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THE

PRACTICAL SHEPHERD:

A COMPLETE TREATISE ON THE

BREEDING, MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF SHEEP.

~

BY

HENRY 8. RANDALL, LL. D.,

AUTHOR OF “SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH,” “FINE-WOOL
SHEEP HUSBANDRY,” ETC., ETC.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

FIFTH EDITION.

ROCHESTER, N. Y.:
D. D. T. MOORE, UNION BUILDINGS.
PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO,
1863.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by
D. D. T. MOORE,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of New York.

ROCHESTER, N. Y.:
STEREOTYPED BY JAMES LENNOX,
62 BUFFALO STREET.

INTRODUCTION.

AN attempt has been made in the following pages to give an
impartial history of all the most valuable varieties and families of sheep
in the United States——to explain the principles of breeding on which
their improvement rests, and to describe their proper treatment
in health and sickness, under the different climatic and other circum-
stances to which they are necessarily subjected in a country as
extensive as our own.

Many of the topics of this work have been ably discussed, and are
constantly being ably discussed in our Agricultural periodicals; but it
is now eighteen years since the publication of the last elaborate
American work which treats on them connectedly and with any
considerable degree of fullness. It is fifteen years since the appearance
of my own Sheep Husbandry in the South, which was confined to a
portion of these subjects, and, in many instances, as the title would
imply, to views and statements intended for local rather than general
information. - ‘

In the mean time, a great change —almost an entire revolution —
has taken place in the character of American sheep, and in the systems
of American sheep husbandry. The fine-wool families which existed
here in 1845. have, urfder a train of circumstances which will be found
recorded in this volume, mostly passed away; and they have been
succeeded by a new family, developed in our own country, which calls
for essentially different standards of breeding and modes of practical
treatment.

Our improved English, or, as they are often termed, mutton breeds
of sheep, instead of being now confined to a few small, scattering
flocks, have spread into every portion of our country, represent a large
amount of agricultural capital, and throughout regions of considerable
extent are more profitable than sheep kept spetially for wool growing
purposes. Some of the most valuable families of them were wholly
unknown in this country —indeed, had scarcely been brought into
general notice in England—fifteen years ago. And, finally, our
advanced agricultural condition has created a new set of agricultural
circumstances and interests which materially affect, and, in turn, are
materially affected by, sheep husbandry,—so that their reciprocal
relations must be understood to lead to the highest measure of success
in almost any department of farming.

In view of these facts, a new work on American Sheep Husbandry
brought down to the requirements of the present day—that is,

lv . INTRODUCTION.

embodying the results of the experience which sheep breeders have
obtained down to the present time—is obviously called for. And the
need is more urgent at a period when a great existing war has so
raised the price of wool that multitudes are embarking in its production
who have comparatively little knowledge of sheep or their management.
This work is intended to be minute and explicit enough in regard to
every detail of that management to meet the wants of the merest
beginner.

I would gladly have seen this labor performed by another. But,
during the past year, repeated public and private intimations have
continued to reach me from breeders, agricultural editors, etc., scattered
through various States of this Union, and representing personal interests
the most diversified and even contrary, that my preparation of such
a work was considered desirable. In complying with the wishes thus
expressed, I can only bring to my task experience, and a disposition
to state facts with accuracy and candor. As has been remarked in
another portion of this volume, I have owned and been familiar with
flocks of sheep from my infancy, and have had the direct and practical
charge and management of them, in considerable numbers, for a period
exceeding thirty years. During that time I have bred all the varieties
of the Merino which have been introduced into our country, and
several of the leading families of English sheep. But not having.bred
the latter extensively, or very recently, I have thought it would be
more satisfactory, in most instances, to employ descriptions of them
drawn from standard English writers, and from their actual breeders
in the United States. ad I contemplated writing this work lon
enough in advance to make a collection of materials specially intended
for it, I should also have taken pleasure in drawing out the opinions
of the eminent and highly successful breeders of English sheep in the
Canadas. My inquiries might even have extended to England. But
the “ Practical Shepherd” was commenced as soon as the writing of
it was determined on, and the earlier Chapters, treating on Breeds,
were in print before I could have sought in an appropriate mode
and obtained the desired information from foreign lands.

When called upon to give the opinions of others in regard
to points with which I am unacquainted, or less acquainted, I have
chosen generally to quote their language,—and in all instances
to mention their names. Disguised compilation is one of the pettiest
forms of literary theft; and it deprives the reader of his fair and
proper privilege of deciding for himself on the competence of the
authority to which he is called upon to give credit. On various
subjects, and more especially on the subject of those ovine diseases
which are as yet unknown in the United States, these pages will be
found enriched with the descriptions and the opinions of eminent
foreign agricultural writers and veterinarians. For the invaluable
privilege of thus availing myself of their knowledge, I, as well as the
readers of this volume, owe them sincere acknowledgements.

I was at some loss whether or not it would be expedient for me
to give descriptions of an extended list of diseases and remedies, the
former of which have not appeared, or, at least, have not been
recognized in our country. But judging from their increase thus far,
and judging from their analogies derivable from the history of diseases
in other domestic animals, and in man, we have strong reasons to

INTRODUCTION. Vv
apprehend that as our country grows older, and our systems of
husban: more artificial, the same causes will be generated or
developed here which now produce many of the diseases of Europe.
It is already found, for example, that as we treat our English sheep
according to English modes, maladies long known in England, but
not previously known here, and not yet known among our other
breeds of sheep, make their appearance among them. And some of
the fellest ovine maladies of Europe are liable, at any time, to be
introduced here by contagion. On the whole, I judged that it would
be erring, if at all, on the safer side, to give descriptions drawn from
the best existing sources of veterinary information of the symptoms
and treatment of all the maladies unknown in this country whice
have thus far been recognized and classified in Europe.

I have quoted somewhat freely from my own previous works on
Sheep. I could discover no objection to this, where my opmions
remain unchanged; and where they are changed, omissions and, in a
few cases, slight alterations have been made to conform the quoted
statements to them. If occasional discrepancies are discoverable
between my present and former views, I have only to say, in explana-

tion, that further experience or further reflection has led me to change
my conclusions.

A general history and description of all the breeds of sheep have
not been attempted in this volume. Those desirous of such information
are referred to Mr. Youatt’s Work on Sheep. This unwearied
investigator and copious writer exhausted this field of research —and
he really left nothing, in what may be termed the literature of Sheep
Husbandry, to be performed by another. Those who have followed
him in the same field, have only repeated him; and these compilers
have generally been as destitute of his grace as of his erudition.

I oave alluded to all the distinct breeds of sheep which have, so
far as my knowledge extends, been introduced into the United States,
but I have particularly described only those leading and valuable ones
which now employ the attention of enlightened agriculturists. And
even in respect to these, no historic investigations have been indulged
in which do not appear to me to have a direct bearing on the modes
and means of their preservation or improvement. he province of
this work embraces purely practical concerns, and history and
disquisition are pertinent only so far as they throw a direct and
instructive light on those concerns.

One of the greatest and most insuperable difficulties which I
have experienced in the prosecution of my labors arises from the
want of an established and systematic nomenclature to express the
various divisions of species. The designations, species, race, kind,
stock, breed, variety, family, etc., have been applied almost indiscrimi-
nately to the same divisions, as if the words were understood to be
synonymous. Even Mr. Youatt falls into this loose and careless use
of language. But unfortunately a ‘confusion of terms can not but
produce a corresponding confusion of ideas, on a subject not without
intricacy, and in reference to distinctions or lines of demarkation
which are frequently faint, and nearly always irregular and abounding
in exceptions. The breeder who aspires to be an improver, ought to
have clear ideas on this subject. Called upon early in the progress

vi INTRODUCTION.

of this work, and without much previous consideration, to devise a
uniform mode of classification in the premises, I adopted and have
made use of the following:

The term breed is applied to those extensive and permanent groups
of sheep which are believed to have_had, respectively, a common origin
—which exhibit certain common leading characteristics—and which
transmit those characteristics with uniformity to their progeny. Hx-
amples of Breeds, are the Merino of Spain, including its pure blood
descendants, wherever found; the Fat-Rumped Sheep of Asia, the
Long - Wooled Sheep of England, and the Short- Wooled Sheep of
England. The term Variety is applied to different national branches
of the same breed, such as the Saxon, French and American varieties
of the parent Spanish Merino. The term Family is used to designate
those branches of a breed or variety found in the same country, which
exhibit permanent, but ordinarily lesser differences than varieties.
Thus the different kinds of Downs and the Rylands are families of
the English Short - Wooled sheep; the Cotswolds and the Liecesters
are families of the English Long -Wooled sheep; the Infantados and
Paulars are families of both the Spanish and American Merinos.
The term sub- family is occasionally used to designate a minor group,
bearing about the same relation to a family that a family does to a
variety. No satisfactory term was found to characterize the smallest
and initial group of all,—those closely related animals, to which,
among human beings, we apply the designation of a family, when we
use that word in its most restricted sense. Perhaps I have sometimes,
awkwardly enough, spoken of them as animals of the same individual
blood, or as possessing the same strain of individual blood.

The system of classification above described, answers very well
when applied to the Merino. This breed exhibits all the enumerated
c.asses in permanent, distinct forms, each to a certain extent isolated
from the others by separate breeding, for a considerable period, and
totally isolated from all other and outside groups of sheep by perfect
purity of blood. But this classification is wholly unsatisfactory when
apvlied to the British breeds of sheep. I will not consume space to

en a fact, the causes of which will be so obvious to the observing
reader

I return my sincere thanks to the following gentlemen for valuable
aid im collecting materials for this work—none the less valuable
because, in many instances, they were contributed in a form which
required no special mention in my pages. I arrange the names
alphabetically to avoid making a distinction where, in most cases,
none exists: —A. B. Allen, Lewis F. Allen, George Campbell, N. L.
Chaffee, Edmund Clapp, Prosper Elithorp, George Geddes, James
Geddes, W. F. Greer, James 8. Grennell, Edwin Hammond, Benjamin
P. Johnson, Geo. Livermore, R. A. Loveland, Daniel Needham, Theo-
dore C. Peters, Virtulan Rich, William R. Sanford, Nelson A. Saxton,
Homer L. D. Sweet, Samuel Thorne, and M. W. C. Wright.
HENRY 8. RANDALL.

CorTLAND VitLacE, N. Y.,
September, 1863,

‘CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
FINE -WOOLED BREEDS OF SHEEP.
The Spanish, French, Saxon, and Silesian Merinos,... ..... Page 13

CHAPTER II.

INTRODUCTION OF FINE-WOOLED SHEEP INTO THE UNITED
STATES.

Early Importations of Spanish, French and Saxon Merinos,..... 22

CHAPTER III.
AMERICAN MERINOS ESTABLISHED AS A VARIETY.
The Mixed Leonese or Jarvis Merinos—The Infantado or Atwood
Merinos—The Paular or Rich Merinos—Other Merinos,......
CHAPTER IV.

LATER IMPORTATIONS OF FINE-WOOLED SHEEP INTO THE
UNITED STATES.

French and Silesian Merinos Introduced,.......-.sseeesereseces 35

CHAPTER V.

BRITISH AND OTHER LONG AND MIDDLE-WOOLED SHEEP IN
THE UNITED STATES.

Leicesters, Cotswolds, Lincolns, New _Oxfordshires, Black - Faced
Scotch, Cheviot, Fat-Rumped, Broad- Tailed, Persian and
Chinese Sheep,.......cccccsccccc scene tee teneneceeceeeeranes

CHAPTER VI.
BRITISH SHORT- WOOLED SHEEP, ETC., IN THE UNITED STATES.

The South Downs, Hampshire Downs, Shropshire Downs and
Oxfordshire Downs,...........-0+ Beeb ees eae RS eee bona

viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.
THE POINTS TO BE REGARDED IN FINE- WOOLED SHEEP.

Carcass — Skin — Folds or Wrinkles — Fleece — Fineness — Even-
ness— Trueness and Soundness—Pliancy and Softness—Style
and Length of Wool,.......ccccceeceee sec eeencceseee ones

CHAPTER VIII.
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

Yolk— Chemical Analysis of Yolk—Its Uses— Proper Amount
and Consistency of it—Its Color—Coloring Sheep Artifi-
cially — Artificial Propagation and Preservation of Yolk,.... 77

CHAPTER IX.
ADAPTATION OF BREEDS TO DIFFERENT SITUATIONS.

Markets — Climate — Vegetation — Soils — Number of Sheep to be
Kept — Associated Branches of Husbandry,...........-2200

CHAPTER X.

PROSPECTS AND PROFITS OF WOOL AND MUTTON PRODUCTION
IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER XI.
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

CHAPTER XII.
BREEDING IN- AND-IN.

CHAPTER XIII.
CROSS - BREEDING.

Cross-Breeding the Merino and Coarse Breeds—Crossing Different
Families of Merinos — Crossing Between English Breeds and
Families — Recapitulation,......... 0... cece eee cece cece ee eee 124

CHAPTER XIV.
SPRING MANAGEMENT.

Catching and Handling—Turning Out to Grass—Tagging—Burs—
Lambing—Proper ‘Place for Tambing— Mechanical ssistance
in Lambing— Inverted Womb— Management of New - Born
Lambs — Artificial Feeding —Chilled Lambs — Constipation
— Cutting Teeth — Pinning — Diarrhea or Purging,......... 139

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER XV.

SPRING MANAGEMENT CONTINUED.

Congenital Goitre—Imperfectly Developed Lambs— Rheumatism
—Treatment of the Ewe after Lambing —Closed Teats—
Uneasiness—Inflamed Udder—Drying off —Disowning Lambs
—Foster Lambs— Docking Lambs — Castration,...........5 152

CHAPTER XVI.
SUMMER MANAGEMENT.

Mode of Washing Sheep—Utility of Washing Considered—Cutting
the Hoofs — Time between Washing and Beaune Sheaia
—Stubble Shearing and Trimming— Shearing Lambs an
Shearing Sheep semi-annually — Doing up Wool—Frauds in
Doing up Wool— Storing Wool— Place for Selling Wool—
Wool Depots and Commission Stores — Sacking Wool,..... 168

CHAPTER XVII.
SUMMER MANAGEMENT — CONTINUED.

Drafting and Selection — Registration — Marking and Numbering
— Storms after Shearing — Sun - Scald — Ticks — Shortening
Horns — Maggots—Confining Rams—Training Rams—Fences
—Salt — Tar, Balphur; Alum, &c.—Water in Pastures —Shade
in Pastures— Housing Sheep in Summer — Pampering,...... 179

/CHAPTER XVIII.

FALL MANAGEMENT.

Weaning and Fall Feeding Lambs— Sheltering Lambs in Fall—
Fall Feeding and Sheltering Breeding Ewes—Selecting Ewes
for the Ram — Coupling — Period of Gestation—Management
of Rams during Coupling — Dividing Flocks for Winter,.... 198

CHAPTER XIX.

WINTER MANAGEMENT.

Winter Shelter—Temporary Sheds—Hay Barns with Open Sheds
— Sheep Barns or Stables—Cleaning out Stables in Winter—
Yards — Littering Yards—Confining Sheep in Yards and to
IDTY THCBG see sce sioc eis ceca he ante tnt arda pinata wroegytrecasieews 211

CHAPTER XX.

WINTER MANAGEMENT — CONTINUED.

Hay Racks— Water for Sheep in Winter— Amount of Food
Consumed by Sheep in Winter — Value of Different Fodders
—Nuitritive Equivalents— Mixed Feeds —Fattening Sheep in
Winter — Regularity in Feeding —Salt,........s.ceeeeeeees 230

1

x CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXI.
PRAIRIE SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

Prairie Management in Summer—Lambing —Folds and Dogs —
Stables — Herding — Washing — Shearing— Storing and Sell-
ing Wool— Ticks— Prairie Diseases — Salt —Weaning Lambs
—Prairie Management in Winter — Winter Feed —Sheds or
Stables— Water — Location of Sheep Establishment,........ 248

CHAPTER XXII.
ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF SHEEP.— THE HEAD.

Comparatively small Number of American Sheep Diseases— Low
' e of American Sheep Diseases— Anatomy of the Sheep
—The Skeleton — The Skull—The Horns and their Diseases
—The Teeth —Swelled Head — Sore Face—Swelled Lips—
Inflammation of the Hye,......ccscesceceeeecseecencenewees 261

CHAPTER XXIII.
ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE SHEEP’S HEAD, CONTINUED.

Section of Sheep’s Head — Grub in the Head—Hydatid on the
Brain— Water on the Brain —Apoplexy — Inflammation of
the Brain—Tetanus or Locked -Jaw— Epilepsy — Palsy —
Reablesysis:ajiie a's nies idisie wiewlevnisiesn o sia e'sigee else saile'c'o se Ogiee es ese 278

CHAPTER XXIV.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

Blain — Obstructions of the Gullet— The Stomachs and their
Diseases—External and Internal Appearance of the Stomachs
—The Mode of Administering Medicines into the Stomachs
of Sheep— Hoove— Poisons— Inflammation of the Rumen,
or Paunch — Obstruction of the Maniplus— Acute Dropsy,
or Red- Water — Enteritis, or Inflammation of the Coats of
the Intestines — Diarrhea — Dysentery — Constipation— Colic,
or Stretches—Braxy, or Inflammation of the Bowels—Worms
= Pinin ty. cccuss son seudnnnascnesrmsinamadee «edits aie eeceseee 201

CHAPTER XXYV.
DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY AND THE RESPIRATORY
SYSTEMS.

The Pulse — Place and Mode of Bleeding — Fever — Inflammatory
Fever— Malignant Inflammatory Fever—-Typhus Fever —
Catarrh—Malignant Epizootic Catarrh—Pneumonia, or Inflam-
mation of the Lungs—Pleuritis or Pleurisy—Consumption,.. 314

CHAPTER XXVI.

DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE AND URINARY ORGANS.

Abortion —Inversion of the Womb— Garget — Parturient, or
Puerperal Fever —Cystitis, or Inflammation of the Bladder,.. 329

CONTENTS, xi

CHAPTER XXVII.
DISEASES OF THE SKIN.
The Scab—Erysipelatous Scab— Wild fire and Ignis Sacer —
Other Cutaneous Eruptions— Small Pox, or Variola Ovina,.. 388
CHAPTER XXVIII.
DISEASES OF THE LOCOMOTIVE ORGANS.

Fractures — Rheumatism — Disease of the Biflex Canal— Gravel
z Travel - Sore-——Lameness from Frozen Mud—Fouls—Hoof- ae
Obs sisis: sistas Saiwmsiow ele emaldieiiWlewuialiewe Gls saeG seme 6 eee

CHAPTER XXIX.

OTHER DISEASES, WOUNDS, ETC.

The Rot—Scrofula — Hereditary Diseases — Cuts —Lacerated and
Contused Wounds—Punctured Wounds—Dog Bites—Poisoned
Wounds— Sprains — Bruises— ADbscess,.......seeeeseeeeeees 372

CHAPTER XXX.
LIST OF MEDICINES.
PARE, a sia doccs eintens Bel pacosavu $s a soce'Arb ars 3g: ecoleib-tNara ees wre at asinielinjer eis see. 383
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE DOG IN ITS CONNECTION WITH SHEEP.

The Injuries inflicted by Dogs on Sheep --The Sheep Dog—The
Spanish Sheep Dog—The Hungarian Sheep Dog— The
French Sheep Dog—-The Mexican Sheep Dog— The South
American Sheep Dog—Other Large Races of Sheep Dogs
—The English Sheep Dog —The Scotch Sheep Dog, or Colley

—Accustoming Sheep to Dogs,......5....ceeeeee eee eeeeee 393
APPENDICES.

A.— Origin of the Improved Infantados,...........sceeeseeeoees 412

B.— Origin of the Improved Paulars,...........cceceeeeee eens 416

C.— English Experiments in Feeding Sheep,...............2.006 418

D.— Sheep and Product of Wool in United States,............. 5

Sexes and Gizes,................ Gu5 Seca rene Mapaieeee eases
H.— The American Merinos at the International Exhibition we
LBBB oe so ss maces ecee 8 Ss BRS ewe eee aa Beate Lt Ke
List oF ILLUSTRATIONS, Side ks Vee Meee as 4a vtad see TENS ROR RETA 440

THE PRACTICAL SHEPHERD.

CHAPTER I.
FINE-WOOLED BREEDS OF SHEEP.

THE SPANISH, FRENCH, SAXON AND SILESIAN MERINOS.

THe Spaniss Mrrivo.—From a period anterior to the
Christian era, fine-wooled Sheep abounded in Spain, and they
were, or gradually ripened into, a breed distinct in its
characteristics from all other breeds in the world. It was,
however, divided into provincial varieties which exhibited
considerable differences; and these were subdivided into great
permanent cabanas or flocks which being kept distinct from
each other and subjected to special courses of breeding,
assumed the character of separate families varying somewhat,
but in a lesser degree, from each other.

The first division recognized in Spain was into Transhu-
mantes or traveling flocks and Estantes or stationary flocks.
The first were regarded as the most valuable and were
owned by the king and some of the principal nobles and
clergy. They were pastured in winter on the plains of
Southern Spain, and driven in spring (commencing the
journey in April,) to the fresh green herbage of the mountains
in Northern Spain. They began their return early in October.
The route, each way, averaged about four hundred miles and
was completed in six weeks. Through inclosed regions and
where the feed was scarce, they often traveled from fifteen to
twenty miles a day. The lambs were dropped early in
January. Nearly half of them, and sometimes in seasons of
bad pasturage, three-fourths of them were destroyed as soon
as yeaned, and those which were preserved were usually
suckled by two ewes. This was intended for the benefit of

14 SPANISH FAMILIES.

both lambs and ewes. The latter were thought to produce
more wool than when each suckled a lamb. The lambs were
little over three months old when the spring migration
commenced, and about nine months old when the autumnal
one commenced. Thus every year of its life the migratory
Merino performed a journey of eight hundred miles, and
passed nearly a fourth of the entire time on the road. It
received neither shelter nor artificial food. Such a training
constantly weeded out of the flock the old, the feeble and the
weak in constitution, and developed among those which
remained capabilities for enduring exertion and hardship to
an extraordinary degree.

Some of the most esteemed families of migratory Merinos
are thus mentioned by Lasteyrie:—“The Escurial breed is
supposed to possess the finest wool of all the migratory sheep.
The Gaudeloupe have the most perfect form, and are likewise
celebrated for the quantity and quality of their wool. The
Paulars bear much wool of a fine quality; but they have a
more evident enlargement behind the ears, and a greater
degree of throatiness, and their lambs have a coarse, hairy
appearance, which is succeeded by excellent wool. The
lambs of the Infantados have the same hairy coat when
young. The Negretti are the largest and strongest of all the
Spanish traveling sheep.”

Vague and unsatisfactory as is this description, it is
perhaps the best contemporaneous one extant, of that period
near the opening of the present century when the flocks of
Spain had reached their highest point of excellence — and
before invasion and civil war had led to their sale into foreign
countries and their almost general destruction or dispersion
at home. Iam inclined to think that the small pains taken
by Lasteyrie and his contemporaries to point out the distinc
tions between the best Spanish families,—the ‘“Leonesa” as
they were collectively called—resulted from the fact, that the
foreign breeders of that day, and the Spaniards themselves,
attached but little importance to those distinctions in respect
to value—though in respect to breeding they were rigorously
preserved.

To furnish the reader with some data for comparison
between the several Spanish families and their American
descendants, I select the following facts from a table prepared
by Petri, an intelligent and highly trustworthy writer, who
visited Spain near the beginning of this century on purpose
to examine its Sheep; and I add some measurements of

SPANISH FLEECES. 15

American Merinos made of Sheep in no wise extraordinary
in their forms.* ;

a oa u * Q o 13
PEE E./ 2/2 | |S
(8 | Sa] ae] fe = a |e
B ig zlas |e] 2 1° 6
3 # ge g= Sle.la 5 Bs
aa ° oa rey
Names or FLocns, | “3 /25|52|)5s| 9 | sa|c8|/2 C8
a S| .a% Fs « 2 2 |3
@ fel Seld8/ 5 (8 |S (Sl
Bp |8 |8 |8 a/2 |8 |S
i |A Pa 8 = iss] rat
NEGRETTI. Tbs. | in. jft. in.|ft. in.|ft. in.|ft, in.jft. in.) in. | in.
ROM yw cuscccccsesseeseecsade 1941 % (2 2 4 644 1411 38 10 16
WO sce secsaswscsseececsyecesnedl 67 | 841 & 2 1 [4 Wid Ail 1 | 9%) 42
INFANTADO
Ram : 1004/10 1 6 28 4 % 4 2 ft O ]9 |6
BW sasaccecsscsrscisecsecauceuess| 70 |9 [1 542 1 |4 384/811 [1 O | 834) 5%
GUADELOUPE.
Ram --| 97419 [1 6 12 2 14 5B 4 bell O 18 |6
WO jo sons sexe sae seoscte cose cvacee 69 |}9 [1 2 12 1 [811 [8 9 | 1032] 6M) 4
EsTANTES OF SIERRA DE Somo.
Ram cicseswassesscasecasesseecens 9634} 934/11 6 12 O [4 38%/4 Qu 0 18 16
EW cecn-cccoweeeasecsscsece secs) 6244/9 (1 2 2 1 4 0 [810 | 1 {7% 15
SmaLu EsTaNtTEs.
RAM. os 5 sewswisssoesces see eaensne 42 | U1 8 [1 9 8 8B 2 | 10 | 634) 3
MW -+-scsecccecesewsscsesnssecax 30 {7 1 1 1 6 [8 2 (210 8 }6 |3
9 | 10 2 4 [B11 (4 4%) 11 19 19
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These weights and measures, except those of the American
sheep, are Austrian. The Austrian pound is equal to 1.037
pounds avoirdupois; the Austrian foot to 1.234 English feet.

