ram, or | Double-toothed ewe or + tup, and, when castrated, a | Teg, Yill gimmer. + Shearing wether. | + + _From second till third Clip._ + + Two shear ram, young wedder. | Two shear ewe, Counter. + + _From third till fourth Clip._ + + Three shear ram, old wedder. | Three shear ewe, Fronter. + +And so on, the name always taking its date from the time of shearing. +Broken-mouthed ewes are called _crones_ in Suffolk and Norfolk; +_kroks_, or _crocks_, in Scotland; and _drapes_ in Lincolnshire. In +Scotland, ewes which are neither with lamb, nor giving milk, are said +to be _eild_, or _yield_. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WOOL. + + +(24.) _Wool-Bearing Animals._--In most dictionaries wool is defined as +the fleece of sheep, as if, in fact they were the only animals which +yield it, than which nothing can be more erroneous; since we are +assured by the ablest naturalists, that almost every animal, from the +butterfly up to man, possesses more or less of this covering, and that +some indeed rival the sheep in the quantity they bear. + +Though wool is possessed in considerable quantity by carnivorous +animals, especially bears, yet the herbivorous quadrupeds, never to +mention the sheep, are principally noticed for its growth, and for +affording a commodity which becomes an article of profit in the hands +of some tribes. Heriot, in his travels through Canada, remarks, that +"the savage women manufacture thread of the wool of the buffalo, and +weave it into cloth. Most parts of the body are invested with a dusky +wool, which is of a quality extremely fine--is much valued--and can +with great facility be used in manufactures. The quantity usually +contained on one skin is about eight pounds." + +So far from the sheep being invariably a wool-bearing creature, it +would appear as liable to be entirely destitute of it as some other +animals; for in Tartary, the eastern parts of India, China, and some +parts of Africa, a hair of varying quality forms their sole covering; +and Sir Joseph Banks imported three from Spain, which were smooth, +sleek, and as short-haired as a horse. + +(25.) _Structure of the Skin._--The skin is composed of three coats, +or layers; the outermost, the cuticle or scarf-skin, is a thin +delicate membrane, devoid of feeling, and of a scaly texture, pierced +by innumerable small holes, for the passage of the hairs, and +perspiration, and covering the next, or mucous coat, so named from its +pulpy appearance. In this resides the colouring matter, which imparts +its peculiar tints to the hair, and which can only be satisfactorily +demonstrated in the dark races. The existence of this coat has been by +some denied; but it is probable that, though present in all, it can +only be exhibited in such as have depth of tint, to admit of the +display. It is here that sensation principally resides; the nerves, or +rather their terminations, ramifying minutely in its substance, at +which they have arrived by piercing the third tunic, or true skin, a +dense firm elastic membrane, in which the roots of the hairs are +imbedded, and from which, in fact, they take their origin. + +(26.) _Sebaceous Follicles._--The skin is studded over by small +glands, or what, in anatomical language, would be called sebaceous +follicles, which vary in number in different breeds, and different +parts of the body, being most numerous on the breast and shoulders, +and secreting a peculiar unctuous semi-solid matter, which, as we +shall immediately see, possesses alkaline properties. + +(27.) _Connection of the hair with the skin_--_Yolk._--A hair +implanted in the skin may be compared to a plant growing in a +flower-pot which has been sunk in the earth, as the root of the hair +does not rise directly from the true skin, but from a little cup +extending from it to the cuticle, and receiving nourishment from +surrounding vessels. After coming to the surface of these tunics it +has, in the sheep, yet another, and, in some respects, remarkable +covering to pierce, one which has occupied the attention of the most +distinguished chemists, and given rise to a good deal of disputation +on the subject of salving--we allude to the Yolk. It is supposed by +many to be the inspissated secretion of the sebaceous follicles, and +receives its name from its adhesiveness and colour. It is most +plentiful on fine-woolled sheep, those of the south possessing more +than those of the north of our island, while merinos possess most of +all; so that there is apparently some connection between a fine +fleece, and a good supply of this matter. According to the analysis of +M. Vauquelin, it consists principally of a soapy matter, with a basis +of potash; a small quantity of carbonate of potash; a minute quantity +of acetate of potash; lime in an unknown state of combination; and an +atom of muriate of potash. It owes its odour to a small quantity of +animal oil, and is in every respect a true soap, which would permit +the sheep to be completely washed in a stream, but for the existence +in the fleece of an uncombined fatty matter, which remains attached to +the wool, and renders it rather glutinous. + +Many have tried to account for the uses of the Yolk, but nothing like +satisfactory conclusions have been come to: some considering it goes +to form the filament, and is consolidated into a transparent mass +while the pile is growing; while others argue, that it is a peculiar +secretion which exudes through the skin, and by mixing with the pile +renders it soft and pliable, affecting it in the way that oil does a +piece of leather. In the latter opinion I coincide. For my part, I +view it as a secretion, depending very much on good food and +steadiness of temperature, and, therefore, indicative of a fine fleece +only so far as the health of the animal is concerned. In the human +being the state of the skin may often guide us, though blind-fold, to +the quality of the hair, so that the latter may be pronounced either +dry and coarse, or glossy, soft, and silky, as the skin may prove +either harsh and ungrateful, or pleasant, and, if I may be allowed the +expression, alkaline to the touch. Every thing having a tendency to +affect the health may always be considered as calculated to diminish +this secretion, and, consequently, to deteriorate the quality of the +wool. + +The relative positions of the layers of the skin, the mode in which +the hairs rise from them, and the form and situation of the sebaceous +follicles, will be better understood by referring to the following +cross section Fig 5. Pl. V., in which the line marked + + _a_ Represents the cuticle, + _b_ The mucous layer, + _c_ The true skin, + _d_ Sebaceous follicles, + _e_ Hairs rising from the true skin and inflections of the + upper layers and piercing, + _f_ The thin film of the yolk. + +(28.) _Periodical decidence of Wool._--It is affirmed that the only +real difference between hair and wool is in the latter falling off +periodically; but the same change takes place in animals totally +covered with hair; in fact, almost every animal is subject to +moulting, or a periodical decidence of its protecting covering. The +fleece of the sheep has been proved in many instances not to be liable +to _annual_ changes of this description;--Lord Western having, among +others, shown that the wool of the merino may be retained at least +three years without the slightest disposition to separate. + +The annual employment of shearing, to anticipate this falling off of +the wool, is now common in most parts of the world; yet some, as the +Icelanders and Kamtschadales, still retain the primeval custom of +_rowing_, or pulling off the fleece in a mass, about the end of May, +at which time it is nearly loosened. This loosening of the attachments +of the fibre is supposed to be owing to a diminution, during winter, +of the nutritive process at the root of the hair, so that the fibre is +liable to give way at the tender part when the fleece becomes heavy +during Spring. This attempt at an explanation meets, however, with the +insurmountable objection, that long-woolled are less liable than +short-woolled sheep to this occurrence, a circumstance which ought to +be the reverse, if weight had any thing to do in the case. + +(29.) _Falling off of Wool prevented by Clipping._--Clipping has a +curious influence over the duration of the covering of animals, as is +well exemplified by the correct popular idea, that the only way to +prevent the hair of children dropping off (as it sometimes has a +tendency to do) is to cut it short: we may suppose the benefit in this +case to result from the removal of a _portion_ of each hair, which, if +allowed to remain, would lead to a sacrifice of the _whole_, by +robbing the root of a quantity of nutritious matter, which, owing to a +diminution of reproductive power, it could ill afford. In this way +only can we account for the power which shearing evinces, in putting a +stop to the attempt sometimes made by nature to change the coverings +of some sheep. In the valley which separates the most eastern chain of +the Cordilleras from the central, the wool grows upon the lambs in the +same manner as in temperate climates, provided they are sheared so +soon as it has arrived at a certain thickness; in which case the wool +grows again, preserving the same order. But, if the period for +denuding the animal be allowed to pass, the wool detaches itself in +flakes, leaving behind a short, glossy, and compact hair, exactly +resembling that of the common goat in the same climate. + +(30.) _Form of woolly fibre._--The fibre of wool is circular, +differing in diameter in the various breeds, and different parts +of the same fleece. The following _a propos_ observations are +from the article on the Sheep, in the Library of Useful Knowledge: +"The filaments of white wool, when cleansed from grease, are +semitransparent; their surface in some places is beautifully polished, +in others curiously encrusted, and they reflect the rays of light in a +very pleasing manner. When viewed by the aid of a powerful achromatic +microscope, the central part of the fibre has a singularly glittering +appearance. Very irregularly placed minuter filaments are sometimes +seen branching from the main trunk, like boughs from the principal +stem. This exterior polish varies much in different wools, and in +wools from the same breed of sheep at different times. When the animal +is in good condition, and the fleece healthy, the appearance of the +fibre is really brilliant; but, when the sheep has been half starved, +the wool seems to have sympathized with the state of the constitution, +and either a wan pale light, or sometimes scarcely any, is reflected." + +The more transparent the filament the better is the fleece, and its +value is impaired by the transparency being different in the same +fleece, or, as often happens, in the same filament; while that which +possesses fineness with a close ground, pureness, elasticity, colour, +tenacity, and not much pitch-mark, is the most esteemed, and preferred +by the manufacturer. Wethers have considerably more wool than ewes. In +every fleece there are several qualities, even so many as nine +different sorts, which are all separated from each other in England by +men called woolstaplers, who are appointed for the purpose, and sworn +to do justice between the grower, and the merchant or manufacturer. In +this manner the latter obtains, without trouble or risk, the very kind +which he knows will suit his purpose; for though the sorter, +surrounded by a number of baskets, divides the wool according to its +properties without the slightest hesitation, and with a rapidity truly +surprising, yet such is the amount of the dexterity acquired by +practice, that a mistake seldom occurs, and his judgment can as rarely +be disputed. + +(31.) _Structure and properties of Hair and Wool._--Each hair is +composed of a number of filaments, or smaller hairs, ranged side by +side, and this we can perceive without the slightest trouble, from the +tendency it sometimes has to unravel at the apex; and again, by +drawing a hair through the fingers from point to root, when we feel a +roughness occasioned by projecting filaments, which only proceed a +certain distance up the trunk, the longest being most internal. + +Pl. V. Fig. 5, _e_, exhibits those points in a hair considerably +magnified. + +These projections, or serrations, which vary in number in different +specimens of wool, are what it depends on for its felting properties. +They are sharper and more numerous in felting wools than in others, +and the better the felting properties of the wool, the more numerous +the curls; because what induces curling on the animal's back leads +to felting in the hands of the manufacturer. In felting, these +projections catch one upon another, and occasion the hair to move in +one direction, which is invariably root foremost, as we perceive on +giving it a twirling motion between the finger and thumb; and it is +only by the union of curve and serration, that felting can be +accomplished certainly and perfectly. + +Woolly fibre consists of a semitransparent stem, or stalk, supposed +to be hollow, as represented at Fig. 4, Pl. V. and is partly +distinguished from hair by the latter being opaque. Next to soundness, +there are few qualities deserving of so much attention as softness, +of which the ancient writers make frequent mention, and for the +prevalence of which in our present wools fashion has done not a +little. It is a quality that tends, in a material degree, to the cheap +and easy working of the cloth, and, as such, is said to render wool 25 +per cent. more valuable to the manufacturer than a harsh and brittle +pile. It apparently depends on the fineness of the fibre, which should +not, however, go the length of weakness. Fineness is in turn mainly +connected with the yolk, the secretion of which ought, on that +account, to be promoted by attention to the general management of the +animal, as it is well known to undergo a change of properties by +starvation, exposure, or any neglect whatever. + +(32.) _Particular soils injurious to Wool._--Soil, also, has much +influence on the pliability of wool. Chalky lands, which are so +notorious for injuring the fleece, are supposed to act in the manner +of a corrosive, but the correct explanation is, not that the chalky +particles attack the fibre in a direct way, but that they render it +brittle, by absorbing the oily moisture with which it is naturally +imbued. Moreover, the plants growing in such situations cannot but be +injurious to sheep, owing to their impregnation, though a slight one, +with calcareous matter; for grooms know well how soon a horse's coat +becomes disordered by the frequent use of hard or well water, and +prefer, therefore, the river for their steeds.[4] + + [4] I am surprized to find it asserted at page 76 of the book + on Sheep, published by the Society for the diffusion of Useful + Knowledge, that the depilatory action of lime-water on raw + hides is a "_striking elucidation_" of the injurious effects + of chalk on wool. Lime removes hair from a skin because it is + a powerful caustic, and, as such, speedily decomposes the + animal matter, but the carbonate of lime (chalk) is perfectly + innocuous to wool, except so far as it combines with its oil; + and is as little _corrosive_ to the fleece, as pipe-clay to a + soldier's coat. + +(33.) _Felting._--The felting of wool may be defined as a property +depending on the curls and serrations of the fibre, by which it is +allowed to move only with the root foremost, and by which it is +enabled to catch and retain a hold on fibres that are near it, so as +to form a web or cloth. Felting is best brought into operation by +alternate pressure and relaxation, which may be produced in a variety +of ways: the ancient method, and one still pursued by the Tartars, was +to tramp on a mass or layer of moist unwrought wool, so as to form a +coarse cloth or carpet; while the modern, and more perfect plan is, +either, as in hat making, to apply pressure with the hands, or, as in +the finishing of cloth, to pass the fabric repeatedly through rollers. +The way in which a close fabric is formed, by the juxta-position of a +few scattered hairs, gave rise for long, as well it might, to serious +disputations among philosophers; and the favourite theories of each, +unbased as they were on observation, might till now have agitated the +scientific portion of our manufacturers, had not the microscope +brought to light much of what is true and valuable in our researches. + +Moisture appears to be of service during the felting of wool, as it +induces it to curl, enabling the fibres to expand, and catch one on +another, after they have been bent and compressed, by the force +applied to them, and is of itself sufficient to felt a fabric, as we +frequently perceive in the instance of stockings, which have been +allowed to remain too long in water, when they become short from +undergoing contraction, and resemble after such treatment an imperfect +cloth. It is for this reason that the hatter, after tumbling over, in +all directions, the fur of which the hat is to be made, wets it before +applying pressure; and, that the woollen manufacturer, after freeing +the web from grease, soaps it before its subjection to the action of +the rollers. + +Without felting, cloth would resemble a net, and would unravel on +being cut, from the fibres crossing only in two directions; but the +strokes of the mill put an end to this, by laying the fibres in every +possible direction, and so twining them one with another, as to render +them a coherent mass. + +(34.) _Different kinds of Wool._--The wool of this country is divided +into two great classes--long and short: the former varies in length +from three to eight inches, and before being made into stuffs and +worsted goods, requires to be deprived of its felting tendencies, by +passing it through heated iron combs, which remove the feathery parts, +or serrations, and make it resemble silk or cotton. + +The shorter combing wools are in general used for hose, and are softer +than the long combing wools. Short wool is employed in the cloth +manufacture, and is, on that account, frequently called clothing wool. +It should approach in colour as much as possible to white, as a clear +white ground is required for all cloths that are to be dyed bright +colours, as well as for those dressed white: grey or black hairs +injure the fleece very much, even though few and minute, as they give +rise to reddish spots where the cloth is stoved. Herefordshire sheep +are entirely free from this defect, and are, therefore, reckoned +particularly valuable for clothing purposes. + +(35.) _Alterations induced by Crossing._--The breed exercises +considerable influence on the wool, some sheep, as the merinos, being +distinguished for the softness and beauty of the fleece; while others, +as some of our small northern varieties, are famed for the very +opposite characteristics. + +According to the opinion on the continent, any race of ewes, however +coarse and long in the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the merino +ram, give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. The truth of +this proposition is however doubted, in a communication to the Board +of Agriculture, by Dr Parry of Bath; but it is certain, he adds, that +one cross more will in most cases effect the desired purpose. "If we +suppose," he says, "the result of the admixture of the blood of the +merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, and state +the native blood in the ewe as 64, then the first cross would give +32/64 of the merino, the second 48/64, the third 56/64, the fourth +60/64, the fifth 62/64, and so on. In other words, the first cross +would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English quality; the second +16 parts, or one-fourth; the third 8 parts, or one-eighth; the fourth +four parts, or one-sixteenth; the fifth 2 parts or one-thirty-second; +the sixth 1 part, or one-sixty-fourth; and so on. Now, if the filament +of the Wiltshire, or any other coarse wool, be in diameter double that +of the Ryeland, it is obvious that, according to the above statement, +it would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid wool of +the former to the same fineness as that of the latter. This, I +believe, very exactly corresponds with the fact. The difference +between one-eighth and one-sixteenth is very considerable, and must +certainly be easily perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the +cloth which is manufactured from such wool. In the latter method, it +certainly has been perceived; but I have had hitherto no opportunity +of trying the difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have +before observed, brings the merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as +the merino-Ryeland." + +(36.) _Bratting injurious to Wool._--Wool rendered fine by clothing +sheep, is never equal to that which owes its perfection to natural +causes. The Saxon wool, which is principally produced by _artificial_ +means, has been compared, from its inelastic sickly appearance, to +grass that has been secluded from the sun. The custom of _bratting_ is +therefore not to be recommended, and indeed is now nearly laid aside. +Housing sheep with the same intentions is also bad, inasmuch as it +must affect their health, and destroy the curl of the fibre. Shelter +is however absolutely necessary from extremes both of heat and cold, +as temperature has much influence on the covering of animals, and in +none more than the sheep. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +BRITISH WOOL TRADE. + + +(37.) _Origin of the Wool Trade._--Wool, since Eden closed its gates +on our progenitors has been a current coin, an important material, on +which has been employed the skill and industry of almost every tribe, +and been the means of raising many a petty people to the hard-won +dignity of a nation. Man, at first placed in a comfortable +temperature, needed little as a defence against the weather; while +fashion, then unthought of, or only as a sport, failed to interest the +simple-minded races in the cut or texture of the coverings they wore. +That the first dresses of mankind were formed from vegetable +materials, we have the highest authority for believing; and even at +present, the garb of the natives of some of our lately discovered +islands, consists of a simple girdle formed from rough-cut reeds. But +as the dawn of knowledge smiled upon the savage, and animal sacrifice +tutored him in the uncouth rudiments of a coarse anatomy, the superior +comfort, even of the untanned hide would be remarked, and the clumsy +mantle of the Caffre hordes welcomed as a change. Time would not long +elapse till roving dispositions, and the encounter of unstable +climates, would show the wanderer the necessity of a fabric better +adjusted by shape and pliancy, to the nature of his wants; while the +clinging of lock to lock of woolly fibre would plainly tell the +superfluous nature of the supporting skin, and point the way to make +an ill-closed cloth. + +(38.) _Invention of Weaving._--Weaving is not absolutely necessary for +the manufacture of cloth, since wool will felt, though far from +evenly, without the preliminary process of being laid in threads, so +that cloth may have been almost coeval with mankind without our being +required to assign much mechanical ingenuity to its inventors. But we +have tolerably clear evidence in the inspired writings, that weaving +was known in the earliest ages, and that it was trusted principally to +the women:--Thus Delilah wove Samson's hair when he slept in her lap; +and a short time after, it is written, that the mother of Samuel "made +him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year." At a +later period, Solomon thus describes a good wife:--"She seeketh wool +and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands."[5] That garments were +in those early ages made of several pieces, joined by needle work, is +evident on a perusal of Genesis, xxxvii. 3; Judges, v. 30; and 2 +Samuel, xiii. 13; and this plan is allowed to be even more ancient +than the weaving of flax. Job, who flourished, or is supposed to have +flourished, before the Israelites left Egypt, shows clearly by his +words that flannel clothing was then in vogue: "Let me be condemned if +I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without +covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed +with the fleece of my sheep;" and that the cloth was woven, and not +produced by beating, is evident from his saying, when complaining of +his sad estate, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle." + + [5] The art of weaving was first practised at Arach in + Babylonia, and spread thence to neighbouring cities, and + in process of time to the most remote parts of the + world.--_Bryant's Ancient Mythology_, Vol. v. p. 173. + +(39.) _The early progress of the Wool Trade_ is veiled in much +obscurity, and only to be discovered by seeking for it in a mass of +fable, which in many instances enabled the old writers to string +together the dry details of history, in a manner suited to the taste +and habit of their time. The following may be taken as a specimen. +Phryxus, the son of Athamas king of Thebes, fleeing with his sister, +Helle, from their stepmother, and riding upon (carrying with him) a +ram which had a golden (valuable) fleece, sought to cross the +Dardanelles, when Helle was drowned, and the sea was ever after called +the Hellespont: but Phryxus arrived safely at Colchis, between the +Black and Caspian seas, and having sacrificed the ram to Mars, hung +the fleece in a temple dedicated to that god. By this the ancients no +doubt meant to intimate, either that Boeotia, the birth-place of so +many talented Greeks, furnished the people of Colchis with sheep, or +that they sent them sums of money in exchange for the wool of +Caucasus. That the latter is the more probable, is apparent from +Ovid's account of the Argonautic expedition, in which he shows the +hardships which Jason encountered in his successful endeavours (B.C. +1225) to bring the golden fleece from Colchis back to Greece--implying +the value of the article, and leading us to believe, that the +Colchians had, by the aid of severe penalties, long monopolized the +growth of wool. Moreover, Mount Caucasus and its neighbourhood form +the favoured nursery whence the improved fleece-bearing animals have +gradually spread over the world; and as such would be looked upon, at +the time I speak of, by adjacent tribes with jealousy and hatred; for +where is the nation that can calmly behold a compeer engrossing a +hoard of wealth, without struggling to lower their prices by a market +of their own? + +Thus one country after another became impressed with the advantages to +be derived from the husbandry of sheep. Nation after nation improved +its agriculture, by the introduction of the animal, till at last the +Romans became pre-eminent for their attention to its culture, and to +the manufactures of which it is the fruitful source. Generous even to +an enemy, and attacking only to enrich the countries they subdued, +England may bless the hour which saw the legions of the world's +mistress planting the Imperial Eagle on her shores. + +Instead of following the progress of the wool trade among foreign +nations in later times, the limits of the present work compel me to +confine myself to an outline of the British trade from its origin, at +the time of the invasion by the Romans, to the present period. + +(40.) _Introduction of Weaving into Britain._--It is evident from +ancient history, that the first inhabitants of all the countries of +Europe were either naked, or nearly so, owing to their ignorance of +the clothing art. Such, in particular, was the uncomfortable condition +of the inhabitants of this island, who are supposed to have used the +bark of trees, and to have smeared themselves with unctuous matter, +after the manner of other savages, to protect themselves from cold. +Some writers are of opinion, that the inner bark of trees alone was +employed, and that not till woven into a kind of cloth, such as the +South Sea islanders at present make. They continued the abominable +practice of anointing their bodies, long after the people of France, +Spain, and Germany, were decently clothed, so differently were they +situated in regard to intercourse with strangers, and opportunities of +acquiring the useful arts. It is impossible to discover with certainty +when, or by whom, the custom of wearing clothes was introduced into +Britain. Some suppose that the Greeks, and after them the Phoenicians, +who visited the Scilly islands, and sometimes the continent of +Britain, for trading purposes, first awakened in the breasts of our +savage ancestors a desire for comfortable coverings, as both these +nations were celebrated for elaborate attention to their attire. + +"The Britons," says Caesar, "in the interior parts of the country are +clothed in skins." These are supposed not to have been sewed together, +but to have been cast over the shoulders as a mantle. Their stiffness, +however, rendered them aught but pleasant, as we may guess from their +endeavours to make them soft and pliable, by steeping in water, +beating them with stones and sticks, and rubbing them with fat. The +people of the southern parts are supposed to have been well acquainted +with the dressing, spinning, and weaving, both of flax and wool, +having been instructed by a Belgic colony, long before the invasion by +the Romans. Two kinds of cloth, which they manufactured at this +period, were much esteemed by their invaders; the one a thick harsh +cloth, worn in cold climates as a sort of mantle, and agreeing in many +respects with our Lowland plaids; the other made of fine wool, dyed of +different colours, woven into chequered cloth, and corresponding to +our Highland tartan. They are also believed to have made felts of +wool, without either spinning or weaving, and to have stuffed +mattresses with the portions shorn from it in dressing. The Britons +must have been well acquainted with the dyeing of wool, as the Gauls +were then celebrated, according to Pliny, for the invention of a +"method of dyeing purple, scarlet, and all other colours, only with +certain herbs." The plant, which they chiefly used for the purpose, +was the glastum or woad, and they seem to have been led to the +discovery of its value in dyeing cloth, from their former use of it in +staining their bodies. A deep blue having been the colour they stained +their skins, it long continued a favourite; particularly, with the +Caledonians, as a tint for all their dresses. Though the most +civilized of the ancient Britons were tolerably versed in the most +essential branches of the woollen manufacture, yet that useful art was +not diffused over our island till the landing of the Romans, whose +soldiers, being almost all drawn from the plough, were well adapted, +when settled in the country, to foster the arts of peace. In order to +benefit themselves and the island, their emperors were at great pains +to discover and procure the best artificers of every description, +particularly the best manufacturers of woollen and linen cloths, whom +they formed into colleges, or corporations, endowed with various +privileges, and governed by a procurator, who was under the direction +of that great officer of their empire, the Count of the Sacred +Largesses. In this manner it appears that the first woollen +manufactory was established at Venta Belgarum, now Winchester, a +hundred years after the conquest of the country. + +It has been believed, from Britain having been partly peopled from +Spain, that our sheep were originally Spanish; and, as Giraldus +Cambrensis (Collectan. de Reb. Hibern.) affirms, that the Irish in his +time were clothed in black garments, from the wool of their sheep +being so coloured, some have supposed the sheep of that island were +imported from Spain, a supposition rendered probable by Southey +telling us, in his letters from that country, that in the north of the +Peninsula the animals are almost all of a black colour. + +No mention ever occurs in the ancient writers, of the importation of +sheep into Britain, from which it may be supposed, that they had found +their way into it long before its forcible separation from the +continent by natural convulsions. Cambden, in his work on Britain, +quotes from an old orator, part of a beautiful panegyric on the great +Constantine, in which the happiness of Britain is eloquently +described, and its advantages in regard to sheep graphically depicted. +"Innumerable are thy herds of cattle, and thy flocks of sheep, which +feed thee plentifully, and clothe thee richly." So that, even allowing +for the high-flown nature of the verbiage, the sheep of the island +must have been far from indifferent, and well worthy of any trouble +the grasping Romans may have been put to, in the erection of +manufactories. + +(41.) _Importance of the British Woollen Manufacture._--The history of +our wool, and the woollen manufacture, is, at one period and in one +point of view, the history of our public revenue, while in a +succeeding period it becomes the capital object of our commerce, and +the important subject of our political councils. The preserving and +supporting it against foreign rivals, the due regulation of its +numerous branches, and the proper restrictions deemed requisite to +ensure to this country the commercial benefits resulting from it, have +occupied our ablest statesmen for many centuries. + +The wools of England have always been in the highest repute, and that +more abroad than at home. Their fineness and abundance have been +ascribed by many to the sweet short grass on most of our downs and +pastures, and to the sheep having the privilege of feeding, all the +year round, without being shut in folds; but it cannot be denied, +that, though food and climate may have much concern in the matter, the +energetic industry and persevering attention with which an Englishman +devotes himself to the attainment of an object, have tended more than +any other circumstance to the advancement of our wools, and woollen +manufactures, and to the consequent prosperity of our island. + +The reason of the existence of so many laws relating to wool is, that +it continued for ages to be the principal commodity, meeting all +demands for the support of armies, and payment of public revenues, and +affording aids to the crown, which were in general granted therein. +The scarcity of money in England before the discovery of America, +rendered it necessary to levy taxes frequently in kind, and as wool +was abundant, it often figured as the representative of a more +portable currency. Part of the L300,000 demanded by the Emperor of +Germany as the ransom of Richard I., was raised by a loan of wool. +Edward I., the great reformer of our laws, imposed a duty of 6s. 8d. +on every sack of wool exported, and the like sum on every 300 +wool-fells; but soon after, when his necessities demanded a larger +income, he laid those additional duties on foreign merchants, which +afterwards became the tonnage and poundage, so famous in England's +history. Among these additions, the former taxes on wool and fells +were increased by forty pence, while at the same time, like other +monarchs of the period, he occasionally received subsidies of wool. In +the same way Edward III., in attempting, during the twelfth year of +his reign, to wrest the crown of France from the house of Valois, +procured a grant of half the wool in England, amounting to 20,000 +packs, which, taking it as valued by some authors at L40 a pack, must +have realized the sum of L800,000. + +(42.) _Weavers brought from Flanders._--Commerce and industry were at +a very low ebb during the time of Edward III., the principal export +being wool, which only brought into the kingdom about L450,000. Edward +promoted the woollen manufacture by bringing, in 1331, John Kemp, with +seventy Walloon families, weavers, from Flanders, and, owing to the +want of native skill in this department, gave every encouragement to +foreign weavers. (11 Edward III. cap. 5.)[6] A further encouragement +was given to the home manufacture, by the enactment of a law (11 +Edward III. cap. 2) which prohibited every one from wearing any cloth +not of English fabric. Parliament, however, in an evil hour, thwarted +these benefits, by prohibiting the exportation of woollen goods, +certainly an injurious step, so long as wool was allowed to be shipped +from our ports. + + [6] Macpherson, in his Annals of Commerce, agrees with + Bloomfield the historian of Norfolk, that a colony of Flemish + weavers settled so early as 1327, at Worsted, a village in + that county, and bestowed upon it the name it bears. + +On the introduction of the Flemish weavers, Kendal became the +metropolis of this branch of industry, and was soon equalled in the +extent of its manufactories by many other towns, as Norwich, Sudbury, +Colchester, and York; while woollens were spun and wove, though to a +less extent, in Devonshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, +Hampshire, Berkshire Sussex, and Wales. + +(43.) _Regulations regarding Staples._--The _staple_, or market for +wool, was fixed by act of Parliament (27 Edward III.) in particular +towns of England, but was afterwards removed by law to Calais, and +English merchants were prohibited from exporting any goods from the +staple, or, in other words, foreign navigation was abandoned. To the +custom of taking subsidies in kind, may be traced the principle of +those multifarious regulations which fixed the staple in certain +towns, either in England, or more commonly on the continent; and to +the fluctuating state of politics may be ascribed the shiftings which +those staples so frequently underwent; but it is not easy to see the +drift of many of the provisions relating to it, some of which tend to +the benefit of foreign, rather than of British, commerce. + +(44.) The progress which this manufacture made in a very short period, +may be well illustrated by the following table of exports and imports +in woollen, about the middle of the fourteenth century, or twenty +years after the arrival of John Kemp and his establishment. + + EXPORTS. + + Thirty-one thousand, six hundred and + fifty-one and a half of wool, at L.6 + value each sack, L189,909 0 0 + + Three thousand, thirty-six hundred + and sixty-five fells, at 40s. value, + each hundred at six score, 6,073 1 8 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 81,624 1 1 + + Fourteen last, seventeen dicker, and + five hides of leather, after L.6 value + the last 89 5 0 + + Whereof the custom amounts to. 6 17 6 + + 8,061-1/2 of worsted, after 16s. 8d. value, + the price is 6,717 18 4 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 215 13 7 + --------------- + Summary of the out-carried commodities + in value and custom, L285,635 17 2 + --------------- + + + IMPORTS. + + 1,832 cloths, after L.6 value each, 10,922 0 0 + + Whereof the custom amounts to 91 12 0 + --------------- + + Summary of the in-brought woollens + in value and custom, L11,013 12 0 + +That the imported cloths were much finer than those exported, may be +inferred from their comparative value as here stated, and we may +conclude pretty justly, that the fabrication of coarse cloths +exclusively occupied the manufacturers of Britain, while the finer +fabrics were still brought from abroad, and that, in fact, the wants +of the _mass_ of the people were the regulators of British industry. + +(45.) _Subsidies raised by Edward III._--In 1338, Edward took a +fifteenth of all the commonalty of his realm in wool, rating the price +of every stone of 14 lbs. at 2s., although, in the previous November, +he had sent the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Earls of Suffolk and +Northampton, with one thousand sacks of wool, into Brabant, which, +being sold at L.40 a sack, procured him L.40,000. Edward was +apparently not very sure how far his subjects would submit to so +sweeping a taxation, as we find him addressing a letter, dated +Berwick-upon-Tweed, March 28th, 1338, to the Archbishops of York and +Canterbury, desiring the favour of their prayers, and requesting that +they would excuse him to his people, on account of the great taxes he +was obliged to lay upon them. During the summer of 1339, the laity +granted to the king the one-half of their wools throughout the whole +realm, a favour his majesty is reported to have received most +graciously; but of the clergy he levied the whole, compelling them to +pay nine merks for every sack of the best wool. Knighton, who held an +office in the Abbey of Leicester, says that that house alone furnished +eighteen sacks. The revenue officers during this reign appear to have +exercised their calling with great strictness, and to have interfered +in an especial manner with the secret trade of the inhabitants of +Bristol, but this was terminated by the king granting a licence, dated +Langley, November 25th, 1339, to their weavers, allowing them "to make +woollen cloth without being liable to any molestation from the king's +officers." + +(46.) _Progress of the trade under Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward +VI._--During the bloody and destructive wars of the white and red +roses, when success graced the arms alternately of York and Lancaster, +commercial enterprise was almost at a stand. This unhappy period +brought, however, with all its evils, blessings in its train, and +Henry VII. not only did more for the advancement of the wool-trade +than his predecessors, but also gave it greater vigour than it could +lay claim to at any former period. Fine cloths were much improved in +his reign, and luxury began to be attended to in an article, which, +till then, had only been rendered amenable to comfort. The +ostentatious reign of Henry VIII., gave an additional impulse to the +trade, and cloth was sold in 1512 for five merks, which fifty years +before would only have brought about forty shillings; while, in +consequence of increasing wealth, population, and consumption, the +demand was materially increased. A new market was also opened up for +the exit of their woollens, by the establishment of an intercourse in +1516 with several islands in the Archipelago, and a few of the towns +on the coast of Syria. + +Edward VI., or rather his ministers, for he was then a minor, +attempted to lay a poll-tax upon sheep, every ewe kept in a separate +pasture being charged threepence, every wedder twopence, and all sheep +kept on commons three-halfpence; but it was found to be so oppressive, +so annoying to the people, and so difficult to collect, that it was +repealed during the next year. England made a distinguished figure in +this reign as a commercial nation. The manufacture of woollens was +raised to a great height. Cloth, besides being exported to Flanders, +found its way to Holland, Hamburgh, Sweden, and Russia, whose coarse +warm stuffs were very much wanted, and the trade wore such an air of +affluence, that a tax of eightpence in the pound was laid upon all +cloth made for sale in England. This, however, was speedily repealed, +a very short time serving to point out, that, though made for an +endurance of three prosperous years, the people who were galled by a +trifling impost on their sheep, would not, unless under very +favourable circumstances, submit to imposts on the fabrics which they +wore. + +During the reigns of Henry VII., Henry VIII., and Edward VI., an undue +preference was given to grazing. Acts were framed to put a stop to +this mismanagement, which was fast ruining the country, by driving +people from it. Henry VII. exempted Norwich from the penalties of the +law, on account of the decay of manufactures from the want of hands; +and shortly after the whole county of Norfolk obtained a like +exemption in regard to some branches of the woollen trade. The +practice of depopulating the country, by abandoning tillage, and +throwing the lands into pasturage, had run to so great an extent in +the time of Henry VIII., that an enactment was made, whereby the king +became entitled to half the rents of the land where any farm-houses +were allowed to fall to decay. The number of sheep in a flock was at +the same time limited to two thousand. Hume conjectures, in his +_History of England_, that unskilful husbandry was probably the cause +why the proprietors found no profit in tillage;--thus leading a farmer +to keep a flock sometimes of twenty-four thousand as expressed in the +statute. This had the effect of increasing the price of mutton, a +remarkable coincidence, which parliament attributes to the commodity +having gotten into few hands, though Hume ascribes it to the daily +increase of money, thinking it almost impossible that such an article +could be engrossed. At the commencement of the reign of Edward VI., +the people were still sadly deficient in a knowledge of agriculture--a +profession, which, as Hume wisely remarks, of all employments, +requires the most reflection and experience. A great demand having +arisen for wool both at home and abroad, whole estates were laid +waste, while the tenants, regarded as a useless burden, were expelled +their habitations, and the cottagers deprived even of the commons on +which they fed their cows; no wonder there was a decay of the people! + +(47.) _Wool Trade encouraged by Elizabeth._--Elizabeth extended her +protection to the Protestants who fled from the persecutions of the +Duke of Alva in the Low Countries, and the woollen manufactories +became more flourishing than ever--so much so, that, although in 1552, +a large quantity of raw material was exported, yet in less than thirty +years, the people of Germany, Poland, France, Flanders, Denmark, and +Sweden, were covered with British cloths; two hundred thousand pieces +being annually exported, though the price was nearly tripled. At that +time the processes by which woollens are rendered beautiful were +unknown in England, and as our exports consisted in white undressed +cloth, the profits upon dyeing and finishing, amounting to nearly a +million a year, were lost. This