The fleece of the Spanish Merino was level on the surface
and so dense that, like that of its American descendant, it
opposed a firm resistance when grasped by the hand, instead
of yielding under the fingers like fur, hair, or the thin wool of
other races of sheep. The wool was shorter than that of the
improved American Merino and particularly so on the belly,
legs and head. It was very even in quality, both as between
different sheep and on different parts of the same sheep. The
most celebrated flocks, with the exception of the Escurial,
were dark colored externally—about as dark as the present
Merino sheep in our own Middle and Western States, which
are not housed in summer. The wool was rendered moist to

* They were taken from my flock, and the measurements, é&c., made in December,
1861. The ewes were a little over average size, but the ram was quite small, Bis
usual ben a immediately after shearing is but 100 pounds. I selected him more
particularly to exhibit another contrast, with the Spanish Sheep. His unwashea
fleece of a auge year’s growth has reached 21 Ibs. and averages about 20 Ibs. “ 21
per cent.,” as he is called, was bred by Edwin Hammond, Esq., of Middlebury, Vt.

16 SPANISH WOOL.

the feel, brilliant and heavy, by yolk, but it did not exhibit
this in viscid or indurated masses within, or in a black, pitchy
coating without. It opened with a fine, flashing luster, and
with a yellowish tinge which deepened toward its outer ends.
Livingston gives the weight of the unwashed Spanish
fleeces at 84 lbs. in the ram and 5 lbs. in the ewe. Youatt
laces the weight of the ram’s fleece half a pound lower. The
Kling of England’s flock of Negretti’s, about one hundred in
number, which were picked sheep and included some wethers
(but no rams,) yielded, during five years, an annual average
of a little over 34 lbs. of brook-washed wool per head, and
each fleece afterwards lost about a pound in scouring.*
Youatt measured the diameter of the wool of the various
flocks first introduced from Spain into England. I judge
from his statements that 1-750 part of an inch may be assumed
as about the average diameter or fineness of the good Spanish
wool of that period. The same ingenious investigator
discovered that conformation of the fibers which causes the
felting property. It is produced by “serrations,” as he terms
them,—tooth-like projections on the wool, all pointing in a
direction from the root to the point, and so inconceivably
minute that 2560 of them occur in the space of an inch of the
fiber. They are more numerous in proportion to the fineness
of the wool, and on their number, regularity and sharpness
depends the perfection of the felting property. In this
respect the finest grades of Merino wool exceed all others.
The following cuts give the magnified appearance of a fine
specimen of Spanish wool, viewed both as an opaque and
transparent object.

These tooth-like processes are still finer on choice speci”
mens of Saxon wool; on that of the coarse-wooled varieties
of sheep they are comparatively few, blunt and irregular.

The best flocks of Spain, as already mentioned, were lost
to that country during the Peninsular war. In answer to an
application for information from T. 8. Humrickhouse, Esq., of

*See Sir Joseph Banks’ five annual reports, from 1798 to 1802, in respect to
this flock. The number of wethers is not given by him.

PRESENT SPANISH MERINOS. 17

Ohio, made with a view to importations and directed to the
Spanish Minister in Washington, in 1852, that functionary
caused inquiry to be made in relation to the existing condition
of the flocks of Spain. The statements sent back, in 1854,
appear to have been derived from the Spanish “General
Association of Wool Growers.” The substance of them is
condensed into the following paragraph:

“ Although it is certain that, in the war of Independence,
a great number of the said flocks, [the choice Transhumantes
of Estremadura and Leon, such as the Infantado, Paular,
Guadeloupe, Negretti, Escurial, Montarco, etc.,] were de-
stroyed, and others diminished and divided, it is equally
certain that they still exist in their majority and with the
same good. qualities which formerly made them so desirable
and necessary. If, therefore, as it appears from the commu-
nication which has given rise to this report, the wool growers
of the United States should have a desire and want to
purchase fine sheep, they may come sure they will not be
disappointed.” ,

Then follows an extended list of flocks with the names of
their owners.* The Escurial, the Negretti and the Arriza,
are the only ones admitted to have been lost.

Conceding to these statements the merit of entire candor,
they simply show that the Spaniards place a very different
estimate on their present sheep from that placed on them by
American breeders. The late John A. Taintor, Esq., 0,
Connecticut, who seven times visited Europe to buy sheepf
carefully examined the flocks of Spain with an earnest wish
to find superior animals in them for importation to the United
States. He wrote to me in 1862, that the Spanish sheep
“were.so small, neglected and miserable, that he would not
take one of them as a present.”+ In 1860 a gentleman of
Estremadura, whose flock Mr. Taintor could not visit when
in Spain, sent him a number of fleeces as samples ; and one of
these Mr. Taintor forwarded to me. It weighed, in the dirt,
5 Ibs. 11 oz. The wool was about as long as ordinary
American Merino wool, was not very even in quality, and
was scarcely middling in point of fineness! Mr. William
Chamberlain, of Red Hook, New York, the well known

* Scarcely any of these are the ancient owners, or those who held the flocks
when the war ‘‘of Independence” commenced.
+See his letter to me in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry in Transactions
of N. Y. State Agricultural Society for 1861. (The Report was made early in 1862
and will hereafter be cited as of that year.)
%

18 THE FRENCH MERINO.

importer of Silesian Merinos, informs me that he imported
about thirty Merinos from Spain, a few years since, and that
after seeing them and shearing them he quietly sold them in
the ensuing autumn to the butcher! William R. Sanford, of
Orwell, Vermont, a Merino sheep breeder of great judgment
and experience, visited the flocks of Spain, France and
Germany, in 1851, in behalf of himself, Mr. Hammond and
some other gentlemen of the same State, to ascertain whether
fine-wooled sheep superior to those of the United States could
be found in Europe. He thus wrote to me in respect to the
sheep of Spain:

* * =* Qn arriving at Madrid I found that most
of those who owned sheep to any amount lived in the city,
and through our Minister i got introductions to them. From
what I could learn from them in regard to the form, weight
of fleece, eto., of their sheep, I became satisfied that they had
none of much value. They finally admitted that they were
not as good as formerly, and that they were going to
Germany for bucks to improve them. I concluded, however,
I would go and see for myself. It is about 200 miles from
Madrid to the plains of Estremadura, where they winter their
sheep. On examining the flocks, I found they had no fixed
character. Occasionally there would be a fair looking sheep.
At first they pretended that their sheep were pure and the
best in the world. But when they found that I understood the
history of their flocks, and what I wanted, they admitted they
were not as good as the former ones, and they gave as a
reason that they had no standard flocks to resort to as they
had before the French invasion,—at which time those
standard flocks were all broken up, those which were not
eaten, being sold and mixed with the common sheep of the
country, which were a very inferior kind. I did not see a
sheep in Spain that I would pay freight on to this country. I
do not believe they have any that are of pure blood.”

I have conversed with several other American sheep
breeders who have visited the Spanish flocks within the last

"fifteen years, and all of them substantially concur in the
opinions above expressed.

Tut Frenco Mrrino.—After several successful smaller
experiments in acclimating the Spanish Merino in France,
about 300 of them were imported under royal auspices to that
country in 1786. Gilbert, a French writer of reputation, in a

THE FRENCH MERINO. 19

report made to the National Institute of France, ten years
afterwards, thus speaks of them:

“The stock from which the flock of Rambouillet was
derived, was composed of individuals beautiful beyond any
that had ever before been brought from Spain; but having

. been chosen from a great number of flocks, in different parts
of the kingdom, they were distinguished by very striking
local differences, which formed a medley disagreeable to the
eye, but immaterial as it affected their quality. These
characteristic differences have melted into each other, by
their successive alliances, and from thence has resulted a race
which perhaps resembles none of those which composed the
primitive stock, but which certainly does not yield in any
circumstance to the most beautiful in point of size, form and
strength, or in the fineness, length, softness, strength and
abundance of fleece. * * * The comparison I have
made with the most scrupulous attention, between this wool
and the highest priced of that drawn from Spain, authorizes
me to declare that of Rambouillet superior.”

Lasteyrie thus gives their weight of fleeces, unwashed,
through a series of years:—In 1796, 6 lbs. 9 0z.; 1797, 8 lbs.;
1798, 7 Ibs.; 1799, 8 lbs.; 1800, 8 lbs.; 1801, 9 lbs. 1 oz. In
1802, he says:—“The medium weight of full grown nursing
ewes’ fleeces was 8 lbs. 7 0z.; of the ewes of three years old,
which had no lambs, 9 Ibs. 13 oz; and two-tenths [grade]
ewes, 10 lbs. 8 oz.”

Mr. Trimmer, an English flock-master and writer of ex-
perience, thus described them in 1827:

“The sheep, in size, are certainly the largest pure Merinos
I have ever seen. The wool is of various qualities, many
sheep carrying very fine fleeces, others middling, and some
rather indifferent; but the whole is much improved from the
quality of the original Spanish Merinos. In carcass and
appearance I hesitate not to say they are the most unsightly
flock of the kind I ever met with. The Spaniards entertained
an opinion that a looseness of skin under the throat, and other
cali contributed to the increase of fleece. This system the

rench have so much enlarged on that they have produced, in
this flock, individuals with dewlaps almost down to the knees,
and folds of skin on the neck, like frills, covering nearly the
head. Several of these animals seem to possess pelts of such
looseness of size that one skin would nearly hold the carcasses
of two such sheep. The pelts are particularly thick, which is
unusual in the Merino sheep. The rams’ fleeces were stated

20 THE SAXON MERINO.

at 14 Ibs., and the ewes’ 10 Ibs., in the grease. By washing
they would be reduced half, thus giving 7 and 5 lbs. each.”

But the royal flock was already beginning to be out-
stripped by private ones in size of carcass and weight of
fleece, and now there are a very few choice flocks in France
which are said to average 14 lbs. of. unwashed wool to the
fleece in ewes, and from 20 lbs. to 24 Ibs. in rams, the ewes
weighing 150 Ibs. and the rams 200 lbs.

Tur Saxon Merino.—In 1765, three hundred Merinos
were introduced from Spain into Saxony. They, too, were a
royal importation, and were placed in government establish-
ments. It is understood they were selected principally if not
exclusively from the Escurial cabana.

The course of breeding and management generally adopted
in that country tended to develop a very high quality of wool
at the expense of its quantity and at the expense of both car-
cass and constitution. The sheep were not only housed during
the winter, but at night, during all rainy weather, and
generally from the noonday sun in summer. They were not
even allowed to run on wet grass. Their food was accurately
portioned out to them in quantity and in varying courses;
their stable arrangements were systematic and included a
multitude of carefil manipulations; at yeaning time they
received (and came to require) about as much care as human
patients.

When introduced into the United States (1824,) the Saxon
lacked from a fifth to a quarter of the weight of the parent
Spanish stock ‘in the country, and the latter were materially
smaller then than now. Their forms indicated a far feebler
constitution than those of the Spanish sheep. They were
slimmer, finer boned, taller in proportion, and thinner in the
head and neck,— and shorter, thinner, finer and evener in the
fleece. The wool had no hardened yolk internally or externally;
was white externally; and opened white instead of having the
buff tinge of the unwashed Spanish wool. It was from an inch
to an inch and a half long on the back and sides and shorter
on the head, legs and belly. Medium specimens of it
measured about 1-840 parts of an inch in diameter. The
washed fleeces on an average weighed from 1+ lbs. to 2 Ibs.
in ewes, and from 2 Ibs. to 3 Ibs. in rams. There has been a
regeneration and improvement of this variety in various parts
of Germany, but an account of these changes would possess
little interest for the mass of practical American breeders.

THE SILESIAN MERINO. 21

Tuer Smzsian Merino.— Prussian Silesia has numerous
flocks of sheep descended from the Electoral and other Saxon
flocks. These require no separate mention here. An impor-
tation of a different family of Merinos has been made from
that country to the United States, and they have acquired,
here, the distinctive appellation of Silesian Merinos. These
will be described when an account is given of the importations
of foreign fine-wooled sheep into the United States.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION OF FINE-WOOLED SHEEP INTO THE
UNITED STATES.

EARLY IMPORTATIONS OF SPANISH, FRENCH AND SAXON
MERINOS. :

Spanish Mertinos Intropucep.—Wnu. Foster, of Boston,
Massachusetts, imported three Merino sheep from Spain into
that city in 1798. They were given toa friend, who killed
them for mutton! In 1801 M. Dupont de Nemours, and a
French banker named Delessert, sent four ram lambs to the
United States. All perished on the passage but one, which
was used for several years in New York, and subsequently
founded some excellent grade flocks for his owner, E. I.
Dupont, near Wilmington, Delaware. He was of fine form,
weighed 138 lbs., and yielded 84 lbs. of brook-washed
wool,— the heaviest fleece borne by any of the early imported
Merinos of which I have seen any account.* The same year,
Seth Adams, of Zanesville, Ohio, imported into Boston a pair
of Spanish sheep which had been brought from Spain into
France. I know nothing of their later history. In 1802, Mr.
Livingston, American Minister in France, sent home two
pairs of French Merinos, purchased from the Government
flock at Chalons. The rams appear from their recorded
weights to have been larger than Spanish rams, but a picture
of one of them which is extant exhibits no difference of form,
and I have always learned from those who saw them, that
they bore no resemblance to the modern French Merinos.
Mr. Livingston subsequently imported a French ram from the
Rambouillet flock. This eminent public benefactor was too
much engrossed in a multitude of great undertakings to give

*As Dupont de Nemours was the head of the Commission appointed by the
French Government to select in Spain the flocks of Merinos given up by the latter by
the Treaty of Basle, I conjecture that this ram was from the original Spanish, and
not from the French stock.

IMPORTATIONS OF SPANISH SHEEP. 23

that close individual attention to his sheep which is necessary
to marked success in breeding. But his statements show that
he improved them considerably.

The following table in respect to his sheep in 1810, I take
from a manuscript letter of his, not before published. As the
weights given both of carcasses and fleeces considerably
exceed those of the previous year (published in his Essay on
Sheep, p. 186,) it is probable-that the sheep had been highly
kept. The wool was unwashed.

Stock rams. Weight. Weight of fleece.
One, 6 years old, -......- 146 Ibs, Ibs......-imported from Rambouille.
“2 years old, -.....-- 146 Ibs, 9 Ibs....-- raised here.
“lL year old, -...---.-. 145 lbs. 11 Ibs, 11 oz, raised here.
: Ewes. Average weight cece.
Common (268) --.--.---------- --8 lbs. 10 on ors

Half-breed, or first cross,.._. 715 Ibs. 1 oz. ‘

Three-fourths, or second cross,_....6 Ibs, 8 oz., heaviest fleece, 8 lbs.
Seven-eighths, or third cross,-...--- 5 lbs. 6 oz. > do. 8 Ibs. 4 oz.
Full-bDl00d, 2-42 ccccscsesccasacccecnd 5 Ibs. 18 oz. do. 8 Ibs. 12 oz.

His half-blood wool sold for 75 cents; three-fourths for
$1.25; seven-eighths for $1.50; full-blood for $2.00. He sold
four full-blood ram lambs for $4,000; fourteen fifteen-sixteenths
blood do. for $3,500; twenty seven-eighths blood do. for $2,000;

_ thirty three-fourths blood do. for $900. He says if the lambs
had been a year old they would have sold 50 per cent. higher.*

Later in the year 1802 Col. Humphreys, the Americaa
Minister in Spain, brought home with him 21 rams and 70
ewes bought for him in that country. I find no definite early
statistics of the flock, though in manuscript letters of Col. H.
seen by me, he states that they constantly improved in
weight of fleece and in carcass. He mentions as worthy of
note that a ram raised on his farm yielded 7 lbs. 5 oz. of
washed wool. The reputation of his flock, handed down by
tradition, is an excellent one. Various facts which I cannot
occupy space to give in detail, have led me to the undoubting
conclusion that it was entirely from the Infantado cabana or
family, and that it was selected from the best sheep of that
family.

A eect of Philadelphia imported two pair of black
Merinos in 1803, and Mr. Muller, a small number from Hesse
Cassel, in 1807. In 1809, and 1810 Mr. Jarvis, American

_. ,* This letter, will appear entire in the Transactions of the New York State
Agricultural Society for 1862.

+ These crossed with Col. Humphreys’ sheep, in the flock of Mr. Wm. Caldwell of
Philadelphia, were the origin of the formerly highly celebrated flocks of Wells &
Dickinson, of Ohio.

24 PRICES OF WOOL.

Consul at Lisbon, Portugal, taking advantage of the offers of
the Spanish Junto to sell the confiscated flocks of certain
Spanish nobles, bought and shipped to different ports in the

nited States, about three thousand eight hundred and fifty
sheep. About one thousand three hundred of these were
Aqueirres, two hundred Escurials and two hundred Montarcos.
The remainder consisted of Paulars and Negrettis— mostly
of the former.*

Mr. Jarvis very unfortunately crossed his own flock with
the Saxons, when the latter were introduced, but he dis-
covered his error in time to correct it, and bred a pure
Spanish flock to the period of his death. But he mixed his
different Spanish families together, consisting of about half
Paulars, a quarter Aqueirres, and the other fourth Escurials,
Negrettis and Montarcos.{ He stated to me that the average
weight of fleece in his full-blood Merino flock, before his
Saxon cross, was about 41bs.§ This I suppose included rams’
and wethers’ fleeces. The subsequent history of these sheep
will again be referred to. From 3,000 to 5,000 Spanish
Merinos were imported into the United States by other persons
in 1809, 1810, and 1811.

The earlier importations had attracted little notice until
the commencement of our commercial difficulties with England
and France, in 1807. When the embargo was imposed, that
year, wool rose to $1 a pound. In 1809 and 1810 Mr.
Livingston sold his full-blood wool, unwashed, for $2 a pound.
During the war of 1812, it. rose to $2.50 a pound. Many of
the imported Merino rams sold for $1,000 apiece, and we
have seen that Mr. Livingston sold ram lambs of his own
raising at that price. Ewes sometimes sold for equal sums.
The Peace of Ghent (1815,) re-opened commerce and over-
threw our infant manutfactories. Such a revulsion ensued that
before the close of the year full-blood Merino sheep were sold
for $1 a head! Wool did not materially rally in price for the
nine succeeding years, and during that period most of the
A flocks of the country were broken up or adulterated
in blood.

* See Mr. Jarvis’ letter to me, in 1841, in New York Agricultural Society’s Trans-
actions of that year.

tSee his letter to me on this subject in 1844, published that year in the Albany
Cultivator and New York Agriculturist.

§ Mr. Jarvis gives the facts more precisely in a letter to L. A. Morrell, published in
American Shepherd, p. 390. He says:—From 1811 to 1826, when I began to cross with
the Saxonies, my average weight of wool was 3 lbs. 140z. to 4 lbs. rig ge le
according tokeep. The weight of the bucks was from 534 lbs. to 644 Ibs. in goo
stock case, all washed on the sheeps’ backs.”

SAXON MERINOS INTRODUCED. 25

_ Saxon Merinos Inrropucep.— The woolen tariff enacted
in 1824, gave a new impulse to the production of fine-wool,
and during that and the four succeeding years Saxon Merinos
were imported in large numbers into the United States. A
detailed history of these importations was embodied in a
report on sheep which I made to the New York State
Agricultural Society in 1838,* the facts in regard to the
Saxons being furnished to me by another member of the
committee, Henry D. Grove, the leading German importer
and breeder of that variety of sheep in our country. That
history having been republished in the “American Shepherd,”
in “Sheep Husbandry in the South,” and in various other
publications, it is scarcely necessary to take up space here
with its curious particulars concerning a variety now pretty
generally discarded in our country. Suffice it to say, that
the most enormous frauds were practiced; grade sheep were
mixed with nearly every importation; and these miserable
animals brought along with them scab and hoof-rot, those dire
scourges of the ovine race.

The great discrimination made in favor of fine-wool by
the tariff of 1828, excited a mania for its production, and
every producer strove to obtain the finest, almost regardless
of every other consideration. Size, weight of fleece, and
constitution were totally overlooked. Yet the grower was
feeding on hope. Fine-wool did not rise to a high price until
after the middle of 1830, and neither then nor at any subse-
quent period did the average price of Saxon exceed that of
Spanish wool by more than ten cents a pound— while at least
a third more of the latter could be obtained from the same
number of sheep,t or the same amount of feed. When we
consider this fact, and consider the superiority of the Spanish
sheep in every other particular except fineness of wool, we
cannot sufficiently wonder that from 1824 to 1840 the Saxons
should have received universal preference, have sold for vastly
higher prices, and that those who owned Spanish sheep,
should have in almost every instance made haste to cross them
with their small and comparatively worthless competitors. _

In about 1840, however, a reaction commenced, and the
tariff of 1846, (which established an even ad valorem duty of

* Published in Albany Cultivator, March, 1838, and partially in the New York
State Agricultural Society’s Transactions, 1841.

+Mr. Grove’s flock of picked breeding sheep—not excelled probably in the
United States among pure bloods, for weight of fleece — yielded an average of 2 lbs.
11 oz. per head of washed wool in 1840, and he fejaee this product as a proof of

the superior value of his favorite variety. See his letter to me, Transactions New
York State Agricultural Society, 1841, p. 333.

2

26 SAXON MERINOS INTRODUCED.

30 per centum on all wools and on cloths,) completed the
overthrow of the Saxons.

Scie

4

SAXON RAM.

The cut of the Saxon.ram above given, is copied from an
engraving from a drawing by Mr. Charles L. Fleischmann,
formerly draughtsman for the Patent Office. The engraving
was published in the Patent Office Report of 1847. Mr.
Fleischmann states that it is an accurate representation of the
best ram of Von Thaer (son of the celebrated Albert Von
Thaer,) made by its owner’s permission at Moeglin, in 1844—
45. The flocks of Von Thaer are among the best and most
highly improved in Germany. The drawing was made in the
Begganing of the month of August while the fleece was yet
short. 7

CHAPTER II.
AMERICAN MERINOS ESTABLISHED AS A VARIETY.

THE MIXED LEONESE OR JARVIS MERINOS—THE INFANTADO
OR ATWOOD MERINOS—THE PAULAR OR RICH MERINOS
— OTHER MERINOS.

Tur Mixrep LronrsE or Jarvis Merinos.— The origin
of Mr. Jarvis’ flock has been given. Their pedigrees rested
on his own direct statements; and /his integrity and veracity
were never challenged by friend or foe. As has been seen, he
mixed five families of Spanish sheep, the Paulars considerably
predominating in numbers,— but his son writes me that for
the purpose of “accommodating the manufacturers” he bred
“in the contrary direction” from the type of the darker
colored and yolkier families.* The appearance of his sheep
when I first saw them, something over twenty years since, I
thought plainly indicated that he had “accommodated the
manufacturers” by chiefly using rams of his Escurial family
or which bore a large proportion of that blood. They were
lighter colored than the original Spanish sheep of other
families and their wool was finer. It was entirely free from
hardened yolk, or “gum,” internally and externally, and
opened on a rosy skin with a style and brilliancy which
resembled the Saxon. It was longish, for those times, on the
back and sides, but shorter on the belly, and did not cover the
head and legs anything like as well as those parts are covered
in the improved sheep of the present day. It was of fair
medium thickness on the best animals. The form was perhaps
rather more compact than that of the original Spanish sheep,
but altogether it bore a close resemblance to them. I think
that prior to 1840, Mr. Jarvis had begun to breed back
toward the other strains of blood in his flock. At about
that period small and choice lots of breeding ewes were

* See Charles Jarvis’ letter to me in my report on ‘‘ Fine-Wool Sheep Husbandry,”

98 THE AMERICAN INFANTADOS.

occasionally obtained from him which yielded from 4 Ibs. to
43 Ibs. of washed wool per head. These sheep long enjoyed
great celebrity, and are now represented in the pedigrees of
many excellent pure bred flocks; but as a distinct family, they
have mostly been merged in the two next to be described.

Tue Inrantapo or Atwoop Merrino.— In 1813, Stephen
Atwood, of Woodbury, Connecticut, bought a ewe of Col.
David Humphreys for $120. He bred this ewe and her
descendants to rams in his neighborhood which he knew to
be of pure Humphreys’ blood, until about 1830, after which
period he uniformly used rams from his own flock. This is
the distinct and positive statement of a man of conceded good
character, and has been persisted in from a period long before
the asserted facts would have had any effect on the reputation
of his flock. From 1815 to 1824, and indeed down to a much
later period, the pedigrees of “old-fashioned Merinos,” as
they were then termed, received very little respect or
attention; and, in fact, Iam not aware that Mr. Humphreys’
importation enjoyed any especial credit over several other of
the principal importations, until its reputation was reflected
back on it by Mr. Atwood’s own flock. Mr. Atwood,
moreover, is a purely practical man; has been specially and
almost exclusively devoted to his sheep; and has always acted
as his own shepherd. We have no right, then, to doubt
either his sincerity or his accuracy.

In 1840, his sheep were not far from the size and form of
Mr. Jarvis’ — though I think they were inclined to be a little
flatter in the ribs, and perhaps a little deeper chested. Their
wool was short, fine, even, well crimped, brilliant, generally
thick, and very dark colored externally for that day. Some
of them (particularly among the rams,) had a black external
coat of hardened yolk, which was sticky in warm weather
and formed a stiff crust in cold weather. The inside yolk
was abundant, and generally colorless. The wool was still
shorter on the belly, and as with the Jarvis sheep, did not
very well cover the legs and head. Few of them had any
below the knees and hocks. Their skins were mellow, loose
and of a rich pink color. The rams had a pendulous dew-lap
and some of them neck-folds, or “wrinkles,” of moderate
size. They rarely exhibited them on other parts of the body,
and the “broad tail” and deep pendulous flank of the present
day, were unknown in both sexes. The ewes generally had
dew-laps of greater or lesser width, sometimes dividing into

THE IMPROVED INFANTADOS. 29

two parts under the jaw, so as to form a triangular cavity or
“pouch” between; and there was on most of them a
horizontal fold of skin running across the lower portion of
the bosom or front of the brisket,— which was known as
“the cross,” and which modern breeders have developed into
that pendulous mass now sometimes termed. “the apron.”

When the Spanish Merinos came again into credit, this
flock became a public favorite and colonies from it were
rapidly scattered throughout the United States, and particu-
larly in the State of New York. Some of these deteriorated,
but most of them continued to improve. The great and
leading improver of the family has been Edwin Hammond, of
Middlebury, Vermont. He made three considerable purchases
of Mr. Atwood’s sheep between the beginning of 1844 and
the close of 1846 —in the two last, getting the average of the
flock, i. e., a proportionate number of each quality.* By a
perfect understanding and exquisite management of his
materials, this great breeder has effected quite as marked an
improvement in the American Merino, as Mr. Bakewell
efectcd among the long-wooled sheep of England. He has
converted the thin, light-boned, smallish, and imperfectly
covered sheep above described, into large, round, low, strong-
boned sheep—models of compactness, and not a few of them
almost perfect models of beauty, for fine-wooled sheep. I
examined the flock nearly a week in February, 1863. They
were in very high condition, though the ewes were fed only
hay. Two of these weighed about 140 Ibs. each. Numbers
would have reached from 110 lbs. to 125 Ibs. One of the two
largest ewes had yielded a fleece of 174 lbs., and the other
144 lbs..of unwashed wool. The whole flock, usually about
200 in number, with the due proportion of young and old and
including, say, two per cent. of grown rams, and no wethers,
yields an average of about. 10 lbs. of unwashed wool per head.
The ram, “Sweepstakes,” given as the frontispiece of this
volume, bred and now owned by Mr. Hammond, has yielded
a single year’s fleece of unwashed wool weighing 27 Ibs. His
weight in full fleece is about 140lbs. Rams producing from
20 lbs. to 24 lbs. are not unusual in the flock.

Mr. Hammond’s sheep exhibit no hardened yolk within
the wool and but little externally: in nearly all of them the
curves of the wool can be traced to its outer tips. They are

* In one case he bought the entire lot of ewe lambs of a year; in another, one-third
of the old ewes—Mr. Atwood selecting the first and third, and Mr. Hammond the
second of each trio. He had partners in some of his purchases, but there is no
occasion to name them here.

30 THE AMERICAN PAULARS.

dark colored because they have abundance of liquid “ circu-
lating” yolk, and because they (like all the leading breeding
flocks of Vermont,) are housed, not only in winter, but from
summer rain storms. The great weight is made up not by
the extra amount of yolk, but by the extra length and
thickness of every part of the fleece. In many instances it is
nearly as long and thick on the belly, legs,* forehead, cheeks,
etc., as on the back and sides. The wool opens freely and
with a good luster and style. It is of a high medium quality
and remarkably even. Mr. Hammond is intentionally breeding
it back to the buff tinge of the original Spanish wool. He
has not specially cultivated folds in the skin. Sweepstakes
has more of these than most of his predecessors and has much
increased them in the flock. Some of his best ewes are nearly
without them, though all perhaps have dew-laps and the
“eross” on the brisket. In every respect this eminent
breeder has directed his whole attention to solid value, and
has never sacrificed a particle of it to attain either points of ~
no value or of less value. He has bred exclusively from Mr.
Atwood’s stock, sire and dam; and since the rams originally
purchased of Mr. Atwood by himself and associates, has only
used rams of his own flock. The marked extent of his
in-and-in breeding, will be adverted to in the Chapter which I
shall devote to the general subject of in-and-in breeding. But
this has not developed any delicacy of constitution in his
flock. They are every way stronger and more robust sheep
than their predecessors of 25 years ago, bring forth larger
and stronger lambs, and are far better breeders and nurses.

There are in Vermont and other States a large body of
spirited and intelligent breeders whose flocks were founded
mainly or exclusively on sheep purchased of Mr. Hammond.
Not a few of them have bred with distinguished success. It
would be justly considered invidious to mention the flocks of
a portion of them, without mentioning all of equal merit.
This I am unable to do, both because I am unprovided with a
full list of them, and because the prescribed limits.of this
work do not admit of it. I have aimed to do justice to all of
this improved family of sheep at once, in describing the flock
of its distinguished founder.

Tue Pavrar or Rica Merrrnos.—These sheep were
originally purchased in 1823, by Hon. Charles Rich, M. C.,

*I do not mean to be understood that it is thus long below the knees and hocks,
though it is generally quite as long as ¢¢ ought to be on the shanks,

THE AMERICAN PAULARS, 31

and Leonard Bedell, of Shoreham, Vermont, of Andrew Cock,
of Flushing, Long Island. Cock purchased all of the original
stock and part of the individual sheep sold to them, of the
importers. Their Spanish pedigree, the authenticity of which

MERINO EWE.

was attested by a Consular certificate, (undoubtedly Mr.
Jarvis’, but that fact is not now remembered,) showed them to
be Paulars.* They have been bred by John T. Rich, son of the
preceding, and his sons John T. and Virtulan Rich, on the old

* Cock delivered this certified pedigree to Bedell. Letters of the late John T. Rich,
Esq., son of one of the purchasers, and of the late Hon. 8. H. Jennison, ex-Governor of
Vermont, were published in 1844, stating that they had seen this document; and both

entlemen remembered the ewes in the flock certified to be of thepriginal importation.

ov. Jennison says he saw them often between 1824 and 1830. They were very old
and toothless. The Hon. Effingham Lawrence, who resided in the same town with
Cock, and who was himself a distinguished importer and breeder of Merinos, as well
as an old-school gentleman, highly eminent for social position and integrity, wrote to
me in 1844:—“‘ Andrew Cock * * was my near neighbor. We were intimate and
commenced laying the foundations of our Merino flocks about the same time. I was
present when he purchased most of his sheep, which was in 1811. He first purchased
two ewes at $1,100 per head. They were very fine, and of the Escurial flock imported
by Richard Crowninshield. His next purchase was 30 of the Paular breed at from $50
to $100 per head. He continued to purchase of the different importations until he ran
them up to about eighty, always selecting them with great care. This was the
foundation of A. Cock’s flock, nor did he ever purchase any but pure blooded sheep
to my knowledge or belief. Andrew Cock was an attentive breeder; saw well to his
business; and was of unimpeachable character. His certificate of the kind and

arity of blood I should implicitly rely on. I recollect of his selling sheep to Leonard
Bedell, of Vermont.” Much other testimony sustaining the pedigree might be given.

32 THE IMPROVED PAULARS.

homestead in Shoreham, down to the present day, without the
least admixture of other blood than pure Spanish, and with
very little crossing with other Spanish or American families.

These sheep, in 1840, were heavy, short-legged, broad
animals, full in the quarters, strong-boned, with thick, short
necks and thick coarse heads. The ewes had deep and some-
times plaited dew-laps and folds of moderate size about the
neck. The rams had larger ones. They were darker exter-
nally than the Jarvis sheep, but not so much so as the Atwood
sheep—indicating that their wool contained more yolk than
the former and less than the latter. The wool was longer
than that of either of the other families, very thick and
covered them better on the belly, legs and head. But it was
inferior in fineness, evenness and style. It was quite coarse
on the thigh, and hairs were occasionally seen on the ‘neck
folds. The lambs were often covered with hair when yeaned,
and their legs and ears were marked by patches of tan color
which subsequently disappeared except on the ears, where it
continued to show faintly. They were better nurses and
hardier than either of the other families. I have remarked in
a former publication that “they were precisely the negligent
farmer’s sheep.” They encountered short keep, careless treat-
ment of all kinds, exposure to autumnal storms and winter
gales, with a degree of impunity which was unexampled.
Their lambs came big, bony and strong, and did not suffer
much if they were dropped in a snow bank.

In 1842 and 1843 this flock was bred toa Jarvis ram —
peculiarly dark, thick and heavy fleeced and compact in form
tor one of his family—the object of Mr. Rich being to avoid
breeding in-and-in and to improve the quality of his wool.
For the same object, and to increase the yolkness of the wool,
a dip or two of Atwood blood has been since taken; but it
has always been made a point to breed back after taking these
crosses, so as essentially to preserve the blood and distinctive
characteristics ‘of the original family. The Messrs. Rich
have succeeded in all these objects and have kept up well
with the rapid current of modern improvement. Their sheep
are not so large nor do they yield so much wool per head as
the improved Infantados, but they possess symmetrical forms
which are remarkable for compactness. The body is shortish,
and very thick, with their ancient good fore and hind quarters;
and their heads, though thick and short, have lost their coarse-
ness. Their fleeces areeven and good. But that merit which
gives them their great popularity in Vermont and elsewhere,

OTHER MERINO FAMILIES. 33

is their adaptation to thin, scant herbage, and to their qualities
as “working flocks.” They demand no extra care or keep
to develop their qualities, are always lively and alert; and
though gentle and perfectly free from restlessness of tempera-
ment, they are ready to rove far and near to obtain their food.
And for all they consume they make the most ample returns.
While they will pay for care, they will thrive with but little
care. Ina word, they remain, par excellence, the negligent
farmer’s sheep.

The ewe, the portrait of which is given on page 31, is a
three year old of this family, and is one of a small number of
equal appearance and excellence, which I bought of the Messrs.
Rich a year since. Her second fleece, when she was not so
large as a high-kept yearling, and when she had not been
housed before autumn, weighed 10 lbs. unwashed. Having
bred both these and the Infantados for years, and being now
about equally interested in both the improved families, I trust
I can speak of them with impartiality; and I may here add
that I also described Mr. Jarvis’ sheep on ample personal
experience.*

Oruer Merino Famirirs.—There were in 1840, a few
small Merino flocks descended from pure Spanish importations,
and derived from other sources than the foregoing, scattered
very thinly through the States lying west of New England.
Like the best Infantados and Paulars of that day, some of them
averaged about 43 lbs. of washed wool to the fleece. I have
been unable to obtain any authentic portraits of known
Infantados or Paulars of that period. The drawing from
which the cut given on the following page was taken, was
made in 1840, by Francis Rotch, Esq., of Morris, (then called
Louisville,) N. Y., one of the most eminent and skillful cattle
and sheep breeders in the United States, and remarkable then
as since for the accuracy and spirit of his drawings of animals.
The cut is a ewe of his own flock of thirty breeding ewes,
which had been selected with much care from different flocks
in New England; and this one was then regarded as a model.
She is rounder in the rib, broader and rounder in the thigh
and fuller in the brisket than was common among the Merinos
of that day. The illustration will show the changes which

* The account which I have given of the characteristics, &c., of these families 20
years ago, was submitted, in substantially the same form, to some of the most
prominent present breeders of each variety, including Mr. Hammond and Mr. Rich,
preparatory to its publication in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry in 1862, and it
received their unanimous concurrence. See that Report, p. 63.

Q*

34 OTHER MERINO FAMILIES.

have taken place in American Merino sheep during the last
twenty-three years.

MERINO EWE.

Other persons in New York, (including myself,) and
several in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and perhaps some other States,
owned pure Spanish flocks, not differing essentially in quality
from those of Connecticut and Vermont. But while some
flock-masters in New England, and particularly in Vermont,
made .ram breeding a specialty, those of the Middle and
Western States generally devoted their attention to wool-
growing, and soon began to draw their rams from the former
sources. The consequence has been that they neither
preserved nor established distinct families, among their early
sheep; and those that now have pure and distinct families ot
the improved American Merinos (and their number greatl
exceeds that of the breeders of pure sheep in New England,
have generally obtained the origin of their flocks, within the
last fifteen or twenty years, from Vermont, or from Mr.
Atwood’s flock in Connecticut. Consequently, there is not
within my knowledge any other separate families that require
a special description.

CHAPTER IV.

LATER IMPORTATIONS OF FINE-WOOLED SHEEP INTO
THE UNITED STATES.

FRENCH AND SILESIAN MERINOS INTRODUCED.

Frencn Mzrrinos Intropucep.—tThe first importation of
French Merinos into the United States, since they have
assumed those characteristics which constitute them a separate
variety, was made in 1840, by D. C. Collins, of Hartford,
Conn. He purchased fourteen ewes and two rams from the
royal flock at Rambouillet, which were esteemed of such choice
quality that. one of the rams (“‘ Grandee”) and several of the
ewes “could only be procured after they had been used in the
national flock as far as it could be*done with advantage.”
Grandee, says A. B. Allen, then Editor of the American Agyi-
culturist, who attended Mr. Collins’ sheep-shearing in 1843,
was 8 feet 83 inches long ftom the setting on of the horns to
the end of the rump; his height over the rump and shoulders
was 2 feet 5 inches, and his weight in good fair condition
about 150 lbs. The ewes were proportionably large. At
three years old, in France, Grandee produced a fleece of 14 lbs.
of unwashed wool. His fleece was suffered to grow from
1839 to 1841, two years, and weighed 26 lbs. 3 oz. clean
unwashed wool. One year’s fleece in 1842 weighed 122
Ibs. In 1848 the ewes yielded an average of 6 lbs. 9 oz. of
unwashed wool. Mr. Allen commended their constitutions
and longevity; stated that they had large loose skins full of
folds, especially about the neck and below it on the shoulders,
and not unfrequently over the whole body; and that they
were well covered with wool on every part down to the hoofs.
Their fleeces opened of a brilliant creamy color, on a skin of
rich pink, and was soft, glossy, wavy, and very even over the
whole body. It was exceedingly close and compact, and had
a yolk free from gum and easily liberated by washing.*

* See Am. Agriculturist, vol. 2, p. 98. I mostly use Mr. Allen’s language.

86 FRENCH MERINOS INTRODUCED,

The late Mr. Taintor, of Hartford, Connecticut, commenced
importing French Merinos in 1846, and continued it through
several succeeding years. He selected mostly from private
flocks like those of M. Cughnot and M. Gilbert, which had
been bred much larger and heavier fleeced than the royal onc.
Having made some inquiries of him, in 1862, in relation to the
sheep of his importations, he referred me to John D. Patterson
of Westfield, New York, who had purchased very extensively
of him and who owned as good animals as had ever been
imported. That gentleman wrote to me:

“Tn answer to your inquiry as to the weight of fleece of
the French sheep and their live weight, I can only reply by
giving the result of my own flock. My French rams havo
generally sheared from 18 to 24 pounds of an even year’s
growth, and unwashed, but some of them, with high keeping
and light use, have sheared more, and my yearling rams have
generally sheared from 15 to 22 pounds each. My breeding
and yearling ewes have never averaged as low as 15 pounds
each, unwashed, taking the entire flock. Some of them have
sheared over 20 pounds each, but these were exceptions,
being large and in high condition. The live weight of any
animal of course depends very much upon its condition. My
yearling ewes usually range from 90 to 130 pounds each, and
the grown ewes from 130 to 170 pounds each, and I have had
some that weighed over 200 pounds each; but these would be
above the average size and in high flesh. My yearling rams
usually weigh from 120 to 180 pounds each, and my grown
rams from 180 to 250 pounds each—some of them have
weighed over 300 pounds each, but these were unusually large
and in high flesh and in full fleece. I have had ram lambs
weigh 120 pounds at seven months old, but they were more
thrifty, fleshy and larger than usual at that age.”

T have seen many sheep of Mr. Taintor’s importation and
their direct descendants. A large portion of them possessed
good forms censidering their great size. Their wool was not
so fine as Mr. Collins’, but of a fair medium quality and pretty
even. Their fleeces were very light colored externally, com-
pared with those of any American family, owing undoubtedly
to their relative deficiency in yolk and to the more soluble
character of their yolk. Unless housed with care from both
summer and winter storms, they were about as destitute of
yolk before washing as a considerable class of American
Merinos are after it. Under common treatment, then, their
fleeces are greatly lighter in proportion to bulk than those of

FRENCH MERINOS. 37

the latter, and correspondingly unprofitable in a market where
no i as discrimination is made between clean and dirty
wools.

“The only really weak point of the best French Merino as
a pure wool producing animal, is the want of that hardiness
which adapts it to our changeable climate and to our systems
of husbandry. In this particular it is to the American Merino
what the great pampered Short-Horn of England is to the
little, hardy, black cattle of the Scotch Highlands—what the
high-fed carriage horse, sixteen hands high, groomed and
attended in a wainscoted stable, is to the Sheltie that feeds
among the moors and mosses, and defies the tempests of the
Orkneys. The French sheep has not only been highly kept
and housed from storm and rain and dew for generations, but
it has been bred away from the normal type of its race. The
Dishley sheep of Mr. Bakewell are not a more artificial variety,
and all highly artificial varieties become comparatively delicate
in constitution.”*

The French Merino, if well selected, has always proved
profitable in this country, where the French, or an equally
fostering system of management, has been faithfully kept up—
but by far the largest portion of buyers have not kept up such
a system, and consequently their sheep have rapidly deterio-
tated. Where the rams have been worked hard and exposed
to rough vicissitudes of weather, they have frequently
perished before the close of the first year. These facts
account for that reaction which has taken place against this
variety in the minds of many of our farmers. And the tide of
prejudice has been enormously swelled by the impositions of
a class of importers. It creates a smile to recall to memory
the great, gaunt, shaggy monsters, with hair on their necks
and thighs projecting three or four inches beyond the wool—
mongrels probably of the second or third cross between
French Merinos and some long-wooled and huge-bodied
variety of mutton sheep—which were picked up in France
and hawked about this country by greedy speculators, who
knew that, at that time, size and “wrinkles” would sell any
thing! .

I regret that Mr. Patterson’s absence in California has
prevented me from obtaining original drawings of some of

*I quote this paragraph from my Report on Fine- Wool Husbandry, 1802,
because Mr. Taintor, the Messrs, Allen, and several other distinguished breeders an
advocates of French Sheep, wrote to me sex py Saba their entire satisfaction with my
description of that breed in the Report; and the above quotation may therefore be set
down as res adjudicata.

38 SILESIAN MERINOS INTRODUCEN.

these sheep in time for this volume. I have not known where
else to look for pure and favorable specimens of the variety.
Colonies of French Sheep have been planted in the mild
climate of the South, in California, and in other situations the
most favorable to them. I cannot but hope that they will
yet acclimatize into a valuable variety for portions of our
country. They are good mothers. They often raise twins.
As a fine-wool mutton sheep they should stand unrivaled.

SILESIAN MERINO RAM.

Inrropucrion or Sitestan Mermvos.—The following
account of the introduction of this variety and of its charac-
teristics, is contained in a letter from the principal importer,
William Chamberlain, of Red Hook, New York. He wrote
to me in January, 1862:

“Your favor dated 24th ult. is received, and it gives me
pleasure to furnish the required information in regard to my
flock of Silesian sheep, with full liberty to make such use of
the facts as you please.

SILESIAN MERINOS. 39

“1st. I have made importations for myself and George
Campbell of Silesian sheep, as follows:

do. 1854, do.
do. 1856, do.

212 34 do.
“In 1854 I visited Silesia and made the purchases myself.

‘ad. The sheep were bred by Louis Fischer, of Wirchen-
blatt, Silesia, except a few which were bred by his near
neighbor, Baron Weidebach, who used Fischer’s breeders.

“3d. Their origin is Spain. In 1811 Ferdinand Fischer,
the father of Louis Fischer, the present owner of the flock,
visited Spain himself and purchased one hundred of the best
ewes he could find of the Infantado flocks, and four bucks
from the Negretti flock, and took them home with him to
Silesia, and up to the present day they have not been crossed
with any other flocks or blood, but they have been crossed
within the families. The mode pursued is to number every
sheep and give the same number to all her increase; an
exact record is kept in books, and thus Mr. Fischer is enabled
to give the pedigree of every sheep he owns, running back to
1811, which is positive proof of their entire purity of blood.
The sheep are-perhaps not as large as they would be if a little
other blood were infused; but Mr. F. claims that entire purity
of blood is indispensably necessary to insure uniformity
of improvement when crossed on ordinary wool growers’
flocks; and such is the general opinion of wool growers in
Germany, Poland and ‘Russia, which enables Mr. Fischer to,
sell at high prices as many bucks and ewes as he can spare,
and as he and his father have enjoyed this reputation for so
many years, I am fully of opinion that he isright. From these
facts you will observe that my sheep are pure Spanish.

“4th. Medium aged ewes shear from 8 to 11 pounds;
bucks from 12 to 16 pounds; but in regard to ewes, it must
be borne in mind that they drop their lambs from November
to February, which lightens the clip somewhat. I do not
wash my sheep. ;

“5th. I have sold my clip from 30 to 45 cents, according
to the market.

“6th. We have measured the wool on quite a number of
sheep, and find it from one and a half to two inches long, say
eight months’ growth, but J have no means of knowing what
it would be at twelve months’ growth.

40 SILESIAN MERINOS.

“th. Their external color is dark. The wool has oil but
no gum whatever, they having been bred so as to make them
entirely free from gum—German manufacturers always insist-
ing on large deductions in the price of wool where gum is

ound.

“8th. As above stated, the Silesians have oil, but no gum
like those which are sold for Spanish and French, and the oil is
white and free; the wool- does not stick together.

“9th. We have weighed five ewes. Three dropped their
lambs last month; the other two have not yet come in. Their
weights are 115, 140, 130, 115 and 127 pounds; three bucks
weighing severally 145, 158, 155 pounds; one yearling buck
weighing 130 pounds; but this would be more than an
average weight of my flock when young and very old sheep
were brought into the average. My sheep are only in fair
condition, as I feed no grain. They have beets, which I
consider very good for milk, but not so good for flesh as

rain.

“10th and 11th. For the first time my shepherd has
measured some sheep: ewes from 24 to 28 inches high, fore-
leg 11 to 12 inches; bucks, 27 to 28 inches high, foreleg 12
to 13% inches.

“12th. We find the Silesians hardy, much more so than a
small flock of coarse mutton sheep that I keep and treat quite
as well as I do the Silesians.

“13th. They are first-rate breeders and nurses.

“Some of these facts I have given on the statement of my
shepherd, Carl Heyne, who was one of Mr. Fischer’s shepherds,
and came home with the sheep I purchased in 1854, and a man
whose honor and integrity I can fully indorse.

“My sheep do not deteriorate in this country, but the wool
rather grows finer without any reduction in the weight of
ficece.