was attempted to be remedied by +prohibiting the exportation of white cloths, but the Dutch and +Germans, who benefitted by the dyeing processes, forbade the entrance +of any English woollens dyed in the piece, into their territories, and +the export consequently fell immediately from 200,000 to sixty pieces. +Then the restriction was taken off. It was at this crisis that the +fabrication of medley cloths, or mixtures of wool dyed of different +colours and wrought into the same web, was commenced. + +(48.) _Woollen Cloth monopolized by the merchant adventurers._--Though +nine-tenths of the commerce of the kingdom consisted in the time of +James I. of woollen goods, wool was allowed to be exported till the +nineteenth year of his reign, when it was forbidden by proclamation, +but never strictly enforced. The cloth was very little admired even at +home, and though it was the staple commodity of the realm, a company +of merchant adventurers were allowed by a patent, to possess the sole +disposal of it. Elizabeth at one time attempted to rescue this +important trade from the hands of these merchants, but they instantly +conspired, and ceased to make purchases of cloth, when the queen was +necessitated to restore the patent. A board of trade was brought +together by James I. in 1622, and one of the purposes contemplated was +to remedy the low price of wool, which was leading the people to +complain of the decay of the woollen manufacture; but Hume supposes, +and with every appearance of probability, that this fall of prices +proceeded from an increase of wool. + +(49.) _English consumption of Wool increased._--Till the fifteenth +century our wool was sold in the fleece to such as came to buy it. +Among the principal of our customers were numbered the Flemings, and +Brabanters, and in particular the merchants of Ghent, and Louvain, who +took off vast quantities for the supply of two manufactories, that had +flourished in those cities from the tenth century, and had furnished +the greater part of Europe, and even England itself, with every kind +of woollen cloth. Thus they might have continued, to the great loss +of our island, had not the democratic hands employed in those +manufactories repeatedly revolted, owing to their determination to +resist a tax on looms, and being at length punished and dispersed, +found their way in no long time to Holland. While in the last place, +the spirit of sedition still being dominant, certain of their party +attacked and killed some of the civil authorities, for which they had +to make a precipitate flight to England, where they settled as +peaceful citizens, and instructed our people in the working of wool. +This occurred in 1420, from which time neither skill, money, nor +enactments, have been spared to enable us to retain so valuable a +trade. In the reign of Edward IV., every pack of English wool was +liable when exported to a custom of 50s., a goodly sum in those days, +and one which brought a yearly revenue of L 250,000. This excessive +custom, almost amounting to a prohibition, added to the above +mentioned opportunities, in a manner compelled the people to +manufacture for themselves, and in this they succeeded so well, that +by the time of Elizabeth, the exportation of live sheep and wool was +prohibited on pain of having the right hand struck off. It does not +appear that this enactment was ever repealed, though supposed to be so +by the 12th of Charles II. cap. 32, see. 3, which, without taking away +the penalties imposed by former statutes, imposes a new penalty;--20s. +for every sheep exported, or attempted to be exported, together with +the forfeiture of the sheep. + +(50.) _Severity of prohibitory enactments reprobated._--By the 14th of +Charles II. chap. 18 the exportation of wool was deemed felony, and +punished accordingly. This tended in no slight degree to the defeat of +the ends intended, by hindering all who were not cold-blooded from +bringing to justice the actors in so trifling an offence. This was +soon however seen through, and corrected, by the 7th and 8th of +William III. chap. 28, sec. 4, in which it was declared, that "Whereas +the statute of the 13th and 14th of King Charles II., made against the +exportation of wool, among other things in the said act mentioned, +doth enact the same to be deemed felony, by the severity of which +penalty the prosecution of offenders hath not been so effectually put +into execution; be it therefore enacted, by the authority aforesaid, +that so much of the said act, which relates to the making the said +offence felony, be repealed and made void." + +Adam Smith, when commenting in his "Wealth of Nations," on the laws +relating to wool, reprobates severely the ill-judged compliance of our +government, in yielding to the solicitation of our merchants, and +allowing them to sway with iron rule the commerce of the world. "The +severity of many of the laws which have been enacted for the security +of the revenue, is very justly complained of, as imposing heavy +penalties upon actions, which, antecedent to the statutes that +declared them to be crimes, had always been understood to be innocent. +But the cruelest of our revenue laws, I will venture to affirm, are +mild and gentle in comparison to some of those which the clamour of +our merchants and manufacturers has extorted from the legislature, for +the support of their own absurd and oppressive monopolies. Like the +laws of Draco, these laws may be said to be all written in blood." +None of the laws, however, were effectual, not even the one passed in +the middle of the seventeenth century, by which the offence was +rendered capital. In spite of the vigilance of our government, a +contraband trade in wool was long carried on between the inhabitants +of the French and English coasts, especially those of Sussex, by a +class of men called _Owlers_, from their only venturing abroad in +the night, and who were tempted to despise the penalty, with an +intrepidity astonishing to the rest of Europe, by the high prices that +were sure to be afforded to them in the Gallic market. Again, during +the first half of the eighteenth century, large quantities of wool +were constantly smuggled from Ireland to France, by which our trading +interests were considerably injured, and the plans for suppressing +exportation shown to be worse than useless. + +(51.) _Prosperity of the Dutch Manufacturers._--The woollen +manufactures of the Hollanders were first established in 1636, or +1637, by one hundred and forty English families, who went from Norfolk +and Suffolk, to settle at Leyden, and Alkmaer. The Dutch manufacture +of fine woollen cloths was, however, commenced much earlier, or about +1624, at which time they began to interfere with the English trade in +the Netherlands; insomuch that, in the twenty-second year of the reign +of James I., a certificate was given to the Parliament of 25,000 +cloths having been made that year in Holland. Upon this the House of +Commons resolved, 1st, "That the merchant adventurers setting impost +upon our cloth, is a grievance, and ought not to be continued; and +that all other merchants promiscuously, as well as that company, may +transport everywhere northern and western kersies, and new draperies." + +2dly. "That other merchants, besides the Merchant Adventurers' +Company, may freely trade with dyed and dressed cloths, and all sorts +of coloured cloths, into Germany and the Low Countries." Much +annoyance appears to have resulted to this island, from the progress +which the manufacturers in Holland still continued to make, and some +curious speculations were of course formed in the minds of the +ingenious. In 1651, a scheme was laid before the English commonwealth, +for obtaining from the court of Spain an exclusive right to purchase +_all_ the Spanish wool; or, in other words, to ruin the Holland +market, by stopping the supplies. The projector observed, "That this +proposed preemption would totally dissolve the woollen manufacture of +Holland, which, by means of that wool (Spanish), hath of late years +mightily increased, to the destruction of the vent of all fine cloths, +of English manufacture, in Holland, France, and the east country; and +hath drawn from us considerable numbers of weavers, dyers, and cloth +workers, now settled at Leyden, and other towns in Holland, by whose +help they have very much improved their skill in cloth, and have made +in that one province (one year with another) 24,000 or 26,000 cloths +yearly. That the Hollanders have of late years bought and exported +from Biscay, four-fifth parts at least of all their wools, and have +sold there proportionally of their own country stuffs." This was +certainly a novel method of accomplishing an end by a sweeping +monopoly; but the theory was too fine-spun ever to be reducible to +practice. + +(52.) _Fluctuating State of the Trade between 1635 and 1693._--By the +great act of tonnage and poundage, passed in 1660, on the restoration +of Charles II., taxes were imposed, among other things, on the +exportation of woollen manufactures, and it was not till the reign of +William, that the wretched policy of such regulations was discovered, +and a law was passed in 1700, by which the duties on woollens were +abolished, because in the words of the act (ll & 12 William III. chap. +20), "the wealth and prosperity of the kingdom doth, in a great +measure, depend on the improvement of its woollen manufactures, and +the profitable trade carried on by the exportation thereof." + +In the time of Charles II., an act was passed for the erection of +manufactories (Par. I, Sess. I, Cap. 40), by which it is enacted, that +no native or stranger is to export wool nor skins with wool upon them, +until made into work, or put to the best advantage, under the pain of +first value thereof, half to the king, and half to the informer. It is +also, in this act, ordered, "that none forestall the mercat of wooll, +nor keep up the same to a dearth, under the pain against regrators and +forestallers, and that for eschewing the deceit of putting stones, or +the like stuffs therein, no wooll be wrapt up in the fleece, under the +pain of confiscation, half to the king, and half to the discoverer and +pursuer, declaring always that the Exchequer may licence the export of +wool and skins, as they shall see cause." + +The French refugees, in 1635, brought money and talent into England, +and contributed greatly to the erection of manufactories for _slight_ +stuffs, and other French fabrics, never before made in England. The +former law for burying in woollen not being well observed, it was +repealed by an Act of Parliament, in the thirtieth year of that king +(cap. 3.), which enacted a register to be kept in every parish, by the +incumbent or his substitute, that every thing about the corpse of the +deceased was made of sheep's wool, of which an affidavit was to be +made by the relation of the deceased, and lodged with the incumbent, +under the penalty of L5, a moiety of which went to the poor of the +parish; the rest to the informer. But this was a sorry check, as +vanity was so predominant among the rich, that they paid the penalty +rather than want the pleasure of adorning their departed relatives +with lace and linen. + +In 1667, France supplanted England in many foreign markets, owing to +the care that Colbert at that time took to bring the French woollens +to perfection. The English immediately turned their attention to other +manufactures, in which, as in that of paper, they quickly excelled, +and thus compelled the French to abandon markets, in which they had +long remained without a rival. + +In 1698, a problem was started concerning the manufactures of the +country--whether or not a general linen manufacture would prove +beneficial to England? As London at this time abounded with new +projects and schemes, all promising as usual a hoard of wealth, the +question caused much excitement. It was at last determined that a +novelty of this kind would lead to the sowing of a great quantity of +flax in England, and the neglect of the woollen manufacture, which +would follow, might probably lower the price of land; for, as they +said at the time, "it requires about twenty acres of land to breed +wool, for setting on work the same number of hands which one acre of +flax would employ; and yet, in the end, the woollen manufacture will +be found to employ by far the greatest number of hands, and yield the +most profit to the public, as well as to the manufacturers." + +(53.) _Irish Manufactures discouraged._--In the same year (1698), the +English house of Peers addressed King William with the view of +inducing him to discourage the woollen manufactures of Ireland, which, +in spite of many restrictions, still continued to cause much vexation +to the monopolizers of England. The address ran thus:--"The growing +manufacture of cloth in Ireland, both by the cheapness of all sorts of +the necessaries of life,[7] and _the goodness of materials for making +all manner of cloth_, doth invite his subjects of England, with their +families and servants, to leave their habitation to settle there, to +the increase of the woollen manufacture in Ireland, which makes his +loyal subjects in this kingdom very apprehensive, that the further +growth of it may greatly prejudice the said manufacture here; and +praying, that his Majesty would be pleased, in the most public and +effectual way that may be, to declare to all his subjects of Ireland, +that the growth and increase of the woollen manufacture there, hath +long, and will ever be, looked upon with great jealousy by all his +subjects of this kingdom." A similar address was presented by the +Commons, and this most liberal and enlightened monarch was pleased to +answer, "_Gentlemen, I will do all that in me lies to discourage the +woollen manufacture of Ireland._" This was certainly altogether a +strange proceeding, especially when viewed in conjunction with the +cruel prohibitions of former periods.[8] Their foreign trade is said +by some to have been much diminished by this coolness; but much of the +poignancy and crushing animosity of the request are lost when we +consider that encouragement was at the same time given by England to +the making of Irish linen, his Majesty being desired in the same +address, to forward that manufacture, pursuant to the dictates of an +act passed in 1696. Nay, some are of opinion that these measures +resulted from the soundest views of the relative situations of the +countries, and that the prudent tenor of English enactments was never +better exhibited, than in the discouragement of the woollen and +encouragement of the linen manufactures of Ireland. + + [7] The people of Ireland produced worsted and woollen yarn at + a cheaper rate than we could, owing to their poor being able + to work on lower terms than those of England. This was owing + to the rent of land being less in Ireland than in England. + + [8] By the 18th of Charles II. the importation from Ireland + into England of great cattle, sheep, swine, beef, pork and + bacon, and shortly after of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, + was declared a common nuisance, and forbidden on pain of + forfeiture. Thus, the principal resource of a poor country in + the neighbourhood of a rich one, was unfeelingly denied to it, + till the reign of George III., when the hated edict was + repealed. + +(54.) _British Trade in 1699._--In 1699 there were 12,000,000 sheep +and lambs in Britain, and the yearly increase was supposed to be about +3,600,000. The value of each sheep, besides the skin, was 7s. 4d. The +stock was valued at L4,400,000. The value of the wool yearly shorn, +at 3s. 4d. per fleece, came to about L2,000,000. The woollens +manufactured in Britain amounted in value to L5,000,000 per annum, +while our yearly exports of the same were valued at L2,000,000. Many +were at that time afraid of the sinking of the woollen manufacture, +because the accounts of the fine draperies exported were larger than +usual; but, says an anonymous essayist of the period, "such do not +contemplate, that, though the old may be lessened, what is commonly +called the new draperies have increased, consisting in bays, serges, +and stuffs. So that upon the whole, infinitely more of the material of +wool has of late years been wrought up for foreign use, than in former +times; and herein our merchants have been only forced to follow the +modes and humours of those people with whom they deal, and the course +they have pursued has hitherto not been detrimental to the public." +* * * "'Twere better, indeed, that the call from abroad were only for +the fine draperies, because then we should be in a manner without a +rival; no country, but England, and Ireland, having a sward or turf +that will rear sheep, producing the wool of which most of our +draperies are made. 'Tis true the wool of Spain is fine above all +others; but 'tis the wear only of the richer sort, and of Spanish +cloths not above nine thousand pieces are sent abroad, one year with +another." + +(55.) _British Woollens rivalled by those of Sweden._--Before the +peace of Utrecht in 1713, we had no rival in the woollen trade but the +Dutch, over whom we had many natural advantages, such as situation, +goodness of our ports, and excellence of the principal constituents of +the manufacture. They were obliged to furnish themselves with the +materials at second-hand. When the trade in woollens was properly set +a-foot in England, during the long and happy reign of Elizabeth, the +interest of money was pretty much the same in both countries; but the +Dutch were engaged in a hazardous and bloody war, and in establishing +their Commonwealth, and East India trade; and, therefore, had not much +time to think of improving any manufacture. Owing to these +circumstances, we came into possession of all the principal marts for +woollens, both in Asia and Europe, and retained them till the +beginning of the war with France and Spain; we then prohibited trade +with both these countries. + +About the year 1720, our exportations to Sweden, of cloth, stuffs, +and other woollen manufactures, amounted to L50,000. The Swedes, +however, though situated in a severe climate, tried experiments with +English sheep, and with so great success, that, in 1765, they could +boast of wool little inferior to that of England. They then erected +manufactories, and we were compelled to relinquish a market, which we +had long held to our profit and advantage. + +(56.) _Regulations from 1740 to 1742._--In the 12th year of King +George II. it was enacted by a statute (cap. 21), "That whereas the +taking off the duties upon woollen or bay yarn imported from Ireland, +may be a means to prevent the exportation of wool, and of woollen +manufactures, from Ireland to foreign parts, and may also be of use to +the manufacturers of Great Britain, that from the first of May, 1740, +the same shall be no longer payable; excepting only the duties upon +worsted yarn of two or more threads twisted or thrown, or on crewel +imported from Ireland." At this time more than 1,500,000 persons were +employed on woollen articles, and were supposed to earn, one with +another, sixpence a-day for 313 working days, amounting in all to +L11,737,500 yearly. + +In 1742, the English poor suffered much from the contempt with which +home manufactures were regarded by the nobility, in consequence of +which the latter were speedily the losers. The importation of woollen +broad-cloth, of the manufacture of France, into ports of the Levant, +on behalf of British subjects, being not only prejudicial by +discouraging the woollen manufactures of Britain, but likewise a means +of affording relief to an enemy, and discoveries having been made of +British subjects fraudulently shipping from Leghorn quantities of +French woollen goods for Turkey, under the denomination of British, to +the great detriment of English woollens; an act was passed in the 23d +year of King George II. by which provision was made against these and +other fraudulent practices. + +(57.) _Improvements in the manufacturing of Woollens._--At the +commencement of the reign of George III. the woollen manufactures +advanced with a rapidity almost unparalleled in modern times as +regards other branches of trade. Till about the year 1770 most of the +processes were conducted by hand. The wool was spun by various persons +at scattered residences, the manufacturers receiving the yarn +periodically from the numerous spinners. This arrangement caused much +loss of time, and gave rise to frequent squabbles between the masters +and their workmen. In fact, all the operations were tardy in the +extreme. But at this period, the spirit of public and private inquiry +was happily directed to our deficiencies in the machinery of +manufactures. Inventions of great beauty and ingenuity were slowly +brought forward to facilitate our commercial acquirements. Human +labour has thus been lightened and abridged,--a greater number of +hands have been profitably employed, and an excellent lesson afforded +to the lovers of use and wont, which will not speedily be forgotten. + +By these improved means the cloth is possessed of greater evenness, +less injury is sustained in the dressing and shearing, and greater +beauty is imparted to its appearance. A great advantage is also +obtained by the master knowing the exact duration of each process, so +that he can time his goods for any hour, or market, and is enabled to +circulate his capital with a degree of certainty, and despatch, +formerly looked upon as quite impossible. A few years ago the late Sir +John Throckmorton sat down to dinner, dressed in a coat, the wool of +which, on the same morning, was on the sheep's back. The animals were +sheared, the wool washed, carded, spun, and woven; the cloth was +scoured, fulled, sheared, dyed and dressed, and then made into a coat. +All these complex operations were gone through without hurry, and +without deducting from the work any part of the time usually devoted +to similar fabrics. So great was the advantage derived from this +application of machinery, that in the year 1800 the produce was three +times larger than in the year 1739, though the number of persons +employed was the same in the one year as in the other. + +(58.) _Duty imposed on imported Wool._--For three centuries a free +importation of foreign wool was permitted by our government, and it +was not till 1803 that any one thought of laying a duty upon it. This +duty was at first comparatively light, amounting only to a halfpenny +a-pound, and it continued under a penny a-pound, till 1819, when Mr +Vansittart raised it to six-pence. The impolicy of this measure is +evident, when we consider, that we were losing our ascendancy in this +manufacture, that our export of woollen goods had been declining for +three years previous to 1819, and that the competition was becoming +every moment more severe. This tax was much dreaded by our merchants, +who, clearly perceiving the state of matters, warned Mr Vansittart, by +representing to him, in the strongest terms, the fatal influence it +would have upon our trade. Its effects are best exhibited by its +disastrous influence on the foreign trade in woollens, which fell off +about a fourth in value, almost immediately after the imposition. The +following table places this in the clearest point of view:-- + + _Declared value of woollens exported._ + + 1816, L9,387,455 + 1817, 7,847,280 + 1818, 7,177,335 + 1819, 8,145,327 + 1820, (_duty increased_) 5,989,622 + 1821, (_ditto_) 5,587,758 + 1822, (_ditto_) 6,465,988 + 1823, (_ditto_) 6,490,454 + 1824, (_ditto_) 5,635,776 + 1825, (_ditto_) 6,045,240 + +The opinions of our merchants ought to have formed the best of all +beacons in pointing the course to be pursued by Mr Vansittart; but, +even if they had been silent on the subject, the evidence of Mr +Bainbridge, before the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in +1820, to inquire into the state of the foreign trade of the country, +might have informed him of the true position of the wool trade, and +directed him in so hazardous an undertaking. When Mr B. was asked +whether he thought that an increase in the means of paying for our +manufactures would produce an increased consumption of them in Russia, +Sweden, and Prussia, he replied:--"I believe the woollen manufactures +in Prussia are in such a state as to be able to compete with us +completely; I speak of it particularly, because we are in the habit of +having transactions with the United States of America; and I find that +a very considerable proportion of fine woollens, and stuffs, are +absolutely shipped from the Netherlands, and from ports contiguous, +part of which I understand to come from the interior of Germany, and +from Saxony in particular; so that a portion of the trade, which we +have been in the habit of transacting with the United States, is +finding its way from the north of Europe. I, therefore, conceive, that +their manufactures are competing with the manufactures of this +country, and, consequently, they would not come to us to receive a +supply of those articles which they can purchase from their own +manufacturers at home." In 1825, at the earnest and obviously +well-founded representations of the manufacturers, Mr Huskisson +reverted to the old system: and it was then wisely enacted, that all +foreign wool imported for home consumption, of the value of 1s. +a-pound and upwards, should pay a duty of 1d. a-pound, but when the +value of foreign wool was under 1s., the duty was reduced to a +halfpenny per pound. A boon was at the same time conferred upon the +agriculturists, by the introduction of a new system with respect to +the exportation of British wool, the growers of which were allowed, +for the first time, to send it to foreign markets, on payment of a +penny per pound. + +(59.) _Removal of the Restrictions on Foreign Wool._--The importation +of wool was, by these reductions, speedily increased, and with it the +consumption of our woollens by foreign nations. The wool of our own +gradually augmented flocks being inadequate to the demand, and that of +Spain having been absorbed by our manufactories, large quantities were +imported from Prussia, Saxony, and many parts of the continent of +Europe, from which, antecedent to this run, little had been drawn. The +average annual import of wool during 1765-66-67 was 4,241,364 +pounds--the average annual export of woollens during the same period +was L4,630,384; while the average annual import of wool for the years +1822-23-24 was 18,884,876 pounds, and the average annual export of +woollens during the same time, amounted to L6,200,548, showing that +the importation of foreign wool was absolutely necessary for the +well-being of our manufactures. The importation of forty-four millions +of pounds weight, in the year ending 5th January, 1826, must be +ascribed as much to the spirit of over-trading, which then affected +every branch of industry, as to the reduction of the duty; but the +large importations during 1827, afforded an additional proof of the +necessity of foreign wool to the successful formation of a most +important article of commerce. Mr Gott of Leeds, in his evidence +before the Lords' Committee, on being asked if he could carry on to +the same extent as at present, if he manufactured his cloth of British +wool, replied, that, in certain descriptions of cloth, "_he could not +make an article that would be merchantable at all for the foreign +market, or even for the home market, except of foreign wool_." He +then proceeds to state, that though the competition is very strong +in every department of the manufacture, yet that foreigners are +decidedly superior to us in some description of low cloths. The +following question was then put, and plainly and emphatically +answered:--"Speaking of the finer cloths, is the competition such as +to render an additional duty on the importation of foreign wool likely +to injure the export trade? _I have no doubt, speaking on my oath, +that it would be fatal to the foreign cloth trade of the country. I +would further say, that it would be equally injurious to coarse +manufactures of all kinds made of English wool._ The competition now +with foreigners is as nearly balanced as possible, and the disturbing +operation of attacks of that description would necessarily enable the +foreigner to buy his wool cheaper than we should do it in this +country; the result would be, that foreigners would, by such a +premium, be enabled to extend their manufactures to the exclusion of +British manufactures of all descriptions." In another part of his +evidence Mr Gott says, "If two pieces of cloth at 10s. a-yard were put +before a customer, one made of British wool, the other of foreign +wool; one would be sold, and the other would remain on hand; I could +not execute an order with it. If any person sent to me for cloth at +7s. or 8s. a-yard, and if it were made of English wool it would be +sent back to me, and I must resort to foreign wool, or foreign mixed +with British, to execute that order." In fine, the British wool could +not be got rid of without a copious importation of foreign wool to aid +the manufacturer in his disposal of it, as fine cloths are so much +better and more durable in their wear than coarse cloths, that they +are coming more and more into demand, to the almost total exclusion of +the latter. Moreover, the good old custom of making home-spun cloth is +reviving among our farmers, and as it is excellently suited for +work-day wear, though necessarily of an inferior gloss, coarse cloths +will, to a considerable extent, cease to be the concern of our +manufacturers. The only cloth, indeed, which the bulk of the people +will require, will be a finer material to form the garb for Sunday and +holiday recreation. + +(60.) _Countries from which we derive our Wool._--Our markets are +supplied with foreign wool principally from the following +places:--Australia, Van Dieman's Land, Cape of Good Hope, Peru, +Germany, Spain, and Russia. The Tasmanian fleeces are preferred to the +Australian, and fetch, in general, higher prices, owing to their being +fit for combing, while the latter, though making considerable advances +in fineness, are still of short staple. Both are favourites with our +manufacturers, from their being firm in the pile, a quality resulting +from the constant good health of the animal in those countries. The +German wool takes precedence of the Spanish, and has done so since +1819 or 1820. The King of Spain, about the year 1800, presented the +Elector of Saxony with a small merino flock, and, from that period, +our importations from Spain have diminished, as those from Germany +have increased. From the period of its first introduction into +Germany, till 1814, when peace once more fell to the lot of Europe, +these sheep were gradually spread over the kingdom of Saxony, and +when, by the events of 1815, the continental trade was thrown +completely open, the Saxon dealers, perceiving the value of this new +commercial article, commenced a regular trade in it with England. By +this new supply, the Spanish wool, as here shown, was slowly beaten +from its hold on the British manufacturers. + + _Importations into England of Wool from Spain and Germany, at three + separate periods._ + + 1800. 1814. 1827. + + Germany, 421,850 lbs. 3,595,146 lbs. 22,007,198 lbs. + + Spain and + Portugal, 7,794,758 lbs. 9,234,991 lbs. 4,349,643 lbs. + +At these periods the ports of these countries were open to British +merchandize, so that we have here a convincing proof, that the wool +growers of Spain do not owe their losses, as supposed by some, to the +hostile incursions of the French, but to the friendly competition of a +neighbouring state. + +Wool, both of coarse and fine quality, is daily becoming a more and +more important export from the Black Sea, owing to the great range of +pasturage in Southern Russia. The ordinary wools are very coarse, and +the fleeces dirty and full of grass seeds. Though not subject to +export duty, it is not supposed that it will ever turn out a lucrative +article for the British manufacturer. + +(61.) _Wool Trade from 1800 to 1830._--The latest tabular accounts on +which much reliance can be placed, are to be found in _M'Culloch's +Commercial Dictionary_, but of these I am compelled to offer only an +abridgment, and in general nothing but the sum total of his detailed +statements. The number of short-woolled sheep in England in 1800 was +14,854,299; the number of long-woolled sheep in England in the same +year was 4,153,308. The quantity of British wool in 1800 amounted to +325,269 packs; while in 1808 it had increased to 414,502 packs. The +sheep and lambs' wool imported into Great Britain from foreign parts +in 1810 was 10,914,137 lbs.; in 1815, 13,640,375 lbs.; in 1820, +9,789,020 lbs.; in 1825, 43,795,281 lbs.; in 1830, 32,313,059 lbs. The +increase here observable in 1825 is accounted for above in our notice +of the state of the taxes before and at that period. The exports of +British sheep and lambs' wool in 1830 amounted to 2,951,100 lbs.; +those of woollen and worsted yarn to 1,108,023 lbs. By far the +larger proportion of these exports was intended for France and the +Netherlands. The number of persons employed in the manufacture is +estimated at from 480,000 to 500,000, and their wages at L9,600,000. +The value of the raw material is calculated at L6,000,000; the total +value of the manufactured articles at L18,000,000 (as wool is supposed +in general to be trebled in value by passing through the hands of the +manufacturer); and the interest on capital, sum to replace wear and +tear, and manufacturers' profits at L2,400,000. + +(62.) _Wool Trade in 1832 and 1835._--"The total number of pounds +of sheep and lambs' wool imported into the United Kingdom, in 1832, +was--foreign, 28,128,973; produce of the Isle of Man, 13,516; quantity +retained for home consumption, charged 1d. per lb. duty, 23,619,901; +ditto 1/2d., 1,571,328; ditto 6d. (red wool), 1,130; duty free +(produce of British possessions), 2,473,991; total retained for home +consumption, 27,666,350; total quantity re-exported, 555,014. Quantity +of foreign wool warehoused under bond, 5th January, 1833, 3,165,651. +The total quantity of British wool and woollen yarn exported from the +United Kingdom in 1832 was, of the former, 4,199,825 lb.; of the +latter, 2,204,464 lb. The exportation of British woollen manufactures +in 1832 was as follows:--Cloths of all sorts, 396,661 pieces; napped +countings, doffels, &c., 23,453 pieces; kerseymeres, 40,984 pieces; +baizes, 34,874 pieces; stuffs, woollen or worsted, 1,800,714 pieces; +flannel, 2,304,750 yards; blankets and blanketing, 1,681,840 yards; +carpets and carpeting, 690,042 yards; woollens mixed with cotton, +1,334,072 yards; stockings, woollen or worsted, 152,810 dozen pairs. +Sundries, viz., hosiery, rugs, coverlids, tapes, and smallwares, +L55,443 1s. 8d. value. Declared value of British woollen manufactures +exported, L5,244,478 10s. 10d."[9] + + [9] Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. 24. + +"The total quantity of wool imported into the United Kingdom, in the +year 1835, was by weight 42,208,949 pounds, which is rather more than +4,000,000 pounds under the importation of 1834; but on the 5th +January, 1835, 6,494,266 pounds remained warehoused under bond; +whereas, on the 5th January, 1836, there were no more than 2,846,014 +pounds so locked up. This is an important difference of stock on hand, +which, no doubt, has tended, and will tend, to keep up the price of +the article. The country from which we import the greatest quantity of +wool is Germany. In 1835, the amount was nearly 24,000,000 pounds +weight. From Russia, to which our exports of manufactured woollens is +comparatively small, we imported upwards of 4,000,000 pounds; from New +South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, taken together, about 209,000 +pounds weight more than from Russia. The next largest importations are +from Spain, Turkey, and Italy, which, taken together, supply us with +nearly 4,000,000 pounds. Portugal furnishes 683,000 pounds; Holland, +201,000 pounds; and Belgium, 231,000 pounds. Of the foreign wool which +we have imported, we re-exported in its unmanufactured state 4,101,700 +pounds during 1835. And of the total quantity imported in 1835, we +retained for manufacture 41,718,514 pounds. This is nearly 1,000,000 +pounds more than was taken up by the manufacturers in the preceding +year. + +"The whole amount of British wool _exported_ in 1835, was 4,642,604 +pounds, and of this 3,000,000 pounds were sent to Belgium, and +1,500,000 pounds to France. + +"In 1835, the 'declared value' (which, be it observed, is a real +thing, and very different from the 'official value,' which is of no +use except as an indication of quantity)--the total declared value was +L6,840,511; and of this amount upwards of L2,600,000 worth of woollen +goods went to the United States alone. Next after the United States in +the scale of our customers for woollens comes the East Indies and +China. To these we send the value of upwards of L800,000; to our North +American colonies the value of L418,000; and to the West Indies, +L114,200 worth. + +"In Europe, our best customer is Germany, which, in 1835, took +L631,000 worth. Besides the more fully manufactured goods, Germany +took from us, in the same year, 1,191,000 pounds weight of woollen +yarn. Of European customers, next after Germany come Portugal, which +took, in 1835, to the amount of L368,000; Holland, L245,629; Italy, +L243,582; and Belgium, L123,727. Russia took only L93,025 worth of +woollen goods. The South American States begin to be good customers; +Brazil took, in 1835, L337,788 worth, and Mexico and other States, +L356,700 worth. + +"Looking at the aggregate, the export of 1835 was fully a million +sterling in value above that of 1834; but as the price was higher in +1835, this is no certain guide to the proportion of increase in +_quantity_. In the year 1835, we exported to France only L68,000 worth +of woollen manufactures. + +"We have already stated the _exports_ of woollen goods to the South +American States in 1835; the _import_ of unmanufactured wool from +these States in the same year was L2,176,000 pounds; from France it +was 104,000 pounds. + +"We have only to add, as fiscal information connected with the +foregoing analysis, that of the wool imported in 1835, 26,877,780 +pounds paid to the revenue a duty of a penny per pound; 10,198,526 +pounds paid one halfpenny per pound; and 6,397 pounds of 'red wool' +paid sixpence per pound. + +"The wool imported from British possessions does not pay duty. Of that +there were, in 1835, 4,635,811 pounds imported." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +IMPROVEMENT OF THE BREEDS. + + +(63.) This subject requires for its due consideration some slight +attainments in anatomy and physiology, but as such attainments, slight +though they may be, are as rarely met with as required among the bulk +of mankind, so the want of them may be the less regretted, seeing it +is possible to render even the intricacies of the study plain and +simple, by an appeal to facts of every-day occurrence; which, having +attracted the notice of the most unthinking, will serve as hooks on +which I shall try to hang the better part of an interesting inquiry. + +(64.) _Early Improvers of Sheep._--There cannot be a more certain sign +of the rapid advances of a people in civilization and prosperity, than +increasing attention to the improvement of live-stock. It tells of a +population limited in regard to soil, and making every effort to +remedy the want, by an economical doubling of the return for the usual +outlay: for, while a tribe wanders at large, remaining at a particular +place only so long as provender holds out, and, striking the tent, +departs for some far-off field, so long will their flocks be suffered +to roam neglected, and flourish or decay, as chance directs. + +From the time of Jacob, the possibility of determining the nature of +the offspring, by impressions on the parents, has been apparent to +all; and the best means of perpetuating a good quality, or removing a +bad one, have continued from time to time, to occupy the attention of +patriotic individuals. As much appears to have been known about sheep +two thousand years ago as at present, so true is it, that nothing new +is to be met with; yet, that does not rob our modern improvers of +their merits, for though they deserve little as inventors, they are to +be admired for that strength of mind, and determined perseverance, +which enabled them to rouse their fellows from their lethargy, and +compel them to become in turn, benefactors of their country, and +themselves. The signs of a good ram are concisely laid down by Varro, +by Virgil in his third Georgic, and by Columella; and, though the +Spanish nobility were looked upon with wonder, (till eclipsed by our +own extravagance,) in giving two hundred ducats, or fifty pounds for a +ram; yet Strabo assures us, that in his day (under Tiberius), they +gave more than three times that sum for one of the breed of the +Coraxi, a Pontic nation, believed to have the finest fleece in the +world. + +The greatest recorded improvers of the sheep in ancient times were +Lucius Columella, and his uncle Marcus Columella, Spaniards of +distinction, who removed to Rome in the reign of Tiberius, and made +agriculture the study and business of their lives. The former +commenced his celebrated treatise on husbandry during the reigns of +Tiberius, and Caligula, and appears to have finished it A.D. 55. It is +a work which may be read with advantage even at present, as it abounds +with much that is valuable, and is accessible to all through its +English translation.[10] + + [10] I allude to this, as the author of the work on Sheep, + published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful + Knowledge, at page 123 of that book, laments the want of an + English translation of Columella. An excellent quarto + translation of his twelve books on Husbandry, and one on + Trees, was published at London, in 1745. + +(65.) _Modern Breeders._--It is only within a very recent period, that +the mode of improving live-stock by skilful breeding, has been properly +attended to. The perfection of breeding formerly, was to have cows in +calf once a-year, and rear calves on as little milk as possible; and, +even yet, there are only a scattered few who devote to it the attention +it requires. The first, in modern times, who arrived at any thing like +eminence in this department, was Joseph Allom, of Clifton, who raised +himself by dint of industry, from a ploughboy, and for a long time +contrived to keep his methods secret, being supposed by many to have +bought his ewes in Lincolnshire, at the very time he was constantly +bringing them from the Melton quarter of Leicestershire. Though +possessing talent, he does not appear to have had education enough to +avail himself of it, and accordingly never gained the extensive +popularity which fell to the lot of his successors. + +As the introducers of new and important plans of management in +agriculture, are always rewarded by large profits, and the gratitude of +their countrymen, so none were ever more generously dealt with in +either respect, than Mr Robert Bakewell, of Dishley, and Mr Ellman, of +Glynde. The former, who may be said to have created a _variety_, +considered that a tendency to acquire fat was the first quality to be +looked to in an animal destined for the food of man; and on this, with +him a fundamental principle, was based the whole of his proceedings. +Different opinions will of course be held on the merits of the theory +on which he acted but all must acknowledge, that we are indebted to his +skill and experience, for the exertions which have been subsequently +made to improve the qualities of live-stock, in every district of the +kingdom. It was by his example, in fact, that the farmers all over the +country were stimulated to exertion, and be the system bad or good, it +ought to have our veneration, seeing that it was the commencement of a +new and most important agricultural era. + +John Ellman derives his well-earned fame, from the zealous manner in +which he improved the Southdown sheep, and spread them through the +empire. Till he directed his attention to the subject, every thing +connected with the management of the flock was left to chance, or at +least to the guidance of farm-servants, with whom, of course, it could +not be a matter of interest to select, or _sort_, suitable animals for +the continuance of the race. He speedily, however, corrected this +mismanagement, and aided by the introduction of turnip-feeding, in no +long time, and without any admixture of foreign blood, materially +improved the breed. + +About seventy years ago, improvements also commenced in Scotland. Till +then, in many parishes, no farmer could keep sheep through the winter, +and no place was reckoned so fatal to these animals as the undrained, +and unsheltered parish of Eskdale-Muir, in Dumfriesshire. At last one +William Bryden rented the farm of Aberlosk, and soon, by the _original_ +plan of draining, and building stone enclosures, made it, to use the +words of his able biographer, Mr Scot of Selkirkshire, "like the land +of Goshen, good for cattle which it is to this day." + +(66.) _Varieties among Animals._--All organized matter is subject to +variety. It may be doubted whether, since the creation of the world, +there have ever occurred, either at the same, or at separate periods, +two individuals in every respect perfectly alike. A plant, or an +animal, may resemble the rest of its species in chemical constitution, +and in the number and situation of its organs, but is sure to differ +from all in size, general configuration, and disposition of its parts: +These shades of difference, endless though they are, may be referred +to two leading causes--climate and descent; the former embracing +deviations induced by temperature and resources of subsistence; the +latter including changes occasioned by management, modes of breeding, +and influence of sex. + +(67.) _Varieties induced by Temperature._--The influence of temperature +extends chiefly to the _colour_ and _development_ of animals. In cold +regions the skin of the human race is fair, and the person squat and +stunted, but as we approach the equator, the hue becomes deeper and +deeper, till it is jetty black, while at the same time, the stature +attains nearer and nearer to the tallest proportions to which mankind +seem naturally entitled. The animals of the arctic regions are, for the +greater part of the year, covered with a clothing of the purest white, +which is, however, in many of them, abandoned for one of deeper tints +as the solar heat begins to gain the ascendant. But how very different +do we not find the colours of intertropical animals. There vivid tints, +and an almost metallic lustre, pervade animated beings, from the coral +in its submarine abode, to the gallinaceous birds, the coxcombs of the +forest. In this, as in every other department of nature, the most +beautiful harmony, or, in other words, a union of what is pleasing to +the eye, and suited for the comfort of the creature, every where +prevails. The colour of an animal envelope is never at variance with +the tints of surrounding objects. A painter, for example, would not +place a flower or animal of brilliant hue amidst the monotonous aspect +of an arctic landscape; neither would he picture the faintly-tinted +beings of a polar latitude, as surrounded by the warm and flashy +colouring characteristic of an oriental climate. As temperature, then, +determines in a marked degree the colour and dimensions of every +animal, such variations render the division of living beings into races +and varieties, a matter of necessity. Thus all human beings belong only +to one species, which may, however, be divided into five races, and +these again into an infinity of varieties. The differences between a +race and a variety are, that the latter is a subdivision of the former, +and that in the former the modifications are more profound, the changes +not being confined to the surface, but extending to the frame-work of +the body; whereas, to constitute a variety, nothing more is necessary +than the superficial influence of heat and light on the skin, and its +appendages the hairs. The Negro and the Abyssinian are precisely +similar in colour, yet they are by no means of the same race, as their +different features will distinctly prove; the Abyssinian approaching as +much in cast of countenance to the European, as the negro does to the +higher orders of the ape. The same may be noticed among sheep, but this +is sufficient for the present. + +The changes induced by climate, result from the working of a power +inherent in most animals and vegetables, by which they are suited +within certain limits, for bearing up against removal from their +ordinary localities, and assuming a different cast, as the place of +their exile may differ in degree from that which they have left. This +gradual adaptation to circumstances by an accommodating power is +termed, in philosophical language, acclimation. + +(68.) _Adaptation of the Sheep to Climate._--No animal varies more +than the sheep, and none so speedily adapts itself to climate; it +would almost appear that nature, convinced of its great utility, had +bestowed upon it a constitution so pliant, as to enable it to +accommodate itself to any point in a wide scale of temperature; for +though its natural situation as a wool-bearing animal, like that of +man appears to be the wine countries, yet with him, it has spread to +every quarter of the globe, becoming impressed at every change with +some peculiarity, alterable only by a change of situation, and +varying, we might almost affirm, with the weather; for, where the +temperature is equable, there does the animal preserve unchanged an +atmospheric stamp, and defies our efforts to alter the breed; while +under a fluctuating sky we can model it at will, though in this case, +continued exertions are required to secure them for any length of time +in an undeviating course. + +(69.) _Changes produced by Climate._--The wonderful power of +temperature in effecting changes upon animals, is well illustrated by +the Portuguese, who, after a residence of three hundred years in +India, are said to be at present almost as black as Caffres. Bishop +Heber, speaking of India, says, "It is remarkable to observe how +surely all these classes of men (whites--Persians, Greeks, Tartars, +Turks, and Arabians), in a few generations, even without any +inter-marriage with the Hindoos, assume the deep olive tint, little +less dark than a negro, which seems natural to the climate." Buchanan +also in his travels through the same country, alludes to a tribe of +black Jews who have, in all probability, been settled in the district +ever since the period of the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, 3000 +years ago, and who retain all the national peculiarities of their +race, with the exception of their colour, which is now as dark as that +of the surrounding tribes. These examples, however, it may be +affirmed, are not to the point, as embracing theories in regard to +peculiar changes in an animal different from the sheep, but such +objections are perfectly groundless, as what will affect colour in +mankind, will lead to changes even of a more wonderful nature in the +sheep, seeing that it is abandoned more entirely to such an influence. + +(70.) _Temperature preferred by Sheep._--Sheep, though capable of +thriving in a great variety of climates, seem to prefer such as are +temperate, and in these only do they arrive at perfection. They are +common on the Cordilleras at an elevation of from 3300 to 8200 feet, +within which limits they propagate readily without any care; but the +reverse is the case in hotter regions, it being difficult to rear +lambs in the plains of Meta, and no sheep are to be met with from the +river to the foot of the Cordilleras, though their skins, from being +in demand for making parchment, sell as high as those of the ox. Sheep +were at one time, according to Thunberg, the scarcest articles in +Batavia, as their woolly coat rendered the heat of the climate quite +insupportable; but this inconvenience was at last remedied by sending +them, on their arrival from the Cape, further up the country, to the +Blue Mountains, where the air is several degrees colder. The question +then naturally occurs, if an elevation of temperature is, as in this +instance, fatal to these animals, how do they happen to have spread +over a vast tract of country in spite of such extremes? Simply for the +reason, that when an animal is left to the exercise of its own free +will, and the dominion of its instincts, it will not subject itself to +the danger of an extreme in any thing. It will not traverse several +hundred miles in a single season, and thus expose itself to sudden +changes. The natural dispersion of all animals is gradual, so that +their constitutions are enabled, from the slowness of the transition, +to accommodate themselves, by an alteration in covering and habit, to +surrounding circumstances, which would, were the variations abrupt, +speedily destroy it. The reason why a race of animals occasionally +thrives so well in a country to which it may be removed, appears to +lie in its being suited, I may say, accidentally, by peculiar +conformation, to the temperature to which it is transplanted. There +are some happy climates where, introduce what animals you will, no +matter how stunted they are, or how different the degree of warmth may +be, their offspring will thrive, proving large and vigorous, and every +way worthy of being placed at the head of its species. These are, +however, cases where the transition is from an extreme of heat or cold +to a temperate atmosphere. Witness what Mr Dawson, the manager of the +Australian Agricultural Company, says in his private journal (quoted +in _Cunningham's New South Wales_). "Both the climate and the soil +appear by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine animals too, +_even from the worst beginnings_. The latter seems a paradox. The +extensive range afforded to every animal keeps it in good condition, +and, perhaps, the natural grasses may have more of good in them than +their appearance indicates. However this may be, the climate clearly +has a wonderful effect on the size of all animals, even upon man, who +is universally tall here, though born of diminutive parents. From this +I am led to believe, that the climate governs chiefly, and thus every +breeding animal introduced here will attain a size not known in +Europe." + +(71.) _Extent of the Alterations produced by Climate._--Changes +occasioned by climate are always limited to the fleece, horns, and +disposal of the fat, and never extend to those parts, on the +permanence of which the animal depends for its station in the scale of +being, as the feet, teeth, and digestive organs. In tropical countries +we find the fleece approaching more to hair than wool, as in the sheep +of Thibet, so celebrated for the silky nature of their coat. Burchell +remarks, that the skins he brought from the Cape of Good Hope were +often taken for those of an unknown quadruped, from the _furry_ nature +of their wool, if such it can be called, and thinks it is owing as +much to the pasture, which is well adapted for giving these animals a +soft and useful _fur_, though not suited, like New South Wales, for +the growth of the finest wool, and that the colony might turn this to +great advantage. In cold regions the hairy covering is more developed +and fully coarser, but always mingled with a proportion of hard rough +wool. The influence of climate on portions of the fleece and skin is +well illustrated by circumstances which have occurred in Galloway, +even within the limits of our traditionary writings.[11] The native +sheep of the Highlands of that district is supposed to have been a +small, handsome, _white-faced_ breed; at least so thinks John +MacLellan, who wrote an account of Galloway in 1650, from the wool +being much praised, and eagerly bought up by merchants, which would +not have been the case if taken from the _black-faced_ animal; yet how +happens it that at present the native breed exists only in the lower +parts of Kirkcudbrightshire, the high country exhibiting _black-faced_ +sheep, which, after every trial, have been found best adapted to the +climate, and pasture of the moors and Highlands; while Chalmers owns +that it has not been ascertained when or whence this hardy breed were +brought to their present locality? Why, it is tolerably plain, that +though the _white-faced_ sheep might be placed there originally, yet +they would speedily lose every trace of their origin, and become +_black-faced_ when placed on a hilly country, and subjected to the +slow but certain influence of peculiar food and climate. + + [11] Chalmers' Caledonia--Article, Galloway. + +Mr Culley imagines, that the dun-faced sheep were the earliest tenants +of the Scottish hills, but so far as my researches extend, that +supposition is entirely contradicted. Chalmers remarks, that the +black-faced animals superseded the goats, which were at one time a +source of subsistence to the farmers, and it is exceedingly probable, +that as the old white-faced began to change their appearance, and +became gradually able to withstand the rigours of a mountain fare, and +winter under a dun skin, and short rough wool, so would they recommend +themselves as the best of all stock to the hard-driven agriculturalist. + +(72.) _Increase of the Number of the Horns._--As much wonder is sure to +be excited by the fact, that bony prominences are subjected with as +great certainty to the modelling hand of climate as softer parts, I +give the following from a recent work, entitled, "_Gardens and +Menagerie of the Zoological Society Delineated_," premising, however, +that, in my opinion, temperature has a vast deal more to do with +alterations in the horns than domestication or cultivation. "One of the +most curious modifications produced by cultivation in the domesticated +sheep consists in the augmentation of the number of its horns; two, +three, or even four supplementary appendages of this description being +occasionally produced in addition to the normal number. Under these +circumstances the additional horns usually occupy the upper and fore +part of the head, and are of a more slender shape, and take a more +upright direction than the others, thus approaching in character to +those of the goats, while the true horns retain more or less of the +spiral curve that distinguishes those of the sheep. There exists a +strong tendency to the propagation of this monstrosity, which is +extremely frequent in the Asiatic races, but is also met with in a +breed that is common in the north of Europe, and is said to have been +originally derived from Iceland, and the Feroe Islands. In this case it +is unconnected with any other anomaly, but in the flocks of the nomad +hordes of Tartary, it is usually combined with an enlargement of the +tail, and adjacent parts, by the deposition of fat, frequently to an +enormous extent." + +(73.) _Causes of the various forms of the Horn._--Horns are seldom met +with in the sheep of hot climates, occurring more frequently in cold +and temperate regions; thus following closely the development of the +other coverings, to which, as before stated (19), they are strictly +analogous. The fleece consists of two portions--hair and wool, the one +predominating more or less over the other, as the climate may direct. +The form of the horns is always in unison with the character of the +fleece: thus, if the animal is covered with hair, as in the goat, the +horns will be straight; but if it is clothed with wool, as in the +sheep, the horns will be curved. The same holds good in other animals. +The reason of this appears to lie in the tendency which the hair or +wool, constituting the horny sheath, has to model the form of the +supporting bone. The fibre of hair is nearly straight; that of wool is, +on the other hand, remarkable for the number of tufted curls, or small +spiral ringlets, into which it naturally contracts; so that a Merino +ram, for example, will never be found with rectilinear horns, nor a +true goat with twisted ones. The truth of these remarks is borne out by +observations on animals on whose heads more than two horns are +occasionally met with. We always in such instances notice, that the +additional horns are straight, thus indicating the presence of a +considerable quantity of hair among the wool. The curve will be more +decided, and the twists more numerous, in proportion as the fibre comes +nearer and nearer to a perfect wool--evidence of which we have in the +beautifully-tufted and spiral horns of the Merino ram, which are as +opposite in this respect to those of the goat, as is its fleece to the +hairy coat of the latter. From these considerations I am led to +believe, that the form of the horn, when present, is an excellent guide +to the nature and quality of the other coverings, and an index to every +gradation which can possibly occur between wool and hair. + +(74.) _The proper Temperature required for Sheep._--Regular warmth is +absolutely necessary for the production of a good animal and a fine +fleece, and is only to be obtained by attending to the draining and +clearing of land, so as to dissipate moisture, and allow currents of +air to play freely across the country.[12] An atmosphere which holds +suspended a large quantity of watery vapour, is always extremely +chilling to an animal body. This is accounted for by the well-known +fact, that a moist air, being a better conductor of caloric than a dry +one, robs an animal more quickly of heat. Thus, in passing from the dry +air of the hills into the vapour of the valleys in a winter morning, we +feel as if the transition had been from a temperate to an icy region. +Hence one of the reasons why sheep thrive best in a rather elevated +situation. Moist air, however, is exceedingly oppressive in hot +weather, because evaporation, from the surface of the body, is to a +great extent diminished; and it is only by the perspiration being +allowed to escape rapidly, and to convey away the heated particles, +that we can manage to be in any degree comfortable during the heat of +summer. This free evaporation we endeavour in every way to obtain, and +often in a manner that ignorant people would consider as the reverse of +sensible. It is well known that draughts of _cold liquids_ are very far +from answering the purpose of lowering our temperature when above a +pleasant standard; but we find that a basin _of hot soup, or tea_, will +speedily bring about the desired end, by producing a copious +determination of fluid to the skin. Yet, if the air contained no +moisture, we should experience sensations just as unpleasant as those +already mentioned; for evaporation from our bodies would proceed at +such a rate, that we would soon be parched. It is to counteract this +tendency of dry air that the Americans are in the habit of placing a +small vessel of water on their stoves, by which contrivance a quantity +of vapour is diffused through the apartment, sufficient to balance the +loss from the arid warmth of the fire. + + [12] It is to secure equality of temperature that the Spanish + flocks are twice in the year exposed to the hazard of an + overland journey of 400 miles, that they may pass the summer + in the mountains of the north, and the winter in the southern + plains. + +That an equable temperature is only to be obtained by draining and +clearing a marshy and wooded country, is sufficiently authenticated. In +the thickly wooded and swampy territories of Guiana, rain falls +continually during nearly eight months of the year; and the cold is so +intense, that fires are necessary in the houses throughout the night. +But in Cayenne and its neighbourhood, which were cleared of wood about +one hundred and fifty years ago, the increase of temperature is now so +great, that during the night the people are annoyed by the warmth, and +the rains are neither so frequent nor so heavy as in the rest of the +country. Paris and Quebec are nearly under the same latitude; yet the +air of the latter is much colder than that of the former, evidently +from its being surrounded by forests so dense and umbrageous, that sun +and wind are alike denied access to the earth. The difference between a +cleared and an uncleared country, in regard to wool, is well +illustrated, by contrasting North America, its heavy woods and stagnant +atmosphere, with the thinly timbered surface and constantly renovated +air of New South Wales. It is only within the last few years that +Canada has been enabled to compete with Britain in the article of wool, +and that the sheep, which were of the coarsest kind, have been so +improved as to do away with the prejudices against their mutton. +Australia, on the other hand, has, from its earliest colonization, +figured as a sheep-rearing country of the first importance; and nothing +has conduced so much to this as its freedom from closely planted trees, +by the absence of which the settler is enabled at once to stock his +farm with the best of sheep. Nature, in fact, could never have intended +sheep to pasture in a wooded country, as is clearly evinced by their +coat, to which every thing in the shape of bush or tree is in the +highest degree inimical. + +(75.) _Geographical limits of the Sheep._--Every plant and animal has +certain geographical limits, out of which it cannot exist. With the +exception of man and the dog, no animal has a wider range than the +sheep, extending as it does from Iceland almost to the equator, and +from a few degrees south of that to the polar extremity of South +America. But though existing under so great a variety of exposures, it +must not be inferred that it can come to perfection in them all. On the +contrary, it rather delights in the temperate zones, and can evidently +only be raised to its highest point of excellence in the countries of +the vine. The western parts of continents produce better sheep than the +eastern, and the southern hemisphere better than the northern; as in +the former situations the temperature is more nearly equable than in +the latter. The same may be said of maritime districts, as compared +with such as are inland. Temperature is affected in the same way by +elevation as by northern or southern position--the mean heat +diminishing in the same ratio when ascending a mountain, as in receding +from the equator. On this account, Humboldt compared the earth to two +mountains with their bases at the equator, and their summits at the +poles. The mean temperature, when resulting from the height of the +place above the level of the sea, is at the same time influenced by the +nature of the aspect, as we notice in the Alps, where the Glacier +exists on the northern side, at the same elevation at which the +vineyard yields a perfect fruit upon the southern. + +(76.) _Particular forms induced by certain limits._--The character +which a predominance of heat, or cold, impresses on the animal as a +whole, extends also to individual parts of the body. The sheep of South +Africa are, as all the world know, remarkable for the magnitude of the +tail, which forms an immense fatty appendage. The sheep of Persia, +Tartary, and China, are distinguished from all others by the tail +forming a _double globe_ of fat. The North of Europe, and North of +Asia, are overrun by a breed in which the tail is almost wanting, while +that of Southern Russia, India, and Guinea, stands pre-eminent from the +elongation of the tail, and, in respect to that of the two last named +places, also of the legs. + +(77.) _Influence of vegetation on form and disposition._--Vegetation +influences, to a great extent, the form and disposition of the animal. +Such changes may be brought about either by the plenty, or scarceness, +of the herbage; or by the nature of the country on which that herbage +is produced. Animals found on hilly countries are always widely +different from those of the plains. Their bodies are light, their legs +long, and their habits of that unquiet kind which renders them hostile +to any thing like restraint. It is for these reasons, that when once a +flock attaches itself to a range of hills, and becomes suited to the +means of subsistence, it may preserve itself for ages apart from +neighbouring varieties, and present, after a long series of years, +those qualities in their native purity for which it was noted by the +earliest observers. The sheep of a level country are distinguished, on +the contrary, by heavy bodies, short legs, and easy tempers. They are, +in fact, constructed on Dutch proportions, and are imbued, as a natural +consequence, with those imperturbable and steady-going habits so +characteristic of the bulbous bottomed Hollander. Subdued as they are +by the nature of their locality, they readily submit to man, who tutors +them at will, and works on them those profitable changes from which +have originated our improved varieties. As connected with the unquiet +dispositions of hill sheep, I may mention the prevalence of a notion, +that domesticated sheep cannot by any possibility become wild. From all +that I have seen, and read, I am led to believe, though the sheep, +according to Greek, Roman, and Oriental philosophers, was the first +animal domesticated, that when at liberty it will soon return to its +primitive and instinctive habits. Bonnycastle, in his work on Spanish +America, remarks, that sheep are found in a state of nature, in the +northern parts of New Spain, "having multiplied to an extraordinary +degree in the wide-spread plains, and savannahs." In ascending our +Scottish mountains, every one must observe the state bordering upon +wildness, in which the sheep appear, roving in detached but well-led +parties; bounding away to the most inaccessible places on the approach +of danger, and peering from the eminences in all the pride of scornful +independence. Professor Blumenbach at one time doubted the possibility +of domestic sheep ever becoming wild; but his opinion was changed on +perusing the work of Vincentius, where there occurs a remarkable +passage, in which Nearchus, when speaking of the desert island of +Cataia, on the coast of Caramania, says, that the inhabitants of the +neighbouring islands yearly carried thither sheep, as offerings to +Venus and Mercury, and that, in course of time, they became wild in the +deserts.[13] Constant attendance is, therefore, called for on the part +of man, to ensure that untroubled reliance on his care so conducive to +the welfare of the flock, for even on a temporary cessation of his +protection, those instincts, which can be subdued but not eradicated, +are brought into operation, and their presence will go far to retard +the advancement of those qualities, on the perfection of which a profit +can alone be hoped for. + + [13] Edin. Philosophical Journal. + +(78.) _Breeds required for Britain._--Of the numerous breeds at +present in our island, a few only are indispensably necessary for the +continuance of its prosperity. These stand, according to Marshall, +thus:--A very long-woolled sheep, as the Lincolnshire, or Teeswater, +for the richest grass lands, and finest worsted manufactures--the New +Leicester, for less fertile grass land, and for rich enclosed arable +land, on which the fold is not used; intended to supply coarser +worsted, stockings, coarse cloths, blankets, and carpets--a +middle-woolled breed, as the Wiltshire, the Norfolk, or the Southdown, +for arable lands on which folding is practised, and for cloths of +middle qualities--a fine-woolled, as the Ryeland, for the finest +cloths; and a hardy race for heathy mountains. + +Some argue, and rightly, that only three breeds are necessary for +Scotland, inasmuch as only three are required by the nature of the +country. Scotland may be regarded, in an agricultural point of view, +as divided into highland, upland, and plain. The highland consists of +primitive rocks, covered by peaty soil and heath, on which these +indefatigable gleaners, the black-faced sheep, alone can gain a +subsistence. The upland is formed by the transition series of rocks, +covered with grass; and to it the Cheviots appear indigenous. The +plain is formed by alluvial deposits, covered with rich pasture, and +capable of supporting races of large sheep, as the Leicesters. + +Sheep are the only kind of live-stock which ought to be kept in +mountainous districts, especially when green crop cannot be +cultivated. Sheep-farming must necessarily prevail in the Highlands, +where there are few tracts suited for the pasturage of black cattle: +The value of its adaptation to the natural circumstances of that +district is proved by the rapid progress which it made, and the +profits which resulted to the individuals with whom it originated. +Places which formerly were not of the slightest utility, now yielded +heavy rents. The spots among the mountains, susceptible of +cultivation, were found to be advantageously kept in grass, to serve +as pasture for the flock during the rigour of winter, and it was well +ascertained that more than double rent might be paid by stocking with +sheep in preference to cattle. + +The Dishley sheep are excellent specimens of what may be done with the +form of an animal, when the endeavours of the breeder are seconded by +a pasture suitable for the intended breed. They are admirably adapted, +as every breed ought to be, to the soil and situation where they were +called into existence; and their crosses are now spread over most part +of the country; principally the corn districts, as they are supposed +to be the most profitable kind on farms where the best tillage crops +are combined with the fattening of livestock, though Marshall supposes +they will only be reckoned profitable so long as other breeds of +long-woolled sheep remain with thin chines, and loose mutton; or, in +other words, that there are plenty of kinds which would prove equal, +if not superior, to the present, if they only received the same +studied attention. + +(79.) _Varied nature of the food of Sheep._--Sheep will take, +sometimes from choice, sometimes from necessity, to food of a directly +opposite nature to what they have been used. "The mutton," says the +Rev. George Low, writing of Orkney, "is here in general but ordinary, +owing to the sheep feeding much on sea-ware, to procure which these +creatures show a wonderful sagacity, for no sooner has the tide of ebb +begun to run, but they, though at a great distance, immediately betake +themselves full speed, one and all, to the shore, where they continue +till it begins to flow." The sheep of Iceland are content during +severe winters to feed, and be preserved, on messes of chopped +fish-bones, being all that the ingenuity of their masters can provide +in the way of a precarious sustenance. During the long continuance of +snow-storms, when the herbage is beyond the reach of their utmost +efforts, sheep are known to devour the wool on each other's backs, +and, in some instances to acquire a relish for this unnatural food, +which adheres to them through life. This, though on first thoughts +hardly credible, is scarcely more wonderful than the partiality which +cows display, when instigated by the depraved appetites created by +pregnancy, for blankets, and any similar domestic articles which may +be exposed to the gratification of their longings. + +The Puruk sheep of Ladusk, in the Himalaya mountains, is, as described +by Mr Moorecraft, in the _Transactions of the Asiatic Society_, in +respect to the varied nature of its food, a most remarkable animal. +"The Puruk sheep, if permitted, thrusts its head into the cooking pot, +picks up crumbs, is eager to drink the remains of a cup of broth, and +examine the hand of its master for barley, flour, or a cleanly picked +bone, which it disdains not to nibble; a leaf of lettuce, a peeling of +turnip, the skin of the apricot, give a luxury; and the industry is +indefatigable with which this animal detects, and appropriates +substances, so minute and uninviting as would be unseen and neglected +by ordinary sheep; perhaps the dog of the cottager is not so +completely domesticated as it is." That Mr Moorecraft is correct in +this statement of its omnivorous propensities, there cannot be the +slightest doubt, as any farmer can testify from what he has seen of +lambs reared by children for amusement. The celebrated John Hunter +showed, that a pigeon might be made to live on flesh, and that its +stomach became adapted to the nature of this food: and I have +somewhere read of a sheep, which, after being long on ship-board, and +accustomed, from scarcity of vegetables, to an animal diet, could +never after be prevailed upon to take to grass. Nor need these +circumstances excite surprise, since the food of every living creature +is, for a certain period at the commencement of existence, limited to +such as is purely animal. But to keep to our subject. Those in the +habit of opening the stomachs of sheep, must have remarked the eroded +appearance which the inner coat occasionally presents. This phenomenon +is owing to the action of the gastric juice, which, if competent to +turn at once from the food with which it is mingled to attack the +texture which has secreted it, will also be, during life, capable of +digesting with tolerable ease, such dead animal matter as may be +brought into contact with it. + +In regard to vegetable food, they will, when necessary, devour such as +is even of an acrid nature, and calculated to poison any animals but +themselves. Thunberg, while in Southern Africa, frequently noticed +sheep eating, with impunity, the _Mortimia acris_, the _Rhus lucidum_, +and the _Lycium afrum_, which are all of a poisonous nature; and, in +this country, hemlock is known to be quite innocuous to sheep. What is +poison to one animal often constitutes a wholesome food for others, +and that which will, when given in immediate large doses, destroy an +animal, will, when taken in a gradually-increasing allowance, prove +extremely salutary. + +(80.) _Influence of the food on the quality of Mutton._--Diet has a +powerful influence on the constituents of the body. A rank succulent +pasture taints the flesh, or renders it insipid and unpleasant, while +a dry aromatic herbage communicates a delightful flavour, and enables +people versed in the pleasures of the table easily to discriminate +between turnip-fed and grass-fed mutton; and again, between the +latter, and that which has spent its existence on the hills. In +Touchwood's Syllabus of Culinary Lectures, appended to the _Cook and +Housewive's Manual_, by Mistress Dods, we are briefly informed, that +"the black-faced, or short-sheep, are best for the table, though _more +depends on the pasture than the breed_." More, in fact, depending on +feeding and management, than on the variety of the animal, though this +of course is not to be neglected. A notion has been advanced in this +country, that artificial pastures are less nutritious than natural +ones, and that the animals which are raised upon them are, +consequently, of a laxer fibre, and the flesh less wholesome, as well +as less savoury. This, I have no doubt, is perfectly correct, as many +_diseases_ may be traced to such improper food, and what is calculated +to produce in some cases actual disease, cannot fail to prove at all +times capable of retarding the advancement of the animal. These soft +succulent pastures appear not to be positively poisonous, but to be +negatively so from their deficiency in saline matter; the rapid growth +of the plant preventing the elimination and absorption, of many of +these ingredients with which the soil abounds. This is proved by the +greater necessity which exists for the use of salt in the food of the +herbivorous animals of hot climates, than in that of such as inhabit +temperate, or cold latitudes; vegetation being in the former more +rapid in its details, and in certain states of the atmosphere hurried +in the extreme, while in the latter the process proceeds with that +leisure which enables the plant to make good the measure of its +constituents, as it increases in size. In many parts of North America +it is well known, that, at certain seasons, the wild animals make +eagerly for the salt _licks_; and, following up this hint, the +settlers easily induce their oxen to keep near their dwellings, by +serving them periodically with salt. When the wild cattle of South +America had greatly increased, it was discovered that they could not +exist unless they had access to streams which had acquired brackish +particles from the soil. _If salt, in places devoid of it, was not +furnished to them by man, they became stunted, unfruitful, and the +herds soon disappeared._ Even in this country, the free use of salt is +found to be highly beneficial to our domestic animals, preventing the +occurrence of many of those diseases which are otherwise sure to +follow the use of food such as is mentioned above, and ensuring that +sound health which is so conducive to the accumulation of fat. + +(81.) _Differences in the quality of Mutton._--I shall now enter a +little into the manner in which the _quality_ of the flesh may be +affected, and the methods of judging of the different states or +conditions, in which it may be found under various circumstances; +premising that it requires much experience, to enable a person to +pronounce with confidence, as to the value of the muscular parts, from +the inspection of a living animal:--The flesh of different specimens +of the same animal, varies not so much from breed or descent, as from +age, feeding, and exercise. That of the young is soft and gelatinous, +the fibres being small, weak, and much interspersed with a substance +termed, from its loose appearance, cellular tissue. This tissue +exhibits in the spaces between the muscles (_layers of flesh_) small +masses of delicate fat. The greater bulk of the latter is situated +immediately beneath the skin, and occasions that beautiful rotundity +so much admired in children. As the animal advances in life, the +fibres become firmer, larger, and more approximated, the cellular +tissue disappears to a great extent, the fat shifts from the outward +to the inward parts, allowing the outline of the muscles to be +distinctly seen, but giving at the same time to the figure that portly +symptom of good keeping, so unpleasant to the eye when carried to the +extent of Aldermanic dignity. All these appearances are, however, +varied by exercise, which tends, in a marked degree, to increase the +muscular parts at the expense of the fat--the former becoming, when +employed within proper limits, large, and unyielding to the touch, +while at the same time the colour is heightened from a pale or purple +hue, to the bright vermilion so justly relied upon by housewives, as a +guarantee for the superior qualities of the article. The wild horses +in South America, which form the principal part of Indian diet, are +said by these epicures to be much improved for the table by gentle +labour, and to be quite on a par when thus cared for, with some of our +best beef. This plan is, however, only pursued for the purpose of +rendering the flesh of their horses moderately firm; but where an +opposite effect is desired it is readily, though cruelly, produced by +putting the animal to a lingering death; examples of which practice +are to be met with in the annals of most civilized nations; as in the +German mode of whipping pigs, and the English custom of baiting +bulls;[14] both tending to the same end, by so exhausting vital +contractibility as to prevent its last and faint display in the +stiffening of the carcass. + + [14] By the old English law, no bull beef could be sold unless + the bull had been baited. + +Marshall, who touches very slightly on the subject, says, "The flesh +of sheep when slaughtered is well known to be of various qualities: +some is composed of large coarse grains, interspersed with wide empty +pores, like a sponge; others of large grains, with wide pores filled +with fat; others of fine close grains with smaller pores filled with +fat; and a fourth of close grains without any mixture of fatness. The +flesh of sheep when dressed is equally well 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 plump, short, +and palatable, affording a mixture of white and red gravy. A fourth +likewise plump, and well-flavoured, but discharging red gravy only, +and this in various quantities. It is likewise observable that some +mutton, when dressed, appears covered with a thick, tough, +parchment-like integument; others with a membrane comparatively fine +and flexible." This membrane ought to be rather thin than thick, as, +when of the latter texture, you may safely affirm that the animal was +aged. _Looseness_ is reckoned a bad quality of the flesh of sheep +during life, as indicating a coarse-grained porous mutton, and as +equally exceptionable with that of _hardness_: while _mellowness_, and +firmness, are much to be desired, as forming a happy mixture, deemed +by some the point of perfection. The tendency to become fat at an +early age, though a valuable one in some points, is not so in others. +Premature decay is always the result, showing with certainty that a +healthy action has not been going on. An animal when _loaded_ with fat +cannot be looked upon otherwise than as in a diseased state, and +liable to embarassment of many organs, especially of the heart and +brain. Sudden death on any hurried exertion is far from rare, and +life, from the difficulty of enjoying it, is any thing but desirable. + +(82.) _Abuses in Feeding._--The custom of over-feeding was carried to +an absurd extent on the promulgation of Bakewell's method, nothing +less being aspired to than the glory of laying seven or eight inches +of fat on the ribs of sheep. This folly however had its day: the +ridiculous parts of the system have to a great extent disappeared, +while attention to the production of an increased quantity of mutton, +without too great an abundance of fat, has remained to prove to the +world the value of the benefits which the English farmer conferred +upon his country. Overgrown sheep are indeed good for nothing "save" +in the words of Meg Dods, "to obtain premiums at cattle shows, and +deluge dripping-pans with liquid fat;" and in this every one will +agree, excepting always boarding-school cooks, and others who depend +for their principal perquisites on the over-roasting of oily meat! The +fat, though not reckoned as offal in the slaughter-house, will +speedily show itself as such in the kitchen, by the waste during the +cooking process, even in England where fat meat is so much admired; +and it is surely absurd to pay the price of good mutton for tallow, +when if the latter were really wanted, it could be procured at a +cheaper rate by itself, than when forming part of a dear commodity. +The only way in which over-fat meat can at all be reckoned profitable, +is in its application to the wants of the working classes, whose +bodily labour enables them to enjoy what would to others prove +displeasing in the extreme, and to digest and assimilate with ease, +food which to the sons of sloth would prove a poison. So far as these +wants have been supplied, the attempt of Bakewell has been attended +with the happiest results, as he and his disciples have placed by +their well-spent exertions much good food within the reach of the +poorer classes, which they must otherwise have gone without; while in +many instances it has driven bacon from the market, being a cheaper +and more palatable commodity, which cannot but contribute to the +health of the people, seeing the continued use of salted meat is +calculated to injure the body, and render it liable to many diseases. +Marshall remarks, that fat, like charity, covers a multitude of +faults: and he is right, for an ill-shaped animal if well fed, has all +its angles speedily effaced, and if its ugliness has not amounted to +absolute deformity, it acquires that rotundity of contour so pleasing +to the eye, and so apt to mislead us. + +The rapidity is various with which animals take on fat, much depending +on hereditary predisposition, and the nature of the food; and much +also on the state of the atmosphere, and quiet habits; a moist and +rather warm air tending greatly to the advancement of the process, +some birds becoming fat in twenty-four hours of wet weather. Children +that have been emaciated by diseases often resume their original plump +condition in a few days; and animals that have been famished, as hogs, +afterwards fatten very rapidly. Moderate and repeated bleedings, mild +farinaceous diet, and emasculation conjoined, tend to the repletion of +the body, and to the speedy deposition of fat; yet it would appear, +that when acquired in this rapid manner, it never possesses the value +in a culinary point of view, that is yielded to such as has been +slowly formed, when, as one may say, the worthless particles have had +time to be removed, and the remaining part to become a firm and +healthy deposit. It is partly owing to this, that animals are never at +their best when forced to take on fat at an early age, but are most +esteemed by the gourmand when they, as in the case of the sheep, have +lived from three to four years. + +(83.) _Tendency to acquire Fat._--A disposition to early obesity, as +well as a tendency to that form which indicates a propensity to +fatten, is materially promoted by a good supply of rich food, while +the animal is in a growing state. The Spanish shepherds are so well +aware of this, that half of the lambs are annually killed, that the +survivors may obtain every indulgence in the way of milk. Care should +be taken never to place animals suddenly on food much superior in +feeding qualities to what they have left. Very lean sheep are never +put to full turnips in winter, nor to rich pastures in summer, but are +prepared for turnips on good grass lands, and kept on second years' +leys, and afterwards given a moderate allowance of turnips if they are +to be fatted on pastures. It is an invariable rule with all good +managers, never to allow this or any other animal, reared solely for +the shambles, to lose flesh from its earliest age till it is sent to +the butcher as more food is necessary to bring it to a certain +condition than to keep it at it. In the case of the Dishleys, it is +customary to keep all in a state of fatness, except those intended for +breeding, and after full feeding on turnips during winter and spring, +to finish them on the first year's clover early in summer, when the +prices of meat are usually the highest; so that this variety is always +fit for market at eighteen months, while the Highland breeds, though +prepared by means of turnips, a year at least, sooner than in former +times, do not usually go to the shambles till from three to four years +old. + +(84.) _Frequent change of Pasture necessary._--Sheep ought never to be +permitted to remain too long on one pasture:--Great benefit will be +derived from their removal from time to time to different parts even +of the same farm, by which arrangement a change of herbage will be +ensured. No animal can be kept for any length of time in health, if +restricted to one unvarying routine of diet. This has been +satisfactorily proved by the experiments of Majendie, who found that +health could not be sustained on one or even two kinds of food beyond +the thirtieth day. Now, though such immediate injury cannot result to +a flock from retention on a particular pasture, owing to the variety +of sustenance being considerable, yet proportional harm will ensue +sufficient to induce us not to repeat the risk. Nature, the best of +guides in all that relates to the protection of her creatures, is no +where more pointed in her directions than on this head. A necessity +for a variety of food, and a desire to secure it, are implanted in the +disposition of every animal; and where is the creature more prone to +extensive rambles than the sheep? We limit it to a paltry +pasture-ground of roods and acres, but does it not show, by its +determination to transgress our barriers, that such is not the +treatment nature has designed for