In a subsequent letter Mr. Chamberlain wrote to me:

“Carl has weighed a few more of our Silesian sheep, and
their weights are as follows: Four full aged ewes, respect-
ively, 120, 125, 107, 107 pounds; two ewe lambs, 90, 87
pounds; two two-year old bucks, 124, 122 pounds; one threc-
fourths blood, 143 pounds.

“T attended to the weighing and selection myself, and am
of opinion that our ewes from three to eight years old average
fully 115 pounds, say before dropping their lambs. Our
younger sheep do not weigh as much. Silesians do not get
their full size till four years of age, and after eight or nine

SILESIAN MERINOS. 41

years they are not as heavy. *. * * Mr. Fischer’s sheep
are large, say larger than any flock of Vermont Merinos that
I have seen. * * * JI have the lambs come from
November to March, because Carl says it is the best way, and
I let him do as he pleases. * * * The ewes do not give
quite as much wool, but I think the lambs make stronger
sheep, as they get a good start the first summer.”

The Silesian ram, a portrait of which is given on page 38,
was bred by Mr. Chamberlain, and is now the property of
James Geddes, of Fairmount, N. Y. He is regarded as
an extraordinarily valuable animal of the family. He is large
in size and yields an unusually heavy fleece.

The following cut represents a group of Silesian ewes
imported by Mr. Chamberlain.

GROUP OF SILESIAN EWES.

I visited Mr. Chamberlain’s flock in February, 1863.
Most of the lambs were then dropped and the ewes appeared
to be excellent mothers. They were fed beets but no grain.
They are housed constantly in cold weather, except when let
out to drink—housed nights throughout the year, and from all
summer rain storms. From the limited quantity of his
available pasturage, Mr. Chamberlain restricts them far more
than is usual in that particular im summer, but allows them to

42- SILESIAN MERINOS.

eat’ what hay they wish at night. He considers this, more
profitable than devoting more of his high-priced lands to
pasturage, and quite as well if not better for the sheep.

The careasses of his sheep are round and symmetrical.
Some of them are taller in proportion to weight than is
desirable—because German breeders pay less attention to this
point—but this tendency could be readily changed without
going out of the flock for rams. The wool is of admirable
quality and uniformity, and opens most brilliantly on a mellow,
rose-colored skin. The fleece is very dark externally.

Wherever it is most profitable to grow very fine wool, this
variety, or rather this family, ought to stand unrivaled.
Whether they have ever been tested under the common rough
usage of our country I am not advised. There is nothing in
their forms or general appearance to indicate that they would
not generally conform to it. They would doubtless lose
much of their external color and early maturity, and perhaps
something of their ultimate size. But the same would be
true of all the summer-housed, high kept and carefully
tended Merinos of our country.

CHAPTER V.

BRITISH AND OTHER LONG AND MIDDLE- WOOLED
SHEEP IN THE UNITED STATES.

LEICESTERS, COTSWOLDS, LINCOLNS, NEW OXFORDSHIRES,
BLACK-FACED SCOTCH, CHEVIOT, FAT-RUMPED, BROAD-TAILED,
PERSIAN AND CHINESE SHEEP.

No breed of domestic sheep were indigenous to the United
States; nor is it deemed necessary here to attempt to trace
the origin or subsequent history of the various breeds and
families, imported by our ancestors when they colonized this
Continent, and which, being mixed promiscuously together,
constituted what it became customary to speak of as the
“ Native Sheep,” when the Merino and the improved British
breeds were afterwards introduced. They were generally
lank, gaunt, slow-feeding, coarse, short-wooled, hardy,
prolific animals—not well adapted to any special purpose of
wool or mutton production. A family of them, the Otter
Sheep—so termed from their short, crooked, rickety legs, a
mere perpetuated monstrosity—and the descendants of some
English long-wools, on Smith’s Island, imagined by a few
persons to be indigenous there—are the only sub-varieties
which have ever attracted special notice; and they were
wholly unworthy of it.

Not having bred English sheep of late years, and never
having bred them extensively, I can entertain little doubt that
I shall give more satisfaction to the readers of this volume if
I select descriptions of them from British and American
sources of recognized authority.

Tue Leicester Surep.*—lIt is with profound pleasure that
J am enabled to trace the first probable importation into the

* J leave off the prefix ‘‘ New,” because these sheep have altogether superseded
she parent stock, 80 as to be generally denominated ‘‘¢he Leicester.” And they are
go denominated in the prize lists of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.

44 LEICESTERS INTRODUCED.

United States of improved English Sheep, if not of improved
sheep of any kind, to that great man, first in the arts of peace
as well as war, Gzorcr Wasuincton. Livingston, writing
in 1809, says of the “ Arlington Long-Wooled Sheep” that
they were “derived from the stock” of General Washington
—hbeing bred by his step-son, Mr. Custis, from a Persian
ram amd Bakewell ewes. Gen. Washington died near the
close of 1799.*

A Mr. Lax, who resided on Long Island, “smuggled”
some Leicesters into the United States not far from 1810;
and from these Christopher Dunn, of Albany, New York,
obtained the origin of his long celebrated flock.t During the
war of 1812 with England, some choice Leicesters, on their
way to Canada, were captured by one of our privateers, and
sold at auction in New York, and thus became scattered
throughout the country. Some sheep of this family were also

a early introduced by Captain Beanes, of New Jersey.}

The elaborate descriptions of the Leicesters, by Youatt
and Spooner, have been made so familiar to American readers,
that I shall use that of Mr. John Wilson, Professor of Agri-
culture in the University of Edinburgh, in a paper “On the
Various Breeds of Sheep in Great Britain,” published in the
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, in
1856:

* Livingston (see his Essay on Sheep, p. 58,) does not expressly say that Gen.
Washington introduced the ‘‘ Bakewells,” but this is to be inferred from his state-
ment that the Arlington Sheep ‘‘ were derived from his stock,” without making an
exception of the Bakewells. Mr. Livingston speaks of the Arlington's as an existing
family, when he wrote. Ihave not Mr. Custis’s pamphlet before me from which he
appears to have derived his facts.

+ He commenced crossing it with a Cotswold ram in 1882, and from that period it
became’a grade flock between the two families. But it was an excellent one. His
wethers weighed 85 Ibs. per quarter and carried 8 Ibs. of wool per head. His first
Cotswold ram weighed alive 250 lbs., and yielded at one shearing 15% lbs, of wool 14
inches long. In 1835 he sold ewes from $12 to $15 a head, and rams from $30 to $50 a
head. Several eminent flocks in the vicinity, like those of Mr. Duane and Mr. North,
in Schenectady, &c., &c., originated from these. I have obtained most of my facts
about Mr. Dunn’s sheep from a communication signed B.in the Albany Cultivator,
March, 1835. It was undoubtedly written by Caleb N. Bement—entirely reliable
authority ; but whoever wrote the article, Judge Buell, then editor of the Cultivator,
who was perfectly conversant with Mr. Dunn and his flock, would not have published
any erroneous statements in regard to either; and had any errors crept into his
columns by oversight, he would have promptly corrected them.

Mr. William H. Sotham, in a communication to the Cultivator in 1840, states the
following facts of six wethers bred and fed by Mr. Dunn that year. The heaviest
weighed 210 Ibs., and the fat on the ribs measured 544 inches. The thickness of fat on
the smallest was 4} inches. They were sold to Mr. Kirkpatrick for $22 a head, and
the meat sold rapidly in the market for 1234 cents a pound. The fleeces averaged
about 10 lbs. each in weight.

+ Capt. Beanes also introduced Teeswaters and South Downs, but they were not
long kept distinct from the surrounding varieties and families. It has been said that
fore Serr sama were included among the shcep captured, as above stated, by a priva-
eerin 1812. -

LEICESTER SHEEP. 45

LEICESTER RAM.

“It was about the middle of the last century when Mr.
Bakewell, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, began his experiments
in the improvement of the breed of long-wooled sheep, at that
time common to the midland counties. The old Leicesters
were then considered as possessing many valuable. properties ;
at the same time they possessed many defects. These
defects Bakewell sought by a judicious crossing with other
breeds to remedy,. while at the same time he retained the
good points of the original breed. Up to this period the
great object of breeders seems to have been confined to the.
production of animals of the largest size possible, and carrying
the heaviest. fleece. The old Leicesters are described as large,
heavy, coarse-grained animals, the meat having but little
flavor and no delicacy—the carcass was long and thin, flat-
sided, with large bones on thick rough legs. The fleece was
heavy and long, and of coarse quality. The sheep were slow
feeders, and when sent to market at two and three years old,
weighed about 100 to 120 Ibs. each. Such were the charac-
teristics of the stock upon which Bakewell commenced his
improved system of breeding. Recognizing the relation

46 LEICESTER SHEEP.

which exists between the form of an animal and its physical
tendencies, he sought to cross his sheep with such breeds as he
considered would be most likely to insure those points in the
animal frame which were defective in the old breed, and thus
to introduce an aptitude to lay on the largest possible amount
both of flesh and fat in the shortest space of time, and at the
least expenditure of food. The fleece too was not forgotten,
as that would necessarily share in the general improvement of
the animal. * ® - = oo *

“In order to obtain a permanent character to his breed,
after he had by continued crossing secured all those points
he considered desirable, Bakewell carried on his breeding
with his own blood, and did not scruple-to use animals closely
allied to each other. This system, adhered to more or less
during a course of years by his successors and by later
breeders, while sustaining the purity of the breed, had
the effect of lessening its value to the farmer. It gradually
exhibited a weakened constitution, became reduced in size
and more delicate in form—the ewes were less prolific and less
generous to their offspring. These prominent and ‘serious
defects soon craved the attention of enlightened breeders, who,
by a judicious introduction of new blood, have again restored
the original character of the breed, with all the improvements
resulting from the advanced system of cultivation and the
enlarged area of sheep farming of the present day.

“The New Leicester is now perhaps the most widely
extended and most numerous of all our native breeds. The
sheep are without horns, with white faces and legs; the head
small and clean; the eye bright; neck and shoulders square
and deep; back straight, with deep carcass; hind quarters
tapering toward the tail and somewhat deficient when com-

ared with the Cotswold sheep; legs clean, with fine bone.
The flesh is juicy but of moderate quality, and is remarkable
for the proportion of outside fat it carries.

“They are not considered so hardy as the other large
breeds, and require shelter and good keep. The ewes are
neither very prolific nor good mothers, and the young lambs
require great attention. Early maturity and aptitude for
fattening are the principal characteristics of the breed; a large
proportion of the wethers finding their way to market at
twelve or fifteen months old, and weighing from 80 to 100
Tbs. each; at two years old they average 120 to 150 Ibs. each.
The wool is a valuable portion of the flock, the fleeces
averaging 7 Ibs. each.

LEICESTER SHEEP. 47

“The occasional introduction of a little Cotswold blood into
a Leicester flock has the effect of improving both the consti-
tution of the animal and also the hind quarters, in which the
Leicester is somewhat defective. Ram-breeding is carried out
to » much larger extent with this breed than with any other.”

Bea). aa ;
gta
xy ff ( I) LG,

ni

Nh Ni 1, YA’
/ | Wd i

Wg
a

a
1

Re CARSUN, SCLWY.

LEICESTER EWE.

The accompanying cuts are from drawings of a pair of
Leicesters imported by Mr. Samuel Campbell, of New York
Mills, Oneida County, New York, and Mr. James Brodie, of
Rural Hill, Jefferson County, New York. They were
imported in the spring of 1861. The ram was bred by Mr.
Simpson and the ewe by John Thomas Robinson, both of
Yorkshire, England.. The ram weighs 276 lbs.* Messrs.
Campbell and Brodies’ ewes weigh from 200 lbs. to 250 lbs.
Their “yearlings and wethers yield from 10 Ibs. to 15-Ibs. of
wool and their breeding ewes about 8 lbs.”

* His weight of fleece was not sent to me, nor was the seperate weight of the
flecce of the ewe of which a cut is given. Messrs. C. and B. sold a ram to Sanford
Howard, Esq., of Boston, which at 21 months old weighed 273 lbs., and they have
a two year old which weighs 300 Ibs.

48 COTSWOLDS INTRODUCED.

COTSWOLD RAM.

Tur Corswotp SurEp.—The Cotswold Sheep were
introduced into the United States about thirty-five years ago.
Mr. Dunn imported a ram to cross with his New Leicesters in
1832, and I think some other importations of pairs or single
ones took place not far from the same period. The first
considerable importation of which I have any information was
made in 1840, by Hon. Erastus Corning, of Albany, New
York, and William H. Sotham, then of Jefferson County, New
York, whose sheep, twenty-five in number, were bred by Mr.
Hewer, of Northleach, Gloucestershire, England. Like all
the improved Cotswolds, they had a dash of New Leicester
plood, and they were very superior animals of the family.
The same gentlemen purchased later in 1840 fifty ewes in
lamb from Mr. Hewer, and twenty from Mr. William Cother,
of Middle Aston, England. These were also prime sheep.
rom Messrs. Corning and Sotham’s stock have originated
many valuable flocks, now widely scattered throughout the
country. Quite a large number of Cotswolds have since been
imported from Canada, a considerable portion of them from
the flock of Mr. Frederick William Stone, of Moreton Lodge,

COTSWOLD SHEEP, 49

Guelph, Canada West. “Pilgrim,” the ram, of which a cut
is given on preceding page, was bred by Mr. Stone, and is
now the property of Mr. Henry G. White, of South Fra-
mingham, Massachusetts. Pilgrim, just off his winter feed,
weighs 250 lbs. He would weigh considerably more in the
fall. He yielded 18 Ibs. of wool in 1862.

The ewe, “ Lady Gay,” a portrait of which is given on next
page was also bred by Mr. Stone, and is owned by Mr. White.
She weighs 200 lbs., suckling a lamb. She yielded 16 pounds
of wool in 1862. Pilgrim, and five ewes belonging to Mr.
White, yielded an average of 16 Ibs. of wool per head.

The Cotswolds are thus described by Mr. Spooner in his
work on Sheep :—‘ The Cotswold is a large breed of sheep,
with a long and abundant fleece, and the ewes are very
prolific and good nurses.. Formerly they were bred only on
the hills, and fatted in the valleys of the Severn and the
Thames; but with the inclosure of the Cotswold Hills and the
improvement of their cultivation they have been reared and
fatted in the same district. They have been extensively
crossed with the Leicester sheep, by which their size and
fleece have been somewhat diminished, but their carcasses
considerably improved, and their maturity rendered earlier.
The wethers are now sometimes fattened at 14 months old,
when they weigh from 15 Ibs. to 24 Ibs. per quarter, and at
two years old increase to 20 lbs. or 30 Ibs. The wool is
strong, mellow, and of good color, though rather coarse, 6 to
8 inches in length, and from 7 lbs. to 8 Ibs. per fleece. The
superior hardihood of the improved Cotswold over the
Leicester, and their adaptation to common treatment, together
with the prolific nature of the ewes and their abundance of
milk, have rendered them in many places rivals of the New
Leicester, and have obtained for them, of late years, more
attention to their selection and general treatment, under
which management still further improvement appears very
probable. They have also been used in crossing other breeds,
and as before noticed, have been mixed with the Hampshire
Downs. It is, indeed, the improved Cotswold that, under the
term New or Improved Oxfordshire Sheep, are so frequently
the successful candidates for prizes. offered for the best long-
wooled sheep at some-of the principal agricultural meetings
or shows in the Kingdom. The quality of the mutton is
considered superior to that of the Leicester, the tallow being:
less abundant, with a larger development of muscle or flesh.
We may, therefore, regard this breed as one of established

3

50 LINCOLNS INTRODUCED.

reputation, and extending itself throughout every district of
the Kingdom.”*

CARSON, SC+ MX.
ee ee

fe

COTSWOLD EWE.

Tur Lincotns.—The Lincolns are a less improved and
larger variety of long-wools than either of the preceding, and
those introduced into the United States, having been mostly
or entirely merged by cross-breeding with the Leicesters and
Cotswolds, they do not demand a separate description. Mr.
Leonard D. Clift, of Carmel, Putnam County, New York,
imported a ram and ewe of this variety, in 1835, “from the
estate of the Earl of Lansdowne, Yorkshire, England.”
Messrs. George H. Gossip & Brother imported a number in
1836 from Tomaustine, From these Mr. Clift obtained
sixteen ewes and a ram, and established a flock which was
generally regarded as highly valuable. They were hardy,
gross feeders, and very prolific. They yielded from 6 lbs. to
10 lbs. of wool per head. Mr. Clift sold a lot of halfblood
two year old wethers in February, 1839, which weighed 125
Ibs. to the carcass, and he obtained 25 cents a pound for them.

* Spooner on Sheep, p. 99.

NEW OXFORDS—BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 51

Tuz New Oxrorpsutres, or Improvep CotrswoLips.—
These were first introduced into this country by Mr. Charles
Reybold, of Delaware, in 1846. They are the result of a cross
between the New Leicesters and Cotswolds, the preponder-
ance being given to the blood of the latter. We have seen
the very high character given of them by Mr. Spooner, in his
description of the Cotswolds, already quoted.

In Mr. James S. Grennell’s Report, as Chairman of the
Committee on Sheep Husbandry appointed by the Massachu-
setts State Board of Agriculture, 1860, is given the following
communication in regard to these Sheep by an American
breeder of them, then of eight years standing — Mr. Lawrence
Smith, of Middlefield:

“J doubt whether they are as hardy as the old-fashioned
Cotswolds or South Downs. I have never had any trouble
with them in regard to cold weather, or changes of climate ;
indeed, they prefer an open, cool, airy situation to any other,
and nothing is more destructive to their health than tight, ill-
ventilated stables. My present experience warrants me in
saying that one-half the ewes will have twins; they are capital
nurses and milkers; I have not had for the past seven years a
single case of neglect on the part of the dam, nor have I lost
a single lamb from lack of constitution. Yearling ewes will
weigh in store condition from 125 Ibs. to 175 Ibs.; fat wethers
at three years old, from 175 to 250 lbs. My heavist breeding
ewe last winter weighed 211 Ibs. My flock of store sheep
and breeding ewes generally shear from five to seven pounds.
My ram fleeces sometimes weigh ten pounds unwashed, and
will sell in this condition for twenty-five cents per pound. I
never feed any store sheep and lambs with grain, but give
them early cut hay, and occasionally a few roots.”

The New Oxfordshires are not to be confounded with the
Oxfordshire Downs, which are cross-breeds between the
Cotswolds and South or Hampshire Downs, and which have
dark faces.

Tur Buiack-Facep Scotcu Suerp.—These are a small,
active, hardy, but for 2 mountain family, rather docile sheep,
which have open, hairy fleeces, and black legs and faces.
They can endure great privations, and can even subsist on
heather. Hence they are often called the heath sheep. Their
mutton is of excellent quality. They weigh on an average
from 60 Ibs. to 65 Ibs. each at three or four years old; and
they yield about 3 lbs. per head of washed wool. They have

52 CHEVIOT SHEEP.

been introduced into the United States by Mr. Samuel
Campbell, of New York Mills, New York, and by Mr. Sanford
Howard, of Boston, Massachusetts, for Mr. Isaac Stickney, of
the same State. Mr. Campbell’s sheep must be a cross, for he
writes me that he should think their weight of fleece would
be from 6 Ibs. to 8 lbs., and that on the 13th of May, 1863,
they weighed alive as follows: old ram, 132 lbs.; old ewe,
103 lbs.; yearling ram, 102 lbs.; two yearling ewes, 99 lbs.
and 100 Ibs. They have often been crossed successfully in
Scotland and the North of England, with larger families.
On the bleak, sterile mountain ranges of North-Eastern New
York, and portions of New England, they probably would
prove a profitable acquisition.

Tue Curviot Suezr.—Some of these (middle-wooled)
sheep were introduced into the State of New York a number
of years since, and were thus mentioned by me in Sheep Hus-
bandry in the South (1848):

“Sheep of this kind have been imported into my imme-
diate neighborhood and were subject to my frequent inspection
for two or three years. They had the appearance of small
* Leicesters, but were considerably inferior in correctness of
proportions to high-bred animals of that variety. They
perhaps more resemble a cross between the Leicester and the
old Native or common breed of the United States. Their
fleeces were too coarse to furnish a good carding wool—too
short for a good combing one. Mixed with a small lot of
better wool, their this year’s clip sold for 29 cents per pound,
while my heavier Merino fleeces sold for 42 cents per pound.
They attracted no notice, and might at any time have been
bought of their owner for the price of common sheep of the
same weight. I believe the flock was broken up and sold to
butchers and others this spring, after shearing. They were
certainly inferior to the description of the breed by Sir John
Sinclair, even in 1792, quoted by Mr. Youatt,* and had all the
defects attributed to the original stock by Cully.t They
might not, however, have been favorable specimens of the
breed.”

Mr. Spooner thus describes the improved family :—“ This
breed has greatly extended itself throughout the mountains
of Scotland, and in many instances supplanted the -black-
faced breed; but the change, though in many cases advanta-

* On Sheep, pp. 285-6. + Cully on Live Stock, p 159.

ASIATIC AND AFRICAN BREEDS. 538

geous, has in some instances been otherwise, the latter being
somewhat hardier, and more capable of subsisting on healthy
pasturage. They are, however, a hardy race, well suited for
their native pastures, bearing with comparative impunity the
storms of winter,.and thriving well on poor keep. Though
less hardy than the black-faced sheep of Scotland, they are
more profitable as respects their feeding, making more flesh
on an equal quantity of food, and making it quicker. They
have white faces and legs, open countenances, lively eyes,
without horns. The ears are large, and somewhat singular,
and there is much space between the ears and eyes. The
carcass is long; the back straight; the shoulders rather light ;
the ribs circular; and the quarters good. The legs are small
in the bone and covered with wool, ag well as the body, with
the exception of the face. The Cheviot wether is fit for the
butcher at three years old, and. averages from 12 Ibs. to 18 Ibs.
per quarter—the mutton being of a good quality, though
inferior to the South Down, and of less flavor than the black-
faced. * * * The Cheviot, though a mountain breed, is
quiet and docile, and easily managed. The wool is fine,*
closely covers the body, assisting much in preserving it from
the effects of wet and cold; the fleece averaging about 34 lbs.
Formerly the wool was extensively employed for making
cloths, but having given place to the finer Saxony wool, it has
sunk in price, and been confined to combing purposes. It has
thus become altogether a secondary consideration.”

Fat-Rumprp, Broap-TaILep, Persian anp CHINESE
Surrp.—aAll of these breeds of sheep have been introduced
into the United States from Asia and Africa, but as a
general thing perhaps rather for the indulgence of curiosity
than from any expectation of establishing valuable flocks
from them. A variety of the Broad-Tailed sheep, however,
sent home by Commodore Porter from Smyrna, was bred
for a considerable period in the United States, and kept
pure in South Carolinat A family of them, termed the
“Tunisian Mountain Sheep,” were received “in a national
ship” by Col. Pickering, who caused them to be distributed
in Pennsylvania; they were bred there for some time, and
were very highly commended by Mr. John Hare Powell.{ A

* Mr. Spooner undoubtedly employs this term relatively, meaning fine for a
middle - wooled sheep.

+ received this information from Hon. R. F. W. Allston, late Governor of that State.

$¢See his Letter on Various Breeds of Sheep, 1826, in Memoirs of N. Y. Board of

54 CHINESE SHEEP.

Persian ram, “very large and well formed, carrying wool of
great length, but of a coarse staple,” crossed with New
Leicester ewes, formed, as we have already seen when speak-
ing of the New Leicesters, the “ Arlington long-wooled sheep”
of Mount Vernon, a sub-variety which attracted considerable
notice in its day.

The Chinese, or Nankin sheep, have recently been brought
into this country and England, and have attracted some notice
from the fact that they frequently give birth to three or four
lambs at a time and breed twice a year—facts which have led
to the expectation that they may prove profitable for lamb
raising in the vicinity of cities. I have seen no description
of their qualities in any other particulars. None of these
breeds have proved, or probably will prove, of much value
as mutton sheep, compared with the improved English
families, and as wool-producing sheep they are all worthless
compared with the Merino. I have therefore thought that
particular descriptions of them would not be worth the space
they would occupy.

Agriculture, vol. 8, p. 877. Mr. Peters, of Pennsylvania, also imported Tunis sheep,
and thought well of them.

CHAPTER VI.

BRITISH SHORT-WOOLED SHEEP, ETO., IN THE UNITED
STATES,

THE SOUTH DOWNS, HAMPSHIRE DOWNS, SHROPSHIRE DOWNS,
AND OXFORDSHIRE DOWNS.