it? There is something more than +wildness of character, and restless disposition, in the powerful +attempts it continually makes to defy our artificial boundaries. There +is in these efforts a longing for fresh fields and other herbage, an +instinctive feeling that all is not as it ought to be; and yet we +attend not to the hint! Nothing will conduce so much to the health of +the sheep, and to the speedy taking on of fat, as the frequent +shifting of the flock. Disease will doubtless still affect the +animals, but illness will be rare, and mortality diminished, if by the +care of their rulers, they are enabled to obtain what instinct tells +them is the best of medicine. + +(85.) _Varieties induced by apparently trivial causes._--Surrounded in +a civilized state, by all that can minister to the supply of wants, +whether real or supposed, man is not on that account to be imagined as +always so situated. Look to savage nations, and remark their destitute +condition, their dependence on the uncertain proceeds of the chase, +and their reliance on modes of agriculture as unprofitable as they are +unmatured. Countries there are certainly to be found, where the +"elements of temperature," are so fortunately balanced and combined as +to produce only good effects, and in which the rude inhabitants reap +the fruits of a spontaneous plenty; but these form only a small +proportion of the globe, and in most regions man must give his +unceasing endeavours to the cultivation of a plant or animal, before +he can raise it from the miniature condition in which he finds it, to +such a size and richness as will satisfy his wants. Nor need we go far +for illustrations. The crab has been transformed into the apple, and +the sloe into the plum. None of our cereal grasses, as now cultivated, +are to be met with in a wild state; they have evidently been brought +to their present fulness by the care of ages. The red cabbage and the +cauliflower are the altered descendants of a widely different sea-side +plant. The different races of cabbages are examples of a wonderful +deviation from the natural type, and they all require much nicety in +cultivation to prevent them assuming the characters of the original +stock, as, when permitted to grow wild, especially on a sterile soil +as that of the sea coast, they are sure in no long time to become +exact counterparts of their originals. Cultivation, also, though taken +in rather a different sense, influences to a great extent the form and +features of animals. In proof of this may be adduced the differences +that exist between different ranks of inhabitants in almost all +countries. Buffon says, that in France you may distinguish by their +aspect not only the nobles from the peasantry, but the superior orders +of nobility from the inferior--these from citizens, and citizens from +peasants. The African field-slaves in America, are extremely different +from the domestic servants of the former nation, retaining as they do +their original peculiarities from poor living and degrading duties; +while the latter have nearly approached to the habits and modes of +thinking of their masters, from living with them, and being well +treated under the same roof. "The South Sea islanders," says Dr +Elliotson, "who appear to be all of one family, vary according to +their degree of cultivation. The New Zealanders, for example, are +savages, and chiefly black; the New Hollanders half civilized, and +chiefly tawny; the Friendly islanders are more advanced, and not quite +so dark; several are lighter than olive colour, and hundreds of +European faces are found among them." Indeed the examples are almost +endless which I could bring forward to aid my explanations; but these +it would be needless to give, since it is in the power of every one to +study the differences in form and features of the classes of society +in our own island, and by so doing understand the influence of +otherwise trivial and unimportant circumstances, on an animal at all +times so easily moulded to situation as the sheep. + +(86.) _Varieties from mode of Breeding._--Changes are wrought for the +most part by attention to the mode of propagation of the plant or +animal, by the plan of crossing; and by careful selection of the +parent stock. Every one must be struck with the varieties constantly +occurring in the vegetable world: Flowers change their colours, and +become double; and these characters can be perpetuated by seed. +Hedge-row plants may be observed to vary even in the limits of an +ordinary walk, and to be continued as varieties so long as they remain +in the same locality. The following striking example of the extent to +which plants may be made to vary by altering their circumstances, is +related by Mr Herbert in the _Horticultural Transactions_, vol. +iv:--"I raised from the natural seed of an umbel of a highly manured +red cowslip, a primrose, a cowslip, oxlips of the usual and other +colours, a black polyanthus, a hose-in-hose cowslip, and a natural +primrose bearing its flower on a polyanthus stalk. From the seed of +that very hose-in-hose cowslip, I have since raised a hose-in-hose +primrose. I therefore consider all these to be only local varieties, +depending upon soil and situation." "Fifty years ago," says Buffon +(writing in 1749), "our pot-herbs consisted of a single species of +succory, and two of lettuce, both very bad; but we have now more than +fifty kinds of lettuce and succory, all of which are good. Our best +fruits and nuts, which are so different from those formerly cultivated +that they have no resemblance but in the name, must likewise be +referred to a very modern date. In general, substances remain, and +names change with times: but in this case names remain, and substances +are changed. Our peaches, our apricots, our pears, are new productions +with ancient names. To remove every doubt upon this subject, we have +only to compare our flowers and fruits with the descriptions, or +rather notices of them transmitted to us by the Greeks and Romans. All +their flowers were single, and all their fruit-trees were wild stocks, +and their species very ill-chosen. Their fruits of course, were small, +dry, sour, and had neither the flavour nor the beauty of ours. These +new and good species originally sprung from the wild kinds; but how +many times have their seeds been sown before this happy effect was +produced? It was only by sowing and rearing an infinite number of +vegetables of the same species, that some individuals were recognized +to bear better and more succulent fruit than others; and this first +discovery, which supposes much care and observation, would have +remained for ever useless if a second had not been made, which implies +an equal degree of genius as the first required of patience--I mean +the mode of multiplying by engrafting those precious individuals which +unfortunately cannot propagate or transmit their excellent qualities +to their posterity. * * * In the animal kingdom, most of those +qualities which appear to be individual are propagated and transmitted +in the same manner as their specific qualities. It was therefore more +easy for man to have influence upon the nature of animals than upon +that of vegetables. Particular races in any species of animals, are +only constant varieties, which are perpetuated by generation. But in +the vegetable kingdom there are no races, no varieties so constant as +to be perpetuated by reproduction. In the species of the hen and +pigeon, a great number of races have been very lately produced, all of +which propagate their kinds. In other species, we daily rear and +improve races by crossing the breeds." + +(87.) _Breeding in-and-in._--Though there are several methods pursued +by breeders for the improvement of flocks, the one most in vogue is, +that of choosing individuals of the same family, and breeding +_in-and-in_. It is however a plan requiring, for the safety of the +flock, either very great skill in selecting the males and females, or +only to be followed to a very limited extent. No subject ever called +forth so much random controversy, and no evil has ever so clearly +shown itself as such; yet it is only recently, that people have opened +the intellectual eye to the dangers of a practice, against which the +ablest pens were long and vainly blunted. The object of breeding +_in-and-in_ is to strengthen good qualities and get rid of bad ones, +as speedily as possible; and it is plain, that if we happen to select +animals with slight imperfections, these imperfections will become +hereditary, and will go on assuming a worse and worse type till the +breed be destroyed. Culley, however, was of opinion, that less risk is +run by breeding _in-and-in_ than is generally supposed, and instances +the wild cattle in Chillingham Park, in the county of Northumberland, +which, having been confined for several hundred years without +intermixture, must have bred from the nearest affinities, and yet are +just as they were five hundred years since. With all due deference, +however, to the opinion of the late Mr Culley, I must assert, that I +cannot perceive in what manner wild cattle can be made to illustrate +the case in point, as it must be evident, that animals in a state of +nature differ essentially from those in charge of man, in regard to +the propagation of infirmities, as the former, if born with a radical +defect, will, ten to one, never see the age which suits them for +reproduction; while the latter, from the care bestowed upon them, +will, even when very delicate, in many instances be bolstered up till +they have entailed upon posterity an accumulation of their already +aggravated maladies. The system of breeding _in-and-in_ proves, in +fact, as destructive to flocks, as marriages of near relations to the +human kind. We would not witness an every-day entailment of diseases, +if people would forego their unnatural love of money, and cease their +endeavours to keep it in "the family," by forming matrimonial +alliances with those who are near of kin. The law of God forbids us to +wed those who stand in certain degrees of propinquity; but, if we and +our descendants avail ourselves of the limits of this law, and marry +on its verge a certain number of times, misery must infallibly be the +lot even of the tenth generation; and instead of being fathers of a +mighty people, few and full of sorrow will be the days of our +children; while in place of retaining in their possession our darling +wealth, it will, ere long, pass into the hand of the stranger. + +(88.) _Opponents of in-and-in breeding._--Different individuals at +various times, and in widely separate places, have by their +observations rendered the criminal absurdity of this system perfectly +apparent to all, who, unbiased by party principle, are anxious for a +knowledge of the truth. A few of these I shall mention. Ezra +L'Hommedieu, Vice-president of the Agricultural Society of New York, +collected, in the year 1800, a great many observations on the breeding +of sheep, and came to the conclusion, that changing and crossing the +breed of the animals is a matter of great importance, in preventing a +dwindling and degeneracy of the flock. Dr Coventry, in his pamphlet on +_Live-Stock_, gives it as his opinion, that "The most perfect race of +animals may be debased by improper mixture, or injured by improper +treatment. Indiscriminate matches in breeding, and inattentive +management in rearing, are alike capable of producing a worthless +progeny." Here the matter is made very plain, from comparing an evil, +the progress of which is insidious, with the injurious consequences, +which the most unobserving can easily trace to a parallel neglect. Mr +Dick of Edinburgh, so well known for the valuable and trustworthy +information he has accumulated, has been informed by eminent farmers, +"that cattle bred _in-and-in_, are very subject to _clyers_ in the +throat after they have attained their first year." By clyers are meant +enlarged lymphatic glands, which are a sure sign of what is termed a +scrofulous habit, a breaking up of the constitution, which, though +produced by a variety of causes, is yet frequently the result of an +"_owr sib_" connection. These are, I may say, the accidental opinions +of men who had no point to make good, in which their credit was at all +at stake, and who are not endeavouring to support the crude opinions +of former years. For these reasons, they possess a value which ought +to give them a proportional weight in an investigation like the +present. Mr Bakewell succeeded in bringing his sheep to great +perfection as regards form, and rapidity of fattening, by breeding in +the same family for a great many years; but it was attended with +considerable deterioration in the quality of the wool, and engendered +a liability to disease, sufficient to deter any one from proceeding a +similar length in the same track, to what is so dubiously called +improvement. See what Mr Dickson says to this effect, in a recent +number of the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_. "The evil of +breeding _in-and-in_, or in other words, producing too great +refinement of tone, is manifested in the first instance by a +tenderness of constitution; the animals not being able to withstand +the extremes of heat and cold, rain and drought. If the evil is +prolonged through several generations, the forms of the animals become +affected, the bone becomes very small, the neck droops, the skin of +the head becomes tight and scantily covered with hair, the expression +of the eye indicates extreme sensibility, the hair on the body becomes +thin and short, and the skin as thin as paper; the _points_ continue +good, and predisposition to fatness increases, but the whole carcass +becomes much diminished in size, though retaining its plumpness, and +beautiful symmetry. The evil, however, does not terminate in the +production of these symptoms. Internal diseases ensue, such as +disorganization of the liver, or rot, polypi in the trachea, clyers, +malformation of the bones of the neck and legs, and general +deformity." This position, however, will be strengthened by drawing +attention to insulated portions of our race, where the effects of such +a system are exhibited on a considerable scale. The Members of the +Society of Friends were, at one time, supposed to be of all others the +least subject to insanity; but the very reverse is the case; being, +from the limited nature of their sect, driven to frequent +intermarriages, and to a consequent deterioration of the most active +part of the human frame--the brain. It is for the same reason, that +almost every royal family contains a large proportion of idiots, or, +at the best, persons of very weak intellect; and, such will continue +to occur, till legislators fall on some plan of striking at the +groundwork of the mischief. If the laws of God and man define to us so +clearly the evils of intermarrying with relatives; and if, as all +animals are constructed on one grand plan, we admit the proximity of +the sheep to the human race, it follows, that what is destructive, in +this respect, to the one, is destructive to the other; and that we +should seek, by a nearly similar, if not wider, range of rules, to +obviate many of those diseases of which, when under our protection, +they are so frequently the subjects. + +(89.) _Breeding from different families of the same race._--Mr Culley, +though believing that no great harm can result from breeding +in-and-in, yet appears to have in a manner preferred the preferable +practice of breeding from different families of the same race; as he, +for many years, hired his rams from Mr Bakewell, at a time when other +breeders were paying a liberal price for his own valuable animals. +This is of all methods deservedly the best, as the males, which are +inter-changed, have always had shades of difference impressed upon +them, by various soils and treatment, so that the defects of each +family have a good chance to be counteracted by the perfections of the +other. By this means the bad points are gradually exhausted, and their +valuable properties as gradually heightened. Breeders have been much +aided in the furtherance of this desirable plan, by the rearing of +superior rams having become, of late years, a separate pursuit. The +letting of them out to distant parts of the country has long been a +branch of this speculation; diffusing some of the most valuable points +of particular breeds, and leading to a spirit of competition. The +practice has been reprobated, but, I presume, rather hastily; for with +all its attendant evils, such as leading to deception, by what is +termed the _making up_ of rams, it possesses excellencies which will, +I hope, lead to its continuance. + +(90.) _Crossing._-The only other method of improving a breed is by +crossing two distinct races, one of which possesses the properties it +is desirable to acquire, and wants the defects we wish to remove. +This, however, is a measure not to be recommended, and only to be +resorted to when neither of the others will do; for it is scarcely +possible to obtain the desirable properties without at the same time +imparting qualities sufficient to neutralize them; and with which, in +fact, we would rather dispense. To cross, as Mr Cleghorn remarks, any +mountain breed with Leicester rams, with a view to obtain a propensity +to fatten at an early age, would be attended with an enlargement of +size, which the mountain pasture could not support, and the progeny +would be a mongrel race, not suited to the pastures of either of the +parent breeds. The folly of such a proceeding is beautifully shown in +the failure of the attempts made, some years ago, to better the fleece +of the mountain sheep, in the South of Scotland. To effect this +desirable end, rams were brought from the Cheviot range of hills, and +the consequences were, as described by Mr William Hogg, of Stobbo, in +the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, just what a preliminary +consideration of the existing circumstances would have proved to be +unavoidable. "The independent habits of the mountain flocks were lost, +and a mongrel progeny, of a clumsy figure, occupied the lowest and +warmest of the pastures. As they were very improper subjects to breed +from, they were often a drug in the market: _but the store-master had +no other resource, but to struggle on against the opposition which the +animal itself made to the change_, and, also, against the influence of +bad seasons, in order to get the influence of the Cheviot breed fully +established. * * * With its shaggy coat the animal lost its bold +independent look, its stout shape, its unvitiated taste, and its sound +constitution. A course of severe winters too occurred during the time +of changing, while every property calculated to resist privation and +fatigue was unconfirmed in the progeny; and, in consequence, the +ravages by rot, and poverty, among the flocks that occupied soft +pastures were immense." How did it happen, that the store-master had +no other resource but to persevere in an unprofitable course? Was he +obliged to strive against natural obstacles, which even a short +experience might have taught him were, in that manner, insurmountable? +Why not recur _at once_ to the old mode of management, rather than +injure himself by kicking against the pricks. "Sundry store-masters +were not aware," says Mr Hogg, "that their old breed would so +obstinately resist the impression of the Cheviot blood, nor did they +ever dream that the mongrel issue would be so easily subdued by the +hardships and cold of winter: thus finding their scheme opposed, at +points where they anticipated little resistance, they gave up the +experiment ere it was _half completed_, and introduced mountain rams +to the mongrel issue." Enough, however, has been said to prove that +this plan ought not to be pursued: let me now say a few words as to +the reasons which should deter us from its adoption. To take a +familiar illustration:--How would one of the worshipful company of +Aldermen, or a dignitary of the Church, manage to keep up an +_appearance_, if suddenly transported from the luxurious plenty which +surrounds him, to the meagre fare, and churlish climate, of our +Highlands? Would their offspring, which ten to one would be prone to +rapid growth, and, therefore, requiring at the least a large supply of +porridge and milk; would they, I ask, arrive at a healthy maturity, if +supported only on the oaten cake, and _whang_ of skimmed-milk cheese, +of the hardy Northern? The answer is, they would not. They would, +doubtless, bear the climate; but the habit of body imprinted on them, +by the full living of the parents, would require a more nutritious +food to bring it to the adult age, than what might be necessary for +the sustenance of any child descended from the possessors of the soil. +If such then is the case with the young of an animal shielded from +inclemency on every hand, how can we expect the progeny of a rather +heavy variety of a defenceless creature like the sheep to thrive, in +defiance of every thing ungenial, on a pasture which requires for its +collection, in any quantity, a degree of experience and activity, the +result of time and well-trained instinct. The mongrel is not unfitted +for the locality, as Mr Hogg would have it, by a weakness resulting +from "the constant and continued exertions of the two bloods, the one +endeavouring to overpower the other," there is no war waging in the +progeny between the blood of sire and dam; the secret lies in the +animal being unsuited for the pasture where it is produced. Place it +in a country possessing a herbage something between that of the +Highland and Cheviot hills, and it will do passing well; but do not +ascribe the want of success to a natural hatred of the breeds. Again, +do not fall into the error, that "the figure, wool, and other +qualities, of the Cheviot ram, are most conspicuous (in this cross) in +the smallest and feeblest of the progeny, while the properties of the +mountain breed are more fully exhibited in the strongest and most +robust lambs," a circumstance which, unfortunately, induced many of +the store-farmers "to throw aside the best of the lambs, and select +those to breed from, which had apparently most of the Cheviot figure;" +or, in other words, do not suppose, as Mr Hogg strangely enough +infers, that only the weak animals took on the Cheviot form, and only +the strong ones assumed the Highland character. The correct +explanation is, that such as had most Cheviot blood were sure to +become puny, from being unadapted to a herbage on which those that +resembled the mountain stock throve tolerably well. Strength and +feebleness were, in this instance, mere secondary matters. + +(91.) _Things to be attended to in Crossing._--The fact is, that, if +you wish to have a _particular kind_ of sheep, you must first of all +be in possession of a pasture suitable for the new comers. You must +consider the influence of the individual parents on the progeny, the +size of the animals, their habits and dispositions, and their +peculiarities in regard to the time of their maturity, and fattening +properties; and, having anticipated these apparently trifling affairs, +you must see that the surface of your farm, its degree of exposure, +and the quantity and quality of its productions, are calculated for +the profitable maintenance of the animal in view. Far too little +attention is bestowed, at the commencement of such an undertaking, on +these all-swaying matters. Farmers enter upon this, the most arduous +of all professions, with the settled conviction, that nothing is so +simple as the engrafting of a race of animals on a particular part of +a country. They have read, or heard, of others who have gained fame, +and a fortune, by successful endeavours of the kind, and they think +that nothing is easier than to follow their example; but they forget +the thoughtful hours, and irksome duties, these men had to tolerate, +before they could speak of any thing like success. No animal can be +made to forego at once a long used food, an ancient locality, +peculiarity of clime and season, and the instinctive habits that have +been long nurtured by these, without both it and its progeny suffering +from the change:--Nature cannot thus be made to bend to human +intention; it will give way in the attempt. + +In crossing there are several important things to be attended to. Well +formed parents ought to be selected, and, if enlargement of the +carcass be wanted, the issue should be better fed than its +originators, which ought to be of a size rather under, than above what +the pasture is capable of supporting. The size of the parents should +not be much disproportioned at first, as nature abhors sudden +extremes, and does every thing in the most gradual manner. It is +better, when some increase has been attained, to bring the breed to +the required size by one or two crossings.[15] In choosing a breed, we +should adopt that which affords the greatest quantity of market +produce, in return for the food consumed;[16] and a particular breed +ought always to be preferred to the sheep of a district. We must not +imagine, that when, by dint of crossing, we have obtained the variety +wanted, that it will remain in the condition to which we have brought +it, without the slightest liability to alter. Many farmers believe +they have done all that is required, if they subject their stock to +three or four crossings with a breed of acknowledged excellence. They +think that the improved animals they have obtained will support their +acquired characters, uninfluenced by extraneous agency. Now nothing +can be more faulty than this mode of management, as is proved by a +comparison of stock so treated, with flocks which have uninterruptedly +received that undeviating attention, which can alone ensure a +continuance of the properties desired. Such men forget, that the +climate is operating with as great certainty on the animals as on the +rocks around; and that as the herbage is determined by the nature of +the adjacent rocks, so are the peculiarities of the sheep influenced +by the herbage; and that if they manage to change the characters of +the breed, it can, in a majority of cases, be only for a time, unless +the tendencies of the surrounding elements are counteracted, by a +constant recurrence to the originators of the flock. "I am sorry," +says Little, in his valuable practical observations, "to say, that +there are too many examples of those, who thought themselves at the +head of improvement in stock, relaxing their exertions, and keeping by +their own stock; and the consequence has been, that such stocks have +degenerated, become delicate, tender, and diminutive in size; and from +no other cause but that the same pains have not been taken to preserve +the improvement, that was taken to effect it. I could mention many +improvers who were of the first class formerly, but who are now only +in the second." Changes, in fact, by crossing are not to be effected +in a short space of time; you must look forward to several years of +constant exertion, before you can hope, in this manner, to alter your +stock.[17] Then, again, we must be aware of the tendency which nature, +in numerous instances, displays to perpetuate diseases, dispositions, +and aberrations from the normal structure. Many qualities and +diseases, are known, in man, to be hereditary; of the former, I may +instance peculiarities in walking, and writing; a passion for +intoxicating liquors, and other habits too trivial to mention; and of +the latter, gout, pulmonary consumption, and blindness from cataract, +which are well known to harass a family for generations. Features, in +like manner, may remain for ages of the same undeviating cast; thus +the Jews of to-day are the very counterparts of the Jews of three +thousand years back, and, in all likelihood, will so remain till the +end of time. A predisposition to many diseases is engendered in the +sheep, by too great a refinement in breeding, which tends to diminish +the size of the animal, prevents them feeding to perfection, destroys +their fecundity, and imparts great tenderness of constitution. +Accidental deviations from the natural type may, also, be hereditary, +as is seen in those races of dogs which have a supernumerary toe on +the hind foot, and tarsal bones to correspond. In the human race also +several generations of a particular family have been distinguished, by +having six fingers and six toes, on their hands and feet. It is in +like manner to an accidental malformation, that the Americans are +indebted for their Otter breed of sheep. Mr Livingston, who wrote in +1811, thus describes them: "The Otter sheep were first discovered on +some island, on the eastern coast, and have spread to the adjoining +states. The sheep are long-bodied rather than large, and weigh about +15 lbs. a quarter. Their wool is of a medium fineness, and a medium +length; but that which particularly characterizes these sheep is the +length of their bodies, and the shortness of their legs, which are, +also, turned out in such a manner as to appear rickety. They cannot +run, or jump, and they even walk with some difficulty. They appear as +if their legs had been broken and set by some awkward surgeon. They +can scarcely exist in a deep country, and they cannot possibly be +driven to a distant pasture or market." Dr Dwight, in his travels in +New England, remarks of this curious variety, that the fore legs are +remarkably short, and bent inward, "so as distinctly to resemble what +are called club-feet."[18] I believe this to be the only instance +where man has availed himself of a defect in the animal kingdom, and +turned it to his advantage. Attention ought also to be bestowed on the +order in which different parts of the animal are subjected to changes +during crossing. These, according to Dr Sturm, the latest observer on +this head, are first exhibited in those parts that possess a power of +being reproduced, as the hair, horns, and hoofs. The fleshy parts +change slowly, in proportion as the mother has much of the blood of +the original race. The first changes take place in the head, and are +gradually developed towards the hind quarters. Lastly, look to the +condition in which your sheep are as regards fatness. If fat, they +will be averse to becoming pregnant, and considerable annoyance will, +in all likelihood, be experienced. A moderately low diet is most +suitable for ewes, for some time before the ram is admitted, in the +same way that fruit trees, when unproductive in a rich soil, are +rendered fertile by placing straw and stones between their roots and +the too nutritious earth. A rather poor diet, also, during pregnancy, +will be found to obviate many of those risks which are sure to be +incurred from repletion during this period. + + [15] Dr Cline, in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, + observes on this point: "Experience has proved, that crossing + has only succeeded in an eminent degree, in those instances in + which the females were larger, than in the usual proportion of + females to males, and that it has generally failed when the + males were proportionally large." + + [16] It was owing to a peculiar view taken of this maxim, that + so enormous sums were asked and given, for the hire of rams, + at the time Mr Bakewell brought the new Leicester to + perfection. That gentleman would never have obtained 1200 + guineas for the hire of three rams if the speculators had not + intended to procure nearly similar prices for the use of the + offspring of these animals; and it may be pretty safely + affirmed, that this traffic was ultimately the cause of much + mischief to the breed in question, by inducing many to + speculate on what was likely to prove a fashionable article, + without caring much for the endurance of the really valuable + points. + + [17] Dr Sturm, professor of Agriculture, at Bonn, says, that a + new race may be produced in the same number of years as are + required for perfecting the teeth. + + [18] Sheep are as liable to distortions of the skeleton as + other animals. The Museum of Guy's Hospital contains a very + good specimen of distorted spine taken from a sheep. + +(92.) _Choice of Parents._--However faulty sheep may be, some are +always to be found surpassing their fellows, and these it ought to be +the aim of every breeder to discover. Without acknowledge of an +animal's _points_, it is in vain that the breeder can hope for +improvement. He may by accident make a lucky hit, but, unless he has +studied his business from the bottom, he cannot follow up and avail +himself of an advantage, which a more knowing individual would, from +previous training, turn at once to a profitable account. Much may be +done by letter-press description; and this I shall endeavour to +achieve; but more will be accomplished by a close and attentive +examination of a few well-selected animals, which it is now no +difficult matter to get a view of, as, thanks to the spirited +exertions of the Highland Society, valuable specimens are far from +rare. In breeding and rearing rams, two divisions of these animals are +recognised,--ram getters, and wedder getters,--the former, from their +fineness, being kept for the procreation of animals like themselves, +while the latter, from their coarseness, are set aside as fitted only +for parent stock for grazier's sheep, the mere grazier liking a ram no +worse for having a massy frame, and being less scrupulous about his +form than the ram breeder, whose grand object is fineness, and who +trusts to the ewes for giving the offspring size and substance. The +principal ram-breeders are guided in the choice of their ram-lambs, +more by blood or parentage, than by form, on which, at so early an +age, little dependance can be placed. In the case of the Dishleys, +they allow them every indulgence, from the time of weaning till that +of shearing, as they push them forward with the intent of letting them +the first season, while yet yearlings. It is this early arrival at +maturity, which is, with truth, supposed by some to occasion their +early falling off; for by a law of the animal economy, premature adult +age is always succeeded by premature decay; life appearing to be dated +from the time the animal enters on the fulfilment of the ends for +which it was created. + +According to Mr Bakewell, the shape which should be the criterion of a +sheep, is that of a hogshead or firkin, truly circular, with small and +as short legs as possible: upon the plain principle, that the value +lies in the barrel, not in the legs; and all breeds the backs of which +rise in the least ridge are bad. Their bodies should be as true +barrels as can be seen, their backs round and broad, and their legs +not much exeeeding six inches in length. The following is a +measurement of a three-years' old ram of Mr Bakewell, + + Feet. Inches. + + Girth, 5 10 + Height, 2 5 + Breadth of Collar, 1 4 + Breadth of shoulders, 1 11-1/2 + Breadth across the ribs, 1 10-1/2 + Breadth across the hips, 1 9-1/2 + +A most unusual proof of kindly feeding in the animals of this shape, +is their feeling quite fat, just within their fore legs, on the rib; a +point in which sheep are seldom examined, from common breeds never +carrying fat there. They are particularly distinguished by the +lightness of the offal, the bones being one-half smaller than in some +other breeds, and the meat proportionally thicker, while the pelt is +thin, and the head small--a thing of some consequence in most parts of +England, where that Scottish luxury, sheep-head broth, is so cordially +despised. + +The best form for a cheviot ram is thus described by Mr Cully, in his +excellent work on _Live-Stock_: "His head should be fine and small; +his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold or +daring; ears thin; his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but +tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which +should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse +leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the +same time join so easy to the collar forward and chine backward, as to +leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm or +fore-thigh must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean +fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy +wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well +forward, which will keep his forelegs at a proper wideness; his girth +or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, +that part by some called the fore-flank, should be quite full; the +back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must +rise in a fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long +and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which should +neither stand in nor out; his twist deep, wide and full, which, with +the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright; the whole +body covered with a thin pelt, and that with bright soft wool. The +nearer any breed comes up to the above description, the nearer they +approach towards excellence of form." As an amusing contrast to this +well drawn picture, I give an extract from the work of that ancient +agriculturist Columella. + +"Therefore, the way to judge and approve of a ram, is not only that of +observing if he is clothed with a white fleece, but also if his palate +and tongue are of the same colour with his wool; for when these parts +of his body are black or spotted, there arises a black or speckled +offspring. And this, among other things, the same poet I mentioned +above, (Virgil, Georg. Lib. iii.) has excellently pointed out in such +numbers as these:" + + "Reject him, tho' the ram himself be white, + Under whose ousy palate lies concealed + A black or spotted tongue; for with black spots + He'll stain the fleeces of his future race." + +After some amusing remarks on the same subject, delivered in a very +quaint way, he concludes his description with the mention of "twisted +horns,"--"not because this last is more useful, (for a ram without +horns is better,) but because horns that are twisted and bended +inwards are not at all so hurtful as those that are set upright and +expanded. Nevertheless, in some countries where the climate is wet and +windy, we would wish for he-goats and rams even with the very largest +horns; because, when they are high and extended, they defend the +greatest part of the head from the storm." + +It is thus that among some of his most beautiful remarks, we have +generally a something occurring which upsets the gravity of the whole +by its childish absurdity. + +(93.) _Influence of Sex._--In early ages, the greater share of +attention appears to have been bestowed on _male_ domesticated +animals, on account of the more numerous offspring of which they would +become the parents; and from this, as the Rev. Henry Berry, of Acton +Beauchamp, Worcestershire, supposes, (in a valuable essay on the +breeding of live stock, published in the _British Farmer's Magazine_,) +has originated the prevalent idea, that the male has a more decided +influence, than the female, on the form of the progeny. "The ideas +entertained respecting the useful qualities of an animal would (in +former times) be very similar, and lead to the adoption of a general +standard of excellence, towards which it would be required that each +male should approximate; and thus there would exist, among what may be +termed fashionable sires, a corresponding form and character, +different from, and superior to, those of the general stock of the +country. This form and character would, in most instances, have been +acquired by _perseverance in breeding from animals which possessed the +important or fancied requisites_, and might, therefore, be said to be +almost _confirmed_ in such individuals. Under these circumstances, +striking results would doubtless follow the introduction of these +sires to a common stock; results which would lead superficial +observers to remark, that individual sires possessed properties as +_males_, which, in fact, were only assignable to them as _improved_ +animals." + +In general, the qualities of the male and female parents are visible +to an equal extent in the offspring, as is well exemplified among +horses, in the mixture of the blood and cart breed, where the great +difference in form and character is nicely blended; but, occasionally, +the peculiarities of the male, or female, are visible only on some +particular part of the offspring, as in the crossing of the Merino ram +with the Ryeland ewe, when the former affects the fleece, and the +latter the carcass. + +Though there are many opinions as to the comparative influence of the +sexes on the progeny, yet, as before stated, the majority of voices +represent the male as the more influential. Mr Boswell, in his essay +on this subject, published in the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, +and in the _Farmer's Magazine_, is decidedly of this opinion, "Being +fully convinced of the power of the male on the offspring, I have +always accounted it as a loss to put a bad male to a high bred female, +and have never done so. I have, however, observed, where the country +people have purchased high bred sheep at any sale of mine, and bred +from them with the ordinary rams, that the breed very quickly got bad: +whereas, when a Bakewell ram had been purchased, I have seen a most +remarkable change on the quality of the sheep; and, in several +instances, where the ewes (Highlanders) had been tolerable from which +they had bred, the cross was so nearly resembling a new Leicester, as +to deceive any one who was not a thorough judge." Bewick, the natural +historian, supports this opinion when speaking of the original breed +of wild cattle, still to be found in a few English and Scottish parks. +They are uniformly pure white, with black or red ears and noses. He +says, that cows, when in season, used often to be turned into the park +at Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland, and that, when covered by +the wild bull, _all their produce was uniformly white, with red ears +and noses_. On the other hand, the female is, also, prevalently +believed to have some share in the matter, and much may be adduced as +evidence of its power over the form of the offspring, equally +authentic with the former. Mr Ferguson, in a paper on live-stock, in +the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, relates the following apposite +and amusing story:-- + +"Naturalists are, I believe, nearly agreed, that the influence of the +male exceeds that of the female in communicating qualities to the +offspring, and a very providential arrangement it is, in respect that +good points may be thus diffused with far more rapidity than could +otherwise occur. The choice of the female is by no means, however, a +matter of indifference, and it is only by due attention to both that +perfection can be looked for. I recollect several years ago, at a +distinguished breeder's in Northumberland, meeting with a shrewd +Scottish borderer, (indeed, if report be true, the original and +identical Dandy Dinmont,) who, after admiring, with a considerable +_spice of national pique_, a very fine short-horn bull, demanded +anxiously to see the dam. The cow having been accordingly produced, +and having undergone a regular survey, Dandy vociferated, with +characteristic _pith_, '_I think naething o' your bull now, wi' sic a +caumb_;' and, unquestionably, the mould or '_caumb_' must have its own +share in producing shapes, though in his haste to detract, (as he +thought,) from the merits of the bull, poor Dandy totally overlooked +the additional compliment paid to the judgment of the '_Southron_.'" + +It is in general supposed, that if the female be by descent small, +that the length of the legs of the issue will not be influenced by the +male. The weight of the carcass is a good deal affected by the male, +but not so much as by the female. The impressions of one or other, +especially of the male, do not cease on the birth of the fruits of a +connection, for though he may have no further meeting with that +female, yet are the succeeding offspring tinged with his peculiar +colour, or modelled after his form. This is well illustrated by a fact +which came under the notice of the Earl of Morton. His lordship bred +from a male quagga and a mare of seven-eights Arabian blood, a female +hybrid, displaying in form and colour her mixed origin. The mare was +then given to Sir Gore Ouseley, who bred from her first a filly and +afterwards a colt, by a fine black Arabian horse, but both these, in +their colour and in the hair of their manes, strongly resembled the +quagga. This isolated fact would be, however, but of small value if +unsupported by others, which are luckily now of common occurrence, +among which the following tends strongly to its corroboration:--In the +_Philosophical Transactions_ for 1821, Dr Wollaston relates that D. +Giles, Esq., had a sow of the black and white kind, which, after +littering by a chestnut boar of the wild breed, was put, some time +after the death of this, to boars of quite a different variety, yet +the offspring were covered with chestnut marks, so as closely to +resemble the long-departed animal. + +The progeny of most domesticated animals often bear a striking +resemblance to the grandmother or grandfather, and it is well known +that the desired changes cannot be effected on a breed, or that the +desired breed cannot be produced, till the third, fourth, or even the +fifth crossing, so that the importance of having few defects in a +stock will be readily admitted, seeing their debasing consequences are +carried through whole generations, and that though absent in one +remove, yet that they may appear in the next. Both sire and dam should +be chosen as free from defects as possible, a thing often neglected in +rearing domestic animals, especially horses, where the opinion is in +vogue, that no matter how debilitated and worn out may be the dam, yet +that if coupled with a young and perfect sire, a healthy handsome +offspring will be the issue; than which idea nothing can be more +absurd, as such animals, if left to nature, would seldom or never come +in contact, owing to the one party never attaining a decrepit age, but +perishing on its verge. + +(94.) _The sex of the progeny is supposed to be the result of the +relative ages of the parents_; thus, issue from a young male and an +old female will in general be feminine, while that from an old male +and a young female will generally be masculine; and it has been +proposed to turn this, apparently a law of nature, to account, in the +management of flocks, as it must often be of consequence to obtain, at +will, a considerable increase of the sex most wanted. On this subject +there will be found an interesting paper in the first number of the +_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, entitled, "A method of obtaining a +greater number of One Sex at the option of the Proprietor, in the +Breeding of Live-Stock," and from this I extract the following:-- + +"In the _Annales de l'Agriculture Francaise_, Vols. xxxvii. and +xxxviii., some very interesting experiments are recorded, which have +lately been made in France, on the breeding of live-stock. M. Charles +Girou de Buzareingues proposed, at a meeting of the Agricultural +Society of Severac, on the 3d of July, 1826, to divide a flock of +sheep into two equal parts, so that a greater number of males or +females, at the choice of the proprietor, should be produced from each +of them. Two of the members of the society offered their flocks to +become the subjects of his experiments, and the results have now been +communicated, which are in accordance with the author's expectations. + +"The first experiment was conducted in the following manner:--He +recommended very young rams to be put to the flock of ewes from which +the proprietor wished the greater number of females in their offspring +and also, that during the season when the rams were with the ewes, +they should have more abundant pasture than the other; while to the +flock from which the proprietor wished to obtain male lambs chiefly, +he recommended him to put strong and vigorous rams, four or five years +old. The following tabular view contains the result of his +experiment:-- + + +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+ + | Flock for female lambs. | Flock for male lambs. | + +---------------------+------------+----------------------+-----------+ + | Age of the mothers. |Sex of the | Age of the mothers. |Sex of the | + | | Lambs. | | Lambs. | + |---------------------+------+-----+----------------------+------+----+ + | |Males.| Fem.| |Males.|Fem.| + |Two years, | 14 | 26 |Two years, | 7 | 3 | + |Three years, | 16 | 29 |Three years, | 15 | 14 | + |Four years, | 5 | 21 |Four years, | 33 | 14 | + | | -- | -- | | -- | -- | + | Total, | 35 | 76 | Total, | 55 | 31 | + |Five years and older,| 18 | 8 |Five years and older, | 25 | 24 | + | | -- | -- | | -- | -- | + | Total, | 53 | 84 | Total, | 80 | 55 | + | | | + |N.B.--There were three twin-births|N.B.--There were no twin-births | + |in this flock. Two rams |in this flock. Two strong | + |served it; one fifteen months, |rams, one four, the other five | + |the other nearly two years old. |years old, served it. | + +----------------------------------+----------------------------------+ + +"The general law, as far as we are able to detect it, seems to be, +that when animals are in good condition, plentifully supplied with +food, and kept from breeding as fast as they might do, they are most +likely to produce females. Or, in other words, when a race of animals +is in circumstances favourable for its increase, Nature produces the +greatest number of that sex which, in animals that do not pair, is +most efficient for increasing the number of the race. But if they are +in a bad climate, or on a stinted pasture, or if they have already +given birth to a numerous offspring, then Nature, setting limits to +the increase of the race, produces more males than females. Yet, +perhaps, it may be premature to attempt to deduce any law from +experiments which have not yet been sufficiently extended. M. Girou +is disposed to ascribe much of the effect to the age of the ram, +independent of the condition of the ewe." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. + + +(95.) Those who have attended to the subject are well aware, that the +profitable management of livestock is the most difficult department in +the business of a farm. So much depends on the nature of the locality +where sheep are kept, and on its situation in regard to markets for +the disposal of its produce, that little but what is of general +application need be written on this head. Precise rules for +agricultural conduct can seldom be laid down with any probability of +their being followed, as it must necessarily vary less or more with +the peculiar circumstances of the estate, and must, therefore, to a +great extent, be trusted to the intelligence of the farmer. All, +therefore, that I shall aim at in treating of this division, will be +the giving an outline of the more important matters connected with +sheep-husbandry, leaving the tyro to use it as circumstances may point +out. For obvious reasons, a natural arrangement of the subject is the +best; and to this, therefore, I shall, as much as possible, adhere. + +(96.) _Putting Tups to Ewes._ The middle of November is the time at +which this is usually done, but the season is anticipated or delayed +according as the spring provender is expected to be early or late, +plentiful or scarce. When the sheep are spread over a wide track, one +ram is in general allotted to thirty ewes; but when the latter are on a +limited range of pasture, the proportion of one to fifty may be +reckoned ample. The rams ought not to be left with the ewes above four +or five weeks, as it does not do to have lambs dropped after the middle +of May; indeed much trouble will be saved to the shepherd if he can +contrive to have all the lambs yeaned about the same time, as the flock +will, from its numbers being of a similar standing, be healthier, and +every way easier to manage, than one in which there is a great +diversity of ages. Such ewes, therefore, as have not evinced an +inclination for the male, ought, before the above period has elapsed, +to be driven into a barn or small inclosure, and made to run about +till they have become a little heated, after which, when the ram +is introduced, the desired effect will doubtless follow. Delay will +in many cases be unavoidable, owing to the ewes being in too +high condition; but this the shepherd should try to obviate, by +administering one or two doses of Epsom salts, which, by reducing the +plethora, will increase the activity of the animal, and render it in +many ways more prone to pregnancy. + +As it is an object of some importance to retard the yeaning of gimmer +hogs till the spring be well advanced, the rams are never sent to them +till a fortnight after they have been put to the older ewes. Much +nicety is always required in choosing the time at which rams mould be +put to gimmers, as they are in general sorry nurses, and sure, in bad +seasons, to lose many lambs. + +When a farm is provided with suitable enclosures, careful selection of +both ewes and rams should always be attended to, taking care to make +the good points of the one remedy the defects of the other; but where +a farm is destitute of such accommodation, the next best plan is to +send the finest rams to the ewes for a few days before the rest of the +males are admitted. + +Great ewes ought always to be well looked after. The driest and best +sheltered fields should be set apart for them, and turnips, when +forming part of their food, should, when they are about to yean, +always be carted to their pasture. When they roll _awald_, and cannot +regain their feet, prompt assistance should be afforded them, else +they will soon die. Death in this case occurs from suffocation, though +the morbid appearances exhibited by the carcass are frequently +mistaken for those of braxy. Udder locking ought never to be +attempted, as it often leads to abortion, and is, besides, not of the +slightest utility. + +(97.) _Early Lambs._ Though in the greater number of our breeds the +arrival of the rutting season is fixed and regular, yet there are +several in which pregnancy may, by proper management, be induced at +any period. Of these the Dorsetshire and Wicklow varieties are the +most noted, and are on this account selected for the rearing of +house-lambs in the vicinity of towns, the inhabitants of which are +opulent enough to create a demand for so expensive an article. + +The beginning of June is the time chosen for the admission of the +rams, so that by the month of January the greater proportion of the +ewes have yeaned. According to the plan pursued in Middlesex, "The +sheep, which begin to lamb about Michaelmas, are kept in the close +during the day, and in the house during the night, until they have +produced twenty or thirty lambs. These lambs are then put into a +lamb-house, which is kept constantly well littered with clean wheat +straw; and chalk, both in lump and in powder, is provided for them to +lick, in order to prevent looseness, and thereby preserve the lambs in +health. As a prevention against gnawing the boards, or eating each +other's wool, a little wheat straw is placed, with the ears downwards, +in a rack within their reach, with which they amuse themselves, and of +which they eat a small quantity. In this house they are kept with +great care and attention until fit for the butcher. + +"The mothers of the lambs are turned, every night at eight o'clock, +into the lamb-house to their offspring. At six o'clock in the morning +these mothers are separated from their lambs, and turned into the +pastures; and, at eight o'clock, such ewes as have lost their own +lambs, and those ewes whose lambs are sold, are brought in and held by +the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean: they are then turned +into the pasture; and at twelve o'clock, the mothers of the lambs are +driven from the pasture into the lamb-house for an hour, in the course +of which time each lamb is suckled by its mother. At four o'clock, all +the ewes that have not lambs of their own are again brought to the +lamb-house, and held for the lambs to suck; and at eight, the mothers +of the lambs are brought to them for the night. + +"This method of suckling is continued all the year. The breeders +select such of the lambs as become fat enough, and of proper age +(about eight weeks old) for slaughter, and send them to the market +during December and three or four succeeding months, at prices which +vary from one guinea to four, and the rest of the year at about two +guineas each. This is severe work for the ewes, and some of them die +from exhaustion. However, care is taken that they have plenty of food; +for when green food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover, &c.) +begins to fail, brewers' grains are given them in troughs, and +second-crop hay in racks, as well to support the ewes as to supply the +lambs with plenty of milk; for if that should not be abundant, the +lambs would become stunted, in which case no food would fatten them. + +"A lamb-house to suckle from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and +eighty lambs at a time, should be seventy feet long and eighteen feet +broad, with three coops of different sizes at each end, and so +constructed as to divide the lambs according to their ages."[19] + + [19] Middlesex Report, p. 355. + +In the county of Wicklow it is the practice to divide the twenty-four +hours by four equal periods, and to feed the lambs with ewe's milk and +cow's milk alternately. When commencing with cow's milk, a quarter of a +pint is given, twice a-day, to each lamb, and this is gradually +increased to a pint, exclusive of the milk from the ewe. This method of +feeding has been cavilled at, but I think unjustly, as the ewe is thus +saved from the bad effects of exhaustion, and the lambs are fit for the +butcher when six weeks old, or sooner. + +(98.) _Lambing time._ When the ewes begin to drop their lambs, a time +which ordinarily happens in the first or second week of April, but +which, in other modes of management, must be dated twenty-two weeks +after the tupping season, the shepherd has many calls upon his skill +and watchfulness. In bad seasons, sheep are apt to prove unkind to +their offspring, and none more so than the Cheviots. In this event, the +best pastures should be selected for them, or turnips may be carted to +them; but as gimmer hogs are often quite incapable of furnishing the +necessary quantity of milk, the shepherd ought always to be provided +with a bottle of milk, which he should drop from his own mouth into +that of any lambs which may require it. Such mothers as appear to +suffer in bringing forth, should be relieved with the utmost +gentleness; and when a miscarriage occurs, if the weather be at the +same time unfavourable, the dam ought to receive the shelter of a roof. +When the ewe is lost in yeaning, her lamb, if it survive her, must be +reared by another dam. Some little artifice is always necessary to +induce a ewe to adopt the offspring of another. Covering the lamb with +the skin of her own dead one, is sometimes resorted to, but this is +hardly required, as any dam will take to another's offspring if the +parties be shut up for some time together. Ewes that are late in +lambing should be collected together, so as to be more under the care +of the shepherd, and ought to be well fed, for the sake of bringing +forward their lambs. Those lambs which are very far behind the rest +must be prepared for the butcher, as they would make but a poor figure +at the Lammas sales. + +(99.) _Washing._ The time for clipping varies much, being earlier in +seasons which have been preceded by favourable weather and an unstinted +allowance of food, than in such as have followed a rigorous winter, +disease, or any other cause calculated to arrest the growth of wool. +The season may be said to be limited by the middle of May and the +middle of July; but this should not be taken as a rule of conduct, the +best guide being the state of the new coat, which ought always to be +well above the skin before shearing is attempted. The wool, unless +among some mountain flocks, is always, in this country, washed prior to +its removal from the sheep's back; but in Spain that operation is +always deferred till the fleeces have been collected, when they are +subjected to a thorough scouring, in public buildings appropriated to +the purpose, and termed _lavatories_. This is a plan in many respects +superior to ours. Its adoption by our farmers has been recommended by +Dr Parry. There cannot be a doubt of its being the preferable mode as +regards the saving it would effect in the lives of sheep; but as it is +well known that shearing is much facilitated by washing, and that on +the neatness with which the clipping is accomplished the quality of the +succeeding crop in a great measure depends, some little time will be +necessary to determine the comparative value of either mode. In New +South Wales it is customary to make the sheep swim across a stream for +two or three mornings before being washed, by which means the yolk is +softened, and the removal of grease and dirt much promoted; but this, +though a good plan in that mild and even climate, could not be looked +upon as safe in a temperature so variable as that of Britain. In cases +however, where great nicety is required, the plan in vogue in the +former country, that of dipping each sheep, before washing, into a +caldron of warm water, might be beneficially adopted. + +Mountain sheep are cleaned by being forced to swim across a pool, but +the finer or lowland breeds are washed entirely by the hand. The latter +method alone demands a short explanation. Dry, and, if possible, sunny +weather, is selected for the operation, on the morning of which the +lambs are separated from the flock, and the latter is conveyed to the +margin of some pebbly-bottomed pool. Here they are penned or otherwise +kept together, while they are seized, one by one, by a man standing +mid-thigh deep near the water-edge, and turned back downwards, the head +alone being above the surface. Plate V. fig. 1.[20] It is then turned +from side to side, and moved backwards and forwards, so as to make the +wool catch upon the stream and wave about. When the first washer has +held it for a few minutes, and partially cleansed the fleece, he passes +it _up the river_ to the next, who goes through the same routine, and, +on being convinced that the skin is free from filth, compels the sheep +to land by swimming in an oblique direction up the water. Three and +even four men are sometimes employed in washing sheep, but two, as here +described, will, under ordinary circumstances, be found sufficient. The +bank on which the dripping sheep are collected, should have a clean and +firm turf, and the flock should, till fairly dry and fit for shearing, +be kept on heavy grass land, or, what is better, in straw-bedded folds. + + [20] For the figures 1, 2 and 3 in Plate V. I am indebted to + the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_ for 1832, p. 869. + +(100.) _Shearing._ After allowing eight days, off or on, to elapse from +the time of washing, so as to permit the wool to gain a fresh supply +of yolk, and along with it lustre and elasticity, the sheep may be +stripped of its fleece. As there is no saving in employing an unskilful +clipper, every encouragement should be given to induce servants to cut +close, smoothly and evenly, and to avoid injuring the skin, or going +twice over the same part. There are two ways in this country of +depriving sheep of their wool. In the first, or coarser method, which +is only adopted in the case of Cheviot and heath sheep, the operator +sits upon the ground, and placing the animal on its back between his +knees, shears the wool first from the belly and legs, and then, after +tying the latter, proceeds to clear the back. In the second method, the +legs are never tied, as the disposition of the sheep is such as to +render it unnecessary. The animal is placed as in Fig. 2, Plate V., and +the shearer clips first one side, cutting from the middle of the belly +to that of the back, down to the loins. It is then placed on its side, +as in Fig, 3, Plate V., the knee of the operator pressing on its neck, +and the wool is removed from the legs and buttocks. The fleece is next +rolled up, with the cut side outwards, commencing at the tail, and +using the wool of the other extremity as a fastening for the bundle. + +A cool dry apartment should be selected in which to store the wool, +always remembering that _heat_ and _damp_ are equally injurious to it, +and that the greater the perfection in which it retains its _natural +oily moisture_, the more valuable will it prove both to the grower and +the manufacturer. + +(101.) _Weaning_, where milking is not practised, ought to be set about +in the end of July or beginning of August. In some places the ewe lambs +are never speaned, but allowed to go at large with their mothers; and +though by this plan the dam is apt to be kept in poor condition, yet is +this counterbalanced by the comparative freedom of the hogs from braxy. +As an improvement, however, the gimmer lambs may be withheld for a +fortnight from their mothers, and at the end of that time may be +permitted to pasture with them. In the few places where the farmer +continues to manufacture ewe-milk cheese and butter, speaning is +carried into effect somewhat earlier, and is of course attended, in the +long run, with no little detriment to the stock and its proprietor. The +sooner that the practice be laid aside the better; for though ewe-milk +cheese is pretty universally relished and admired, yet those who are +acquainted with the scenes which happen at the bughts, know well that +the cheese itself cannot but contain much, the mere mention of which +would pall at once the appetite even of the least fastidious. In +addition to this, a great waste of grass is occasioned by the sheep +going to and from the bught, while the inconveniences they are on every +hand exposed to, at a season when they are peculiarly liable to disease +and accident, ought of themselves to lead to the abolition of the +practice. + +When the udders of the ewes appear, after their separation from the +lambs, to be much distended, they may be once or twice milked, to +prevent bad consequences; but it is much better to obviate the +necessity for this, by reducing their allowance of food for a few days. +When the animal seems to suffer much irritation about the udder, it +will always be safe to give a brisk dose of any of the common saline +purgatives. + +The store lambs are at this period sent to good pasture, or, where the +farm cannot afford it, are _summered_ at a distance; that is to say, +the farmer pays so much a head for permission to feed his flock, during +a couple of months, on another person's ground, at the end of which +period they are turned upon the pasture which has just been vacated by +the gimmers, they having been sent to join the older ewes. + +(102.) _Smearing_, in those places where it is still carried on, is +performed in two ways, according to the quality of the wool. +_Slipping_, as the one method is termed, is only employed in high, wet +districts, where the sheep are covered with long wool; while _rolling_, +as the other is usually called, is only required for such as, in dry +situations, are surrounded by a short close pile. In pursuing the +former plan, the smearer takes up the mixture on the forefinger of his +right hand, and while holding the locks of wool apart with his arms and +left hand, allows the salve to drop into the groove or shed, along +which it is spread by the other fingers. + +In _rolling_, a small quantity only of smearing stuff is raised on the +_point_ of the forefinger, with which it is laid evenly upon the skin. +This is by far the neater way of salving, as less of the ointment is +permitted to get upon the wool; but as it is altogether a tardier +process, it is not so frequently resorted to. + +November is the month usually chosen for this operation, but as it +cannot be properly done unless the day fixed upon has been preceded by +dry weather, the time ought rather to be selected by the aspect of the +season. + +The composition of smearing stuffs is so very various, that it is quite +beyond my power to give the reader even a list of the ordinary +ingredients and their proportions; nor need I recommend any of them in +particular to the attention of the shepherd, knowing, as I do, the +bigoted opinions which are held upon the subject, and the aversion with +which every one regards a mixture not of their own composing. I can +only observe, that where tar is employed, it ought to be well diluted +with grease, so as to enable two English quarts of it to be spread over +six sheep. In this way it will be less liable to adhere to the wool, +and will be much more readily laid upon the skin. When sheep are salved +without due attention to the even spreading of the mixture, the insects +with which the skin is infested are, instead of being destroyed, +allowed here and there a resting place; and as the severity of their +attack is in proportion to the limited nature of their range, the skin +at these points soon becomes crusted with scabs. The smaller the +quantity of tar employed, as consistent with the keeping down of +vermin, so much the better, as the wool is of more value to the +manufacturer, the sheep is saved the discomfort of having its fleece +plastered and matted, and the shepherd is spared the vexation of losing +lambs through their inability to reach an udder surrounded by locks of +hard and tangled wool. + +(103.) _Fatting._ The age at which sheep are prepared for the butcher +depends upon the breed, its situation, and its propensity to take on +fat. The heath sheep may be considered as requiring to be the greatest +length of time in the hands of the farmer, and the Leicesters as the +reverse; wethers of the former variety being usually disposed off when +from three to four years old, and ewes when from four to five; while +wethers of the latter kind are fit for market often at eighteen months, +and the ewes are in general fed off after the third year. + +Sheep, in spring and autumn, are peculiarly liable to diseases of the +intestines, a circumstance mainly to be ascribed to the changes which +are, in these seasons, constantly occurring in the nature of their +food. Much of this is owing to careless management in the economy of +the pastures, and to restricting them for great lengths of time to one +kind of provender, a thing guarded against by all good breeders. Sudden +transitions, however, from a poor to a nutritive pasture, and the +reverse, are always bad, and therefore to be avoided; but change of +feeding ground, with these restrictions, cannot be too much +inculcated--it is, in fact, the soul of sheep husbandry. The bleakest +portions of a farm should be pastured off in autumn, so as to reserve +the sheltered spots for winter use. The cast ewes may then be drafted +off to feed on a more succulent herbage, previous to being penned on +turnips. + +Most of the points worthy of attention in sheep feeding having already +been detailed in the article on _Crossing_, I shall only add a few +particulars in regard to management on turnips. + +When sheep are fed on turnips, they are in general confined to a +particular portion of the field by nets or hurdles. The latter, when +made of Scotch fir, cost about a shilling each; but, when constructed +of larch, the price is fourteen-pence. Those made of larch are by far +the more durable, and will last three years if kept under cover during +summer. Two men are required to set them up, besides a horse and cart +to take them to the field, on which account nets have a decided +preference, being easy of transportation, and requiring little +house-room. Though valuable in windy situations, nets cannot be used to +enclose horned sheep, as their heads become entangled with the cords. +They will seldom serve for more than three years, but as they cost only +threepence per yard, they may be considered as every way cheaper than +hurdles. + +When the turnips allotted to the sheep, which seldom exceed a week's +supply, are consumed, another portion of the field is enclosed; while +the shells are torn up with a two-pronged hook, and either left there +to be consumed by the flock, or carted to another field for the use of +sheep not then intended to be fattened. A fresh supply should always be +afforded them before the old one is eaten clean, otherwise their +fattening will be much retarded. It is usual to allow them at the same +time plenty of salt, placed up and down the field in troughs or +boxes,[21] and about a ton of hay in the ten or fourteen days, to every +hundred sheep; though that number, if supplied with what, and permitted +to run about, will consume that quantity in a week. In spring, from +half a pound to a pound of oil cake is given daily to each of them, +along with turnips. + + [21] Old casks, wanting ends, form the best of all contrivances + for holding salt for sheep, as when laid on their sides, and + retained in that position by stakes, they allow the sheep free + admission, at the same time that the salt is defended from + rain. + +In places where the cold during spring is any way severe, the Swedish +turnip ought always to be preferred for feeding sheep, as from the +formation of the upper part of the bulb, water cannot collect within it +as it does in other varieties, to their serious injury when frost sets +in. + +Turnips must be cut for such sheep as are shedding their teeth. The +mouths of those that refuse to eat them should be examined, that in the +event of a tooth being loose or broken it may be removed. Occasionally +a sheep will be unable to gnaw a turnip, owing to a peculiar formation +of the head, the lower jaw being so very short as to give the profile +some resemblance to that of a pig. Such deformed animals are said in +this quarter to be _grun_-(ground)-mouthed: I believe from the +elongation of the nose suiting them better for poking in the earth than +for feeding in the usual way. + +The fattening of sheep on turnips is much promoted by their having +access to a grass field, more especially if it happen to contain whins +or heather. It is from want of attention to this that sheep are so +liable to disease when eating turnips, for, apart from the benefit that +accrues to them from a dry lair, they are enabled to turn their food to +better account when consuming bitter herbs. It is no unusual thing for +turnip-fed sheep and cattle to become quite lean, as the farmers say, +"almost at the lifting," for no other reason than that they have been +confined too strictly to one article of diet. They have been denied +access to plants containing of all things the one most necessary for +the maintenance of their health--_bitter extractive matter_--as it is +called by chemists--without a due proportion of which the most +nutritious substances cannot be turned to account. "As an essential +ingredient in the provender of herbivorous animals, it may, I think, be +admitted as a fact, that its importance is _in an inverse ratio_ with +the nutritive powers of the food."[22] Thus accounting for the length +of time that sheep will continue to thrive on turnips alone. + + [22] Paris's Pharmacologia, sixth edition, vol. i. p. 147. + +With all the advantages, however, which accrue to the sheep when on +turnips, from the quantity of nutritive matter which these roots +contain, its progress when restricted to them frequently falls very far +short of the expectations of the owner. In the greater number of +instances, also, farmers are unable to account for their want of +success in this department, so that I may be excused for endeavouring +to point out, at some length, the causes of their failure. To +proceed:-- + +The point in sheep management in which our farmers are most deficient, +is turnip-feeding; one upon which most will pique themselves as being +perfect, though, speaking guardedly, hardly one man in twenty +understands the rudimentary principles on which sheep-feeding should be +conducted. They are unacquainted with the habits of the wild animal, +and, unlike any other class of men, interest themselves little in the +fundamental study of their calling. There is not a showman, or a +bird-fancier, but knows to a tittle the peculiarities of the creature +that he has in charge, and endeavours, to the best of his ability, to +provide such food as its instincts crave. Not so, however, with the +store-farmer. He cares not to inquire whether the sheep is naturally +calculated to subsist on one kind of nutriment; and if so, whether they +will, when left to the exercise of instinct, resort to turnips of their +own accord; whether the sheep is usually restricted to confined +localities similar to our fields, or is the unrestrained rover over an +extensive pasture. Yet it is from investigations of this kind that we +are to derive our mode of treating sheep, and are to form plans +beneficial to ourselves, from their being, in a manner, improvements +upon nature. We find, from a perusal of the works of travellers, and +from the anatomical peculiarities of the sheep, that it is fitted for +residence in countries precipitous in surface, and scantily supplied +with herbage; consequently, it must range over a vast extent of ground +for a subsistence, and its food must, owing to the varied features of +the country, consist, not of one or of a few plants, but of a most +extensive mixture of herbage. Experiment also points out that the +deductions from these observations are correct. Sheep, in fact, consume +a greater number of plants than any other domestic animal. Linnaeus, in +examining into this subject, found, by offering fresh plants to such +animals, in the ordinary mode of feeding, that horses ate 262 species, +and refused 212; cattle ate 276 species, and refused 218; while sheep +took 387 species, and only refused 141. We find, too, great difficulty +in preventing sheep from springing over the dykes and hedges that we +place as boundaries to their rambling habits, yet how seldom do we see +the true cause of their determination to set them at defiance. We may +partly account for it by considering their analogy to the goat, and +their propensity to scale rugged eminences; but I think these movements +rather indicate an anxiety to change a pasture already exhausted of +variety, for fresh fields, and herbage abounding in that miscellaneous +provision which nature apparently reckons essential for them. Shepherds +own as much, and will tell you that frequent change of pasture is the +soul of sheep husbandry, though they see no reason why sheep should not +be kept for many successive weeks on a patch of turnips. They admit the +necessity of a frequent shifting in the one case, but deny it in the +other. Magendie, a celebrated French physiologist, has shown, by +experiment, that it is impossible to keep an animal in a healthy state +longer than six weeks on one article of diet, death frequently taking +place even before the end of that period; but our sheep-farmers, in +happy ignorance of the fact, confine their flocks for months to turnips +only. And what, may I ask them, is the consequence of the practice? +Why, that it is not unusual to meet with sheep-owners who lose at least +one out of every fifteen, and all owing, as may easily be proved, to +this mode of management. In the first place, the turnip is a kind of +food entirely foreign to the nature of the sheep, and one to which, at +first, they evince great repugnance. There are many varieties of sheep +incapable of feeding on turnips, owing to the form of the face, the +upper-jaw projecting considerably past the lower, hindering the +chisel-shaped teeth from being brought to bear upon the root. None of +our British breeds certainly have this as a regular feature, +nevertheless they are liable to it; and there are few farmers that have +not, several times in their lives, met with _grun-mouthed_ sheep, as +they are called in Scotland, from their profile resembling that of the +pig, and suiting them for poking in earth, rather than for eating in +the usual way. Again, if the structure of the sheep's mouth proves that +it is not adapted for eating turnips, the composition of the turnip no +less satisfactorily shows that it is not calculated as food for sheep. +Bitterness is essentially necessary in the food of all herbivorous +animals; without it, indeed, they sooner or later fall into ill health. +This property is shown by chemists to reside in the extractive matter +of plants, which has, therefore, been called _bitter extractive_. The +quantity is also found to be in the inverse ratio of the nutritive +powers of the plant; that is to say, where the plant abounds in +alimentary matter, the proportion of bitter extractive is small, +compared with what it is where the former is deficient. Turnips contain +a large quantity of matter capable of affording nourishment to the +body, but they yield little or none of the bitter principle. In +consequence of this, sheep acquire fat rapidly for a time, when placed +on turnips; but, experiencing a want of the medicinal bitter, begin +with equal rapidity to lose the advantages they so recently gained. +Their appetite becomes depraved, and, from being shut out from access +to the stomachic intended for them by nature, they take to devouring +earth, or any substance capable of serving as a substitute for it. +"With regard to the natural use of bitter extractive, it may be laid +down as a truth, that it stimulates the stomach,--corrects putrefying +and unwholesome nutriment,--promotes tardy digestion,--increases the +nutritive powers of those vegetable substances to which it is +united,--and furnishes a natural remedy for the deranged functions of +the stomach in particular, and through the sympathetic medium of that +organ, for the atony of remote parts in general."[23] All, indeed, +concur in setting a high value on this constituent of plants--all, with +the exception of those whose interests are most deeply concerned in a +knowledge of its importance. Farmers, in general, cannot perceive the +utility of attending to concerns apparently so trifling, though in the +right conduct of these they depend materially for success. Nay, I have +known men arguing, that in six weeks they have given ordinary sheep an +excellent coating of fat, by keeping them on turnips only; though, on +strict inquiry being made into the nature of the field in which they +had been penned, it has always turned out that the sheep had access to +other things, their owners having wilfully shut their eyes to the true +circumstances of the case. Depend on it, no sheep will continue in +health during six weeks on turnips alone, much less will it continue +throughout that time to take on fat. Much of the mischief attending a +want of bitter matter is obviated by the plan of allowing the sheep +corn, salt, oilcake, and hay, which, serve, especially the last, as +tolerable substitutes for it. Good hay ought always to be plentifully +supplied to sheep on turnips, as, from the variety of the plants +composing it, it contains much that is not to be found in turnips. +Besides, one of the most useful bitters with which we are acquainted +(the _Bogbean--Menyanthes Trifoliata_) occurs in meadow hay, and is a +plant sufficient of itself to save the animal from the consequences of +neglect. Whenever you hear of remarkable instances of sheep becoming +quickly fat on turnips, you may safely believe they have had liberty to +nibble something in addition to the ordinary provender. They have had +access to broom or whins, perhaps only to bushes that are laid as a +defence on dykes, or only to the scanty pickings on the edges of +fields--still they have by such means in a manner satisfied the craving +for bitter aliment, and enabled their stomachs to turn to better +account the otherwise unprofitable turnips. Broom is at all times an +excellent medicine for sheep, and one which they are partial to, and +which ought, therefore, to be placed, if possible, within their reach. + + [23] Paris's Pharmacologia, vol. i. p. 146. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ACCIDENTS AND OPERATIONS. + + +(104.) Sheep being about as liable as other animals to a variety of +accidents, it is necessary that the shepherd should possess a competent +knowledge of the means which art affords for the remedy of those +mishaps. It is from a want of such knowledge that farmers are +frequently led to slaughter valuable sheep, though only labouring under +the effects of some commonplace disease or accident. If the animal is +attended by a professional person, an expense is sure to be incurred +nearly equal to the worth of the patient, and in so far as they +endeavour to obviate this, by killing the sheep, they are free from +blame; but why not rather contrive to save the cost of veterinary +attendance, by making themselves conversant with its diseases, and able +to prescribe for their own flocks, in which there can be no difficulty, +as the remedies are, in the majority of cases, few, simple, and of easy +application. In the surgical and medical management of flocks, much +mystery has, as in other matters, all along existed; but that fantastic +age is well nigh its close, and thanks to the spirit of candid inquiry +now abroad, we may hope ere long to boast of valuable information in +this department. The spread of correct ideas regarding the nature and +treatment of accidents and diseases, has from first to last been +prevented by the diffuseness of those who have written on the subject, +and by their so clothing it in a mass of verbiage, as to render +scarcely intelligible what would otherwise be easy of acquirement. To +obviate the liability to a similar charge, the following observations +are given as briefly as is consistent with a due regard to the +importance of the subject. + +(105.) _Wounds._ All the wounds which can be inflicted may be +classed under the heads of incised, punctured, and lacerated. + +An incised wound is one made by a cutting instrument, such as a knife +or a piece of glass. + +Punctured wounds are those produced by sharp pointed bodies, such as +pins or thorns. + +Lacerated wounds are those occasioned by blunt bodies, as the teeth of +the dog, tearing rather than cutting the flesh. + +When a sheep has received any of these injuries, the following rules +ought to be attended to, and in the order here recommended:-- + + 1st. Arrest the bleeding, if profuse, and likely to endanger life. + + 2d. Clip away the wool for a few inches around the injured part. + + 3d. Remove dirt or other foreign body from the wound. + + 4th. Bring the separated parts as nearly together as circumstances + will at the moment permit, and retain them there by suitable + apparatus. + +(106.) _To stop Bleeding._ Bleeding will, if no large arteries are +divided, cease on the free exposure of the surface for a few minutes to +the air; but when a large vessel has been cut, more determined means +must be had recourse to. Pressure on the bleeding surface and its +neighbourhood will in many cases succeed, but this or any similar +method is far inferior to that of securing the open vessel by a thread. +To accomplish this, the mouth of the vein or artery must be slightly +drawn out from the contiguous surface, by means of a small hook, called +by surgeons a tenaculum, and easily procured from any blacksmith. While +the mouth of the vessel is thus held exposed, an assistant must +surround it with a noose of thread, which, on being secured with a +double knot, will effectually close it. The thread ought to be of white +silk, though any undyed thread, which is firm, round, and capable of +standing a pull, will answer the purpose. Care must be taken to place +the thread, before tying it, fairly behind the point of the tenaculum, +so as to avoid including the instrument within the ligature, a +circumstance which would lead to the slipping of the noose and failure +of the operation. The hook is now to be withdrawn, and one end of the +ligature cut off by scissars within a little of the noose. The +remaining threads are allowed to hang out of the wound, so as to admit +of their removal when they become loose, which does not, however, take +place till the termination of the first four days, and they are +frequently retained for a much longer period. At each time the wound is +dressed, after the fourth day, the ligatures should be _gently pulled_, +or, which is preferable, _twisted_, to disengage them, if at all loose, +so that the wound may be more speedily closed. Before proceeding to any +operation where bleeding is expected, the operator should provide +himself with a few well-waxed threads, each twelve inches long, so that +no delay may ensue on a division of large vessels. + +(107.) _Removal of Extraneous Matter._ Dirt is best removed by washing +with a sponge or old linen rag and warm water. Other foreign bodies may +in general be extracted by the finger and thumb. In some cases, +however, it may be necessary to dilate or enlarge the wound with a +fine-edged knife, in order to facilitate the removal of substances +which, from their shape or situation, cannot be otherwise displaced. + +(108.) _Closure of a Wound._ The last thing to be done is to bring the +edges of the wound into as accurate contact as the state of the parts +will at the moment permit, without, however, using any force. This, +with a little care, is readily accomplished, the only difficulty being +to retain them in the desired position. They may be held in contact +either by _stitches_, (sutures,) _plasters_, or _bandages_, or by a +union of the three. Stitches are only required when the wound gapes to +a considerable extent, as it will always do when running across a +muscle. They may be applied in the following manner. Transfix one side +of the wound with a curved needle (armed with a well waxed thread) +forcing the needle _from without_ obliquely towards the bottom of the +wound, then carry it through the opposite side _from within_, taking +care to bring it out about the same distance from the edge as that at +which it entered on the other margin. The needle must now be removed, +by cutting the threads close to its eye, and while the ends are allowed +to hang loose, the same operation should be repeated, at the distance +of an inch or an inch and a half from the first stitch, as often as the +length of the wound may render necessary. Your assistant will now bring +the sides of the wound together as accurately as possible, and retain +them there till you have tied the corresponding ends of the threads in +a double knot. + +(109.) _Bandaging._ Adhesive plaster is in some instances of service, +but upon the whole ought rather to be dispensed with, being of +difficult application, and moreover tending to the accumulation of +filth and the discomfort of the animal. Nothing will be found to serve +the purpose of supporting the parts so well as a properly adjusted +bandage, which is useful in every instance, and sure to stay on if +sewed here and there to the fleece. The bandage should never be omitted +where the wound has any tendency to gape, as too great a strain upon +the stitches cannot but lead to delay in the healing process. In +bandaging a limb or part of a limb, commence _always at the foot_, and +proceed upwards; in other parts of the body begin where you find it +most convenient. Before applying a bandage to an injured surface, a +couple of pieces of old linen of cotton rag should be folded into pads +or compresses, and laid _one on each side of the cut_, and over these +the bandage should be rolled, evenly and with moderate and uniform +firmness. By this plan the separated surfaces are supported and +preserved in close juxtaposition, especially at the bottom of the +wound, a thing of some importance where the cavity is deep. Transverse +cuts of the limbs of sheep require more careful and more complicated +treatment than cuts in other parts, as there is a constant tendency of +the edges to retract. This retraction of the edges may be in