Tuer principal Short-Wooled British families of Sheep
which have been introduced in any considerable numbers into
the United States since the period of the early settlement of
the country, are the South Downs, the Hampshire Downs, the
Shropshire Downs and the Oxfordshire Downs. I include the
last under this designation only because they are classed
among the Downs,—for those introduced into the United
States are really a middle if not almost a long-wooled sheep.

Ture Sourn Downs.—Professor Wilson, in his paper
already cited, thus describes the South Downs:

“The South Downs of the present day present probably as
marked an improvement upon the original breed as that
exhibited by the Leicesters or any other breed. To the
late Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, they are indebted for the high
estimation in which they are now generally held. When he
commenced his experiments in breeding he found the sheep of
small size and far from possessing good points; being long
and thin in the neck; narrow in the fore quarters; high on
the shoulders; low behind, yet high on the loins; sharp on
the back; the ribs flat, drooping behind, with the tail set very
low; good in the leg, though somewhat coarse in the bone.
By a careful and unremitting atterition during a series of years
to the defective points in the animal, and a judicious selection
of his breeding flock, his progressive improvements were at
length acknowledged far and wide; and he closed an useful
and honorable career of some fifty years with the satisfactory
conviction that he had obtained for his favorite breed a repu-
tation and character which would secure them a place as the
first of our short-wooled sheep.

56 SOUTH DOWN SHEEP.

“The South-Down sheep of the present day are without
horns, and with dark brown hoes and legs; the size and weight
have been increased; the fore quarters improved in width and
depth; the back and loins have become broader and the ribs
more curved, so as to form a straight and level back; the
hind quarters are square and full, the tail well set on, and the
limbs shorter and finer in the bone. These results are due to
the great and constant care which has been bestowed on the
breed by Ellman and his contemporaries, as well as by his
successors, whose flocks fully sustain the character of the
improved breed.

SOUTH DOWN RAM.

“The sheep, though fine in form and symmetrical in
appearance, are very hardy, keeping up their condition on
moderate pastures and readily adapting themselves to the
different districts and systems of farming in which they are
now met with. They are very docile, and thrive well, even
when folded on the artificial pastures of an arable farm. Their
disposition to fatten enables them to be brought into the
market at twelve and fifteen months old, when they average

SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 57

80 lbs. weight each. At two years old they will weigh from
100 to 120 Ibs. each. The meat is of fine quality and always
commands the highest price in the market. The ewes are
very prolific, and are excellent mothers, commonly rearing 120
to 180 lambs to the 100 ewes. The fleece, which closely
covers ‘the body, produces the most valuable of our native
wools. It is short in the staple, fine and curling, with spiral
ends, and is used for carding purposes generally.”’* 7

Mr. Jonas Webb, of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, was the
most successful follower of Ellman, and carried the breed to
that perfection which is now seen in its best specimens. The
average weight of his sheep, at from 13 to 15 months old, was
about 126 Ibs., and the average yield of wool per head, about
6 lbs.

SOUTH DOWN EWES.

Choice specimens of Mr. E ‘man’s sheep were imported into
the United States some years since by Mr. John Hare Powell,
of Pennsylvania, Francis Rotch, Esq., of New York, and
various other breeders. Mr. Webb’s have also been exten-

*Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. 16, p. 233.
3%

58 SOUTH DOWN SHEEP.

sively imported by Mr. Thorne of New York, Mr. Alexander
of Kentucky, Mr. Taylor of New Jersey, and others. It is
understood that the leading American importers left no sheep
in England superior to those purchased by them. —

Mr. Thorne furnished me the following facts in regard to
his flock, in answer to inquiries which embraced all the
subjects touched upon by him:

“My flock of South Downs consists of something over 200
head, exclusive of lambs. ‘They are descended from fourteen
different importations, principally from the flock of the late
Jonas Webb. Those not of his breeding were prize pens at
the Show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and
bred by Henry Lugar, of Hengrave, near Bury St. Edmunds.
The rams used have all been selected with the greatest care
from the celebrated Babraham flock. ‘Archbishop’ is the
one which is now being principally used. He was the first
prize yearling at the Royal Show at Canterbury in 1860, and
was chosen by myself from Mr. Webb’s folds as the best
ram he then had. His price there was $1,250. He was
imported in December, 1860.

“The breeding ewes average from 80 to 100 in number.
They usually lamb in March. The rate of increase for the
i six years has been 142 per cent. This year (1863) it has

een 158. As soon as the lambs straighten up, they are
docked, and the males that are not to be kept for service are
castrated. They are weaned at about four months old. The
ewe and wether lambs are given good, short pastures,* and
the ram lambs are folded on rape and kept there until all
stock is housed. Frost (unless perhaps a very severe one)
does not appear to injure the plant, and hence they can be
kept upon it longer than on grass. They are confined to this
feed, unless a few small ones may require grain, which some-
times is given to the lot. When put in winter quarters the
wethers have hay and roots: the others have in addition a
little grain. The breeding ewes are kept on hay until two
months before lambing, when they are given a small feed of
corn which is soon increased to half a pint each per day.
When they lamb they are given turnips instead of grain. The
wethers [yearlings] are given good pasturage the next season
and feed is commenced as soon as the slightest frost makes its
appearance, half a pint of corn to each. When put in the

* In another letter, Mr. Thorne says : ‘‘ My own experience has convinced me that
it is not advisable to put lambs upon new seeds, or after growth from new meadows,
where the growth has been very rank.”’

HAMPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. 59

sheds they are given turnips and the corn is increased to a
pint each. They are marketed generally at Christmas. They
usually dress from 75 to 100 lbs. This year 75 that were sold
to Bryan Lawrence of New York averaged in weight 874 lbs.

“With regard to the wool-producing qualities of the South
Down, the one year that I kept an accurate account, the ewe
flock, including among the number sheep eight and nine years
old, all having suckled lambs, gave 6 lbs. 54 oz.; the yearling
ewes 8 lbs. 12 oz.; the yearling rams from 8 to 12 lbs. This
was unwashed wool, though as you are aware, their wool is
not of a greasy character, and should not be shrunk at the
most over one-fourth, by the buyer.

“You may remember to have seen some notices of the sales
of Jonas Webb’s South Downs. The first sale, in 1861,
included all the flock except lambs, and numbered 200 rams
and 770 ewes. They brought £10,926. The balance were sold
in 1862, and numbered 148 rams and 289 ewes. Amount of
sale, £5,720. Total two years sales, more than $80,000.”*

Mr. Thorne further writes me :—“ Breeding ewes require
exercise; I have always considered it more to the advantage
of meadows than of sheep that they should be yarded.” His
sheep have been extremely healthy. The only prevalent
disease among them has been puerperal or parturient fever, at
lambing. Prior to 1859 he had but one or two cases a year,
but that year twenty, and four ewes died. This was his worst
year, and under a new mode of treatment the disease is
apparently. entirely disappearing from his flock. It never,
however, was confined to his flock or family of sheep, he
informs me, but has ‘been a prevalent disease among sheep of
all kinds in the neighborhood, though often called by other
names.

The ram, a cut of which is given on page 56, is “ Arch-
bishop,” already mentioned, bred by Mr. Jonas Webb, and
owned by Mr. Thorne. The ewes, cuts of which are given on
page 57, are a pair of two-year olds bred by Mr. Thorne from
his imported stock.

Hampsuire Downs.—Professor Wilson thus describes the
Hampshire Downs:

“This rapidly increasing breed of sheep appears to be the
result of a recent cross between the pure South Down and the
old horned white-face sheep of Hampshire and Wiltshire, by
which the hard-working, though fine quality, of the former is

* This letter is dated Thorndale, Washington Hollow, N. Y., April 3, 1863.

60 HAMPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP.

combined with the superior size and constitution of the latter.
The breed was commenced at the early part of the present
century; and by a system of judicious crossing now possesses
the leading characteristics of the two parent breeds. In some
of the best farmed districts of Wiltshire, Hampshire and
Berkshire, they have gradually displaced the South Downs,
and have in themselves afforded another distinct breed for
crossing with the long-wooled sheep. Their leading character-
istics are, as compared with the South Down, an increased size,
equal maturity, and a hardier constitution. The face and head
are larger and coarser in their character; the frame is heavier
throughout; the carcass is long, roomy, though less symmetrical
than the South Down, and the wool of a coarser though
longer staple. Their fattening propensity is scarcely equal to
that of the South Down. These points have all received great
attention lately from the breeders; and the éamproved Hamp-
shire Down now possesses, both in shape, quality of wool,
aptitude to fatten and early maturity, all the qualities for which
the pure South Down has been so long and so justly celebrated.
The lambs are usually dropped early and fed for the markets
as lambs, or kept until the following spring, when, if well fed,
they weigh from 80 to 100 lbs., and command a good market.

“The Hampshire Downs are used like the South Downs for
the purpose of crossing with other breeds; being hardier in
constitution they are perhaps better calculated for the Northern
districts, where the climate is sometimes very severe.”

Mr. Spooner, in a paper “On Cross Breeding,” published in
the Journal of the Boral Agricultural Society of England,
1859, expresses opinions of this variety of sheep very similar
to those above given by Professor Wilson, and he makes the
following remarks in relation to their origin and blood:

“We have no reason to suppose that after a few generations
the Hampshire breeders continued to use the South Down*
rams; as soon as the horns were gone, to which perhaps the
Berkshire Notts contributed, and the face had become black,
they employed their own cross-bred rams with the cross-bred
ewes. If then we were asked what original blood predomi-
nated in the Hampshire sheep, we should unquestionably say
the South Down; but if the further question were put, is the

resent breed derived from the South Down and the original

ampshire alone, we should express a doubt as to such a

* Mr. Spooner in several instances terms them ‘‘ Sussex’? in the remarks I quote,
meaning thereby South Down; and to prevent confusion among those not used to the
former name, I have changed it in every instance to South Down.

SHROPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. 61

conclusion, as there is good reason to consider that some
improved Cotswold blood has been infused.”

After giving some facts to prove that this last. cross was
taken, Mr. Spooner continues:

“Although after dipping once or twice into this breed, they
then ceased to do so, yet they have continued breeding from
the descendants of the cross, and thus in very many of the
Hampshire and Wiltshire flocks, there is still some improved
Cotswold, and consequently Leicester blood.* Probably an
increase of wool has thus been obtained. Some say that on
the borders of Berkshire the Berkshire Nott was also used,
* and others contend, although without proof, that a dip of the
Leicester has been infused. Be this as it may there is no doubt
that, although for some years past the Hampshire sheep have,
for the most part, been kept pure, yet they have been very
extensively crossed with other breeds before this period.’

A ram and five ewes of this family, bred by Francis Budd,
Esq., of Hampshire, England, and which had been successful
competitors at the Exhibition of the Royal Agricultural
Society, were imported in 1855 by Mr. Thomas Messenger, of
Clarence Hall, Great Neck, Long Island. They have received
first prizes from the State Agricultural Society, from the
American Institute, and from various other Societies; and
they found a rapid sale in the South prior to the present war.
Mr. Messenger writes me that he finds them better suited to
the climate where he resides, and more hardy, than the South
Downs. He breeds them pure, and also crosess them with
Cotswolds and Leicesters, with great advantage, in his opinion,
to both the latter families of sheep.

Tus SHropsuirE Downs,—Shropshire or Shrops, as they
are variously called, are thus described by Professor Wilson:

“In our early records of sheep farming, Shropshire is
described as possessing a peculiar and distinct variety of sheep,
to which the name of ‘Morfe Common’ sheep was given,
from the locality to which the breed was principally confined.
® * In 1792, when the Bristol Wool Society procured.
as much information as possible regarding sheep in England,
they reported as follows in reference to the Morfe Common
breed :—‘ On Morfe Common, near Bridgenorth, which con-
tains about 600,000 acres, there are about 10,000 sheep kept

*In a note Mr. Spooner here states that it is “generally acknowledged that the
Cotswold sheep have been improved by crosses from the Leieester ram.”

+ Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, Vol. 20, page 302.

62 SHROPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP.

during the summer months, which produce wool of superior
quality. They are considered a native breed — are black-faced
or brown, or a spotted faced, horned sheep, little subject to
either rot or scab — weighing, the wethers from 11 to 14 lbs.,

SHROPSHIRE RAM.

and the ewes from 9 to 11 Ibs. per quarter, after being fed
with clover and turnips ; and clipping nearly 2 Ibs. per fleece,
exclusive of the breeching, which may be taken at one-seventh
or one-eighth part of the whole.’ x * This appears
to have been the original stock from which the present breed of
Shropshire Downs has sprung. As the county advanced, and
the breeds became valuable for their carcasses as well as for
their wool, the Morfe Common sheep were crossed with other
breeds, but more particularly with the long-wooled Leicesters
and Cotswolds, or the short-wooled South Downs. The
admixture of such different blood has produced a corresponding
variation in the characters of the present breed of Shropshire
Downs, and has tended materially to sustain the hesitation
which still exists to allow them a place as a distinct breed.*

* This was written in 1856.

SHROPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. 63

Where, however, the original cross was with the South Down,
and the breed has been continued unmixed with the long-
wooled sheep, they present the characteristics of a short-
wooled breed, and as such are already recognized in the
Yorkshire and other markets. * 7 * These sheep
are without horns, with faces and legs of a gray or spotted
gray color; the neck is thick with excellent scrag; the head
well shaped, rather small than large, with ears well set on;
breast broad and deep; back straight, with good carcass;
hind quarters hardly so wide as the South Down, and the legs
clean with stronger bone. They are very hardy, thrive
well on moderate keep, and are rapidly prepared for market
as tegs, [between weaning and shearing,| weighing on the
average 80 lbs. to 100 lbs. each. The meat is of excellent
quality, and commands the best prices. The ewes are prolific
and good mothers. The fleece, which is heavier than the
South Down, is longer and more glossy in the staple than the
other short wools, and weighs on the average 7 lbs.”

Mr. Spooner says of them that they were first brought into
national repute at the Shrewsbury Meeting, in 1845. He
remarks :—‘“ At the Chester Meeting they beat the Hamp-
shire Downs as old sheep, but in their turn were conquered
by the latter in the younger classes. They present themselves
to our notice in a more compact form; though shorter they
are wider, broader on the heart and deeper through the
heart.” Mr. Spooner quotes Mr. J. Meire, as having stated
at a meeting of the Farmers’ Club in Shropshire, [in 1858 or
1859,] that the sheep produced by the cross between the
original sheep and South Down “was well adapted for the
downs, but for the inclosures of Shropshire something more
docile was required, consequently recourse was had to the
Leicester.” And Mr. Spooner adds:—‘“ This crossing and
recrossing at length gave place to the practice of careful
selection, and thus uniformity was sought for and attained,
and the present superior breed was established. It is now
held that no further cross is required.”

Mr. Charles Howard of Biddenham, Bedfordshire, in an
address delivered before the London or Central Farmers’
Club, in 1860, said:

“This breed has been established by a prudent selection
of the breeding animals, and I learn from a gentleman who
kindly favored me with information upon the point, that the
late Mr. Meire was the first to improve upon the original
type. This he did in the first place by the use of the Leicester ;

64 SHROPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP.

as their faces became white he would then have recourse to a
South Down or other dark-faced sheep. It was, however,
left to the son to carry out and to bring to a successful issue
what the father had commenced, and Mr. Samuel Meire no
doubt may be looked upon as the founder of the improved
Shropshire Downs. We gather from his address to the
Wenlock Farmers’ Club that he accomplished this, not by
resorting to any of the established breeds, but by using the
best animals from his own large flock, * * Lately a
very great change has come over the breeders of Shropshire ;
they have availed themselves of larger sheep of heavier fleece
and earlier maturity, so that the only affinity they bear to the
original Shrop are dark faces and legs; they now pride them-
selves in exhibiting some well fatted shearlings [yearlings
past,] weighing upon times 22 lbs. to 24 Ibs. per quarter, but
this is not general.

SHROPSHIRE DOWN EWE.

Very fine specimens of this variety have been imported
into the United States and Canada. The two animals repre-
sented in the foregoing cuts are owned by Hon. N. L. Chaffee,

OXFORDSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. 65

of Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio. The ram, “Lion,”
now three years old, was bred by Lord Berwick, of Shrews-
bury, England, and imported in 1861. His live weight is 334
Ibs., and he yielded on the 16th of May, 1863, 17 Ibs. 5 oz. of
washed wool of 114 months growth. The ewe, “Nancy,” was
bred by Lord Berwick, and imported at the same time. She
is three years old, and her live weight is 241 Ibs. On the 16th
of May, 1863, she yielded 9 lbs. 3 oz. of washed wool of 114
months growth. Six ewes at the same time, and under the
same circumstances, yielded 42 lbs. 5 oz. of wool. They were
sheared the fifth day after washing in clear brook water.

In answer to my inquiries on the subject, Judge Chaffee
writes me that these sheep were imported by Mr. George
Miller, of Markham, Canada West; that they are very
hardy, healthy and easily kept; and that they excel in these
particulars all his other sheep, of which he has four kinds.
He says:

“They are nearly as large as the long-wooled breed, say
Cotswolds or Leicesters, and yielding just about the same
quantity of wool, are in my judgment much more hardy and
healthy. They have the dark colored legs and face of the
South Down; much longer, thicker and more compact fleeces
than the South Downs, and much thicker and more compact
ones than the long-wooled breeds. They have all the nice,
round, compact frame, and even, uniform symmetry of appear-
ance of the South Down, and are about 33 per cent. heavier.
T have never slaughtered any of this breed, and cannot speak
from personal knowledge as to the quality of their mutton,
but it is said, by those who do know, to be very superior and
hardly to be excelled by the South Down.”

Tue OxrorpsHirE Downs.—This is a new family of
sheep, and I take the following account of its origin from the
already quoted address of Mr. Charles Howard, delivered
before the London Farmers’ Club. Mr. Howard is a well
known breeder of them. He says:

“The ‘Oxfordshire Downs’ are what are commonly styled
cross-bred sheep; but their patrons, in 1857, determined upon
giving them a definite name. Hence their new title, the
propriety of which is demurred to by some; for its only
similarity to a Down is its color, while its size and fleece
partake more of the long-wool—important qualities, which
have been long and carefully cultivated by the promoters of
this breed. They were originally produced by crossing the

”

66 OXFORDSHIRE DOWN SHEEP.

Hampshire and in some instances South Down ewe with a
Cotswold ram—most commonly the former, for it gave
increased size—and the putting the crosses together: by con-
stant attention and weeding, a most successful result has been
accomplished, producing a kind of sheep that possess, with
uniformity of character and hardiness of constitution, large
frames, good fleeces, aptitude to fatten, and mutton of superior
quality.”

Mr. Howard quotes the Messrs. Druce, father and son, who
were among the leading originators and most successful
exhibitors of the variety, as publishing the fact that their flock
originated from a cross between the South Down and
Cotswold. The younger Druce says:—“The flocks generally
drop their lambs in the month of February, and at 13 or 14
months old they are ready for market, weighing upon an
average 10 stones [140 lbs.] each, with a fleece varying from
7 to 10 lbs. The ewes are good mothers and produce a great
proportion of twins.” Mr. Druce, senior, commenced this
cross in 1833. Mr. Hitchman, an extremely successful breeder
and exhibitor of them, started five years earlier, crossing
the Hampshire Down and Cotswold. His tegs [weaned
lambs] when shorn would average, in 1860, eleven stone
[154 lbs.,] and his entire clip of wool 7 Ibs. per fleece.

These sheep were first introduced into the United States
by Richard 8. Fay, Esq., of Lynn, Massachusetts, and the
Hon. William C. Rives, of Virginia, who selected and
imported their sheep together. Mr. Fay had a considerable
extent of rough pasturage better adapted to sheep than other
animals, and he first stocked it with fine-wooled sheep and
subsequently with crosses between them and South Downs.
Neither experiment resulted satisfactorily. A residence of
several years in England induced him to turn his attention to
the English breeds, and he came to the conclusion that they
would better answer his purposes. Living two years among
the Shropshires he was highly pleased with them, but on
going to see Mr. Gillet’s and Mr. Druce’s Oxfordshire Downs
he gave them the preference, and purchased and sent home a
ram and ten ewes of this family. Hye subsequently imported
several other lots for David Sears, Jr., of Boston, and for
himself. Mr. Fay, in answer to my inquiries, informs me that
these sheep fully meet his expectations—that they are of good
constitution, and “take to his briars and rough pastures as if
‘to the manor born.’” He has no difficulty in raising all
their lambs, dropped in March, and the ewes are many of

OXFORDSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. 67

them then fit for the butcher. The mutton, killed from his
rocky, rough pastures, in November, is of very high quality.
His ewes, in 1862, averaged 84 lbs. to the fleece, unwashed —
the average weight of the shorn ewes being 135 lbs. and rams
220 lbs. The yield of lambs was 160 per cent. on the number
of breeding ewes. In 1863 the yield of wool fell to a small
fraction under 8 lbs., and the increase of lambs rose to 175
per cent.* His wethers yield on the average fully 10 lbs. of
wool... At my request, Mr. Fay forwarded me specimens of
their wool. The first was taken from a ram two years old,
weighing 220 Ibs., and his fleece this year weighed 12 Ibs. 10
oz. The wool is about 8 inches long. The ewe, three years
old, with two ram lambs at her side nearly two months old,
weighed 136 lbs., and her fleece 8 Ibs. The wool is over 7
inches long; the quality in both instances is rather fine for
wool of such length; it has a good luster; is neither hairy
nor harsh; and it has a very desirable quality for certain
fabrics, and will always command a ready sale.t

These sheep have gray faces and legs, lighter colored than
those of the South Downs. They partake of the admirable
forms of their parent stocks; are gentle and disinclined to
rove; but they are willing to work hard for their feed, and
are very promiscuous feeders. They make excellent returns
for their feed and mature very early.

* Every practical sheep farmer understands of course that a nursing ewe yields
considerably less wool than a dry one, and that the fleece is still more diminished by a
ewe’s nursing two lambs.

+I made special inquiries in regard to this wool, and detail the result, when I
have not: done so in regard to the other English families, because the Oxfordshire
Downs are of more recent origin, and far less is generally known of them in our
country, in this particular,

CHAPTER VII.
THE POINTS TO BE REGARDED IN FINE-WOOLED SHEEP.

CARCASS—-SKIN—-FOLDS OR WRINKLES—-FLEECE—FINENESS—
EVENNESS —TRUENESS AND SOUNDNESS—PLIANCY AND
SOFTNESS—STYLE—AND LENGTH OF WOOL.

WueErTHER in purchasing sheep for the establishment of
flocks, or in carrying on the breeding of existing flocks, it is
necessary to have a clear knowledge of those points which
constitute the peculiar excellencies of the chosen variety.
With respect to the English mutton breeds, this information
was placed before the world with all the precision and
accuracy of combined scientific and practical knowledge, by
the late Mr. Youatt—by far the most comprehensive and
able investigator in this department of knowledge, and also
in the veterinary art, the world has yet known. The new
discoveries, advances, or changes in public taste, which have
taken place in breeding the English sheep since his day, have
been carefully described by Mr. Spooner, Professor Wilson,
and various other writers, in the English Agricultural
periodicals, particularly by the authors of the prize essays

ublished in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society.
n one form or another, all these publications have become
widely known to the American public.’ They are to be found
in every considerable library. Our American works on sheep
have been —at least so far as English breeds are concerned —
but reprints of them. Our universally disseminated Agricul-
tural Journals have spread all their most important contents
broadcast throughout our country.

The fine-wooled or Merino sheep has been made the
subject of comparatively little accurate and detailed
investigation and description. Spain, the native land of this
breed, has no literature which pertains to sheep.* In Great

* Though much that pertains to shepherds and shepherdesses! Cervantes several
times makes himself merry over the pastoral literature of Spain. Speaking of his own

CARCASS OF THE MERINO. 69

Britain the Merino was soon found not to meet the requirements
of the market and prevailing systems of agriculture; and its
breeding has been but little pursued there. In France and
Germany considerable has been written concerning it, but
most of it is inapplicable here, because the standards of
excellence adopted in each of those countries differ essentially
from those accepted in our own. Indeed, our own standards
have materially changed within a few years, owing to
circumstances already mentioned. It igs for this last reason
that the valuable works on Sheep Husbandry which have
appeared in the United States do not furnish full information
in regard to those points of the Merino sheep which now best
meet the requirements of the market and the interests of the
grower. This information is the more needful at a moment
when multitudes of comparatively inexperienced persons,
under the stimulus of an extraordinary demand for wool, are
engaging in its production.*

Caxrcass.— Careass is undoubtedly the first point to be
regarded, even in the fine-wooled sheep, for on its form and
constitution depends the health of the animal. Good medium
size, for the family, is the most desirable one under ordinary
circumstances, for with that size generally go the best
development of the parts and the greatest degree of vigor.
The body should be round and deep, not over long, and both

.the head and neck short and thick. The back should be
straight and broad; the bosom and buttock full; the legs
short, well apart, straight and strong, with heavy forearm
and fulness in the twist. I decidedly incline to the opinion
that it is not advisable to attempt to bring all our American
Merinos to the same standard of size. There are now two
well marked families—the Infantado, which have been bred
large, and the Paulars, which have been kept a size or two
smaller and shorter. The former are for the rich lands, the

“Galatea,” he says many of its shepherds and shepherdesses are only such in their
costume; and this describes all the pastoral romance and poetry of Spain from
Montemayor’s ‘‘ Diana Enamorada”™ down to Lope de Vega’s “‘ Arcadia.”” If there is
a book in the Spanish tongue on the practical topics of Sheep Husbandry I have never
of it! .

hoae The prices of pure Merino sheep were nearly as high, and in some cases higher,
during the fall and winter of 1862-63 than they were between 1808 and 1815. Consider-
able flocks of ewes were sold at $100 a head, and small numbers at every intermediate
price between this and $300, $400, or even $500, 2 head. One breeder sold some ewes
at $600 and declined much higher offers for favorite individuals, He declined an offer
of $20,000 for 50 ewes. Had they been sold, the purchaser was to receive $15,000 for
half of them from other parties. I state this on the authority of the person making
the offer, Mr. A. M. Clark, of St, Albans, Vermont. Choice rams sold for $500 to $600,
and for one or two very celebrated ones $2,500 a piece could have been taken.

70 SKIN — FOLDS OR WRINKLES.

latter for the more elevated and sterile ones. They bear
the same relation to each other in this particular that is
reciprocally borne by the Short-Horn and Devon cattle. Of
the crosses between them, I shall have occasion to speak
hereafter.

Tue Sxin.— The skin should be of a deep, rosy color.
The Spaniards justly regarded this a point of much
importance, as indicative of the easy-keeping and fattening
properties of the animal, and of a healthy condition of the
system. The skin should be thinnish, mellow, elastic, and
particularly loose on the carcass. A white skin, when the
animal is in health, or a tawny one, is rarely found on a
high bred Merino. _A thick, stiff, inelastic skin, like that found
on many badly bred French sheep, is highly objectionable.

Fotps orn “WRINKLES.” — The Spanish, French and
German breeders approved of folds in the skin, considering
them indications of a heavy fleece. The French have bred
them over the entire bodies of many of their sheep. To this
extent, and especially when prominent, firm to the feel, and
incapable of being drawn smooth under the shears, they are
an unmitigated nuisance, both in appearance and reality. If
they bear additional wool, this is counter-balanced by its
defective quality on the upper edges of the folds and the great
unevenness they thereby give the fleece; and were this.
otherwise, the additional amount would not half compensate
for the loss of time in shearing, in the “catching” weather of
the spring, when good shearers are so difficult to obtain. It
would be vastly more economical to keep one or two per cent.
more sheep, to obtain the same amount of wool. But I must
confess that among the thousands of these disfigured animals
which I have examined, I never yet saw one which presented
the maximum of both length and density of wool, or yielded
the maximum in weight of fleece. For reasons which I
cannot explain, the wool, though often very thick between the
folds, is never very long; and it is usually comparatively
loose, dryish and light as well as coarse, on the outer edges
of the folds.

A wide dew-lap, plaited or smooth, single or branching
into two parts under the jaws, with “the cross” on the
brisket, were all that the older breeders of Merinos desired
in this way, on ewes. To these might be added moderate
corrugations on the neck of the ram. Now, fashion calls for

FLEECE OF THE MERINO. 71
®

heavy folds on the neck of the ram and more moderate sized
ones on the neck of the ewe—but few besides a class of
extremists desire these to extend in great, prominent rolls
over the upper side of the neck. The cross extended into
a pendulous “apron”—a short fold or two on and immediately
back of each elbow—some small curling ones on and uniting
with the edges of the tail, (so as to give it a corrugated
appearance, and twice its natural breadth,) some smallish ones
uniting on the breech under the tail, and running in the
direction of lines drawn from the tail to the stifle, or perpen-
dicular ones up and down the back edges of the thighs, which,
when the wool is grown, close over the twist —a wide plaited
fold of loose corrugated skin running up the front edge of the
thigh and across the lower edge of the flank, so as to give
both the appearance of extraordinary breadth—and finally a
general looseness of the skin, which disposes it to lie in small,
rounded, very slightly elevated and perfectly soft ridges
over the body, giving it a crinkled appearance, but offering
no obstruction whatever to the shears, and not showing
on the surface of the fleece—are now the points, in these
regards, which constitute the ideal of the Merino breeder.

FirEce.—The greatest attainable combination of length
and thickness of wool, of the given quality, is the first point
to be regarded in a market where all lengths are in equal
demand. And the more evenly this length and thickness
extend over every covered part, unless below the knees and
hocks, the higher the excellence of the animal. It is in this
point especially that the modern breeder has improved on his
predecessors; and it is this, in a very considerable degree, '
which gives the improved American Merino its vast supe-
riority in weight of fleece over all other fine sheep, of the
same size, in the world.

Wool of full length below the knees and hocks would hardly
be desirable on account of its liability to become filthy, — but
a thick, shortish coat, particularly on the hind legs, making
them appear “as large as a man’s arm,” is regarded by most
as a fine, showy point—- though it does not add much to the
value of the fleece. The wool should extend in an unbroken
and undivided mass from the back of the neck over the top of
the head and down the face for an inch or two below the eyes,
and there abruptly terminate in a square or rounded shape;
it should cover the lower side of the jaws nearly to the mouth,
and rise on the cheeks so as to leave only the front face bare,

72 FINENESS OF MERINO WOOL.

terminating abruptly like the forehead wool. The cheek and
forehead wool should meet unbroken immediately over the
eye and between it and the horn and ear.* But it must by
no means unite under the eye—though its outside ends may
touch there for a little way. The eye should have just naked
space enough about it to leave the sight unimpeded, without
any resort to the scissors. The nose should be covered with
short, soft, thick, perfectly white hair. Pale, tan-colored’
spots or “freckles” about the mouth, and the same color on
the outer half of the ear,} are not objected to by the breeders
of the Paulars—but Infantado breeders usually prefer pure
white. Wool on the lower part of the front face, as is often
seen in the French Merinos, whether short or long, is
regarded as decidedly objectionable, and any wool which
obstructs the sight in any degree, is a fault.

The cavities of the fleece at the arm-pits, at the base of the
scrotum, and inside of the arms and thighs, should be as small
as the proper freedom of movement admits. The scrotum
should be densely covered with wool to its lower extremity,
and the wool on the front of it should extend up so as to
unite with the belly wool.

The wool should stand at right angles to the surface,
except on the inside of the legs and on the scrotum (and the
nearer it approaches doing so on the scrotum the better) ; it
should present a dense, smooth, even surface externally, drop-
ping apart nowhere; and the masses of wool between those
natural cracks or divisions which are always seen on the
surtace, should be of medium diameter. If they are too small,
they indicate a fineness of ficece which is incompatible with
its proper weight; if too large, they indicate coarse, harsh wool.

Fineness.— Without having regard to the present anom-
alous state of affairs, which has temporarily so changed the

+I uf unites in a thick, solid mass of full length, it is a beautiful and now rather
rare point,

+ These spots were highly characteristic of several of the families of Merinos
originally imported from pain; and the lambs of some of them were occasionally
covered over the carcass at birth with larger spots of the same color. or of a deeper tawny
red. Sometimes the whole body was thus colored. But all these tints disappeared on
the body when the wool grew out, and were seen no more. Small black spots were
frequently seen about the mouths of Spanish sheep and larger ones on different parts of
the body, and coal-black lambs were sometimes yeaned. This color often fades but
never disappears. Black lambs are now exceedingly rare in pure American Merino
flocks, yet they continue to appear: They are always excluded from the flock to pre-
vent their increase, as they are regarded as unsightly and their wool is less valuable.
Allthe different colors above mentioned are inherited by the Spanish sheep from
their original stocks,— from the black, red, and tawny sheep which Pliny, Columella,
und other contemporaneous writers describe as existing in Spain about the opening of
the first century. ~

EVENNESS OF MERINO WOOL. 73

relative value of our fine and coarse wools, it is known to all
conversant with the subject, that uniformly and under all
circumstances, there has been a much greater demand for
medium than for very fine wools in the American Wool
Market; and the table of prices presently to be given will
show that the former have always borne a more remunerating
price than the latter to the producer. This was true even
before our broad-cloth manufactories sunk under the horizontal
tariff of 1846. Before that time, by far the greater portion of
our home manufactured woolens did not require staples above
medium in quality. And of late years fashion has lent its aid
still further to reduce the demand for the finer staples. There
has been a steadily increasing tendency among our best
dressed and most fashionable population to substitute for the
broadcloths and fine black cassimeres formerly worn for dress,
comparatively coarse cassimeres of various, and among the
young, of “fancy” colors.

All these causes combined have turned the domestic
demand for wools above the grade of coarse, principally into
a channel where the requirements of the market are met, and
most profitably met for the producer, by the heavy-fleeced
American Merino. Should our manufactories of broadcloths
and other fine textures revive, as it is to be hoped they may,
so far as to supply the domestic demands for such fabrics,
there will be an additional call for finer wool, and this will
necessarily increase the demand for finer sheep.

Evenness.— Evenness of quality throughout the fleece, so
far as it is attainable, is one of the best results as well as
proofs of good breeding. Those usually short, detached, not
very coarse, glistening particles of hair found in the fleece,
termed “jar,” are very objectionable—though they -mostly
drop out in the different processes to which wool is subjected
in manufacturing. They are not so objectionable, however,
as that long, strong, rooted hair which crops out through the
wool on the thighs and on the edges of the folds — particularly
where the latter run over the neck and shoulders in very large
prominent rolls. I would not reject an otherwise valuable
ewe, of known purity of blood, because half a dozen hairs
barely showed themselves on the back edge of and half way
down the thigh—though I would much prefer not to see them
there, and I would breed such a ewe to a ram which would
be sure to leave no such bad mark on the common progeny.
But I would much dislike to breed from a ram exhibiting

4

74 TRUENESS — SOUNDNESS — PLIANCY.

that defect to the least degree. Rams which have very large
folds on the wpper side of the neck, are very apt to exhibit
more or less hairs on them, and I have occasionally seen this
in animals of good blood and good reputation as sire rams.
It must be regarded, however, as a serious defect — though
not as inexcusable as the cropping out of hairs on other parts
of the body, either singly or in masses. This indicates bad
blood or breeding.

TruENnxEss anp SounpNEss.—Wo0l should be of the same
diameter or fineness from root to point. This is termed
“trueness.” On a poor sheep it grows finer, on a fat one
coarser. Consequently a change of condition in either direc-
tion correspondingly changes the diameter of the same fiber
during different stages of its growth. The difference is
sometimes visible to the naked eye. When the change of
condition has been great—especially when it takes place
from a low and unhealthy state to a healthy and fleshy one—
it generally occasions “a joint” in the wool,—i. e., the place
in the fibers where the change began, is so weak that a slight.
pull will detach the two parts. Indeed, they often separate
on the back of the animal and the whole outer part is shed
off. Untrue or jointed wool is not so valuable for various
manufactures, and the different parts of it do not receive
certain dyes equally. The entire fiber of the wool produced
on a diseased sheep, whether it is true or not, usually lacks
the proper strength. The same is the case with the wool of
very old and very lean sheep. Wool to be “sound” must be
strong, firm and elastic.

Priancy anp Sorrnrss.— Among full-blood, healthy
animals, in fair condition, the pliancy and softness of wool
usually correspond in degree with its fineness. Where they
do not, I should always seriously distrust pretentions to purity
of blood. Some allowances, however, are to be made for
modes of keeping. Sheep sheltered from storms and violent
atmospheric changes, have softer wool than those habitually
exposed to them. Disease, old age and excessive leanness
give a drier and “wirier” feeling to wool. But whether this
feeling arises from natural or artificial causes, it indicates
inferiority of quality. Fabrics made of such materials have
less softness and elasticity, fret or fray more readily, and
break sooner at corners and on the edges of folds. They
admit of less finish, and take less rich, lustrous colors. They

STYLE — LENGTH OF WOOL. 15

are therefore neither so beautiful, nor so good for actual wear.
Pliancy and softness are so inseparably connected with the
other best properties of ‘wool, that a thoroughly practiced
person can readily determine its general quality by handling
it in the dark. Indeed, where the quality is very high, it can
be @etected by the first touch of the hand. It has an
exquisite downiness of feel which is unmistakable.

Styiz.— Style means that combination of appearances
which indicates choice wool—viz., fineness, clearness of color,
luster, regularity and distinctness of “crimp”— that curved
and graceful form and arrangement of the locks and fibers in
the sheared fleece which indicate extreme pliancy (stiff, harsh
wool is straighter,) and that life-like movement on handling
and peculiar re-adjustment of the fibers after handling which
is occasioned by their spiral form and exquisite elasticity.
Style cannot be satisfactorily described in words, but it is
as palpable to experienced organs, and is as indicative of
actual quality, as the most gross properties of wool— such as
length, fineness, or coarseness, etc.

I should remark that the highest style, like the highest
fineness, softness, etc., belongs only to the smaller and more
delicate families of the Merino, like the Electoral Saxon.
Prime American Merino wool only approximates to these
qualities. And another remark may not be out of place, in
passing. The qualities of wool, even including fineness, can
be more accurately determined by the natural eye than by the
aid of powerful magnifying glasses.

Lenetu.—It has already been incidentally mentioned that
fine wools of all lengths find an equally ready sale in our
markets. Those which would have been regarded as too long
for broadcloths when they were manufactured in this country,
are more desirable for delaines, shawls, etc., than shorter
wools. The American Merino wool, generally, I think,
exceeds all other Merino wools in length.

Mr. George Campbell, of West Westminister, Vermont,
who recently, (June, 1863,) started with some sheep to
exhibit at the World’s Fair, at Hamburgh, some time before
his departure inclosed me specimens of the wool of the ewes
taken out by him. It was of about a year’s growth. The
longest sample, lying naturally on paper without a particle of
stretching, measures 34 inches in length; another measures
34; another 34; two of them 38; the shortest 2g. Mr,

76 LENGTH OF MERINO WOOL.

Campbell wrote to me:—“The sheep are nearly all of my own
stock, which have been bred from the Jarvis and Humphreys
importation, and recently from Mr. Hammond’s flock.”

Mr. Prosper Elithorp, of Bridport, Vermont, recently sent
me a number of samples of his own wool and that of My. O.
B. Cook, of Charlotte, Vermont. Mr. Elithorp’s, from ewes
over one year old, and all having lambs, range from 2} to 24
inches long, and that of a ram is 34 inches long, though all
lack 45 days of a year’s growth. A part of these ewes are
Paulars and a part Infantados. Two of Mr. Cook’s (one from
a yearling and the other from a two year old ewe,) measure
34 inches long, and the rest (from yearlings,) from 2§ to 23
inches. The sheep are pure Infantados.

Mr. A. J. Stow, of West Cornwall Vermont, has for-
warded me numerous specimens. The longest is 3$ inches
long, two of them are 3, and most of the remainder are about
22 inches long. They are all from ewes over one year old,
and the wool lacks three or four days of a year’s growth.
Mr. Stow says “they are all from his Hammond sheep.”

I have an old specimen of wool from a Paular ram, bred
by one of the Robinson’s, of Shoreham, Vermont, (and owned
by Myrtle & Ackerson, of Steuben County, New York,)
which measures 34 inches long.

The recent Vermont specimens above given are fairer tests
of the length of the longer stapled American Merino wool,
from the fact that they were not sent in any case as specimens
of mere length, but of fleeces of extraordinary weight. And
I think great length is not now usually particularly valued in
any other connection. The sheep which yield the most
extraordinary weights of fleece, indeed, rarely have extremely
long wool, because such length is rarely accompanied by
sufficient thickness. Mr. Hammond’s “Sweepstakes,” whose
weight of fleece has probably never been excelled, yields
wool not exceeding 23 inches long, and “21 per cent.,” several
times named in this volume, probably never excelled in the
proportion of wool to meat, yields wool 28 inches long.

CHAPTER VII.
THE SAME SUBJECT OONTINUED.

YOLK——CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF YOLK—ITS USES—-PROPER
AMOUNT AND CONSISTENCY OF IT—ITS COLOR — COLORING
SHEEP ARTIFICIALLY— ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION AND PRES-
ERVATION OF YOLK.

Yorx.—This is that oily feeling fluid, or that sticky,
pasty or halfhardened substance, within the wool, or that
hard substance on the outer ends of the wool, which commonly
receives the name of oil, grease, or gum. These appellations
are obvious misnomers when we take its chemical constituents
into consideration.

Curmicat ANALysis or YotK.— Vauquelin, a celebrated
French chemist, found that various specimens of yolk con-
tained about the same constituents :—1. A soapy matter with
a basis of potash, which formed a greater part of it. 2. A
small quantity of carbonate of potash. 3. A perceptible
quantity of acetate of potash. 4. Lime, whose state of
combination he was unacquainted with. 5. An atom of
muriate of potash. 6. An animal oil, to which he attributed
the peculiar odor of yolk. He found the yolk of French and
Spanish Merinos essentially the same. He assumed that the
yolk in sheared wool injures it after a few months, if not
scoured out.

Uszs or Youx.— Yolk has been believed in all countries
and times to promote the growth of wool and render it soft,
pliant and healthy. It seems to me to have other and obvious
uses.* The small, irregular-shaped masses of wool which
adhere together in the unshorn fleece of the Merino sheep, and
which are bounded externally by visible, permanent cracks,

* I suggested these uses in my Report on Fine- Wool. Husbandry, made in
February, 1862.

78 PROPER AMOUNT AND CONSISTENCY OF YOLK.

slide on each other with every movement of the animal; so
that, in effect, the cracks are the joints of the fleece. If dry
and unlubricated by the yolk, the friction of these sliding
masses would, on the sides subjected to abrasion, wear or
break off the tooth-like processes on the wool on which the
felting property depends; and this same effect would follow,
whether to a greater or lesser degree, I am unable to say, on
those coarse open fleeces in which, as in the covering of hairy
animals, there is no such massing of the fibers and each slides
separately on the surrounding ones. Again: if the wool was
unlubricated, heavy rains, and the contact of the sheep with
each other, with the ground and other substances, would
cause felting on the back —a result now sometimes witnessed
to a limited extent, and termed “ cotting.”

Proper AMouNT AND ConsIsTENcY or Youx.—Different
opinions are entertained of the amount of yolk it is profitable
to propagate in wool. If the fleece is sold unwashed, and
according to the present general mode, at a fixed rate of
shrinkage on that account, it is obviously the interest of the
wool grower to produce as much yolk as is consistent with
the greatest united production of wool and yolk. And even
if wool is sold nominally “washed,” it is evident that the
same amount of washing will leave very yolky fleeces heavier
than unyolky ones. Farmers have learned that if they can
only say their wool is washed — no matter how washed —ten
or fifteen per cent. more yolk than would be left by thorough
washing, will not cause any corresponding deduction in the
price. There are a class of experienced buyers, certainly, who
do not purchase in this indiscriminate way, but as the wool
business has constantly expanded and opened new oppor-
tunities for the profitable investment of money, every year
brings its fresh horde of raw, eager buyers—the agents of
manufacturers or speculators, or persons speculating on their
own account—and some of these always take the heavy, dirty
wools at about the price of the clean ones. I shall allude to
this topic again under subsequent heads.

I esteem it particularly fortunate for the preservation of
the intrinsic value of our Merino sheep, and fortunate for the
public interest, that it is already incontestibly ascertained that
the greatest amount of yolk is not consistent either with the
greatest amount of wool, or with the greatest aggregate
amount of both yolk and wool. The black, miserably “oily,”
“‘ scummy” sheep, looking as if their wool had been soaked to

PROPER AMOUNT AND CONSISTENCY OF WOOL. 79

saturation in half inspissated oil, and then daubed over extern-
ally with a coating of tar and lamp-black, never exhibit that
maximum of both length and density of wool which, with a
proper degree of yolk, produces the greatest aggregate weight.
Yolk has been generally thought to be the pabulum of wool
and if so, its excessive secretions, as a separate substance, may
diminish its secretions in the form of wool. Be this as it
may, the fact I have stated stands without an exception. And
animals exhibiting this marked excess of yolk, are invariably
feebler in constitution, less easily kept, and especially less
capable of withstanding severe cold. Such excessive secre-
tions appear, then, to cause, or else to be the results of an
abnormal or defective organization. For these reasons, these
comparatively worthless animals, once so eagerly sought, have
already gone out of use among the best informed breeders;
and. where they linger, it is, like antiquated fashions, in
regions where the current ideas of the day penetrate slowly !

There should be enough fluid yolk within the wool on the
upper surfaces of the body, to cover every fiber like a brilliant,
and, in warm weather, like an undried coat of varnish — but
not enough to fill the interstices between them, so that the
fleece shall appear, as it sometimes does, to be growing up
through a bed of oil. And if there is a sufficiency of yolk
above, it must be expected that underneath where the fleece
is less exposed to evaporation and the washing of rains, and
to which part gravitation would naturally determine a fluid
substance, a considerably greater quantity of it will be found.
But hardened or pasty masses of it within the wool are to be
avoided, on all parts of the body. A portion of the fluid
yolk will necessarily inspissate or harden on the outer ends of
the wool. Itis proper that it should sensibly thicken those
ends, and clot them together in small masses on the upper
parts of the body—forming a coat considerably thicker,
firmer and harder to the hand than would the naked wool,
and quite rigid when exposed to cold; but it should not
cover the wool in rounded knobs, or in thick, firmly adhering
patches, bounded by the fleece cracks—sticking to the hand
in hot weather like a compound of grease and tar, and in cold
having a “board-like” stiffness. Underneath, for the same
reasons given in reference to inside yolk, a greater quantity of
it must be tolerated. It should stick the masses of wool
together in front of the brisket and scrotum, and large
rounded knobs of it inside the legs and thighs and on the
back side of the scrotum, are considered desirable.

80 PROPER COLOR OF YOLK.

Coton or Youx.—The external yolk is occasionally
somewhat yellowish — of the tinge of dirty bees- wax — but
more generally of some dark shade of brown, or what would
more commonly be termed black. The darker color is
preferred. All American Merino sheep having what is
esteemed a sufficient amount of yolk, become very dark
colored each year before the winter is far advanced, if they
are housed from summer and winter storms after shearing.
Rains wash away the yolk and with it the color. But the yolk
is soluble in different degrees in different families, and even on
different animals of the same flock. The Paular (Rich) sheep
hold their color uncommonly well; the French rapidly bleach.
It has been supposed that the black color is communicated to
external yolk by dust, the pollen of hay, etc. These may
contribute to the result, but I have recently learned from
entirely reliable persons, who house their sheep in summer,
that if kept entirely dry, they never assume their darkest
color —that to obtain this, they must be exposed to dews,
light sprinkles of rain, or the contents of the watering pot.
The change in color, accordingly, is partly chemical.

Internal yolk varies in color from a pure white to a deep
yellow. It has been rather the fashion, in this country, since
the days of the Saxon sheep, to breed for the former, and
this is the prevailing color in the American Paulars. The
breeders of the American Infantados, and of the Silesians,
generally follow the old Spanish custom of giving preference
to shades of yellow. A brilliant “golden tinge,” faint or
imperceptible near the roots of the wool, but deepening
towards its outer extremities, is the one sought after. The
founder of the improved Infantado family has, as already
stated, bred steadily for that color; and he has done so not
merely as a matter of taste, but under the impression that it
betokens a vigorous growth of wool and general vigor of
constitution—and particularly vigor of that kind, which
exhibits itself in the forcible transmission of individual
properties to progeny. But this “golden tinge” is not
to be mistaken for the deep saffron yellow which attends
cotting —or for a dull, dead yellow—or for a tawny bees-
wax hue—or for the hue of “nankeen” cloth, sometimes seen
in imperfectly bred animals. The favorite color among the
French breeders is a creamy one. In answer to inquiries
made by me, in 1862, several experienced manufacturers — all
I consulted—concurred in the statement that the color of the
yolk is not, in itself, a matter of any consequence, in reference

COLORING SHEEP ARTIFICIALLY. 81

to any of the objects of manufacturing; and that its quantity
and consistency are only important in so far as they affect its
weight and cause a loss in scouring.

have been speaking of the natural color of yolk. In
many regions where sheep are not pastured on thoroughly
sodded ground, the whole interior of the fleece becomes
stained by dust to the prevailing color of the ground. This
often occurs on our Western prairies.