some +degree obviated by the application of a splint, which may be made of a +slip of stiff leather (such as is used for saddle flaps) well wetted, +so as to be easily adapted to the form of the limb. It is intended to +impede the motion of the leg, which occasions the gaping of the wound, +and must therefore be made to pass over one or more joints as +circumstances may require. Tow must be laid along the surface (a sound +one if possible) on which the leather is to be placed, and a bandage +then rolled over it so as to make all secure. + +(110.) _Clean cuts_, as every one knows, heal readily in a healthy +animal, seldom demanding above three dressings; lacerations, on the +other hand, require a longer period for their reparation, inasmuch as +the process which nature goes through is more complicated. In the +former, the parts are speedily glued together, so soon almost as in +contact, and the union is generally complete within the first +thirty-six hours. Not so, however, with the latter. Here the parts are +bruised, torn, and perhaps to a considerable extent awanting. Some of +the bruised portions may die, and are of course to be renewed. This is +a process requiring a great effort on the part of the vital powers, +which are often inadequate to the task, and on this account we ought, +when the injury is severe, to sacrifice the animal rather than run the +risk of its dying during the process of the attempted cure. To replace +the lost part, suppuration, or the formation of _matter_ commences; +while under cover of this, a crop of fleshy particles (granulations) +rise to fill the vacancy. Granulations are best promoted by warm +emollient applications, such as poultices of oatmeal, linseed-meal, or +barley-flour, which ought to be frequently renewed to prevent their +becoming cold or dry. When the granulations become too luxuriant, and +rise, as they are apt to do, above the level of the skin, the poultices +must be laid aside, the sore washed once or twice a-day with a +_solution_ of sulphate of copper (made by dissolving two or three +drachms of blue vitriol in an English pint of soft water), and covered +carefully over with a pledget of fine tow, spread with lard, or any +simple ointment, by which means, conjoined with cleanliness, a cure +will easily be accomplished. + +(111.) _Punctured Wounds._ The orifice being small in these, and the +depth considerable, the sides are apt to adhere irregularly, and +prevent the free escape of matter, which is certain to collect at the +bottom. To avoid such occurrences, it is in many cases proper to +convert a punctured into an incised wound. When, from neglecting this, +the matter is denied an outlet, an incision must be made to allow it to +escape, otherwise much harm will ensue from its burrowing between the +different textures. Fomentations will also here be serviceable, and +should be preferred to poultices. To apply them, place well-boiled +meadow hay, when very hot and moist, within a fold of old blanket or +woollen cloth, and lay it on the injured parts, taking care to renew +the heat frequently, by dipping the bundle in the hot decoction. + +(112.) _Bruises and Sprains._ These, unless severe, need not be +interfered with. When the shepherd, however, considers it necessary to +make any application, he cannot do better than foment the part for an +hour or so with meadow hay, in the same manner as recommended for +punctured wounds. + +(113.) _Wounds of Joints._ Such wounds are highly dangerous and apt to +baffle the most experienced. _The grand object in every case, however, +where a cure is attempted, is to produce a speedy union of the wound, +as directed in_ (108) to (109). If the injury be extensive, the best +thing the farmer can do is to slaughter the animal. + +(114.) _Poisoned Wounds._ It is said that sheep are sometimes bitten by +snakes, and strange stories are told of their milk being sucked by +these reptiles. In such a case but small dependence can be placed on +any inward treatment, beyond the administration of one or two full +doses of castor oil. If the bite can be discovered, the part should be +frequently fomented with a decoction of meadow hay and foxglove +(_fairy-cap_ of the Irish, and _bluidy-finger_ of the Scotch). + +(115.) _Fractures._ If there be no wound of the soft parts, the bone +being simply broken, the treatment is extremely easy. Apply a piece of +wet leather, as recommended at (109), taking care to ease the limb when +swelling supervenes. When the swelling is considerable, and fever +present, you cannot do better than open a vein of the head or neck, +allowing a quantity of blood to escape, proportioned to the size and +condition of the animal and the urgency of the symptoms. The exhibition +of purgatives should never be neglected. Epsom salt, in one ounce +doses, given either as a gruel or a drench, will be found to answer the +purpose well. If the broken bones are kept steady, the cure will be +complete in from three weeks to a month, the process of reunion always +proceeding faster in a young than in an old sheep. Should the soft +parts be injured to any extent, or the ends of the bone protruding, +recovery is very uncertain, and it will become a question whether it +would not be better at once to convert the animal into mutton; indeed, +removal of portions of bone and amputation, of which some well known +writers on the surgery of the sheep speak so learnedly and confidently, +may be viewed, as, in this case, chimerical, if not absurd. + + +OPERATIONS. + +(116.) _Cutting Lambs._ Polled sheep should be castrated about the +tenth day after birth, but the end of the fifth week is soon enough for +horned sheep, as early castration has always a tendency to spoil the +beauty of the horns. The risk is always in proportion to the age, +therefore no great length of time ought ever to elapse from the period +of birth to that of the operation. A large flock of ewes and lambs +should never be collected preparatory to cutting, as the latter, from +the excitement and crowding, are less likely to recover from the +operation. It is much better to take up a small number so soon as they +are ready. Instead of driving them about in attempts to secure them, it +will be safer to station a person at a division of the fold, who may +lay hold of them individually as they are made to pass through slowly. +The best method of cutting is to grasp the bag containing the testicles +with the left hand, so as to tighten the skin, and push them forward, +after which an incision may be made through the skin at the end of the +bag, large enough to permit the stones to pass. They may then be +removed either by cutting or tearing; the latter plan, however, is the +better, as there is little risk of bleeding, which is almost sure to +prove troublesome if the former be adopted. At this time a portion of +the tail ought to be removed, if it has not been done at an earlier +period, as a remedy for pinding. The bleeding will serve to lessen the +danger consequent on the previous operation. When all have been +operated on, the ewes may be allowed to find their lambs, and the whole +conducted _quietly_ to their pasture. + +(117.) _Blood-letting._ In describing this operation, too much stress +is always laid on the importance of opening particular veins, or +divisions of a vein, in certain diseases. Such directions are +altogether unnecessary, as _it matters not from what part of the animal +the blood be drawn, provided it be taken quickly_. Nothing tends so +much to the recovery of an animal from a disease in which bleeding is +required, as the rapid flow of the blood from a large orifice. Little +_impression_ can be made on an acute disease by the slow removal of +even a large quantity of blood, as the organs have time to accommodate +themselves to the loss, which might, for any good it will do, as well +be dispensed with. Either bleed rapidly or not at all. The nearer the +commencement of an ailment, in which you employ bleeding, the operation +is resorted to, the greater the chance of its doing good; no time +ought, therefore, to be lost in using the lancet, when once it is known +to be required. Bleeding by nicking the under surface of the tail does +very well where no great deal of blood is required, but it is not to be +thought of if the veins of the face or neck can possibly be opened. +These are to be taken in preference to a vein on the leg, as they are +much more readily got at. The facial vein (_f.v._ Fig. 3. Pl. III.) +commences by small branches on the side of the face, and runs downwards +and backwards to the base of the jaw, where it may be felt within two +inches of the angle, or opposite the middle grinding tooth. It is here +that the orifice must be made, the thumb of the left hand being held +against the vein, so as to prevent the flow of blood towards the heart, +will make it _rise_. Some prefer opening the jugular vein (_j.v._ Fig. +3. P1.), which commences behind the eye and runs down the side of the +neck. This vessel is, however, more difficult to open than the former, +being better covered with wool, and not so easily exposed or made to +swell. _Stringing_ is the mode commonly resorted to for this end; that +is to say a cord is drawn tightly round the neck, close to the +shoulder, so as to stop the circulation through the vein, and render it +perceptible to the finger. A lancet is the instrument generally used in +bleeding, though a well-pointed pen knife will do at a pinch. The +opening must always be made obliquely, in the direction marked in the +cut; but before attempting this, the animal must be secured, by placing +it between the operator's legs, with its croup against a wall. The +selected vein is then fixed by the fingers of the operator's left hand, +so as to prevent it rolling or slipping before the lancet. Having +fairly entered the vein, the point of the instrument must be elevated, +at the same time that it is pushed a little forward, by which motion it +will be lifted from or cut its way out of the vein. _A prescribed +quantity of blood should never be drawn_, for the simple reason that +this can never be precisely stated. If the symptoms are urgent, as in +all likelihood they will, your best plan is not to stop the flow of +blood till the animal fall or is about to fall. When this occurs, run a +pin through the edges of the orifice, and finish by twisting round it a +lock of wool. + +(118.) _Removal of Hydatids from within the head._ This animal, and the +symptoms which it causes, I have fully described at (169). Their +removal has been attempted in a variety of ways, but the simplest +method, and one most likely to succeed, is that followed in this +quarter. A couple of incisions, forming when completed the letter T, +are made in the integument covering the soft part of the bone under +which the hydatid is supposed to be. Two flaps are in this way marked +out, and are dissected back so as to expose the skull. The yielding +portion of the latter is then pared away, which brings the sac into +view. This will be seen alternately to sink and rise, following in this +respect the motions of the brain. A moderate-sized needle, slightly +curved and filled with thread, is now passed through the exposed +portion of the cyst, and the thread allowed to remain. The fluid is +thus permitted slowly to escape, and at the same time the sac becomes +collapsed, after which it is easily removed by pulling gently at the +thread with which it is connected. As good a hold should be taken with +the string as possible, and all the water should be allowed to flow out +before any attempt is made to extract the remains of the hydatid. To +conclude the operation, lay down the flaps of skin in their original +position, covering them with a small piece of folded linen smeared with +lard, and over all apply a cap. Never try to save the bone which you +cut, by turning it back in the form of a lid, for by so doing you will +only endanger the life of the animal, which is otherwise in little +jeopardy. + +It will often happen that the hydatid, from being in the interior of +the brain, will not be brought into view by the removal of a portion of +the skull. In this case the brain must be punctured in order to reach +the sac and evacuate its contents. + +When the skull above the eye is very thin, the disease may be at once +ended by cautiously thrusting a short, stout, sharp-pointed piece of +steel wire through the skin and bone down towards the centre of the +brain, taking care to pull the skin a little to one side before making +the puncture, so that on letting it loose the openings in the skull and +integument will not be opposite to one another. This plan is much +superior to that of thrusting a needle up the nostril, in the manner +devised by Mr Hogg, as in his way we are always poking in the dark, in +ignorance of the situation of the instrument, and are in all +probability doing so much injury to the delicate parts within the nose +as to preclude the possibility of recovery. Indeed, I some time ago +examined a head on which Mr Hogg's operation had been twice +unsuccessfully performed, and found traces of inflammation at the upper +part of the nostril severe enough of itself to have occasioned death. +The needle had not entered the brain, but the ethmoid was very much +injured. I believe the instrument is very seldom pushed more than half +way through the bone, at least it never reaches the hydatid, which +would appear to be destroyed rather by the inflammatory process which +follows the attempt, unfitting the brain for supplying it with the +secretions on which it lives, than by any direct injury done to it by +the needle. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DISEASES OF SHEEP. + + +(119.) There is no department in the management of sheep so little +understood as the nature and treatment of their diseases. Every part of +the sheep itself has been used, at one time or another, in this +country, as medicine for _man_, a folly still prevailing among the +boors of Southern Africa, who, according to Thunberg, employ the inner +coat of the stomach, dried and powdered, as a safe emetic. Quackish +absurdities of so glaring a nature have, however, long been scorned in +civilized society. Not so, however, when the sheep is the object of +treatment. Scientific innovations have been slow in reaching it, and +specimens of barbarian usage are far from rare. We may feel for the +benighted credulity which could place reliance, for a rescue from +mortal ailment, on the secretions or excretions of a sheep; but we are +compelled to laugh on reading, in the _Family Dictionary_, published in +1752, the following:-- + +"In general, 'tis affirmed that the belly of a sheep boiled in water +and wine, and given the sheep to drink, cures several diseases incident +to them." + +Only fancy a farmer dosing a sheep with mutton broth, and adding, for +its stomach's sake, a little wine! I suspect the prescriber was, in +this instance, putting himself, in point of intellect, far below the +level of his patient. Thanks to him, however, for the benefit he has +thus unwittingly conferred, by holding ignorance up to the derision it +so richly merits; no means being so powerful as broadly-drawn +caricatures in exposing the extent of such delusions. Though faith has +long since ceased to be reposed in the medicinal virtues of mutton +broth, a variety of nostrums have from time to time appeared, the +composition and application of which are invaluable for the amount of +_negative_ information they are calculated to convey. Further notice of +these trashy recipes it is not my intention to take, as a list of them +alone would make a volume;--they are in the hands of every one. + +(120.) _Cautions in prescribing._ Great reliance is in general placed +upon prescriptions, which profess to suit diseases in every stage and +circumstance.--Than this, however, scarcely any thing can be more +absurd. It is an opinion engendered not so much by ignorance as by +laziness, a determination not to be put about by thinking of a remedy +for the evils which surround us, but, while we contrive to soothe +ourselves by doing _something_, to leave every thing to the hit-or-miss +practice of charlatans.[24] There are many, who on being informed of +the presence of disease in a neighbour's flock, confidently advise the +employment of a favourite nostrum, on the empirical supposition that +because it cured, or was thought to cure, one flock, it will cure +another. Nothing is taken into account saving that, in both cases, the +affected animals are sheep; and it is at once concluded, that what +benefited one will benefit another. The many niceties in prescribing +are never thought of: oh no, that would be of no use! of course it can +be of no importance to give a moment's attention to age and sex, +pasture and situation, or to leanness or fatness, or to the presence of +pregnancy! These are of trifling moment, and only to be despised by a +person armed with a recipe, which some one has shown to be capable of +walking like a constable through the body, and bearing off the +intruder! But enough of this; sufficient has, I think, been said to +prove the utter folly of confiding in things of the above nature or +intention, and to show that such confidence can lead to nothing but a +waste of life and capital. Even though the remedy is a harmless one, it +ought (unless calculated from _known_ powers to arrest the disease) to +be viewed with distrust, as incurring a loss of time, during which +other and better measures might have been resorted to. + + [24] Whenever we hear a person recommending a medicine of + universal virtues, we may safely set him down either for a fool + or an impostor. Things which are good for every thing are good + for nothing. + +(121.) _Classification of diseases._[25] As the acquirement of correct +ideas regarding the treatment of diseases is much facilitated by a +simple arrangement of the diseases themselves, numerous attempts have +been made to accomplish it, and in a variety of ways. The best of these +tabular views with which I am acquainted is the one laid before the +Highland Society some years ago, by Mr Stevenson, who appears to have +been the first to publish any thing like a satisfactory classification. +His arrangement is, however, defective in several points, more +especially as it necessitates the placing in the same division diseases +of organs essentially different. Thus he is compelled to admit under +"Diseases of the head" _Scabs on the mouth_ side by side with _Sturdy_, +and _Louping ill_: in this way mingling affections of the skin with +diseases of totally different organs--the brain and spinal marrow--and +causing much embarassment to the reader. To obviate this inconvenience, +as well as to render the remembrance of the remedies an easy matter, I +have adopted the above arrangement, in which each disease is placed +opposite the textures it invades. + + [25] + + Diseases affecting + + {Blown or Blast. + {Braxy, Sickness, or Blood. + The Stomach and {Pining, Daising, Vinquish or Vanquish. + Intestines. {Staggers. + {Diarrhoea or Rush. + {Dysentery, Cling, Breckshaw or + { Breckshuach. + + {Scab or Itch. + {Erysipelas or Wild-fire. + {Red Water. + {Leg Evil or Black-leg.[26] + The Skin and {Inflammatory {1. Maggot. + Hoofs. { appearances {2. Ked. + { caused by the {3. Tick. + { {4. OEstrus bovis. + {Sore Teats. + {Foot-rot. + + {Inflammation {1. OEstrus ovis. + The Air Passages. { caused {2. Pentastoma. + { by the {3. Strongylus filaria. + {Coryza. + + Glandular tissues,{Rot. + --viz. the Lungs, {Jaundice. + Liver, & Kidney. {Dropsy. + + {Sturdy, {1. Hydatids or Bloba. + { Gid or Dizzy, {2. Hydrocephalus, or + The Brain and { caused by { Water in the Head. + Spinal Marrow. {Trembling, Thwarter or Leaping-ill. + {Wood Evil. + + The Eye. {Ophthalmia. + {Soft Cancer. + + [26] Leg evil ought properly to be classed with diseases of the + vascular system, being in many instances merely a symptom of + disease in the heart or great vessels; but as the same results + are arrived at by placing it under the present head, nicer + distinctions would only tend to create confusion. + +(122.) _Blown or Blast._ Can scarcely be reckoned a disease as it is +but a symptom caused by a mechanical impediment to respiration and +circulation. When a sheep has been brought from a poor pasture to a +rich one it is prone to gorge itself to an extent which may endanger +life. The lower end of the gullet becomes obstructed, the gases which +accumulate in the paunch are hindered from escaping, and the latter +becomes so enormously distended as speedily to suffocate the animal by +being forced into the chest. + +(123.) _Treatment[27] of Blown._ If the difficulty in breathing be only +slight, keep the sheep moving _gently_ up and down as the air will thus +have a chance of escaping from the stomach. If the symptoms are more +alarming, pass the elastic tube employed in the same complaint in +cattle down the throat, or if that cannot be procured use a cane with +an ivory or wooden bullet at the end of it. Never _stick_ the animal, +as recovery by this plan is almost hopeless. If you cannot obtain the +aforesaid instruments, bleed the animal till it becomes very faint, and +if this is of no avail proceed to kill it. Shepherds often prescribe a +purgative dose after this occurrence. In general, however, it is not +required. To prevent a flock becoming _blown_, always when, for the +first time on rich pasture, make the dog move leisurely among them so +as to prevent them feeding hastily. + + [27] In speaking of remedial measures, the word treatment ought + to be used in preference to "_cure_" which figures at the head + of the medical advice in veterinary works. It is sheer nonsense + to blazon such a word in pages having any pretentions to + candour, for how seldom are we able conscientiously to affirm + that our endeavours will be followed by a _cure_. All we can do + is to pursue the _treatment_ best adapted for the attainment of + so desirable an end. + +(124.) _Braxy or Sickness._ Six or eight species of braxy are +enumerated by shepherds, but as they all bear a striking resemblance +one to another, in their origin and progress, it is preferable to treat +of them as one disease. Indeed wire-drawn distinctions, though +occasionally serviceable in cattle-medicine, ought in most instances to +be avoided, as they are of but little avail, and in this disease +straw-splitting can only serve to tantalize the farmer, by giving rise +to ideas of finical modes of treatment, which before the Chapter ends +are reduced to the simplest aids which medicine affords. Whatever may +be the seat or seats of the disease, the identically same resources are +employed in all:--why therefore ought the reader to be troubled with a +hundred trifling phases, which, not being _essential_ to the malady, +can only tend to perplex him in his search for the little that is +practically available. + +(125.) _Symptoms of Braxy._ In those rare cases where the animal is +seen at the commencement of the disease, it will appear uneasy, lying +down and rising up repeatedly, loathing food, and drinking frequently. +In a little while the symptoms become more decided, and fever shows +itself. The wool is clapped, the skin hot, the pulse quick and strong, +respiration is rapid and laborious, while the blood is thick and black, +issuing from the orifice, in attempts at bleeding, drop by drop. +Sometimes the heart beats irregularly: the mouth is parched, and the +eyes are red, languid, partly closed, and watery. The head is down, the +back drawn up, and the belly swollen; there is scarcely any passage +through the bowels, the urine is small in quantity, high coloured, and +sometimes bloody. The sheep shuns the flock, slowly dragging itself to +some retired spot, where convulsed and screaming it shortly dies. Death +may occur in a few hours, or may, in some rare cases, be delayed for a +week. A fatal termination is not so sudden as some have fancied, since +the animal is in general seriously ill for many hours before it is +discovered. + +(126.) _Appearances on dissection._ Though many parts are commonly +implicated in the _sickness_, there is every reason for believing the +_reed_ to be primarily affected. Inflammatory appearances, and +mortification, the usual result of violent inflammation in this +quarter, are visible on its coats, especially at the pyloric extremity +(Plate I. Fig. 2, _py_.) The inner coat presents a blackish-red, and +gelatinous appearance,--the entire bowel being soft, pulpy, and easily +permeable to the finger. The intestines, kidneys, and bladder, will, in +all probability, exhibit similar changes, while the lining membrane of +the abdomen (the _peritoneum_) is frequently affected: when this +membrane has been much inflamed, the intestines are glued together, are +surrounded with bloody or floculent serum, occasioning before death +tumidity of the under part of the belly, and communicating, when +struck, a feeling of fluctuation to a hand placed at a distance from +the blow. The muscles in various parts of the body frequently +participate in the disease, bloody serum being infiltrated between the +layers. As the brain, in severe cases, exhibits symptoms of oppression, +so on dissection it will be found red and turgid, enabling us to +account for the convulsive movements during the termination of the +malady. The whole body, more particularly the abdomen, gives out a +fetid gangrenous odour, which has procured for braxy the pastoral +appellation of "_stinking ill_" and renders the dissection far from +pleasant. After death putrefaction goes on with great rapidity, +especially in moist weather, hence the necessity of testing the +solidity of the carcass by giving it, as is customary in some parts, +_three shakes_ before proceeding to prepare it for household use! + +(128.) _Causes of Braxy._ Whatever tends to constipate the bowels may +be reckoned a predisposing cause. Whenever constipation occurs, +especially if on a sickrife pasture, the sheep may be looked upon as +ripe for the disease. Any crude indigestible substance, taken into the +stomach when the animal is in this state, will have a tendency to +kindle braxy, and the liability to it will not only be heightened, but +the chances of recovery will also be lessened, by the animal being in +high condition. + +Wedder hogs are peculiarly its victims, but only when hirsled, as when +allowed to pasture with their mothers they are less liable to it. This +is accounted for by the fact, that hirsled hogs are comparatively +_dull_, not being familiar with the proper times for feeding, and +incapable of selecting the suitable herbage, from having wanted the +tutoring of the mother. + +From the beginning of November till the middle of March, _sickness_ +commits its greatest ravages, especially among heath sheep, from their +being more confined than others to dry binding provender. Frozen grass +is also a common exciting cause, rapidly inducing inflammation by +lowering the temperature of the stomachs so very much as to arrest +digestion, and lead to its acting as an irritant. The succulent grass +in the sheltered hollows of mountains is more liable to frost than a +sapless herbage, and to it, owing to its moisture, the young sheep +resort, devouring it eagerly to assuage their thirst. Braxy, however, +may arise from other and more obvious causes. The sheep, perhaps when +heated by rash dogging, is suddenly chilled by exposure to a shower, or +a plunge in a morass, and if the bowels be at the time any way bound +up, immediate mischief cannot but ensue. One of the rarest accidents to +which it has been attributed is the prevention of the passage of the +faeces by a knot, or intussusception, forming on the intestines, but +this occurrence would be of difficult discovery, and even if made +known, our treatment, though not differing much from that of braxy, +could hardly be successful. + +(128.) _Treatment of Braxy._ Recovery is in many instances almost +hopeless, owing to the length of time which in general elapses between +the onset of the disease and the shepherd's discovery of the animal. +Nevertheless, the best treatment ought in every instance to have a +proper trial, as life may often be saved when such a result is least +expected. Many plans have been resorted to, but none are found to suit +so well as that of bleeding and purging. The first thing to be +attempted is the procuring of a copious flow of blood, but, as before +mentioned, this is a difficult matter, owing to the stagnant state of +the circulation at the surface of the body. Its abstraction may, +however, be rendered easy, by placing the sheep in a tub of warm water, +or, where this cannot be procured, by rolling a blanket wrung out of +hot water round the body of the animal. The tub of water should always +be preferred, and the moment the sheep is placed in it, the tail should +be nicked, and one or both jugular veins opened. + +Retain the sheep in the bath for half an hour, adding hot water from +time to time, so as to sustain the original temperature. This of itself +will alleviate the sufferings of the animal. + +When a copious flow of blood has been obtained, remove the sheep from +the tub, and administer two ounces of Glauber's or Epsom salt, +dissolved in warm water, substituting a handful of common salt when +these cathartics cannot be procured. It is needless to give a purgative +without bleeding, as, till this is done, it will not operate. When in +spite of this the bowels continue obstinately constipated, give a +glyster of tobacco decoction, made by boiling a drachm of the leaf (the +full of a pipe will do) for a few minutes in a pint of water. Half of +this only should be injected, using the other if circumstances require +it. Place the sheep in a house, or any comfortable situation, bed it +with straw, throw a horse-rug over it, and promote the purging by warm +gruels. When out of danger supply it with moderate quantities of +laxative provender, and keep it for ten days apart from its fellows, by +which time it will, in all likelihood, be well recruited. + +(129.) _Prevention of Braxy._ Change of pasture will at once suggest +itself. Let it be to a succulent one, on which old sheep have been for +some time feeding; the hogs will thus be hindered from filling their +paunches too rapidly. But, if heathy food is the staple provender, +allow your sheep four or five hours of turnips in the twenty-four, +permitting at the same time free access to common salt. These, from +their laxative effects, will serve as antidotes to the dry sapless +grasses, which have led to the disease. Such places as mossy soils, +abounding in evergreen plants, will also serve the purpose. Burn your +ley heather, as nothing is more decidedly prejudicial, not only from +its constipating qualities, but also from being surrounded by a grass, +which is so much relished by the sheep, that they resort to the spot +long after it has been eaten to the quick, and devour in their +eagerness much that is foul and unwholesome from frequent puddling. You +thus obtain a good supply of sprouts, as invaluable for opening +qualities, as the old heather is to be dreaded for its astringency. +Finally, be aware that careful herding is not the least efficacious of +preventives; a quiet, even-tempered, and thoughtful shepherd, being +here of far more value than the stores of the apothecary. + +(130.) _Pining._ _Symptoms and Causes._ The name has arisen from the +rapid wasting, which is a prominent symptom in this complaint. A farm +can hardly be subject to a more ruinous distemper, as the same sheep +will be affected by it year after year, and if a ewe be attacked during +autumn it is ten to one she will not have a lamb in the ensuing season. +Pining only seizes on thriving sheep, preferring young ones, those more +especially of the larger breeds, and is confined to farms where the +land is principally micaceous and covered with occasional stripes of +benty grasses. A whole flock sickens at once, their usual alacrity +appears to have deserted them, their eyes are dull, and the whole +animal seems weary and languid. At a more advanced stage the wool +acquires a bluish tinge, the blood becomes thick, diminishing in +quantity, and the muscles assume a pale and bloodless appearance. The +bowels are constipated, and to this the feverish symptoms apparently +owe their origin. If the disease progress, death will ensue in about a +month.[28] + + [28] A gradual wasting of the animal, similar to what occurs in + pining, may result from the irritation consequent on swallowing + pointed bodies, as pins or needles. I have in my possession a + very stout needle, given me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, + which was found buried in the coats of the stomach of a young + sheep which died under the above symptoms, having been ill + about three months. + +(131.) _Treatment and Prevention._ The first object is to obtain a free +discharge from the bowels by means of purgatives, as, whenever a flux +appears, the animal is safe. Two ounces of Castor oil given in a gruel, +or the same quantity of Epsom salts, will do, care being taken that the +purging be carried to some length. + +Removal to a rich pasture is the only preventive. That pasture should +be preferred which contains a good proportion of bitter plants, for the +emaciation appears to be owing in a considerable degree to torpor of +the bowels occasioned by long abstinence from these necessaries. + +(132.) _Staggers._ The symptoms nearly resemble those of sturdy, which +I have afterwards to describe, and with which indeed I might have +classed it, were it not that it appears to be merely the result of a +poisonous plant being taken into the stomach. It is rarely seen +hereabouts; I shall, therefore, quote the account of it presented to +the Highland Society by Mr Stevenson:--"This is a disease seldom or +never affecting the sheep in this country, those excepted which feed in +forests, or amongst planting. The symptoms of it are more violent than +those of sturdy, during the time of their continuance. The animal, +after staggering for some time, falls on the ground, when a general +trembling comes on over the limbs; they are violently convulsed, and +quite insensible to every thing. During the continuance of the paroxysm +they throw the body into various positions, and sometimes roll to a +considerable distance. The fit continues for a quarter, sometimes half +an hour, or an hour. When they rise, they seem perfectly bewildered, +till they regain the flock, when they continue to feed well, till +another paroxysm supervenes. This disease appears in Autumn, and +various causes are said to produce it. Improper food, the leaves of the +oak, from their astringent quality, cobwebs sprinkled with dew, have +all been reckoned as causes. I am inclined, however, to suppose, that +it arises from the action of a poisonous grass (_Lolium temulentum_), +which is the only one of that description in this country, and grows +only in those situations where staggers prevail. What effect these +causes have on the brain to produce this disease, I cannot explain. +When it continues for any time on the same individual, it is apt to be +fatal." + +"Change of pasture is the only effectual cure for it." + +(133.) _Diarrhoea._ By this is meant a constant purging, affecting the +younger portions of the flock between April and June, leading to great +emaciation, and proceeding from one of the following causes. + + 1st. Eating a soft tathy pasture, particularly if fouled by the + inundations of the previous winter. + + 2d. Feeding on too rich a pasture, or a sudden change from an + herbage deficient in nutritive qualities, to one that is much + superior. + + 3d. Transitions from heat to cold. + + 4th. Weakness and relaxation of the bowels. + +(134.) _Treatment of Diarrhoea._ When either of the first two causes +has given rise to purging, a moderate allowance of good hay will +gradually stop it. This may be discontinued when the sheep has _taken_ +with its altered fare. + +When diarrhoea has been occasioned by exposure to damp, or sudden +transitions from heat to cold, it may be arrested by keeping the animal +in a house for a few days, and feeding it on any dry aliment, but when +crude trashy matter has been swallowed, and keeps up irritation by its +presence, medicine must be resorted to. Administer an ounce of castor +oil in gruel, adding twenty drops of Laudanum if there has been +straining or evidences of pain. When the bowels have been _thoroughly +cleared_ by this cathartic, it will be proper, if the discharge still +continue, to check it by astringents. The medicine found by experience +to answer best, is prepared as follows:-- + + Take of Logwood four ounces, + Extract of Catechu (Japan earth) one drachm, + Cinnamon two drachms, + Water three English pints. + +Boil for a quarter of an hour, strain, and then add sixty drops of +Laudanum. Administer half an English pint of this night and morning so +long as the flux continues. + +Diarrhoea seldom proves fatal, and is indeed an easily managed disease; +but as it is frequently only a symptom of some other affection, or a +critical effort of the constitution to ward off some more serious +mischief, the attempts at stopping it should always be cautiously +conducted. + +(135.) _Dysentery.--Symptoms._ The pulse is quick and the respirations +hurried. The skin is harsh and hot, and the wool in general clapped. +The mouth is dry, the eyes red and languid, and the ears drooping. Food +is taken only in small quantities and rumination is stopped. The +discharges from the bowels are frequent, slimy, sometimes green, and a +little further on in the disease are mixed with blood. The belly is +drawn towards the back. It is knotted and lumpy to the touch and a +rumbling noise (_borborygmus_) is heard within it. As a careless +observer might have some difficulty in distinguishing dysentery from +diarrhoea the following diagnostic summary, drawn up by Professor +Duncan, will be found of service. + + 1. Diarrhoea attacks chiefly hogs and weak gimmers and dinmonts; + whereas dysentery is frequent among older sheep. + + 2. Diarrhoea almost always occurs in the spring, and ceases about + June, when dysentery only commences. + + 3. In diarrhoea there is no fever or tenesmus, or pain before the + stools, as in dysentery. + + 4. In diarrhoea the faeces are loose, but in other respects natural, + without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery, the faeces + consists of hard lumps passed occasionally without any blood or + slime. + + 5. There is not that degree of foetor in the faeces in diarrhoea + which takes place in dysentery. + + 6. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone, in diarrhoea it is + rather sharper than usual. + + 7. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly, but by diarrhoea only a + temporary stop is put to its thriving, after which it makes rapid + advances to strength, vigour and proportion. + +If dysentery continue to advance it will terminate fatally within a +fortnight. Death is generally preceded by the "_black scour_," which is +only an aggravation of the purging, the stools being mixed with shreds +of dark gangrenous matter from the decomposed interior of the +intestines. + +(136.) _Causes of Dysentery._ Many absurd opinions have gone abroad +regarding the contagious nature of this affection. Contagion, however, +has nothing to do with the matter, the spread of the disease depending +entirely on the state of the atmosphere and the nature of the locality. +When dysentery occurs the weather is usually sultry, the ground upon +which the flock has been going, foul, and the management of the sheep +so improper, as to be sufficient of itself to produce the disease very +generally. There is in fact only one proof of a disease being +infectious, viz., its immediate occurrence on the introduction of an +affected animal among such as are in good health, on sound food, and in +easy circumstances. This proof, however, in regard to dysentery has +never been established, and no medical person will now affirm that it +is contagious. Some think that it travels from flock to flock in the +direction of the wind, but its appearing simultaneously in many folds +ought rather to be charged to the fact of the predisposing causes being +nearly similar in all. + +(137.) _Treatment of Dysentery._ Bleed freely if the disease has +continued only for a few days, but moderately if a longer time has +unfortunately elapsed. Stoving, by which is meant shutting the animal +in a wash-house, and allowing the apartment to become filled with +steam, though urged by some writers, cannot here be recommended. The +intended object is the promotion of perspiration, by exciting the +action of the skin, but this may be brought about by means much more +conducive to the safety of the animal. After the bleeding immerse the +sheep in a tub of hot water, and retain it there for twenty minutes; +then administer an ounce of Castor oil, with thirty drops of Laudanum, +and cover the sheep up in a snug corner. After the oil has operated, +thin well-boiled flour-porridge, given at intervals, in small +quantities, will help to defend the ulcerated bowels, sooth the pain, +and stop the purging. If these fail, you may use the astringent mixture +recommended in diarrhoea at page 175, and in the same manner, adding to +each dose a grain of ipecacuanha. When the appetite returns, and the +stools begin to acquire consistency, speedy recovery may be +prognosticated. + +During recovery part of the wool always falls off. + +(138.) _Prevention of Dysentery._ If you wish your sheep to take the +disease, do as some wiseacres recommend--put tar upon their tails, and +noses; you will thus render them feverish, and uncomfortable, and every +way fit for an attack. + +Gathering sheep into confined places is always bad, nothing will tend +more to ward off dysentery than an open frequently-changed easy-lying +pasture, combined with gentle usage on the part of the shepherd. + + +DISEASES OF THE SKIN. + +(139.) _Scab, or Itch._--_Symptoms and Causes._ These are so well known +that they hardly merit a description. Little white specks appear upon +the wool, and are soon followed by a small pustule at the root. The +pustules are produced by a minute insect burrowing in the skin, which +accounts for one external application of any active substance being +sufficient to eradicate the malady. The infected sheep is restless, +tearing off the wool with its teeth, and rubbing itself against every +resisting body. The skin is red and fretted, discharging an ichor which +hardens into crusts. These gradually extend, inducing a premature +failure of the wool. + +If the sheep be not relieved, it sinks under its accumulated miseries. + +Scab was little known any where, but in the Highlands, and the south of +England, till the good old custom of smearing with tar and butter gave +way before the elegant modern innovations. Into flocks anointed in the +old manner it may be carried by infection, but will seldom or never +arise spontaneously among them. + +It usually commences in spring among hogs, making its first appearance +among the rams, especially those of the fine-woolled breeds, and is +supposed to be induced by overheating, want, or even excess of +nutriment, or pasturing on wet lands in rainy seasons. + +(140.) _Treatment of Itch._ Subject the flock to a minute examination +whenever the movements of any animal excite suspicion, and remove every +one that is in the least affected. Place them in a separate enclosure, +and apply either of the following recipes. + + Take of Mercurial Ointment four pounds, + Venice Turpentine half a pound, + Oil of Turpentine one pint: + +mix thoroughly. + +Separate the wool from the head to the tail and draw the fore finger +loaded with a portion of the ointment, along the bottom of the groove. +Then make lines from the middle of the back down each leg and score +them in the same manner, thus concluding the operation. Some farmers +prefer rubbing the size of a walnut of the ointment into the delicate +skin inside the thigh. The former plan is, however, the better of the +two, and is the one recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, who communicated +the recipe to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, +and Commerce, in the 7th volume of whose transactions it was published. + +A most important benefit to be derived from the application of the +mercurial ointment, is the security it affords the sheep from the +attack of the sheep fag or ked (_Hippobosca ovina_). The wool of sheep +annoyed by this fly always contains joints or knots, owing to the +occasional stoppage of its growth consequent on the fretting of the +irritated animal. On this account dealers in wool are said to give a +higher price for fleeces having the mercurial tinge, as they are +supposed to be sound in the pile from having been exempted from the +fly. + +The next prescription is one of very great efficacy where the disease +has reached the length of scabs, and has, with many variations, gone +the round of almost every agricultural publication. The form I prefer +is one submitted to me by Mr Wilkin of Tinwald Downs, near Dumfries, +who at one time, several years ago, applied it with immediate good +effects, to six hundred infected sheep. + + Take of Tobacco scrapings one pound, + Strong decoction of Broom six gallons: + +boil for half an hour, and then add three English pints of spirit of +tar. + +This quantity is sufficient to cover two dozen of sheep. The scabs, if +large, should be raised a little with a knife to permit the free +contact of the fluid, and no more of it should be applied than is here +directed; for though it be in this dose comparatively harmless, a very +small addition will destroy the animal. + +A very good French remedy is made by melting a pound of fat or suet, +and mixing with it (when off the fire) a fourth part of oil of +turpentine. Rub it into the affected parts. + +Whatever outward means may be employed, laxative medicines ought never +to be neglected. One of the best and most generally used, consists of a +tea-spoonful of flour of sulphur, given for two or three successive +nights in double the quantity of