Cotorntne SueEzr ARTIFICIALLY.—To give Merinos des-
titute of it, a dark external color, they are sometimes painted.
A coating of linseed oil and burnt umber, slightly darkened
with lamp-black, neatly applied within a few weeks after
shearing, can be distinguished from the natural dark coat of
a housed sheep with some difficulty, by inexperienced eyes.
But generally the sheep jockey overdoes the thing and excels
nature! He lays on the coat more evenly and more uniformly
dark. It is said there are other preparations, with or without
coloring matter, intended to give the ficece a thick, firm
feeling, but I have not learned their composition. It is not
necessary to remark that all such practices are rank frauds.

ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION AND PRESERVATION OF YOLK.—
Yolk is greatly increased in the fleece by high keep; and
careful housing in summer, as well as winter, as I have
repeatedly remarked, preserves it there. The objects and
effects of these practices will be alluded to hereafter.

CHAPTER IX.
ADAPTATION OF BREEDS TO DIFFERENT SITUATIONS,

MARKETS — CLIMATE — VEGETATION — SOILS —- NUMBER OF
SHEEP TO BE KEPT — ASSOCIATED BRANCHES OF 4HUS-
BANDRY.

Persons desirous of engaging in Sheep Husbandry are
frequently at a loss to decide what breed of sheep is best
adapted to their particular wants and circumstances. The
first and leading point to determine is whether it would be
most profitable to make mutton the prime consideration and
wool the accessory—or wool the prime consideration and
mutton the accessory. If the first conclusion is adopted, some
of the improved English mutton varieties are undoubtedly to
be preferred; if the last, the Merino has no competitor.

Marxers.— Where other circumstances equally admit of
either husbandry, it is the market that determines which
product is most profitable to the producer. Wool has a vastly
greater and more universal consumption than mutton, because
it is a prime necessary of life to every man outside the tropical
zone. As such a necessary, it can never find any practical
substitutes. Mutton is not a necessary of life, although it is
made to contribute largely towards one—human food. It
readily admits of substitutes. It is scarcely used by large
classes of men and even by whole nations. Yet it is
demonstrable that it can be produced more cheaply than any
other meat. No meat, not even the choicest of beef, is more
palatable to those accustomed to its use; and none is more
nutritious and healthful. The prize-fighter, whose success
depends upon the perfect integrity of all his physical tissues
ane functions, is as often trained on mutton as on beef; the
physician as often recommends it to the invalid. And finally,
it wastes less than beef in being converted into food.* Every-

* The Report on Sheep Husbandry made to the Mass. Board of Agriculture in
1860, by Mr. James 8. Grennell, thus condenses the results of various experiments

MUTTON MARKET OF UNITED STATES. 83

thing therefore marks it as one of the most valuable articles
of human consumption; and where its use is once established,
there is no one which finds a steadier demand or more
uniformly remunerating prices.

In England mutton is the favorite animal food from the
peer to the peasant—the former preferring the choicer
qualities as a matter of taste, the latter the cheaper and fatter
ones as a matter of economy. A pound of Leicester mutton
which has an external coating of fat as thick as that on well
fattened pork, will go as far to support life as a pound of pork,
eaten simply in the condition of cooked meat; and eaten
partly as meat and used partly to convert vegetables into
soups having the flavor and to some extent the nutritive
qualities of meat, it will not only produce more palatable
nutriment than the pork, but nutriment capable of being
distributed so as to supply more wants.

Thirty or forty years ago but very little mutton was
consumed in the United States. Our people had not learned
to eat it. Colonizing a new country covered with forests
containing animals that prey on sheep, and in which the
necessary labor for guarding them was scarce and high, our
forefathers kept only enough to meet pressing wants for wool
for household uses. Few were used for food, and the early
sheep of our country did not constitute very palatable food.
Beef and pork were more easily grown and better relished.
This state of things continued until mutton became a stranger
to American tables. When at length the country became
better adapted to the production of sheep, there was no call
for mutton. I can myself remember when it was rarely seen
and never habitually used on the table, except perhaps in
cheap school boarding-houses of the “‘Dotheboy’s Hall” order.
This prejudice continued until the comparatively recent
general introduction of the improved English mutton sheep—
and until fashion in cities, for once, inaugurated a great and
useful change in the public taste. Some of the earlier preju-
dices yet linger among our rural population; yet the same
change is making its way, not slowly, into the country. The
first quality of mutton now commands a higher price in our

onthis subject: ‘‘English chemists and philosophers, by a series of careful experi-
ments, find that 100 Ibs. of beef, in boiling, lose 2634 Ibs., in roasting, 32 Ibs., and in
paking 30 lbs. by evaporation and loss of soluble matter, juices, water and fat. Mutton
lost by boiling 21 Ibs., and by roasting 241bs,; or in another form of statement, a leg of
mutton costing raw, 15 cents, would cost boiled and prepared for the table, 18/4 cents
a pound; boiled fresh beef would, at the same price, cost 1974 cents per pound, sirloin
of beef raw, at 1634 cents, costs roasted 2% cents, while a leg of mutton at 16 cents,
would cost roasted only 22 cents.”

84 MUTTON MARKET OF UNITED STATES.

markets than the first quality of beef. The extent and
rapidity of the change in our cities receives a_ striking
illustration from the following facts stated in Mr. Grennell’s
Report to the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture,. 1860:

“ At Brighton (near Boston,) on the market day previous
to Christmas, 1839, two Franklin county men held 400 sheep,
every one in the market, and yet so ample was that supply,
and so inactive the demand, that they could not raise the
market half a cent a pound, and finally sold with difficulty ;”
and “just twenty years after that, at the same place, on the
market day previous to Christmas, 1859, five thousand four
hundred sheep changed from the drover to the butcher.”

The history of Boston in this respect is but the history of
all our larger cities, towns and villages. When this taste
fully extends to our rural population — when our laboring
farmers learn, as they ought to learn and will learn, that
eating fat pork all the year round is not most conducive to
health and to an enlarged general economy — when they
acquire the habit, as they so conveniently could, of killing
mutton habitually for household and neighborhood consump-
tion in its fresh state*—our people, now the greatest
consumers of animal food among the civilized nations of the
world, will become by far the greatest consumers of mutton
in the world. I doubt whether the enormous amount which
will be annually grown and consumed in this country, within
fifty years, has yet occurred to our most sanguine advocates
of mutton sheep.

It is a fixed fact, thoroughly settled by the experience of
England, and beginning to be well understood in extensive
regions of our country, that where the market for mutton is
large and near by, and the local circumstances are favorable
to its culture, its production, if well understood and conducted,
is more profitable as a leading object, than the production of
wool. The Merino was introduced into England under the
most favorable auspices, and its propagation fostered by
kingly example and encouragement. But neither as a wool
sheep proper, nor when bred into what may be termed a half
mutton sheep, has it been able to compete at all successfully
with the pure mutton breeds. Where the soils and surround-
ings are suitable, it is already becoming more profitable (in

* The frequent killing of beeves on farms, to be eaten fresh, is not convenient on
account of their size. In warm weather, the meat could not usually be disposed of
without salting down, unless the farmer should aes his occupation to that of a
traveling meat peddler. It is not so with the sheep. Three or four farmers could join
together to buy all the meat, or to kill alternately and divide the carcass.

CLIMATE ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT BREEDS. 85

ordinary times, when the natural conditions-of the market
are not unsettled by war,) to grow first-class mutton sheep
throughout most of New England, excepting Vermont and the
northern halves of New Hampshire and Maine — throughout
the eastern portions of New York and Pennsylvania — and
throughout a belt of country round every city and village,
wider or narrower according to its population — than it is to
grow the wool sheep proper. And this area of mutton
production must steadily increase, pushing back wool
production further from the sea-board and from all dense
aggregations of population.

While the preceding facts, in my opinion, admit of no
reasonable question, it 1s nevertheless equally true that the
demand for wool in the United States is, as I shall presently
show, far less adequately supplied already with the domestic
product—and that this demand must of absolute necessity go
on increasing forever in the same ratio with the increase of
our entire population — so that, in the aggregate, the amount
of land and other capital, which can be profitably invested in
its production will always exceed that which can be profitably
invested in mutton production, in the proportion of almost
hundreds to one. Our vast interior regions, with the
exceptions already indicated in the vicinity of cities, and with
certain others which it is not necessary to specify here —in
other words, all regions remote from meat markets or from
which the transportation to such markets is distant or
expensive—can be more profitably devoted to the production
of wool as a leading object than mutton.

It will be seen from all the foregoing that there is,
properly speaking, no competition whatever between the
mutton growing and the wool growing sheep — that their
respective profitableness is purely a question of place and
some other circumstances which I am about to name—and
that to raise that question abstractly, and independently of
these local and other considerations, as is often done, is almost
as irrelevant and unmeaning as it would be to ask which is
the most profitable mode of transportation, ships or locomo-
tives, without having reference to the fact whether such
transportation must be made by land or water. I will now
proceed to examine the other qualifying local circumstances,
besides those of market.

Cumatr.— The English improved mutton sheep in its
present perfect development of all the points which constitute

86 VEGETATION ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT BREEDS.

a matchless meat-producing animal, is in some part a product
of the temperate, uniform and moist climate of England. It
has withstood the effects of acclimation in the United States
successfully, but it requires more care and shelter and is not
so well adapted to our habitual extremes of heat and cold as
the hardier Merino.* Exposed without good, adequate
shelter to rapid and excessive variations of temperature, it is
subject to colds which tend to various diseases, both of
inflammatory and typhoid types: and, at best, it wilts and
withers away. It is not adapted to very cold or very warm
climates for another reason — on account of the influence they
exert on vegetation. But its sustentation will be considered
under another head.

The Merino endures vicissitudes and extremes of weather
better than any other sheep which approximates to it in value.
Its range of habitation extends throughout the temperate
zone. It will flourish wherever the ox or the horse will
flourish; but, like those animals, thrives better for some
degree of winter shelter anywhere, and demands it in regions
of severe cold, and especially in those where humidity and
cold are liable to follow each other rapidly.

Vxcxrtation.—The English breeds of sheep require
abundant and steady supplies of food properly or profitably
to develop their peculiar value as mutton sheep —Vviz., their
fattening properties and early maturity. They are therefore
unadapted to regions where the summer is hot enough to dry
up the vegetation, as on the plains of Texas and Southern
Spain—or regions subject to periodical drouths, like Australia
and the Cape of Good Hope —or those where vegetation is
locked up by long and rigorous winters, as in various
northern inhabited regions of both hemispheres. For the
scarcity of succulent food produced by summer drouth, there
can be no adequate reparation to these hearty and gross
feeding animals. For the long and severe winter, there
may be sufficient extra provision made in grain and roots:
and where land is comparatively cheap, and mutton in good
demand, that extra provision can be profitably made. These
are the conditions of New York and New England as mutton
producing countries. England presents far more favorable
natural, and, in many respects, artificial conditions, for its

* I do not of course here include among. the improved English mutton sheep, the
black-faced Scotch or Heath Sheep, or the Cheviots, though I enumerated them among
the English sheep which are residents of the United States.

VEGETATION ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT BREEDS. 87

production, but still the greatly higher cost of land there,
more than counterbalances those advantages on the score of
actual and direct profit to the grower. While-all the mutton
sheep are abundant consumers, there is a difference in them in
this particular, and in the quality of the food they require.
Speaking generally, the long-wools require the richest and
most abundant pasturage, and they will consume ranker
herbage than would be-adapted to upland breeds, or to the
Merino. They are much less inclined to travel or work for
their food. They are therefore, properly, low-land sheep.
Their place is rather the rich, moist plain, than the dry hill-
side. The Leicester is the tenderest and the least disposed to
work of all. The Cotswold is perhaps the hardiest and best
worker of the long-wools which I have described, and thrives
on low, moist hills, like those from which it derives its name.*
Judging from its blood, the New Oxfordshire should occupy
an intermediate place between the two preceding families.
All the Down families are hardy and possess good working
qualities. In England they are regarded as an upland sheep,
adapted to dry and comparatively scanty pasturage when
necessary. But this is to be understood with qualifications,
in the United States. The words “upland” and “dry,” as
applied to pasturage, have very different significations from
their English ones, in our land of lofty hills and mountains,
and of dry, scorching summers.

As a hard working sheep—as a sheep adapted to very
scanty, or dried up, or poor pasturage,—none of the heavy
English mutton breeds can compare with the Merino. The
latter, indeed, work for their food of preference. Where
they have an opportunity to choose, they will invariably
desert the rich valley a considerable portion of each day to
climb the lofty hill-side, and they love to clamber about its
steep declivities and among rocks, to crop the scattered tufts
of grass, and browse on those bushes-and weeds which they
are fond of mingling with their food. They have not, in these
particulars, been bred_away as far from the natural habits of
the species as the English sheep. Their annual sojourn
among the mountains of Spain, until a comparatively recent
period, preserved these habits.

From an observation of these facts, it has been inferred
that the Merino requires short verdure, and a considerable
variety of it. It is probable, on chemical considerations, that,
other things being equal, several kinds of food will furnish

* The Cotswold Hills are in Gloucestershire, England.

88 SOILS ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT BREEDS.

more of the constituents of wool than will a single kind —
and consequently that a variety in it, tends to the development
of a heavier fleece. But abundance and richness of food,
when the Merino is compelled to accept them, affect its
tissues as they do those of all other sheep, and more than
compensate for the want of variety. Removed from the
pastures of New England, or of North-eastern, Eastern and
Southern New York—grazing lands proper—to the rich
clover fields of Western New York, Ohio, etc., the Merino
increases considerably, both in size and weight of wool — and
it continues equally healthy.

Sorts.—The fertility of the soil is a consideration of weight
in selecting a breed of sheep to stock it, because on that
fertility depends the luxuriance, and, to some extent, the quality
of its vegetation. Its nature and condition in other
respects are also important. Habitual wetness of the
ground, from whatever cause it arises, is highly injurious to
most kinds of sheep, and particularly to upland ones. The
Merino cannot endure it; and wool growing can never be
profitably pursued on such lands. That mutton growing can,
is abundantly proved by the example of the English farmers
in Lincolnshire, Kent, etc. In such situations, the long-
wooled sheep are decidedly preferable.

It is thought, in England, that an occasional or even
single visit to some fen or stagnant pool sometimes
communicates the fatal rot* to flocks of sheep. I never
have heard of an instance of this in the United States. In
our Northern and Eastern States I never have known the
most free access to swamps, pools, etc., to prove injurious to
sheep, provided they had abundant pasturage and pure water
without, and only entered the marshy lands voluntarily, as all
sheep will occasionally do in quest of a change of food.
Constant access to salt-marshes is considered actually
promotive of their health and thrift. I have received various
accounts of fatal disorders attacking sheep in Texas, in
consequence of being kept on what are termed hog-wallow
prairies — low, flat, moist, very rich lands. I should expect
such results in large flocks restricted to such lands, in all our
warm climates; and such pasturages would be decidedly

uncongenial to all the short-wooled varieties of sheep, in any
climate.

* I speak of liver rot, not hoofrot. The names are sometimes confounded i
Northern States where the former disease is mostly unknown. ie eve

HERDING OF DIFFERENT BREEDS. 89

A very light, sandy or other soil which rises readily in
clouds of dust, when not well sodded over, is unfavorable
to the cleanliness and beauty of wool—yet some healthy
and. profitable sheep ranges have this fault. A gravelly
loam, or other soil of about equal consistency, readily
permeable to surface water, thoroughly drained, abounding
in clear, rapid-flowing brooks, elevated and free from
malarious influences, dotted with groves or clusters of shade
trees, and of about medium fertility, combines the conditions
preferred by the Merino. The same conditions would as well
meet the wants of the Downs; and greater fertility would
not be objectionable to them. Lower and moister soils of the
richest quality are congenial to the long-wools.

Tae Numser or SHezP To BE Kepr.—Mutton sheep
consume more, demand a greater variety of artificial feed,
and greatly more care than Merinos, and therefore are better
adapted to small, high-priced farms, where it is desirable
to invest as much capital in sheep as can be rendered
remunerative. But the long-wooled families would be
wholly unadapted to large farms, where surplus capital is
wanting, even were there not a difficulty of another kind.
They do not herd well—that is, thrive well when kept
together in large numbers. The Down families herd much
better, but still do not compare with the Merinos in this
respect. In Australia and Texas, a thousand or more Merinos
often run in the same flock, summer and winter, throughout
the year, occupying the same pastures by day and the same
folds by night. And my friend, George Wilkins Kendall, of
Texas, used playfully to insist to me that in his Merino flocks
of that number, he could not find one poor enough to make
palatable mutton! His flocks passed through the terrible
winter of 1860 without artificial feed or shelter — when the
cold was severer than ever before known in that climate, and
when it so arrested the growth of grass that his sheep daily
traveled four or five miles from their folds to obtain food;—
and he did not lose scarcely one per cent. of their number!
A large number of mutton sheep may be kept on the same
farm with a sufficient division of the fields and winter
shelters; but they cannot profitably or safely be kept
together in large flocks.

ASSOCIATED BRANCHES OF Huspanprr.— Economy de-
mands that for the most profitable production of mutton

90 SHEEP WITH OTHER HUSBANDRY.

there should be associated with it a proportionable amount
of convertible husbandry. Mutton sheep demand grain,
roots, etc., in large quantities, and in return they supply all
the necessary fertilizing materials for those crops. These
fertilizers are comparatively wasted if not devoted to those
crops. Each husbandry, then, is necessary to the highest
profitableness of the other. Without such union, neither the
present admirable system of British agriculture, nor the
present maximum of population which derives its sustentation
trom that agriculture, could be kept up. The adaptation of
the soil and other circumstances to convertible husbandry,
the tastes or wishes of the flock-master in regard to embarking
in it in connection with mutton growing, and the local market
for its products, all become, therefore auxiliary considerations
of weight in choosing betwzen mutton and wool growing.

I have aimed to present, with impartiality, the principal
circumstances which determine the adaptability of different
kinds of sheep to different situations. There are, however,
generally more or less minor ones in every man’s case, known
only to himself, which somewhat qualify the influence of the
major ones; and of these he must be his own sole judge. In
closing this branch of my subject, I will only further add that
while, in selecting a breed of sheep, every one should keep his
eyes firmly fixed on the primary object of production, he
never should altogether lose sight of the accessory one. The
mutton sheep would probably be nowhere profitable without
its wool, and the wool sheep would be much less profitable
without its mutton.

CHAPTER X.

PROSPECTS AND PROFITS OF WOOL AND MUTTON
PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES,

Tue subjoined table of the Prices of Wool, in’ one of the
principal Wool Markets of the United States, extending
through thirty-eight years—through the most disastrous
revulsions in the money market and in the prices of all kinds
of property — under tariffs which have at one period given
excessive protection to our woolen manufactures, and at
others abandoned them unaided to the competition of Europe
—presents the best proof I possess, nay, the most unan-
swerable proof possible, of the steady remunerativeness of
wool production. It was prepared for me in 1862, from his
own. books and those of his predecessors in the same firm, by
George Livermore, Esq., of Boston, one of the most eminent
wool commission merchants ever in the United States — and
his name is an ample guaranty of its accuracy. It has now
been published a year, and has circulated throughout the
trade without one of its figures being questioned.* I have

*added a column to it indicating the tariff laws in force at
the different periods, but there is not space here to give
even a synopsis of those tariffs.+

The average and not the extreme prices for each quarter
are given, and it will be observed that these are not given
strictly by quarters anterior to 1827.

I have learned, from various reliable sources, that from
1800 to 1807, wool bore low prices in our country; that in
1807 and 1808 full-blood Merino wool sold for $1 a pound ;
that in 1809, it rose to about $2 a pound, and so continued
through the war against England, commenced in 1812 —some
choice lots fetching $2.50 a pound; that when our infant

* It was published in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry, in 1862; and in
the Boston trade publications which would place it in the hands of all the leading
wool merchants and manufacturers. 7

+ Acomplete synopsis of them is given in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry,

862.

92 TABLE OF WOOL PRICES.

manufactories were overthrown at the close of that war, in
1815, it again sunk to a low price, and so remained until the
Tariff of 1824 was enacted.

PRICES CURRENT OF WOOL IN BOSTON.

Tariff and
time of
taking
effect. Year. Medium. Ooarse.
1824. ists =
45 33
June 30. [ oe sie
40 80
1826 45 33
2 1826. Je he
a 45 40
64 30 27
e 38 33
& | 1827. 33 28
is 36 30
31 26
32 25
1828 30 25
36 28
4 40 33
Sept. 1. October, ... 40 31
1829. January, 45 35
April, 35 30
"i July, 35 30
& October, - 31 27
& | 1830, 35 30
& | 38 32
e 50 40
bot 60 47
& | 1831. 60 47
60 50
63 60
60 50
1832. 55 45
March 3. 50 40°
i 40 30
2 40 30
‘Ss + 1833. a _
& aie -
FI 55 42
& | 55 45
Dec. 3l. 1834. January,. 60 47
April,... 55 42
50 40
50 40
1835. 50 40
58 45
58 45
58 45
1836. 58 45
58 AS
60 60
60 50
<3 | 1887. 60 50
8 60 50
S 40 33
& | 1838. 42 35
Es 42 35
i=] 387 82

Tariff and
time of
taking
effect.

October 1. |

Dee. 1.

rae

Tariff of 1846.

Tariff of 1842.

Year.

1889,

1841.

1842.

1843.

1844,

1845.

1846,

1847.

1849.

1850.

1852.

1853.

1854,

1855.

1840. Ji

1848. Ji

1851. J:

TABLE OF WOOL PRICES.

January,
April,..

Fine.

SERSSASSSSESSERSEERSE

8B

93

Medium. Coarse.

41

Oo
oo

SSRSSSRSSSESSSRSREKSSBSAARSSSRRBSERTES

BSSSSSESBRR

94 TABLE OF WOOL PRICES.

Tariff and
time of
taking ‘ .

effect. Year. Quarter ending Fine. Medium, Coarse.

50 40 33

52 41 36

1856. January,.. 50 38 35

April,.._.. 57 43 37

July, ----- 55 43 38

October, -- 60 55 45

1857, January,...... 58 50 43

April, ..- 60 56 43

Juy1. ff July, ..- 56 48 40

October, .. 38 30 26

1858. January,...... 40 33 28

April,..... 42 35 30

= July, ..- 42 37 30

a October, .. 55 42 36

<, | 1859. January,.. 60 62 45

° April,..... 60 46 37

& July, ... 55 40 36

% October, _. 60 49 42

& | 1860. January,.- 60 50 40

April, ... 52 45 40

July, ..-. 55 50 40

October, .. 50 45 40

1861. January. 45 40 37

April 1. April,. 45 87 32

per July, ~ 40 35 32

go October, 47 47 52

From the beginning of-1827, from whith the above prices
present the averages of each quarter, to the close of 1861, a
period of 35 years, the average price of fine wool was 50 3-10
cents; of medium, 42 8-10 cents; of coarse, 354 cents. Fine
wool averaged 15 per centum higher than medium, and
medium 14 per centum higher than coarse.

The wools classed in the table as fine, included Saxon,
grade Saxon, and choice lightish-fleece American Merino ;
the medium included American Merino and grade down, say
to half blood; the coarse included wools one-fourth blood
Merino and below. Each of these classes, of course,
embraced wools of various qualities and prices.

The lessons to be derived from this table are most
valuable to the wool grower. How very striking, for
example, is the fact that during thirty-eight years — and with
all the disturbing causes to the wool market which have been
alluded to—there has not been a single year in which the
average prices for the wools marked medium in the table
would not now pay the actual cost of producing our heavy
fleeced American Merino wools; and that there have not
been more than half a dozen years, when those prices would
not be decently remunerative! Of the production of how
many other of our great staples of industry can as much
be said?

te)
i-)

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF WOOL.

= STATEMENT

Exhibiting the value of Wool, and Manufactures

of

1840 to 1861, both years inclusive,

Wool, imported into and exported from the United States,

Srom

WOOL UNMANUFACTURED.

MANUFACTURES OF WOOL.

YEARS ENDING~ EXPORTS, EXPORTS.

IMPORTS. IMPORTS.
Foreign. |Domestic.| Total, Foreign. | Domestic.| Total.