molasses. + +If ill-conditioned sheep are the victims of itch, convey them to a +better pasture, but where the animals are fat, reduce their diet, and +give each a dose of Epsom salts. + +(141.) _Prevention of Itch._ Do not turn a healthy flock on to pasture, +from which itchy sheep have recently been driven. If the disease +occasionally breaks out on your ground, apply the mercurial ointment at +clipping time: and, when you salve, add a pound of sulphur to every tub +of smearing composition whatever it may be. + +(142.) _Erysipelas or wild-fire._ This is an inflammatory affection of +the skin, sometimes accompanied by blebs or blisters, occurring in +August and September, and spreading rapidly through a flock. Though +there is considerable ambiguity in the employment of these terms, I +believe they are synonymous with red-water, the disease of which I have +next to treat. + +(143.) _Red-water._ The occurrence of this disease among sheep is very +rare. Its nature and treatment are however allowed, by those who have +seen it, to be admirably described by Mr Stevenson, in the 3d vol. of +the _Highland Society's Transactions_. + +"This disease commonly makes its appearance about the beginning, or end +of winter, and first affects about the breast and belly, although at +times it spreads itself over other parts of the body. It consists in an +inflammation of the skin, that raises it into blisters which contain a +thin, reddish, and watery fluid. These continue for a short time, +break, discharge their matter, and are followed by a blackish scab. +When the sheep are exposed to cold or wetness, the skin being fretted +makes the blisters rise, or they often arise from cold, affecting the +animal internally, thus producing a slight fever, which throws out +these vesicles on the body, similar to the scabby eruptions, which +appear about the face, and more particularly the mouth of those persons +affected with cold. The blood in this disease is but little affected, +though a little of it oozes into the vesicles on the skin, and +communicates to them that reddish tinge, which gives origin to the +name. + +"Red-water is a disease that but seldom appears in this country, and is +almost never fatal. In cases where the disease is violent, a little +blood should be taken. * * * * The sheep should be placed in a fold by +itself, * * * * and the following medicine may be given for three or +four mornings successively:-- + + Take of Flour of Sulphur two ounces, + Molasses three ounces: + +mix them, and divide them into six doses, of which one may be given +every morning, in half a pound (half a mutchkin) of warm water. If this +is found unsuccessful, half an ounce of nitre, mixed with the foregoing +recipe, will be attended with good effects; after which, a dose of +salts may be given, and the body washed with lime-water upon the part +affected." + +(144.) _Leg Evil._--_Symptoms and Causes._ Like many other diseases, +this is usually supposed to be contagious, merely because it often +spreads quickly through a flock; the obvious fact of the exposure of +the animals composing it to the same causes, such as peculiar diet and +atmospheric variations, being entirely overlooked; but, as I have +already remarked in paragraph (136), the only proof of a disease being +contagious, is its spreading rapidly on the introduction, from a +distance, of an infected individual into a previously-healthy flock. + +Sheep which acquire fat at an early age, are peculiarly liable to this +disease: a sufficient argument, if all others were wanting, against the +unnatural and foolish practice of accumulating a load of grease on the +bodies of young animals. By so doing, the action of the heart and lungs +is materially embarrassed, and, on the animal being chilled, or the +balance of its circulation otherwise accidentally deranged, +mortification (leg evil) is almost certain to occur. Even simple +scratches are often fatal in these over-fat animals, from inducing +gangrene. + +The first intimation the shepherd has of the approach of leg evil, is +the occurrence of fever and lameness, accompanied by blue or livid +patches on the leg, generally about the upper part of the hoof or knee. +The skin on the affected parts, in a few days, exhibits scattered +vesicles, not unlike the blebs which form in erysipelas; it then gives +way, and the parts beneath are seen of a darker tinge, soft, pulpy, and +completely gangrenous. + +Leg evil may prove fatal in a few days, or not for several weeks, much +depending on the extent of the sloughing portions, which may include +the entire leg, or legs, or may be limited to a single patch. + +(145.) _Treatment of Leg Evil._ When the animal is in high condition, +and the disease has arisen spontaneously, bleeding is the first thing +to be thought of. It must, however, be conducted cautiously, it being +better to use the lancet a second time, than, by withdrawing too much +blood, to reduce the vital powers below the standard which is necessary +for replacing the gangrenous portions. Should a leg be affected to any +extent, the sheep must be at once destroyed, as there is scarcely a +possibility of its surviving, without a degree of care and nicety in +the treatment, which it is beyond the power of unprofessional persons +to bestow. Where the livid spots are limited, rags dipped in spirit of +turpentine, which has been heated by immersing the bottle containing it +in hot water, may be laid upon the skin; but when dead portions have +begun to separate, the best application is either a warm poultice, made +of carrots, which have been boiled and mashed, or one made of boiled +oatmeal, which has been fermented by adding to it a table-spoonful of +yeast, and placing it for an hour before a fire. When the sore is +becoming clean, and the granulations are rising freely, pursue the +methods recommended in paragraph (110). + +(146.) _Prevention of Leg Evil._ Remove the diseased animals from the +flock, and, in dressing their sores, never use a sponge, or any thing +which, from its value, is apt to be preserved, and, perhaps, applied in +no long time to the cuts or scratches of a healthy animal; for, though +leg evil is not communicable by ordinary means, yet is it readily +excited by inoculation, or the application of putrid matter to a broken +surface. If the odour from the affected parts is any way offensive, +wash them with, and sprinkle round the fold, either a weak solution of +_chloride of lime_, or the disinfecting liquid of Labarraque, articles +which may now be procured from every provincial apothecary. Finally, +let the shepherd _wash his hands carefully_ before going from diseased +to healthy sheep, using, if need be, a little of either of these +solutions; and let him look well to any injuries which his charges may +receive in July, August, and September, for these are the months most +favourable to the occurrence of leg evil. + +(147). _Inflammation caused by Maggots._ The insects passing under the +name of "Fly," though most troublesome in August, attack the sheep from +the month of May to September, inclusive, depositing their eggs among +the wool, in general about the tail, the roots of the horns, or any +part which affords, from its filthy appearance, a prospect of suitable +provision for the maggot. When these eggs are hatched, a process which +is, in sultry weather, almost instantaneous, the maggot erodes the +skin, and speedily brings the adjacent parts into a fit condition for +the reception of succeeding numbers of its species. + +The backs of long-woolled sheep are, from their exposure, more liable +to be selected by the flies, as a receptacle for their eggs, than the +corresponding parts in such as are covered by a short thick fleece. + +No sooner has the maggot begun its operations, than the sheep becomes +uneasy and restless, rubbing itself on stones and trees, and +endeavouring, by every means in its power to free itself from the +annoyance. Teazed by the constant irritation, fever soon sets in, and, +if the sheep be unrelieved by the shepherd's aid, death ensues in +four-and-twenty hours. + +It is only lately that attention has been paid to the history of the +insect pests which originate the mischief, so little damage do they +appear to have occasioned in former periods. In a valuable paper, +containing the result of observations made on this subject in the +Highlands, and published in the second number of the _Quarterly Journal +of Agriculture_, they are thus described:-- + +"The fly which is the immediate cause of this disease, seems, as far as +my observations could extend, to consist of four species, viz.--the +_Musca Ceasar_, _Cadaverina_, _Vomitoria_, and _Carnaria_, of Linnaeus. +* * * + +"_M. Ceasar_ is of a shining green colour. + +"_M. Cadaverina_, the thorax shining bluish, the abdomen green, like +the _Ceasar_. + +"_M. Vomitoria_, thorax black, or dark-blue grey, abdomen dark glossy +blue. This is the common _Blue-Bottle_ or _Flesh-fly_. + +"_M. Carnaria_, grey; the thorax has three black longitudinal markings +on the upper surface; the abdomen is checquered, in some positions +shining whitish. + +"In all those instances in which I observed them, the green flies were +the first to attack, and this is the common opinion among the +shepherds. After a time, when the larvae (maggots) commenced gnawing the +flesh, the putrid stench, which was thereby occasioned, attracted +numerous other species. The _Vomitoria_ (_blue-bottle_) was very +common, more numerous than both the former species, and perhaps +contributed most to accelerate the death of the animal, after the +others had commenced. The _Carnaria_ was rare. I observed but few of +them, and these seemed not concerned; which is the more remarkable, as +in the fenny counties of England it is said to be most troublesome. All +the species of this genus resemble one another closely, both in +appearance and mode of life. They are exceedingly voracious, feeding +upon carcasses and filth of every description. In five days after being +hatched they arrive at full growth, provided they have plenty of food; +they then cease to eat, and seek to assume the pupa state, crawling +under ground two or three inches. Here they remain about fourteen days, +when the shell cracks, and the imago, or fly, appears. In this last +state, they feed also on putrid juices, sucking them through their +probosces." + +The correctness of this description of their transformations I can +attest, from having watched their habits during my anatomical pursuits +in the summer months. + +(148.) _Treatment of Fly-blown Sheep._ When the sheep is fly-blown, +dislodge the maggots with a knife, and shake a little powdered white +lead into the wound. Do not apply tar to the abraded surface, as, from +its cauterizing effects, the wound will be enlarged, and a repetition +of the visit speedily ensured. To ward off the onset of the flies, +various substances noxious to them are rubbed or poured upon the wool. +Tar, in small quantities, and of pungent quality, is by some daubed +upon the ears, horns, and tail. Others prefer rubbing a little melted +butter, thickened by flour of sulphur, along the sheep's back: this is +an effectual preventive. Some, again, prefer dressing the sheep, when +in low situations, with the following recipe, which I take the liberty +of copying from Mr Mather's paper on the fly, in the _Quarterly Journal +of Agriculture_, No. XXIV. + + "Take of Arsenic, finely pounded, one pound + Potash twelve ounces, + Common yellow soap six ounces, + Rain or river water thirty gallons. + +"Boil the ingredients together for fifteen minutes. * * * * The liquid +is in no degree injurious to wool. It cleans and dries the offensive +perspiration of the sheep, and destroys the smell caused by the dew in +the mornings, or by damp hot weather. In most situations, one dressing +in July and another in August will suffice; but as the expense is +trifling, and the process simple, it may be better to apply it more +frequently, especially in low and damp situations." The liquid is +applied only in dry weather. A teapot, or any vessel of a similar form, +is filled with it, and one person pours it on the wool, while another +rubs the fleece to facilitate the passage of the fluid. At the times of +using the solution, all superfluous wool ought to be shorn from the +buttocks, but not too closely. + +When the insects are very troublesome, drive the sheep if possible to +higher ground. Examine carefully all wounds and ulcers, however +trifling, and dress them with any simple ointment containing a small +proportion of sulphur, mercury, or white-lead. Lastly, bury all useless +carcasses as speedily as possible, by which means you will keep down +the number of the flies. + +(149.) _The Sheep-Fag or Ked_ (_Hippobosca ovina_) and _The Tick_ +(_Acarus reduvius_), are destroyed or stopped in their attacks by the +same remedies and preventives detailed in the preceding paragraphs on +the fly. + +(150.) _Inflammation produced by the OEstrus bovis._ This insect +infests not only cattle but also sheep and goats, depositing its eggs +on the back of the animal, where it forms a small tumour, in which the +larvae remain from autumn till the commencement of the ensuing summer. +Only the fattest and most vigorous animals are attacked, and the larvae +are very difficult to destroy. Fischer found, from numerous +experiments, that even spirits, and a strong solution of salt, could +not affect them. The fumes of burning sulphur alone seemed to annoy +them, and to it they speedily fell victims. This, however, is a remedy +which cannot be applied to the skin of the sheep, so that our only +resource is the repeated application of turpentine to the tumours on +the back, taking care to slit them up so as to facilitate its action. + +(151.) _Sore Teats._ When a ewe is observed to hinder the lamb from +sucking, its teats should be examined. If much inflamed, a poultice +should be applied, and the lamb placed under the charge of another +nurse. Suppuration will thus be promoted, and the matter may be allowed +to escape by making an opening for it at the place it points. If there +is only a little tenderness of the skin, all that is required is the +washing it with a solution either of sugar of lead or sulphate of zinc, +eight grains to the ounce of water. + +(152.) _Foot-rot._ No disease occasions more acute suffering to the +sheep, and annoyance to the farmer, than foot-rot, and no disease has +led to longer arguments as to its contagious or non-contagious nature. +Thanks, however, to Mr Dick of Edinburgh, these disputes are closed for +ever, as any one may be convinced, by perusing his clever and sarcastic +paper at page 852, Vol. ii. of the _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_. +His excellent remarks on the popular ideas of the infectious nature of +foot-rot, I have not space to quote, but shall lay before the reader +his views as to the situations and circumstances which give origin to +the disease.[29] + + [29] To enable the reader more easily to understand Mr Dick's + views of this disease, I have added a drawing of the foot of + the sheep, which it may be well to consult before entering on + the subject. + + _Fig. 4. Plate._ I. Section of a toe:--_c.c._ Crust of the + hoof; _s._ Sole; _g.g._ Gland which secretes the hoof. + +(153.) _Causes of Foot-rot._ "What do we gain," says Mr Dick, "by +enticing the sheep from his native and natural haunts to the richer +pasturage of our meadows or lawns? There the animal enjoys a more +luxuriant repast; it fattens to a larger size, and will, in this +respect, repay the increased allowance which has been made to it. But +instead of moving about in small troops, with the alacrity of the wild +kinds, the sheep are seen in flocks of thousands, moving slowly over +their pastures, and gorging themselves to an extent which cuts short +the thread of life, by the advancement of various diseases. Instead of +wandering from the summit of one peak to another, in quest of a scanty +subsistence, or instead of being compelled to descend from the summits +of the mountain in the morning, and ascend again in the evening, they +are compelled, in many cases, to remain within a few yards of a +particular spot for weeks together, and there engorge themselves to +satiety. + +"But what, it may be asked, has this to do with the foot-rot? More, I +am inclined to think, than is generally imagined. The hoofs of the +sheep being intended to receive a degree of friction from hard +surfaces, are not acted upon when the animal is placed under such +circumstances; and the necessary consequence is an overgrowth of the +hoof. The crust,--the part naturally intended to support the weight of +the animal, and to endure the greatest share of fatigue,--is here +allowed to grow out of all due bounds, because the softness of the +pasturages, upon which it now moves, presents little, if any, of that +rough friction to which the feet of the animal is naturally intended to +be exposed. The crust, therefore, grows unrestrained, until it either +laps over the sole, like the loose sole of an old shoe, and serves to +retain and accumulate earth and filth, or is broken off in detached +parts, in some cases exposing the quick, or opening new pores, into +which the particles of earth or sand force their way, until reaching +the quick, an inflammation is set up, which, in its progress, alters or +destroys the whole foot." + + * * * * * + +"The finest and richest old pastures and lawns are particularly liable +to this disease; soft, marshy, and luxuriant meadows are equally so; +and it is also found in light, soft or sandy districts. In the first of +these it is perhaps most prevalent in a moist season, and in the latter +in a dry one; in short, it exists to a greater or less extent in every +situation which has a tendency to increase the growth of the hoofs +without wearing them away, and more especially where they are kept soft +by moisture. It is so prevalent in fine lawns and pleasure grounds, +that they are, in many instances, reduced in value to a mere trifle as +a pasture for sheep; they are said to be _infected_ with this disease, +and having once become so, the vicissitudes of _seven_ seasons are +scarcely sufficient to destroy the contagion! A luxuriant herbage, on +soft pastures, is equally subject to it; and, in both cases, the +disease is increased in a wet season. + +"The reason why, in these situations, sheep are so liable to the +disease, is quite obvious. They are generally brought from lands where +their range of pasturage was greater than in these situations. In their +former state, from the exercise which the animal took, and the nature +of the grounds on which it pastured, the hoof was worn down as it grew; +but, under the state in question, the hoofs not only continue to grow, +but, where the land is moist, that growth is greatly increased; and the +animal does not tread upon hard ground, nor has it exercise to wear +them down. Now, in the case of man himself, when the nails of his +fingers or toes exceed the proper length, they break, or give him such +uneasiness as to induce him to pare them. And the same takes place with +the hoof of sheep. But there is this difference in the case of the +latter, that when their hoof once breaks, as the animal has not the +power of paring it, the part thus broken must continue a wound. Some +parts grow out of their natural and proper proportions; the crust of +the hoof (_c.c._) grows too long; and the overgrown parts either break +off in irregular rents and unnatural forms, or, by over-shooting the +sole (_s._), allow small particles of sand or earth to enter into the +pores of the hoof. These particles reach the quick, and set up an +inflammation, which is followed by the destructive effects which are +too well known to require description. + +"Similar effects are produced on soft, wet grounds. The feet, in such a +situation, are not only not subject to a proper degree of friction to +wear down the hoofs, but the growth of the hoofs is materially +increased by the soft and moist state in which they are kept. And this +state renders the feet the more liable to the disease, as it opens up +the pores of the horn, and allows the earth or sand to penetrate, and +wound the quick, in the manner I have already stated. On soft sandy +ground, of a dry nature, the same circumstances may occur. The soft +sand gives way by the weight of the animal, and the crust of the hoof +is not worn down. The sand penetrates between the sole and the crust, +as has been already explained, and produces inflammation. The disease, +however, is not so common on sand as in the other situations to which I +have alluded, the sand seldom being found in such a loose state." + +Another variety of foot-rot is produced by the friction of long grass +between the hoofs, but is mostly confined to hill sheep, when first +pastured on lowland districts. These animals, from having been +accustomed to collect their food on extensive ranges of bare pasture, +are more exposed than heavy breeds to this frequent exciting cause of +the complaint. The rubbing of the grass frets the skin in the cleft of +the hoof, the gland in that situation swells, becomes enlarged, and +suppurates, and in no long time the animal is compelled to rest upon +its knees.[30] This complaint is, however, more readily remedied than +the former, and does not cause nearly so much suffering to the sheep. + + [30] _Fig. 5. Plate._ I. Gives a view of the inner surface of + the toe of a sheep, with the interdigital gland laid open. + + _g._ The gland. + + _d._ The duct of the gland, opening upon the anterior surface + of the leg. + + When the interdigital gland is much enlarged, it becomes + necessary to cut it out. This ought to be a last resource, as + the part appears to be of too much importance to be easily + dispensed with. + +(154.) _Treatment and Prevention of Foot-rot._ As foot-rot, in nine +cases out of ten, is an attempt on the part of nature to get rid of a +portion of the hoof, which ought, in the proper course of things, to +have been worn away as fast as it appeared, the prevention and +treatment of the first stage of the complaint will naturally suggest +themselves. "As this disease," says Mr Dick, at the conclusion of the +aforementioned paper, "arises in consequence of the hoofs not being +exposed to sufficient friction to wear them down, or keep them in their +proper state, or where their natural growth is increased by the nature +and moisture of the ground, the hoofs of all the flock should be +regularly rasped or pared at short intervals, say from eight days to a +fortnight, according to the rapidity with which a particular pasture +produces the disease. In certain situations, they might be made to +travel upon a hard surface, similar to natural sheep tracts, or be +folded in a place purposely prepared, upon which they could move about +and wear their hoofs. For that purpose, they should be placed in it +every day." + +When foot-rot has fairly commenced, pare the hoof from the affected +part, and trim away any ragged portions, wash the foot with soap and +water, and place the animal in a situation where as few irritating +things as possible will be in the way of the tender surface, and give a +purgative. If not properly attended to, the suppuration soon terminates +in mortification. Cleanliness in every stage and variety of foot-rot, +is of the first importance. Many corrosive preparations are recommended +for the cure of this disease, but I have decided objections to one and +all of them. When the foot is clean, endeavour, by frequent +applications of soap and water, to keep and treat the ulcers as +directed in paragraph 110. + +(155.) _Inflammation produced by Insects in the Air Passages._ Much +annoyance is caused to the sheep by the presence of animals in the air +passages. The _OEstrus ovis_ deposits its eggs on the margin of the +nostril in autumn; these are soon hatched, and the larvae immediately +find their way up the interior of the nose, till they arrive at the +frontal sinus, a cavity situated between the layers of the frontal +bone, and of considerable size in the sheep. Here they remain till the +following spring, when they quit their hold, become winged insects, and +enter upon the career of torment so ably gone through by their +predecessors. + +The _Pentastoma_, an animal supposed at one time only to exist in the +frontal sinus and lungs, and on the surface of the liver, of the dog, +wolf, and horse, as well as in some reptiles, has been discovered by an +able naturalist, my friend Mr Rhind of Edinburgh, in the frontal sinus +of the sheep. It spends its whole existence there, and is distinguished +from other entozoa by having the mouth between two pores on each side, +through which a spicular process comes out. Figure 3, Plate VII. is +taken from a drawing kindly furnished by Mr Rhind. + +(156.) _Removal of Insects from the Nostril._ The _OEstrus ovis_ +occasions much distress to the sheep at the moment of depositing its +eggs within the nostril. The animal on feeling the movements of the +fly, rubs its nose against the ground, or, carrying it low, darts off +at a rapid pace, vainly endeavouring to escape from its tormentor. +During this period, a thin limpid fluid distils from the nostrils, +leading a careless observer to confound the symptoms with those which +accompany Coryza. In general the irritation is now terminated, as, +while in the larvae state, the insects are incapable of offensive +measures. If they are clustered in considerable numbers in the frontal +sinuses, they will doubtless lead to great suffering, parallel to what +is recorded to have followed the nestling of insects in the same +situation in the human being; and it is, therefore, advisable, when the +cause of sturdy (paragraph 169) is in any way doubtful, first to apply +those substances to the nostril, which are calculated to destroy both +these larvae and the _pentastoma_, should they happen to be there. +Tobacco smoke is the only available remedy, and a very good one, +being easily brought in contact with the worms, and, when properly +administered, certain in its effects. One person secures the sheep +holding the head in a convenient position, while another, having half +filled a pipe with tobacco, and kindled it in the usual manner, places +one or two folds of a handkerchief over the opening of the bowl, then +passes the tube a good way up the nostril, applies his mouth to the +covered bowl, and blows vigorously through the napkin. When this has +continued for a few seconds, the pipe is withdrawn, and the operation +repeated on the other nostril. + +The round hair-worm (_strongylus filaria_) has been found in great +numbers in the trachea and bronchii of calves by Camper, and of the +sheep by Daubeuton. It has also been found in the reed and duodenum of +the latter animal by Rudolphi. Two other species of the genus +_Strongle_, the _S. contortus_ and _S. filicollis_, have been detected +in the sheep, the former in the belly, the latter in the small +intestines. They all appear to originate only in such sheep as are +exposed to the sapping influence of low damp situations, combined with +stinted diet. Those occuring in the air tubes give rise to irritation, +and a consequent harassing cough, which is only to be arrested by +removing the sheep to a dry airy locality, and a nutritious pasture. +Unless portions of the worms are thrown up during coughing, they cannot +be pronounced with confidence to exist, as the symptoms which they +produce are very similar to those which accompany the two following +diseases. + +(157.) _Coryza._ During the winter months, this affection is of very +frequent occurence among sheep; but health is only in a few instances +seriously affected. It is brought on by the exposure of the animal to +intense cold, or to sudden chills, after it has been heated. In slight +cases, the only annoyance to which the sheep is subjected, is from +matter accumulating in the nostril, and plugging up the orifice, so +that the poor creature is compelled to raise its head every three or +four minutes, and labour hard for breath.[31] When the inflammation +extends further down the air tubes, the symptoms assume a severer type, +and death soon occurs, in general from suffocation. If the inflammation +of the bronchial tubes becomes chronic, that is to say, if it goes on +in a mild form for a length of time, pulmonary consumption (rot) will +in all probability succeed, and destroy the sheep in a more lingering +manner. + + [31] The sheep is more inconvenienced by Coryza than other + animals, owing to the naturally small calibre of the nostrils, + the inferior turbinated bone being of large dimensions, and + occupying the greater part of the nasal cavity. It is from this + peculiar formation of the nose, that sheep are so very easily + blown, when made to exert themselves in running. + +(158.) _Treatment of Coryza._ Should this disease prevail in a lenient +form among your sheep, removal to a sheltered field, and a dose of +purgative medicine, are all that is required. If, however, the feverish +symptoms are severe, besides giving a purgative, bleed at the outset of +the disease, and administer ten grains of the following fever powder, +dissolved in a tea-cupful of warm water:-- + + Take of powdered Digitalis (Foxglove) half a drachm. + Tartarized Antimony fifteen grains + Nitre two drachms. + +Rub them well together, and divide the mixture into fifteen parts or +powders. Half an hour after the powder is swallowed, give the sheep a +basin of warm gruel, and repeat the powder at the end of six hours, if +the symptoms are not considerably abated. When the sheep is recovering, +keep it on juicy food, and do not expose it to inclement weather, as it +will be very liable to another and more severe attack. Those sheep +which are subject to cough on slight changes of temperature, should +always be picked out, fattened for the market, and disposed of at the +earliest opportunity, as they will, in all probability, sooner or +later, fall victims to the following disease. + +(159.) _Rot._ Every animal, from the serpent up to man, that is to say, +every animal possessed of lungs, is liable to _rot_. The inelegance of +the term might be overlooked, provided a precise meaning were attached +to it. Every one, however, seems to place some peculiar signification, +and to hang some favourite theory, upon it, so that little wonder need +be expressed either at the varying tenor of the treatment, or at the +unsatisfactory conclusions which have been drawn regarding it. The word +"_rot_," when employed in speaking of man, implies what, in popular +language, is called "_consumption_," and is applied to that disease +only when it affects the lungs. Thus the fork-grinders of Sheffield, +who, from the nature of their employment, are much exposed to the +exciting causes of consumption, and who, at an early age, fall victims +to it, are said, by the people of that town, to die of rot. The term, +however, so far as it has yet been used in relation to the sheep, has +figured as the representative of a host of diseases, and, in becoming +standard from frequent usage, has only rendered confusion worse +confounded. "_Rot_," says the late Professor Coventry, in his +_Introductory Discourses_, "is a word which has been employed to +express a variety of disorders affecting this animal, with no small +confusion and detriment. Indeed, in few instances has senseless +indiscrimination done more mischief; for means inapt and injurious have +been had recourse to, where skilful and timely interference would have +had the happiest effects. Sheep are sometimes said to have the rot, +when they labour under _phthisis pulmonalis_ (consumption of the +lungs), which they do but rarely; or under disorders of the liver, as +_hepatitis chronica_, and that state of the same organ produced, or +attended by the _fasciolae hepaticae_ (fluke worms), _hydatides_, &c., +which affections of the liver are not unfrequent. But the most common +rot is still another and very distinct disorder, resembling, in many +points, and probably the very same in its nature with, _scorbutus_ +(scurvy) in the human species, or that _miseranda lues_, that direful +ruin of the general health and constitution, which silently supervenes +from deficient or depraved aliment; and from which, as numerous +observations testify, every flock, every sufferer, may be recovered by +simple means seasonably used; but against which, in its advanced stage, +all remedies prove of no avail. Perhaps, as the last symptoms of +debility are very similar, and are most taken notice of by ordinary +observers, the different kinds of rot might conveniently enough pass +under the names of pulmonic, hepatic, and general rot." + +Setting aside, for the moment, the inaccuracy of part of the above +observations, I shall only remark, that, though Dr Coventry, in thus +calling attention to the conflicting state of opinions on the subject, +has accomplished much in reconciling discrepancies, he has still left +something to be done in simplifying the matter; while he has, at the +same time, rendered that something difficult of execution, from his own +high authority being associated with the blunder. The only way, +therefore, to remedy the thing, is to quit for the present the views of +that learned gentleman, while I endeavour to give a plain account of +the disease, its causes, and effects. + +(160.) _Symptoms of Rot._ The first thing which indicates the presence +of the disease, is the unwillingness of the affected animal to move +about. It lags behind the flock, ascends a slope with difficulty, and +has a listless, heavy, pithless appearance. Cough varying in frequency +and violence, but extremely harassing, is present at every period of +the disease, and is always increased on the slightest exertion.[32] At +first this is accompanied by expectoration of the mucus of the air +tubes; but in no long time purulent matter, indicative of more +extensive inroads on the constitution, begins to be coughed up, and +goes on increasing in quantity and becoming worse in quality till the +termination of the disease. The wool becomes fine, white, thin, and +brittle in the pile, and is easily brought away in masses by the +slightest pull. The appetite is, throughout the disease, voracious, and +though all the bad symptoms may be present, still the animal keeps up +an appearance of plumpness. This, however, is hollow and deceitful, and +the rapid loss of flesh which immediately succeeds, shows with what +insidious certainty the malady has been progressing. Owing to the +falling off in flesh and in fat, the neck appears to have acquired +additional length, and the eyes to have sunk within the head. Sooner or +later the skin beneath the neck becomes distended with serous fluid, +and from this the disease has acquired the name of _Poke_. The word, +however, is far from applicable, as it might, with equal propriety, +stand for any other disease attended with dropsical accumulations. +Violent purging soon terminates the disease, death being generally +preceded by the evacuation of a quantity of blackish matter. + + [32] It is quite possible that a sheep may die of true + pulmonary consumption and yet have scarcely any cough. + +(161.) _Appearances on Dissection._ The first thing which strikes a +person on viewing the carcass of a sheep which has died of rot, is its +leanness. In conducting the examination, the fell appears of a bluish +white, the muscles are pale and wasted, and fat hardly to be met with. +Where it once existed, a tough yellow substance alone remains, which is +so destitute of all pretentions to the name of suet, that it cannot, +even when thrown upon a fire, be made to blaze. Dropsical accumulations +are found in the legs, chest, neck, and belly. On opening the chest, +the lungs are often seen adhering at intervals to the lining membrane +of the ribs, and have always a shrunk, diminutive appearance. These +adhesions are frequently seen where there are no tubercles, and are in +that case simply the result of exposure to cold; but where they are +coincident with tubercles, they may be ascribed either to the animal +having been exposed to cold, or to the inflammatory action set up by +the tubercles themselves. The lungs are always the principal, and I may +also, from my own experience, add, the primary seat of the affection. +When examined in the early stage of rot, they have a hard lumpy feel, +especially at the upper part or lobe, and at this time a great number +of irregular yellowish white, patchy-looking bodies (_Plate_ VI. _fig. +2._), will be seen shining through the membrane, _pleura_, which +surrounds the organ. These _tubercles_, as the hard white bodies are +called, vary in size from that of a mustard seed to that of a pea. They +are sprinkled through all parts of the lung, and will in every +dissection, be found in a variety of stages, from the firm condition in +which they were deposited, to the softened state which denotes their +speedy expectoration. Each tubercle, however small, usually holds a +particle of calcareous matter in its centre. The lungs, in the advanced +stage of rot, will be full of cells or caverns, owing to the +destruction of its texture by suppuration in those parts where +tubercles existed. The cells or sacs are of all sizes, from that of a +bean to that of a goose egg; but if the animal has been taken care of +during the progress of the complaint, and lingered long, the abscesses +will be so numerous, and so closely situated, as to give the remains of +the lung the appearance of a large bag. Extreme cases of this nature +are, however, rare; as the sheep, in general, either falls before the +knife, or is killed from exposure to cold long ere the disease has +reached its farthest limit. These sacs contain purulent matter, of all +shades and odours, and identical with that which the animal coughed up. + +Tubercles, and all their concomitants as above detailed, are also met +with in the liver, though not so frequently as in the lungs. They +constantly occur in the _clyars_ (mesenteric or lacteal glands) which +on this account are much above their usual size, and are occasionally +found in other parts; but I need not proceed in their description, as +sufficient has been said about them to enable the unprofessional reader +to understand their relation to the complaints. + +Fluke worms and hydatids are almost constant attendants on rot, and +seemingly most important ones, especially the former, which have, I may +say, kept a great bulk of the learned and unlearned for many years in a +perpetual bustle, and have so effectually hoodwinked writers on this +subject, as to prevent them seeing the truly important points in the +disease. For this reason, I hold them worthy of particular description; +as it is only by becoming acquainted with their history and habits that +we can form correct ideas either of their mode of origin or of their +supposed ability to cause rot. + +(162.) _The Liver Fluke_ (_fasciola hepatica_ or _distoma hepaticum_, +_Fig. 6._ _Plate_ I.) derives its name from the resemblance it bears to +the plaice or flounder, though its shape has been more aptly compared +to that of a melon seed. It is flat and oval, of a brownish-yellow +colour, and varies in size from that of a pin-head to one inch in +length, and half an inch in breadth. Each worm is bisexual or +hermaphrodite, on which account they multiply with great rapidity. The +generic name--_distoma_--signifies having two pores, _a.b. Fig. 6, +Plate_ I., and is for this reason applied to it. The nipple-like body +at the extremity _a._ contains the orifice of the pore or opening +leading to the female division of the generative apparatus, situated +between _a._ and _b._ In this cavity are formed the eggs, which are at +intervals protruded, to be hatched when floating in the sheep's bile. +The male organ is situated in front of the ventral pore. The anterior +opening _b._ is equivalent to a mouth, and leads inwards and backwards, +communicating with the intestinal canals _c._, which are easily made +out in the recent animal, from their containing dark bile, and which, +as in other creatures low in the scale of being, serve the double +purpose of a digestive and circulatory apparatus; that is to say, the +stomach first prepares a fluid which is equivalent to blood, and then +distributes it throughout the body.[33] + + [33] The examination of fluke worms is much facilitated by + placing several of various sizes flat upon a slip of glass, and + allowing them to dry in this position. On holding the glass + between a bright light and a lens, and looking through the + latter, the distribution of the vessels, and the position and + form of the eggs, are beautifully displayed. + +Flukes are never found in the _arteries_ of the liver, as has been +erroneously stated by some writers, their abode being limited to the +gall bladder and its ducts. In these they are often present in such +numbers as to cause great distention of the sac and tubes, and in some +instances the irritation produced by them leads to the thickening of +the walls of the gall bladder, and to a deposition of calcareous matter +between its coats; frequently also to complete obliteration of portions +of the ducts. Hence the crackling sound sometimes perceived when +handling the liver of a rotten sheep. + +(163.) _The Hydatid or Blob_ (_Cysticercus tumicollis_, _Fig. 1._ +_Plate_ VII.) so frequently found in sheep, is in form one of the +simplest of the entozoa (literally dwellers within), being little more +than a bag containing a quantity of fluid. As relates to outline, this +hydatid bears no small resemblance to a Florence flask. It is said to +have a head, _h._--a neck, _n._--a body, _b._-- and a posterior or +caudal vesicle, _c.v._ Its claims to the title of an animal have been +much disputed, but as it has been seen to move spontaneously, and as +the contained fluid is always essentially different from that by which +the hydatid is surrounded, the question may be looked upon as set at +rest.[34] + + [34] The property of acting on organized matter, so as to + convert it into substances similar to those which constitute + the agent, is characteristic of a vital power. + +The method of their reproduction is in unison with their structure, +simple in the extreme. Nothing, however, very precise is known about +the process. The vesicle which acts as heart and stomach serves also as +the reproductive cavity, but how or by what means it is fecundated +would be difficult to determine. The young hydatids are found adhering +to the inner surface of the parent cavity. When they have attained +maturity, the parent dies and shrivels, and the young ones begin to +eliminate their nourishment from the juices of the quadruped which they +infest. + +These entozoa are found in general on the surface of the intestines, +between them and their outer membrane (_peritoneum_), and on the +exterior of the lungs and liver. They are always included in a cyst, to +the inner surface of which they adhere by means of two hook-shaped +processes projecting from the head. These cysts are always on the +surface of the different viscera of the sheep, and in this way may be +distinguished from another sacular animal, or rather supposed animal, +termed acephalocyst or headless bag, which is sometimes found in +clusters in the substance of the lungs, liver, &c. and is often +confounded with the true hydatid. + +(164.) _Causes of Rot._ If any one had been asked, thirty years ago, +the cause or rather causes of the appearances which pass under the name +of rot, he could not have enumerated them even in a day, for at that +time each symptom was a disease, and as such was reckoned worthy of a +separate and proximate cause. Nor could any person have had the courage +to promulgate a common-sense opinion on the subject; for simple views +regarding the diseases of domestic animals were then either not deemed +worthy of a moment's notice, or, if considered, were swept at once, by +the strong current of prejudice, into the foul ocean of predetermined +disapproval. Opinions in cattle medicine were at that time valued +according to the prolixity of their detail; and the more improbable the +dependence of the effects upon the cause assigned, so much more was its +discoverer lauded, and in like proportion was the chimerical fabric he +had raised admired. Times are, however, now happily changed; that +potent oculist, the march of intellect, has cleared the film from the +public eye, and no one need, at present, be afraid to state the +unaspiring fact, that _tubercles_ are the sole and proximate cause of +the disease called rot. + +The observations of the late Dr Coventry, already quoted, would lead us +to suppose that tubercles are of rare occurrence in the lungs of sheep, +but in refutation of this assertion, I need only request the reader to +take a ramble through a butcher-market, and he will perceive, even on +cursory inspection, the fallacy of this conclusion. What the state of +the liver is which is attended with flukes and hydatids, he has left us +to make out. Chronic hepatitis, which accompanies tubercles in the +liver, goes for nothing as a disease of sheep, and therefore does not +require a notice; besides, it is not rot, and is quite incompetent of +itself to cause it. As for the scurvy of which he speaks, he evidently +means the disease now generally known by the name of _Pining_, but +which, as it has no connexion with rot, and has only become prevalent +within the last sixteen years, could not be very well known to him. + +The following questions will naturally occur to many of my readers. +What gives rise to these tubercles? what are the predisposing causes +which lead to their formation? and, when formed, how do these +apparently unirritating bodies produce effects so baneful? Queries like +these, however, cannot shortly be replied to, leading, as they do, to +discussions which embrace many curious theories; but as the negative +mode of teaching is often of avail where the positive or more direct +would fail to bring conviction, I shall, before proceeding to allude to +what the causes are, endeavour to state what they are not. + +_Imaginary Causes of Rot._ The liver-fluke has long been looked upon as +the origin of rot, and this opinion has now become so deeply rooted, +and taken so fast a hold of the public mind, that if I were to +contradict it by plain assertion, I should only be striving to buffet +singly a tide of opposition. The best way, therefore, will be to +examine a few of the theories supposed to be confirmatory of the notion +that fluke worms are the beginning of the mischief, and then see +whether their supporters have managed to make good the point. + + + I. The fluke is supposed to get into the liver of the sheep by + being swallowed, and this, according to our theorists, may be + brought about in some of the following ways:-- + + 1. The eggs may be floating in the air, and thus accidentally + reach their destination. This is the view taken by the celebrated + Clater; but if he had been, in this instance, a man of + experiment, rather than of idle conjecture, he would have found, + as any one readily may, that the eggs of the fluke worm sink in + water, and, consequently, that they cannot float in air.[35] + + [35] To obtain the eggs of the fluke worm for examination, hold + a saucer under the gall bladder, make an opening in it with + scissors, and the bile containing the eggs will flow into the + dish. Pick out any fluke worms that may be in the fluid, then + dilute it with about twelve times its bulk of water, agitate + for a few minutes, and filter. The eggs will be found in the + corner of the filtering paper. + + 2. The Rev. Dr Singer, to whom Scotland at large, and + Dumfries-shire in particular, is much indebted for numerous and + valuable papers on agricultural subjects, states, in the third + volume of the _Highland Society's Transactions_, page 478, that + "The spawn or eggs of the liver fluke are most probably _conveyed + upon the grass_ by summer watering, and afterwards taken into the + stomach with it." A few lines further on, he speaks of the eggs + being "wafted thither by harvest waterings." Now, as the fluke is + only produced within the sheep, I need only put the unanswerable + questions--How are they conveyed to the grass? and from whence + are they wafted? to refute at once this hasty notion. + + 3. The eggs may be voided by the sheep, may fall upon the + herbage, and there remain till they are eaten. Such is the + supposition published by Mr King of Hammersmith, in the + _Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, No. XXXI. p. 331, in which, + after showing the vast number of eggs which must fall upon the + grass, he says, "We must cease to wonder that so many sheep die + of rot; the miracle is, that every sheep does not die of it."! I + cannot, however, for my part, see a miracle in the matter, for + the simple reason, that the eggs of the entozoa are not capable + of retaining their vitality when absent even for a very short + time from the place of their nativity, and therefore may be eaten + with impunity. + + + II. Supposing the eggs to have reached the sheep's stomach in a + condition to allow of their being hatched, they, according to + popular voice, find their way into the gall bladder by one of two + routes. + + 1. Mr King, the gentleman above spoken of, conjectures, in the + same paper, that the fluke, after leaving the egg in the stomach + of the sheep, _makes its way up the gall vessels_. This is, I am + sorry to say, a very idle conjecture, as, from the valvular + nature of the opening of the gall duct into the duodenum, an + entrance from that intestine to the gall bladder is perfectly + impracticable to any of the entozoa.[36] + + [36] The notion that rot is occasioned by animalcules getting + into the liver is not confined to this country. Leake, in his + travels in the Morea, alludes to an opinion prevalent there, + that the _vidhela_ (rot) is caused by the sheep feeding in + marshy places in August and September, when it is imagined that + an insect from the plants finds its way into the biliary + vessels. + + 2. The eggs are believed by a writer in the _Letters of the Bath + Society of Agriculture_, for 1781, to be taken into the blood + along with the chyle from the small intestines, and to be + arrested in the liver by the secretory ducts. This, it must be + clear to every one, is the most absurd of all the notions; for if + a globule of blood, which we must suppose to be the largest body + capable of being absorbed from the intestine, is only about + 1/3000 of an inch in diameter, how can the egg of a fluke worm + pass through the same channel, when Mr King has, by careful + observation, shown it to be 1/300 an inch in its shortest + measurement. Again, allowing that they are taken into the blood, + would they not frequently be hatched there, and would they not + also be found in other quarters besides the liver. But do we ever + find them in the blood? Do we ever see them in other organs? + Certainly not. + + Not one of these theories would ever have been broached had their + authors been aware of two important circumstances. 1. That M. + Schreiber, the director of the Museum at Vienna, has proved that + worms and their ova are not capable, under ordinary + circumstances, of resisting the action of the digestive organs, + and, therefore, that they cannot be introduced into the body by + this channel. "During six months, he fed a pole-cat almost + exclusively on various kinds of intestinal worms, and their eggs + mixed up with milk; and on killing and examining it, at the end + of this period, not a single worm of any kind was found in + it."[37] The reader may perhaps object to this illustration, on + the ground that there is so vast a difference between a sheep and + a pole-cat, that a comparison in regard to their digestive habits + cannot possibly hold good, but if he will turn to paragraph (96), + he will see that the stomach of a sheep is as well fitted as that + of a carnivorous quadruped for the digestion of animal matters. + 2dly, the fluke worm has been found by Frommen in the foetus of + the sheep, into which it could not have been conveyed by + transmission from the mother, as there is no direct vascular + communication between the foetal and maternal side. + + [37] Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, Vol. iv. p. 524. + + From a consideration of all these data, the conclusion must at + once be drawn, that as living flukes cannot reach the liver from + without, they must of a necessity be produced only in particular + states of the animal they inhabit. How they originate we cannot + of course determine, and this is not the place to hazard + physiological conjectures; but it will be found that their + appearance in the bile is always preceded by tuberculous deposits + in the lungs or liver. This I have proved by numerous + dissections, in which I have occasionally found tubercles without + flukes, but never met with flukes where I did not at the same + time discover tubercles. Fluke worms, therefore, can never be + regarded as a cause of rot, they must be looked upon merely as a + symptom. We cannot, however, say that tubercles give rise to the + liver-fluke, for tubercles are often present in cases where + flukes are absent; and if the latter were the effect of the + former, their presence under such circumstances would in all + probability be constant. + + + III. Particular plants have been said to cause rot, but the proofs + of their evil tendencies being in every instance about as logically + supported as the fluke theories already mentioned, I need not + trouble myself or the reader by proceeding to details. + + +_Real Causes of Rot._ Everything that has a tendency to weaken the +animal, will be more or less liable to lead to rot. Exposure to cold +and wet, mishaps at lambing time, food bad in quality or deficient in +quantity, and over-driving, will all predispose the constitution to the +deposition of tubercles. It is from the causes being in this way common +to the whole flock, that contagious properties have been ascribed to +rot, it having been observed, from the time of Virgil, to break out in +many animals at once.[38] + + [38] + + "Nor oftener are the floods disturb'd with wind + Than sheep with rots; nor doth the sickness find + One to destroy, but suddenly doth fall + On root and branch, stock and original." + + _Virgil's Georgics_, Lib. III. + +The reason of so many different things having, from first to last, +been reckoned capable of producing this disease, appears to lie in the +known fact, that if a sheep be exposed to any of the above depressing +agents, rot, if the animal be as yet untainted, will not, at the +moment, shew itself; but a chain of morbid actions will in all +probability then commence, and, being beyond the ken of ordinary +observers, will pass unheeded, till some slight mismanagement in food +or shelter, hastens their progress, and renders them apparent to the +plainest understanding. The final symptoms of rot may thus occur on any +kind of pasture, and the scene of the catastrophe will incur a stigma +which ought to be attached to herbage which the sheep have consumed at +some distant place or date. + +Bad food is justly regarded as one of the most common causes of rot, +and ranks, in my estimation, next to cold and wet, in its power of +producing it. I shall only remark, on this point, that of all the +food on which sheep can possibly be kept, none is known to act so +deleteriously as grass which has sprouted quickly. Rot is well known to +occur most frequently on land which has been irrigated during summer, +for at this season any excess of moisture is peculiarly injurious to +the economy of a plant. + +When plants by heat and moisture are stimulated to increased exertion +on a poor soil, they acquire bulk without having it in their power to +obtain at the same time those saline matters which constitute a healthy +plant, becoming in fact, to the eye of an inexperienced person, +thriving vegetables, while to the palate they prove wersh and watery. + +The same result may follow from a different process. The saline matter +may not be taken up, even when the soil is rich in such ingredients, +from the functional derangement into which the roots or digestive +organs have been thrown by the unnatural circumstances in which it has +been placed. A plant is composed, like all organized bodies, of a +certain number of proximate principles, which are more or less numerous +in different kinds. These are combined with varying quantities of +potass, soda, lime, magnesia, and iron, which, though formerly supposed +to be too trifling in quantity materially to affect the quality of the +plant, have yet been recently and satisfactorily proved completely +to change the character of the compound, even when the excess or +deficiency amounts only to a 1/10000th part so that, supposing an +animal to thrive on plants which contain salts of any or all of the +above bodies, it will soon fall off if these plants are in any way +deprived of a single adjunct; for by the removal of that one salt, +their nature has been entirely altered. + +The certainty and rapidity with which Bakewell could rot his sheep, by +pasturing them, in Autumn, on land over which water had been allowed +to flow during the previous summer, may seem to controvert what I +have above stated, as to time and frequent change of pasture often +intervening between the origin of the disease, and its termination; but +when it is recollected that he pursued the destructive system of +breeding _in_ and _in_, of itself sufficient to induce a tuberculous +predisposition, the reader will perceive that his sheep were, in all +likelihood, more or less tainted, and therefore, sure to fall victims +to the disease the moment they were subjected to the deleterious +influence of an unwholesome pasture.[39] + + [39] When parcels of Mr Bakewell's best sheep became, from any + defect, unserviceable to him, he used to fatten them for the + butcher. But as there was a _probability_ of their becoming + valuable in other hands, he always gave them the rot before he + sold them! An example, which, I hope, for the sake both of man + and sheep, never to see followed. + +Over-driving and hurrying of every kind, is, in my opinion, a fruitful +source of rot, not only from the fatigue it causes, or the risk it +leads to of taking cold, but also from the injury, which in many cases +results, to the delicate texture of the lungs. As shown in the note to +paragraph (157), no animal is more easily put out of breath by running, +than the sheep. Whenever the breathing is hurried, the circulation +through the lungs is quickened also. If the tissue of the lungs be in +any way delicate, the force with which the blood is propelled is sure +to make it yield, and in this manner the animal is often suffocated by +the large quantity of blood, which issues into the air tubes at once +from many points. Fig. 1, Plate VI. exhibits a good illustration of +this taken from a sheep. Numerous red points are seen sprinkled over +the surface of the section, indicating that blood has been effused from +many minute torn vessels. Now, if this animal had survived, each speck +of blood would have formed a centre, round which tuberculous matter, as +in Fig. 2, Plate VI. would have been secreted, and death from rot, at +some ulterior period, would, in all probability, have been the +result.[40] + + [40] Pathologists differ as to whether tubercle is the cause or + consequence of _hemoptysis_, as this effusion of blood into the + tissue of the lungs is termed. Andral, however, is decidedly of + opinion that hemoptysis is one of the exciting causes, and, in + domestic animals, I believe it to precede tubercle more + frequently than is generally imagined. + +(165.) _Treatment of Rot._ As reason and experience have taught us that +tathy herbage is a common cause of this complaint, we should, when it +shows itself, at once remove the animals to a better pasture, where +they should be exempted from teazing of every kind. + +Salt appears, after every trial, to be the best medicine, and to this +they should have, at all times, ready access. Should the disease be +rather far advanced, the breathing hurried, and the cough annoying, +occasional doses of the following infusion will be of service, in +enabling the farmer to keep down the disease, till such time as he can +conveniently dispose of the animal. + + Take of Leaves of Foxglove two ounces, + Boiling water two English pints: + +pour the water on the leaves, cover up the vessel, and keep it in a +warm place for six or eight hours, then strain. + +Two tea-spoonfuls morning and evening may be given to a sheep, but as +the plant is an active poison, and the strength of its infusion liable +to vary, a couple of days should always intervene between every six +doses. + +About the year 1800, a notion prevailed in this country, that an +effectual remedy for rot had been discovered by the Dutch, but this was +quite unfounded, no _cure_ ever having been hit upon for this sweeping +malady; indeed, a cure is fairly out of the question: its prevention +and palliation, but not its eradication, being all that we can hope +for. Sundry plausible plans of treatment have, however, at one time or +another been contrived, some of them, in all conscience, harmless +enough, but others again as well adapted for the destruction of the +animal, as the removal of the disease. + +As fluke worms have usually been reckoned the cause of rot, so the +treatment has principally consisted in attempts to effect their +extermination. With this view, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coule, +in defiance of all preconceived medical opinion, advocated, in his work +on _Sheep_, published in 1809, the employment of mercury to stay the +progress of rot, and in the same work, _or one very like it_, as lately +published anonymously by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful +Knowledge, under the title of the _Mountain Shepherd's Manual_, the +utility of this dangerous procedure is as firmly maintained. At the +same time Sir George, though rather in the dark as to the real nature +of the disease, admits, in both editions, that tubercles exist in rot, +especially in the lungs. Now, if he had inquired of any medical person +what drug ought, when tubercles are present, of all others to be +avoided, he would have found that medicine to be mercury. The +administration of it therefore in rot, no matter what may be the form +or mode in which it is exhibited, will to a certainty aggravate the +symptoms, and shorten life. If, for the sake of doing something, you +will _endeavour_ to remove the worms, Chabert's animal oil will be +found a safe and efficacious remedy; but, if my opinion can have any +weight, I would recommend the farmer to allow them to remain. + +Sheep, when displaying symptoms of rot, should always be kept dry and +warm. If they must be retained throughout the winter, good sound solid +food, such as well made hay or oats, should be afforded them, and the +shelter of a straw yard should if possible be obtained. A liberal +supply of salt should be given with all their provender; and if they do +not seem to relish it, give them occasionally a small quantity in water +as a drench. + +(166.) _Prevention of Rot._ On this head I need do little more than +remark that attention to the causes will go a great way to point out +the necessary means for its prevention. Admission of the sheep to rank +soft grass, heavy stocking, short allowance of food during winter, +every thing in fact which leads to the exposure of the animal should be +scrupulously avoided. The strongest constitution cannot with impunity +be tampered with, and the soundest habit will fall before the mining +attacks of want and weather. Keep your stock always in as high health +as possible, for such is the surest prevention of tuberculous disease. + +As rot is hereditary,[41] the importance of weeding out ewes from the +flock on their first exhibiting appearances of unsoundness, is +acknowledged by all. Many ways have been pointed out for detecting the +incipient symptoms, but none plainer and better than those written by +the late Mr Beattie of Muckledale, and published in the 3d vol. of the +_Highland Society's Transactions_. "The first thing to be observed," +says Mr Beattie, "is in the spring, when they are dropping their lambs. +A sound ewe, in good order, drops a lamb covered with a thick and +yellow slime, which the ewe licks off it, and the rule is, the sounder +and the higher the condition the ewe is in, the darker and thicker will +be the slime; but when they observe a ewe drop a lamb covered with thin +watery bubbles, and very white, they note her down as unsound." + + [41] MM. Dupuy and Andral have seen tubercles in the foetus + of the sheep. + +"About the month of September, when they intend to dispose of their +draught ewes, they put all their sheep into a fold, and draw them by +the hand, that is, they catch them all, viz. the ewes they design to +sell any of, and clapping their hand upon the small of the back, they +rub the flesh backwards and forwards between their fingers and thumb +and the ends of the short ribs: if the flesh be solid and firm, they +consider her as sound; if they find it soft and flabby, and if, when +they rub it against the short ribs, it ripples, as we term it, that is, +a sort of crackling is perceived, as if there were water or blubber in +it, they are certain she is unsound. This is the most certain of all +symptoms, but is not to be discerned with any degree of certainty but +by an experienced hand; for although, as I have here related it, it +seems a very simple affair, and easily acquired, yet it is well known +that many shepherds, who have followed sheep all their lives, never +arrived at any thing like certainty in judging by the hand, whilst men +of superior skill will seldom be mistaken, and will draw by no other +rule. Yet still it must be acknowledged that the seeds of this disease +will sometimes lie so occult, as to baffle all skill, and that no man +can with absolute certainty draw a stock tainted with the rot. There is +another method, to which men of inferior skill resort, which is more +easily acquired. They take a sheep's head between their hands, and +press down the eyelids, they thereby make the sheep turn its eyeball so +that they get a view of the vessels in which the eyeball rolls: if +these are thin, red, and free of matter, they consider the sheep as +sound; but if they are thick, of a dead white colour, and seem as if +there was some white matter in them, they are confident she is rotten. +This is a pretty general rule, and easily discerned; but I think it is +not so certain as when they are judged by the back; for in firm healthy +lands the eye of a sheep is far redder than it is in sheep upon grassy +lands. And in some boggy lands the eye is never very red, be the sheep +ever so sound, so that there you cannot so well judge by the eye; but +when you see the eye of a sheep a good deal whiter and thicker, and +more matter in it (I mean the vessels in which the eyeball rolls) than +the run of the flock amongst which it feeds, you have reason to suspect +it is not sound. + +"There is another method by which I have seen some men attempt to judge +of the soundness of sheep. It is a well known fact, that when sheep are +rotten the lungs swell to a greater size; they therefore lay the sheep +down upon its broad side, and pressing the skin in at the flank, up +below the ribs, _pretend_ to feel the lungs. But if there is anything +to be learned by this I could never perceive it, and have seen some +men, who pretended to know most by it, very often mistaken. + +"These are the principal rules by which the Highland farmers draw their +stocks; and they relate all to ewe stocks; for as to wedders, they are +generally all sold off when they are three years old, and those that +buy them for feeding mostly buy them by the condition they appear +outwardly to be in at the time, and the character of the ground upon +which they were bred." + +(167.) _Jaundice._ I have never seen this disease in the sheep, and +have heard almost nothing of it; indeed it is very rare, few having +ever witnessed cases of it. It is consequently very imperfectly +understood, every one who has written about it assigning for its +occurrence a different cause. The principal symptoms to be depended on, +according to those who have treated it, are a yellowness of the eyes, +and an obstinate sluggishness of the animal, almost amounting to sleep. +Copious bleeding and two ounce doses of Glauber salts have been +recommended for the treatment, which must be gone about promptly, as +the disease is said to be quickly fatal. Reasoning from what is known +about jaundice in man, I would, were a case to occur to me in the +sheep, give a good dose of calomel, say 15 grains, in conjunction with +the salts, unless the disease had supervened on rot, when I would +substitute ten grains of ipecacuanha for the mercury. + +(168.) _Dropsy._ When it is the concluding symptom of a disease, it may +be reckoned part of the complaint itself, and treated accordingly. +Often, however, it is the first thing which attracts the attention of +the shepherd, and when such is the case it will usually be traced to +long exposure to cold and wet. In this event the best plan is to bleed +largely, and give two or three smart doses of Epsom salts. When it +occurs in young lambs, sweet spirit of nitre, given in the quantity of +a tea-spoonful twice a-day, is found to be attended with the happiest +effects. Tapping, or, as it is popularly termed, _stabbing_, or +_sticking_, to permit the escape of the water, is the cure resorted to +in South Africa, when it appears in old sheep, after exposure to rain; +but this ought never to be resorted to unless under the guidance of a +medical person. It would be much better at once to kill the sheep. + +(169.) _Sturdy._ As shown in the tabular view of the diseases, in +foot-note to paragraph (121), this affection may be the result either +of pressure on the brain from an animal growth, or from the +accumulation of a fluid. Serum is in both cases the mechanical cause of +the symptoms, but in the former it is eliminated from neighbouring +parts by a hydatid, while in the latter it is merely deposited in some +of the natural cavities (the ventricles) of the brain, owing to a +congested state of the spinal marrow, the result of continued cold upon +the back. + +Figure 2, Plate VII., taken from Rudolphi, exhibits a view of the +animal which gives rise to the first variety of sturdy. It is the +many-headed hydatid of the brain, _Coenurus Cerebralis_ of naturalists. +Like the _Cysticercus tenuicollis_, already described under the head of +Rot, it consists of a thin membranous cyst, full or otherwise of serous +fluid; but, unlike the aforementioned animal is studded over with +groups of little velvety appendages or heads, each of which has a +series of barbs projecting round the mouth. Figure 2, _a_, Plate VII., +is a highly magnified representation of two of these heads. + +A good idea of the hydatid, as it exists in the sheep, may be derived +from an inspection of Fig 1. Pl. VIII., which has been engraved from a +sketch kindly furnished to me by my friend Dr Kirk of Deal. Fig. 1 +represents the brain of a sheep two years old, which has been affected +with sturdy. The right lobe, _a_, of the cerebellum or lesser brain, is +much distended with fluid, which is enclosed in a membraneous bag, as +shown at _b_, where an incision has been made to expose it, and at _c_, +where it is shining through one of the coverings of the brain, the pia +mater. + +The hydatid is found of all sizes, from that of a pea to that of Fig. +2, Plate VII. Large ones are far from rare, and the ventricle is +frequently enormously distended. The hydatid in the brain from which +Fig. 2, Plate VIII. was taken, though not filled to repletion, +contained ten drachms of serum. The ventricle was consequently much +dilated, as shown at _a_ in that figure, and the usual course and size +of the convolutions completely altered. Instead of being folded, like +the intestines, upon themselves, they proceeded, as seen at _b b_, from +back to front of the brain; while the furrows between them, which are, +in the healthy animal, usually too shallow to be measured, were in +several places as deep as the length of the lines at _c d_. + +This excessive accumulation of fluid within the brain leads, as might +be expected, to the dilatation of the skull, and to the absorption of +its walls, when the bones, young though the animal be when affected +with sturdy, can no longer be made to yield. For this reason the skull, +towards the termination of the disease, generally becomes thin and soft +in front of the root of the horn, and in this way offers a spot which, +from its being easily pierced, is frequently made the seat of surgical +operations. Other parts of the skull also undergo considerable +thinning, more so indeed than in front of the horn. The attention of +the farmer has hardly, if ever, been called to this fact, though I +believe that, for one instance in which perforation occurs in the +frontal bone, it will be noticed a score of times on the sides of the +head. In a head with which I was favoured by Mr Grieve, Branxholm +braes, each temple, exactly beneath the superior extremity of the +upright branch of the lower jaw, displayed a circular opening entirely +through the bone, wide enough to permit the passage of an ounce bullet. + +Whatever may produce pressure on the brain, the symptoms which indicate +it are nearly always the same. The sheep has a dull, stupid look, turns +very often round and round, and will, when water is in its way, stand +staring at it till at last, giddy and confused, it plumps fairly in. +If, when the symptoms are very unpromising, convulsive movements should +occur, they may be taken as a favourable sign, as they indicate a +diminution of the pressure on the brain. A minute description of the +morbid appearances in hydrocephalus could serve no good purpose, I +therefore pass on to the prevention of sturdy. + +(170.) _Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy._ The variety caused by +hydatids can only be prevented by the use of dry, well grown, wholesome +food. Dr Jenner found that he could cause hydatids to form in rabbits +at will, by feeding them on green succulent provision; and it is well +known that this form of sturdy prevails among sheep chiefly in marshy +places, as the fens of Lincolnshire. + +Water in the head is generally induced, as first pointed out by the +Ettrick Shepherd, in the _Farmer's Magazine_ for 1812, by the back of +the animal being chilled, as is evident from the following facts:-- + + "1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety winter. + + "2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill-sheltered, + and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and + showers. + + "3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of + which separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet + and cold. + + "4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to + cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the + disease." + +Bratting is therefore the best preventive, and it is as cheap as it is +effectual. One pair of old blankets, worth only some four or five +shillings, will furnish coverings for forty hogs, and if laid carefully +aside in spring, they will continue serviceable for two or three years. +An operation can avail nothing--slaughtering the sheep is therefore the +only expedient. + +When the existence of a hydatid near the surface of the brain is +denoted by the skull yielding, at some particular spot, to the firm +pressure of the thumb, its extraction must be set about in the manner +described in paragraph (118), where I have also given my objections to +the common modes of operating. + +(171.) _Trembling._ Several affections are included under the name of +_trembling_ or _leaping-ill_, all having, in common, more or less of +the symptoms which these names denote. They may be considered as +arising from exposure to cold and damp, especially on long fatiguing +journies, as in bringing sheep from the Highlands to the south of +Scotland, when it frequently prevails to so great an extent, on +reaching the low country, as to oblige the shepherd to leave eight or +ten behind him at every stage. Injuries of the loins, either inflicted +by themselves in jumping and running, or by others from rough usage in +the fold, are common causes of the disease; but in this variety the +hind quarters only are powerless. Another species is owing to +oppression of the brain from congestion, in this way resembling +incipient sturdy, and occurring only in very fat sheep. + +(172.) _Treatment of Trembling._ The first variety is best met by rest, +shelter, and a supply of nutritious food; but as the animal is +incapable, in many cases, of collecting it, the shepherd must lift it +from one rich part of the field to another, so soon as it has cleared +away the grass within its reach. In the second kind, as caused by +accident, the sheep must be slaughtered, as, should a cure be +attempted, the treatment will be too tedious and complicated to succeed +in ordinary hands. Copious blood-letting, and doses of Epsom salts, +will be found of most advantage in the third species; but if the sheep +can be disposed of so much the better, as this kind of _trembling_ is +almost certain, unless combated by energetic depletion, to end in +sturdy. + +(173.) _Wood Evil_ is nothing more than a cramp of the hind legs, owing +to water dripping upon them from trees after a shower of rain, and is +best treated by enveloping them in flannel, wrung out of hot water; but +if the sheep is at the time very chill, gentle friction must first be +used, else dangerous consequences will ensue. Rubbing with warm +turpentine has been recommended, and is apparently worthy of a trial. + +(174.) _Inflamed Eyes._ The pollen of flowers getting into the eyes +while feeding, is a common cause of this annoyance, which need not be +described, as, from being visible, it is known to all. Examine the +eyes, and remove any irritating body. Then, if the disease be of recent +date, bleed the animal largely from the jugular vein, and give it +several doses of Epsom, or Glauber's salt. After the inflammation is +subdued, or should it be in the suppurating stage when first noticed, +hold the lids asunder, and drop upon the eye, three or four times a +day, a solution of white vitriol, five grains to the ounce of water. +Where this cannot be had, pure _cold_ water dashed against the eyes and +head several times a day will serve as a substitute. + +Though sheep are not so much incommoded by blindness as other animals, +from the instinctive care usually taken of the sufferer by the rest of +the flock, still such a mishap should always be prevented by energetic +treatment at the commencement of the symptoms. + +(175.) _Soft Cancer of the Eye_, or, as it is also called by medical +men, _Fungus Hematodes_, is of very rare occurrence among sheep, and +indeed would not have deserved a notice here, were it not that, from +being a malignant disease, it might be looked upon as quite incurable. +I can only describe it as a soft, spongy tumour, rising from the bottom +of the eye, involving all the textures of that organ, so as to render +them scarcely recognizable, and bleeding on the slightest touch. It is +readily removed by passing a stout thread through the front of the eye +with a needle, so as to afford the operator a hold by which to pull it +outwards with the left hand, while, with the right, he cuts round it +with a narrow-bladed knife. The operation is attended only with slight +pain, but must not be considered the sole curative means; the sheep +must have, at the same time, a frequent change of pasture, to prevent a +recurrence of the tumour. + +There is a very large tumour of this description at present in the +museum of Guy's Hospital, taken from a sheep which recovered perfectly. + + + + +APPENDIX + +REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA. + + +As the preceding pages were not written so much for the well-educated +farmer, as for those who practise sheep-husbandry without previous +training, it may not be considered amiss, consistently with the plan +of the work, to sum up the chief points to be attended to in the +management of sheep in Australia. This I shall do from the best +authorities, and guided by the direct advice of extensive sheep +proprietors who have long resided there, and had every experience in +the subject. + +Though it was for some time, according to Dr Lang,[42] a matter of +controversy in the colony, whether the Merino or the Saxon Merino +produced the finer wool or was more profitable for the sheep-farmer; +the preference is now given to the Saxon breed, as they not only yield +an excellent fleece, but are much superior in carcass to the pure +Merino. The fact, however, of Australia having been considered, from +its earliest colonization, as unrivalled by any country in the quality +of its wool, goes far to prove that, with ordinary care, almost any +variety may be brought to yield a very superior produce. The mildness +of the climate, the extensive range of pasture, the steady supply of +food, and the consequent unvarying health of the animal, give the +poorest breeds a superiority which could hardly be attained in any +other quarter of the world. Indeed, as noticed at paragraph (70.), +Australia appears by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine +animals, even from the worst beginnings. + + [42] History of New South Wales, Vol. i. p. 309. + +Great, however, as the capabilities of the colony are for the growth of +the finest wools, the intending emigrant must not suppose that he will +obtain them without devoting to the subject a particular portion of his +regard. Mild warm air, and abundant diet, will go far towards putting +him in possession of a superior flock; but without earnest attention to +the minor details required in the management of his sheep, the most +favourable locality will avail him little. + +Let Australia be ever so much praised, as being peculiarly adapted for +the rearing of sheep, they have there, in common with every kind of +animal in every part of the world, a certain liability to disease. +With all its boasted steadiness of climate, bad seasons occasionally +occur, and lead to sickness among the flocks, and in addition to the +usual chances of loss arising from this cause in other countries, +there is, in some parts of it, a still more dreaded mischief resulting +almost unavoidably from the moral constitution of its society. A +convict-servant who has a pique at his master, has it often entirely in +his own power to subject the flocks under his charge to some one or +other of the serious diseases to which sheep in all countries are +peculiarly liable. He may pasture them on an improper spot, and thus +induce diarrhoea, or even rot; or he may drive them a few miles from +their usual feeding ground, as Dr Lang remarks, when there is nobody +present to take cognizance of the fact, and thereby bring them into +contact with a scabbed flock. "The chief source of the wealth and +prosperity of the colony," says Dr Lang, "is thus, in great measure, at +the mercy of the most worthless of men; and so much is this the case, +that a highly respectable and intelligent magistrate, observed in the +course of a short conversation I had with him before embarking for +England, that if there should not be a large annual importation of free +emigrant shepherds from the mother country into the colony, the owners +of sheep throughout the territory will in future be under the necessity +of reducing, or rather of preventing the increase of, their flocks." +Thus circumstanced, the Australian settler has surely sufficient +reasons for inducing him to make himself familiar with the management +and diseases of the animal, on which he is placing his principal +dependence. + +When the country is destitute of timber, the sheep are very easily +managed, and so many as a thousand may be trusted to a single shepherd; +but in general, they are divided into flocks of about three hundred +breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers. "Every flock," says Mr +Cunningham, "has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before +sunrise in the morning, and brings them in after sunset at night. He +keeps always before the flock to check the forward among them from +running onwards, and wearing out the old, sick, and lame; making all +thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition. In summer, he +sees too that they have water during the heat of the day; and in +drawing up under a tree for shade, when it is too hot for feeding, he +passes occasionally gently among them, spreads them out and makes them +take a fresh position in as small groups as possible, under another +tree; because when they remain too long together in one place, they are +apt to become broken winded. It is a rule that sheep should never +remain in one spot so long as to paddle the ground much with their +feet; and hence, in riding round your sheep stations, you have +something whereby to judge whether or not your instructions are +attended to. The shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is +required to be on the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from +being lost in the woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among +them. They must always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive +that the shepherd can walk quietly among them, without disturbing them, +you may set him down as a gentle and careful man; for if he uses his +flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three flocks +are always penned together under the charge of a watchman, who counts +each regularly _in_ at night, and the shepherds again count them _out_ +in the morning; so that they form a regular check upon each other, and +prevent losses from carelessness or depredation. The watchman has a +small weather-proof watch-box to sleep in, and is assisted by a +watch-dog; he keeps up a good fire, which generally deters all native +dogs from approaching the fold. The hurdles are made of light swamp +oak, iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with five bars, so +close together that a young lamb cannot creep through, and usually cost +about 1s. 6d. a-piece. They are shifted to fresh ground daily, being +sloped outwards, and propped together by means of forked sticks, +driving a stake through between the bars here and there to keep the +hurdles firm, and prevent the wind from blowing them over, little +support being derived from their feet, which are pressed but slightly +into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully removed from the +hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in, to prevent any of the +latter being staked; the hurdles too are never pitched where ant hills +are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon it, while the trees with +black bark are carefully denuded thereof, to prevent discolouration of +the wool." Bells are attached to the necks of the stoutest leaders, to +keep the flock together, and give warning of any thing going wrong +within the fold. + +The breeding season is, in some instances, at the commencement of +summer, in others, at the commencement of winter, but in general it is +in March or April, the rams having been put to the ewes in October. +This deviation from our practice of spring lambing, is owing, according +to Mr Cunningham, to the breeders finding that the pasture is +particularly good in the autumn, from a sort of second spring taking +place, while the lambs stand the cold better than the heat, and are +less annoyed by the gad-flies. The sheep usually double their number +every four years. + +Sheep-shearing takes place at the beginning of summer. The usual plan +of washing is previously had recourse to (see paragraph 99.), but of +late it has become customary, with some proprietors, to wash them with +a spout. This is done by bringing them one by one under a stream of +water, falling from a moderate height; but it is not likely that it +will ever be generally adopted, as it requires very peculiar facilities +in regard to water, and is besides a plan fraught with danger to the +sheep. It ought to be kept in mind, that a stream of water playing on +the body, produces a very stunning effect, which may destroy life in +an inconsiderable time, and has, in this way, been often employed +for putting criminals to death. Be this as it may, the Australian +sheep-farmers have doubtless been led to resort to the spout, owing to +the fleeces being so full of filth as to be cleaned with difficulty in +the common way. The finer the wool, the more abundant is the yolk or +viscid secretion on the skin, and the greater, consequently, is the +quantity of filth which sticks to it. The dirtiness of the wool +becomes, in this way, no mean test of the value of the sheep. Some of +the fleeces lose fully three-fifths of their weight by washing. The +average weight of the fleeces from the improved breeds, is from two to +two-and-a-half pounds. The ewe fleece seldom exceeds one pound and a +half. "The wool is packed in bales, wrapped in canvass, and forwarded +for exportation to Sydney, on drays drawn by oxen. Some of the more +extensive sheep-farmers send home their wool direct to their agents in +London, where it is sold according to its quality, at from one to three +shillings, (the freight to London being only three-halfpence) a +pound."[43] + + [43] Historical Account of New South Wales, by John Dunmore + Lang, D.D., Vol. i. p. 350. + +The highest prices yet obtained for some of the picked parts of the +finest fleeces, are 10s. 6d. per pound. This, however, has been given +only once. + +The quantity of wool shipped in 1835, was 3,776,191 lbs., and was +valued at L380,000 sterling. + +Three acres are required on an average for the support of each sheep, +but on account of the mildness of the climate, there is no necessity +for providing winter food. + +The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep are liable to +comparatively few diseases. The great dryness of the climate, keeps the +fleece always in so comfortable a state, that they are almost never +struck by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits its +eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunningham once observed +summer-dropt lambs with milk blotches, become fly blown, but this was +in wet weather. Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I +need not say any thing here. It never presents much variety, and is a +disease better understood than almost any other. Ample directions for +its treatment are given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is +gone about with determination. The great points are to take it in +hand the moment it appears--for when it gains ground, all chances +of a wool-crop are at an end for that year at least--and to use +tobacco-juice most liberally, as it not only leads to the immediate +death of the itch insect, but appears to have a specific effect in +leading to the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, which is +at present so lauded for accelerating the growth of hair, is supposed, +on good grounds, to be an incognito preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot +is the only other important sheep-disease in the colony. It was unknown +till 1827, when it broke out in a wet lying part of the Bathurst +district, and succeeded, as Cunningham says, in that part of the +country scourged by it, to a long fall of heavy rains, which +supersaturated the blades of grass. For the method of treating this +disease, fortunately rare in Australia, I must, in conclusion, refer to +the body of the work. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Treatise on Sheep:, by Ambrose Blacklock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TREATISE ON SHEEP: *** + +***** This file should be named 38189.txt or 38189.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/8/38189/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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