September 30, 1840, deseas) $26,246] $846,076) $418,899 $418,399] $9,071,184
do 30, 1841, 44,226| 1,091,953 171,814] 11,001,939
do 145,123] 8,875,725

June 30, 1843, 61,997| 2,472,154

67,483] _ 9,475,782

: 156,646| 10,666,176

do 30, 1846, 41,571) $203,996 147,894] 10,083,819
do 30, 1847, 387,302} 89,460 315,894| 10,998,933
do 30, 1848, 1,840)... 2... 179,781 15,240,883
do 30, 1849, 6,891 201,404) 13,704,606
do 30, 1850, iieueeese 174,984] 17,151,509
do 30, 1851, 7,966 267,379! 19,507,809
do 30, 1852, 54,285) 256,878] 17,573,964
do 30, 1853, 51,387 343,989} 27,621,911
do 30, 1854, 41,668) ...__.._. 1,262,897] 32,382,594
do 30, 1855, 181,442| 27,802 2,827,701] 24,404,149
do 30, 1856, 14,997| 27,455 1,256,632] 31,961,793
do ‘30, 1857, 920] 19,007 437,498] 31,286,118
do 30, 1858, 824,898) 271,861 197,902} 26,486,091
do 30, 1859, 82,141) 355,563 220,447! 33,521,956
do 30, 1860, 37,280} 389,512 ‘ 201,376) 37,937,190
do 30, 1861, 48,299) 237,846] 286,145] 4,717,350] 317,340 317,340] . 28,487,166
$1,551,028/$1,562,502/$3,113,630| $46,077,273| $9,131,408)..._..... . {$9,131,408 $429,422,051

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, REGISTER’S OFFICE,

Feb, 12, 1862,

J. A. GRAHAM, Acting Register.

~

96 DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF WOOL.

Will this steady demand and these remunerating prices
last? Here again the facts and figures of the past afford the
most trustworthy answer. The table on preceding page was
pod for me in 1862, by the acting Register of the

reasury.

It is thus made to appear that during the twenty-two
years which preceded the present war, our imports of unman-
ufactured wool exceeded our exports of the home-grown
article in the value of $44,514,771, or upwards of two
millions a year; and that during the same period, our
imports of manufactured wool exceeded our exports of
domestic manufactured wool in the value of $429,422,951, or
upwards of nineteen millions a year!

There have been during the above period several
“‘manias,” as they have been termed, as strong as that of
1862-63, to increase wool production in our country; yet,
in spite of all contemporary predictions to the contrary, we
see how utterly they failed in every instance to bring up,
even temporarily, the supply to the demand. When every
circumstance is taken into account, there cannot be a
reasonable doubt entertained, that the United States can
permanently furnish its own markets with a full supply of
wool more cheaply than other countries can furnish it. Thave
not space here for the numerous facts and statistics which
go to prove this assertion; nor is there need of it, they
have been so fully set forth and discussed in a multitude
of popular publications, particularly in those invaluable
disseminators of information, our Agricultural Journals.
Indeed, we might even compete with other countries in
supplying wool to Europe. And yet, with such facts staring
us in the face, there are so many other demands for capital,
labor and enterprise in our country, that we continue and
are likely to continue, no one can say how long, vast
importers of one of the prime necessaries of life!

Sheep are not only the most profitable animals to
depasture the cheap lands of our country —the mountain
ranges of the South, and the vast plains of the West and
South-west——but they are also justly beginning to be
considered an absolute necessity of good farming on our
choice grain-growing soils, where wheat, clover seed, etc.,
are staples.

I may be permitted to quote the two following paragraphs
from my Report on Fine- Wool Husbandry, 1862 :—“Sheep
would be more profitable than cows on a multitude of the

ADVANTAGES OF SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 97

high, thin-soiled dairy farms of New York; and every
person who has kept the two animals ought to know that
sheep will enrich such lands far more rapidly than cows. On
the imperfectly cleared and briery lands of our grazing
regions, sheep will more than pay for their summer keep, for
several years, merely in clearing and cleaning up the land.
They effectually exterminate the blackberry (Rubus villosus
et trivialis,) and raspberry (Rubus strigosus et occidentalis,)
the common pests in such situations, and they banish or
preyent the spread of many other troublesome shrubs and
weeds. They also, unlike any other of our valuable domestic
animals, exert a direct and observable influence in banishing
coarse, wild, poor grasses from their pastures and bringing
in the sweeter and more nutritious ones.” It was a proverb
of the Spaniards :—‘‘ Wherever the foot of the sheep touches,
the land is turned into gold.”

“And the growth of wool is peculiarly adapted to the
pecuniary means and the circumstances of a portion of our
rural population. Their capital is mostly in land. Hired
labor is costly. Sheep husbandry will render all their cleared
land profitably productive at a less annual expenditure for
labor than any other branch of farming. By reason of the
rapid increase of sheep, and the great facility of promptly
improving inferior ones, they will stock a farm well, more
expeditiously, and with far less outlay, than other animals.
And, lastly, the ordinary processes and manipulations of
sheep husbandry are simple and readily acquired. On no
other domestic animal is the hazard of loss by death so small.
It is as healthy and hardy as other animals, and unlike all the
others, if decently managed, a good sheep can never die in
the debt of man. If it dies at birth, it has consumed nothing.
If it dies the first winter, its wool will pay for its consumption
up to that period. If it lives to be sheared once, it brings its
owner into debt to it, and if the ordinary and natural course
of wool production and breeding goes on, that indebtedness
will increase uniformly and with. accelerating rapidity until
the day of its death. If the horse or the steer die at three
or four years old, or the cow before breeding, the loss is
almost a total one.” :

The cost of producing wool depends upon that of keeping
sheep, and this necessarily varies greatly in different
situations. On the highest priced lands in New York and
New England on which sheep are now usually kept for wool
growing purposes, it, under judicious systems of winter

5

98 PROFITS OF WOOL PRODUCTION.

management, reaches about $2 a head per annum. In
extensive regions of the South and South-west it is mainly
comprised in the expense of herding, salting, and shearing,
and where the number of sheep kept is large, does not
exceed 25 cents a head. But it would be more profitable in
those regions to provide some kind of shelter and give a
little feed in the height of winter, and this would increase
the cost of keeping to 50 cents a head. In some of our
Western and North-western States, where sheep can have the
run of lands belonging to the Government or to non-resident
owners, in addition to those owned by the flock- master, the
cost of keeping, including winter shelter, ranges from, say,
45 cents to $1 a head. In intermediate situations, between
the densely populated and high-priced lands of the East and
the broad, sparsely inhabited prairies of the West and South-
west, (open without price to the temporary occupant,) and
between the warm South where vegetation flourishes almost
throughout the year, and the cold North where winter feeding
lasts from five to five and a half months, the cost of keeping
will occupy every intermediate place between these extremes.
Every experienced and sensible man acquainted with all the
special circumstancs, is the best judge of that cost in his
own locality.

Improved Merino flocks of breeding ewes should average
five pounds of washed wool per head in large flocks. Medium
wool has sold on an average for 42 8-10 cents per pound for
the thirty-five years preceding the high prices of the present
war. This gives $2.14 to the fleece, which should pay for
the cost of keeping, anywhere, and leave the owner the lambs
and manure for his profit.* The increase of lambs will
average about eighty per centum on the whole number of
the breeding ewes.t The value of the manure would greatly
vary in different situations. It may interest many to know
how it is estimated in England. Mr. Spooner says:

“Four hundred South Down sheep are sufficient to fold
twenty perches per day, or forty-five acres per year, the

* If he keeps wethers, he has for his profit their growth and about a dollar from
cal flecce. ethers’ fleeces should be worth about a dollar a piece more than ewes’
leeces. :

+I gave this as the average fifteen years ago. With the improvement in sheep
shelters, etc., it ought now to be higher, But a few usually fail to get with lamb, and
occasionally there comes a ‘‘dying year’’ for lambs— when they are born feeble,
goitred, rheumatic, or subject to some other maladies, so that they perish in extraor-
dinary numbers. This was quite generally the case in New York in the spring of 1862.
Taking a term of years together, I doubt whether, under average management, the
increase by lambs yet exceeds 80 per cent. : i

PROFITS OF WOOL PRODUCTION. 99

value of which is therefore about £90 per year, or 4s. 6d. per
sheep. * * Three hundred sheep have in this manner
(with ‘a standing fold on some dry and convenient spot, well
littered with straw or stubble,’) produced eighty large cart-
loads of dung between October and March, and in this
manner, after the expenses have been deducted, each sheep
has earned 3d. per week.” ;

' A hundred Merino sheep, given abundance of bedding,
will, between December 1st and May 1st, make at least forty
two-horse loads of manure—and if fed roots, considerably
more. I scarcely need to say that both the summer and
winter manure of the sheep is far more valuable than that
of the horse or cow.* Its manure on high-priced land which
requires fertilizers, cannot be estimated at less than 50 cents

er head per annum, and I should be inclined to put it
still higher.

The value of the lambs and manure is the minimum of
profit. That profit increases just as the market value of land
and the cost of keeping decreases. On the rich plains of
the West and South-west, manure is not yet reckoned among
the appreciable profits, and the cost of transporting wool to
market is from one to two cents per pound. The Western
grower, then, gets the lamb and about half the fleece, as the
profit on each sheep. The Texan grower gets the lamb and
about three-quarters of the fleece, and so on. I do not
deduct the extra prices: paid from time to time for rams,
because each good one vastly more than pays for himself in
increasing the value of the flock.

The prices of lambs of different blood and in different
places, vary too much to admit of even an approximately
uniform rate of estimating them. But it does not anywhere
cost more to rajse a full-blood than a grade Merino lamb.

* Horses are not used as depasturing animals in any of the older States. The
following remarks appeared in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry, 1862: — ‘ If milch
cows are not returned to their pastures at night in summer, or the manure made in the
night is not returned to the pastures, the difference in the two animals in the particular
named in the text, is stillgreater. Even grazing cattle kept constantly in the pastures,
and whose manure is much better than that of dairy cows, are still greatly inferior to
the sheep in enriching land. The manure of sheep is stronger, better distributed, and
distributed in a way that admits of little loss. The small round pellets soon work
down among the roots of the grass, and are in a great measure protected from sun and
wind. Each pellet has a coat of mucus which still farther protects it. On taking one
of these out of the grass, it will be found the moisture is gradually dissolving it on the
lower side, directly among the roots, while the upper coated surface remains entire.
Finally, if there are hill tops, dry knolls, or elevations of any kind in the pasture, the
sheep almost invariably lie on them nights, thus depositing, an extra portion of manure
on the least fertile part of the land, and where the wash of it will be less wasted. The
manure of the milch cow, apart from its intrinsic inferiority, is deposited in masses
which give up their best contents to the atmosphere before they are dry enough to be
beaten to pieces and distributed over the soil.’

100 PROFITS OF MUTTON PRODUCTION.

Good grades have averaged about $2 per head in the fall
for a number of years and the increasing demand for them
by the butchers is steadily raismg the price. Estimating 80
per cent. of lambs and 50 cents a head for manure, each
sheep would thus average in both products $2.10—just about
the equivalent of the fleece; so that it would be equally
well, on high-priced lands requiring fertilizers, to say
that the lambs and manure pay the cost of keeping, and
the fleece is to be reckoned as the profit. According to the
first computation, lands worth $50 per acre would give their
owner a profit of seven per cent. if they would support a
little over one and three-fifths sheep to the acre; and that
would be indifferent grazing land, where the domesticated
grasses are grown, and under proper systems of winter
keeping, which would not support three sheep to the acre.
It would be a very moderate estimate, taking a term of years
together, to put full blood American Merino lambs— even
from flocks of no especial reputation and not kept for what
is technically designated “breeding purposes”— at double
the price of grade lambs. They are now worth at least three
times as much.

The prospect of the future demand for mutton has been
sufficiently considered. I had hoped to be able to present
an exhibit, in details, of the cost and profits of its production
based on actual experiments. But I have been disappointed ;
and I will only reiterate the statement that the experience of
England, and of portions of our own country, has clearly
demonstrated that in regions appropriate for its production,
it is a more profitable leading object of production than wool.

CHAPTER XI.
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

BrErpine, in its technical sense, as applied to: the
reproduction of domesticated animals under the direction
of man, is the art of selecting such males and females to
procreate together as are best adapted, in conjunction, to
produce an improved and uniform offspring. The first and
most important fact to be kept in view, in pursuing the object
of breeding, is that result of a fixed natural law which is
expressed in the phrase, “like produces like.” The painted
oriole now flashing among the apple blossoms before my -
window wears the same bright dyes that were worn by the
oriole ages ago. But the breeding maxim just quoted, is
understood to assert more than that species and varieties
continue to reproduce themselves: it implies that the special
individual characteristics of parents are also transmitted to
progeny. This is the prevailing rule, but it has a broad
margin of exceptions and variations. Animals are oftentimes
more or less unlike their parents, yet inherit a very distinct
resemblance to remoter ancestors— sometimes to those
several generations back. This is termed “breeding back.”
And, moreover, where the resemblance is to the immediate
progenitors, the mode of its transmission is not. uniform.
Sometimes the progeny is strongly like one parent and
sometimes like the other ; sometimes, and perhaps oftenest, it
bears a modified resemblance to both.

The physiological causes or laws which’ control the
hereditary transmission of physical forms and properties —
which determine the precise structure which the embryo shall
assume in the womb, and give to each animal a distinct
individuality which will accompany it through life and
distinguish it from every other animal of the same breed and
family — have not yet been, and probably never will be,
fully understood. Nor can we, by the closest study of
analogies or precedents, learn to anticipate their action with

102 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

absolute certainty. Yet, by a proper course of breeding,
we can control that action to a considerable degree; we
can generally keep it in channels which are favorable to our
wishes; we can avoid manifold evils which arise from
promiscuous procreation; and a few, more gifted or more
zealous in the attainment of their objects than the rest of us,
can make permanent improvements in the forms and properties
of our domestic animals, and thus confer important benefits
on society.

If the male and female parent possess the same given
peculiarity of structure, or in breeders’ phrase, the same good
or bad “point,” the chances are very strong that the progeny
will also possess it, because the progeny is most likely to
inherit the structure of its immediate progenitors; and
whether it receives that portion of the structure from one or
the other of them, or partly from both, it still receives the
same peculiar form. If all the remoter ancestors also
possessed the same point, then the progeny must, in the
ordinary course of nature, be sure to inherit it, for let it
- breed back to whatever ancestor it may, it must inherit the
same conformation. This law applies to properties as well
as forms. Hence it is that in breeding between pure blood
animals of the same breed and family, we find like producing
like, so far as the family likeness is concerned, in steady and
endless order, and this necessarily includes a good deal of
individual likeness. Indeed, it is this long continued
preservation and transmission to descendants of the same
properties by one family that constitutes “blood,” in its
technical sense — and its “purity” is its utter isolation from
the blood of all other families. The full blood, or pure
blood, or thorough-bred animal—for all these terms imply
the same thing*—can inherit from its parents, or take
from its remoter ancestors by breeding back, only the same
family characteristics.

But in breeding between mongrels— animals produced
by the crossing of different breeds — the closest resemblance
of the parents in any point not common to both breeds, does
not insure the transmission of their characteristics in that
point to their offspring ; for the offspring may obtain different
ones by breeding back to either of the ancestors with which
the cross commenced, or to some intermediate and partially

* At least, a8 they are used in this volume. An effort has been made in some
quarters to introduce a distinction between these significations, but, in my judgment,
without any authority.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 103

assimilated ancestors. This occasional breeding back and
consequent divergence from the existing type, is liable to
continue for a great number of generations; and it can only
be repressed by a long and uniform course of breeding, and
by a rigorous “weeding out ”—that is, exclusion from
breeding — of every animal exhibiting a tendency toward
such divergence.

We cannot always, among either pure bloods or mongrels,
breed from perfect or approximately perfect individuals, or
those which are alike in their structure and properties.
Necessity. sometimes, and economy frequently, requires us to
make use of materials which we would not voluntarily select
for the purpose. In such cases, it should always be the aim
of the breeder to counteract the imperfection of one parent by
the marked excellence of the other parent in the same point.
If, for example, a portion of the ewes of a flock are too short-
wooled, they should, other things being equal, be coupled
with a particularly long-wooled ram.

The hereditary predispositions of breeding animals are
also to be regarded, as well as their actual existing charac-
teristics. In the case just given, if the long-wooled ram was
descended from uniformly short-wooled ancestors, his length
of wool would be what is termed an “accidental” trait or
property; and there would be little probability of his
transmitting it with uniformity and force to his offspring out
of short-wooled ewes. There would be no certainty of his
doing so, even among long-wooled ewes.

What are considered accidental characteristics are them-
selves generally the result of breeding back to a forgotten
ancestor, but, sometimes they are purely spontaneous. In
such cases, they are exceptions, not to be accounted for by
any of the known laws of reproduction. As a general thing
they are not transmitted to posterity. In other cases they
are feebly transmitted to the first generation and then
disappear. But occasionally they are very vigorously repro-
duced,. and if cultivated by inter-breeding, the related
animals possessing them soon become fixed in their de-
scendants apparently as firmly as the old and long - established
peculiarities of breed.* The following is an instance of this,

* It is claimed that artificial peculiarities even—those produced by external
causes after birth—are sometimes inherited, as for example, a limb distorted by
accident. To this extent, I suspect the genuine cases of inheritance, are very rare.
But Aaditual artificial properties, and to some extent, structures, marks etc., not unfre-
quently become hereditary. If, for example, men or brutes are kept healthy and
vigorous for several generations, by proper food and exercise, they will have more

vienrana offspring than the descendants of the same ancestors improperly fed and

104 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

which, so far as the facts occurred in the United States, fell
under my own observation. A ram having ears of not more
than a quarter the usual size appeared in a flock of Saxon
sheep, in Germany. He was a superior animal, and got
valuable stock. These were inter-bred and a “little-eared”
sub-family created.* Some of these found their way into
the United States, between 1824 and 1828. One of the
rams came into Onondaga County, New York. He was a
choice animal, and his owner, David Ely, valued his small
ears a8 a distinctive mark of his blood. He bred a flock
by him, and gradually almost bred off their ears entirely.
His flock enjoyed great celebrity and popularity in its day,
but has long been broken up, and many years have doubtless
elapsed since any of the surrounding sheep owners have used
a “little-eared” ram. Yet nearly every flock that retains
a drop of that blood— even coarse mutton sheep bred away
from it, probably for ten or fifteen generations, insomuch
that all Saxon characteristics have totally disappeared — still
continue to throw out an occasional lamb as distinctly
marked with the precise peculiarity under consideration, as
Mr. Ely’s original stock.

Another much more important alledged case in point, is
that of the Mauchamp family of Merinos in France. The
published accounts of them declare that, in 1828, “‘a Merino
ewe produced a peculiar ram lamb having a different shape
from the usual Merino, and possessing a long, straight, silky
character of wool,” “similar to mohair,” and “remarkable
for its qualities as a combing wool.” Mons. J. L. Graux, the
owner of this lamb, bred from him others which resembled
him. “In each subsequent year,” the account continues,
“the lambs were of two kinds, one possessing the curled,
elastic wool of the old Merinos, only a little longer and finer ;
the other like the new breed. At last the skillful breeder
obtained a flock combining the fine, silky fleece, with a
smaller head, broader flanks and more capacious chest.”
This, excepting in the matter of being “finer” than the
Merino, (and I am unable to say what Mons. Graux considers
fine,) is a pretty good description of a mongrel between a
Merino and some long-wooled variety,— and such I have no

enervated by idleness. And as vigor depends upon the volume of the muscle and

upon. the conformation of both the muscles and general frame, it follows that the

zl ape te measurably controlled by the properties, and that artificial shapes become
ereditary.

* This was the explanation given me of the origin of these sheep by my lamented
friend, the late Henry D. Grove. ee Per

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 105

doubt it is. The “accidental” traits which are developed
in breeding from pure animals of the same blood never, I
suspect, at one bound, embrace quite such comprehensive
particulars as a change, not only in the essential character-
istics of the wool, but also in the general form of the carcass.*

But trustworthy cases of the vigorous transmission of
accidental properties, involving visible changes, are sufficiently
numerous. Involving slight changes or variations, not
recognized as such by casual observers, they are more
numerous. It is by noting these last, and cultivating the
good ones, that the judicious breeder makes some of his best
Improvements. How otherwise can he possibly raise the
progeny, in any given point, above the plane of its parents,
and of ail its ancestors? But while the breeder should avail
himself of every opportunity of this kind to attempt to’
perpetuate accidental improvements on the pre-existing type,
he must be prepared to meet with more disappointments
than successes. My Merino ram “ Premium ”— mentioned
particularly in “Sheep Husbandry in the South,” and in
some otber publications, for his extraordinary individual
qualitiest— perhaps the finest wooled sheep then on record
for one of equal weight of fleece, and ranking in the former
particular with the choicest Saxons —did not get progeny
peculiar for fineness. His own ancestors had been fine for
the breed, but not remarkable in that particular. One of the
showiest Merino rams now in New England does not inherit
his showy traits, and he utterly fails to transmit them to his
progeny. Exceptional good qualities are not, according to
my observation, as likely to become hereditary, as indifferent
or bad ones.

Accidental characteristics are less likely to be perpetuated
where they are opposed to the special characteristics of the
breed. For example, the Merino wool has had a peculiar
curled or spiral form of the fiber, for ages — a fixed, marked
trait, never wanting, and as much a characteristic of the wool as
its fineness. Mons. Graux’s first straight-wooled “ Mauchamp
Merino” ram, if an accidental instead of a mongrel animal,
brought only his own individual power to transmit that
peculiarity to his progeny (out of full blood Merino ewes)

* It will be seen that I have not introduced the case of these sheep with any view
of illustrating the transmission of actual “accidental” qualities — but to caution my
readers against what I have not a shadow of doubt is either an amusing case of
credulity or a gross attempt at imposition. 7 f

t Sheep Husbandry in the South, p. 185. American Quarterly Journal of Agricul-
ture, 1845; ib, 1846, p. 290. giteport on Fine-Wool Husbandry, 1862, pp. 65, 97.

5

a

106 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

against a hereditary power which had been acquiring force for
ages.* His success therefore was the more marvelous. But
in merely giving a smaller head, etc., to his progeny, he did
not necessarily run counter to any special and fixed peculiarity
of breed.+ The heads of Merino sheep vary in size. Some of
them are small. A malformation consisting of small ears, or
of the want of any ears, or of one or more imperfect legs, or
of having six legs, or any other deformity, does not impinge
the special characteristics of a breed, or of one breed more
than another. In all breeds alike, whether pure or impure,
there is a tendency in nature to preserve and restore the
normal form in the progeny; but occasionally, as in the case
of Mr. Ely’s sheep, that tendency is not strong enough to
resist the tendency of like to produce like.

In all instances, pains should be taken to avoid breeding
between males and females possessing the same defect, and
particularly the same hereditary defect. In the first case, the
individual force of hereditary transmission in both parents
unites to reproduce the defect: in the second, both the
individual and family hereditary force unite to reproduce it,
and to escape from their combined effects would, of itself, be
one of the strongest cases of “accidental” breeding.

When the same individual or family defects are thus
transmitted by both parents to their offspring, the latter are
apt to inherit them to a greater degree or extent than they
are possessed by either parent. Such an increase or aggrava-
tion may be regarded as inevitable where the common defect
is of the nature of an organic disease. If two human parents
are affected by scrofula, and especially by hereditary scrofula,
in a slight degree, their progeny may be expected to exhibit
it in a much more malignant and destructive form. And the
same law, in transmitting diseases, or morbific conditions,
pertains equally to brutes. Relationship between parents
also exerts a strong influence in such cases, but this will be
more appropriately considered in the next Chapter.

The relative influence of the sire and dam in transmitting
their own individual forms and other properties to the
progeny, has been the theme of much observation and
discussion. The prevalent opinion formerly was that each

* But if he was a mongrel, he brought the ner aty. influence of straight-wooled
and probably pure blood ancestors to bear against that of his Merino ancestors, and by
breeding in-and-in, and by selection, he was made to give the preponderance to the
former in the particular under consideration.

+ Ihave no definite or reliable information in regard to the form of head in the
Mauchamp Merino.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 107

parent transmitted a portion of all the properties, or a trait
here and a trait there, as chance or some special and
independent. power in each animal to “mark” its offspring,
might dictate. An English gentleman by the name of Orton,
broached the theory that the animal organization is trans-
mitted by halves, the sire giving to the progeny the external
organs and locomotive powers, and the dam the internal
organs and vital functions. By this division, the general
form, the bones, the external muscles, the legs, skin and wool
would be like those of the male parent, while the heart, lungs
and other viscera, and consequently those functions on which
the integrity of the constitution mainly rests, would he like
those of the female parent. But each parent was supposed: by
him to exert a degree of influence on the parts and functions
chiefly inherited from the other parent; and this law “of
limitations” he considered “scarcely less important to be
understood than the fundamental law itself.”

Mr. Walker, in his work on Intermarriage, presents the
same theory, substantially, except that he denies that the
series of organs inherited from one parent are modified or
influenced by the other parent; and he assumes that between
parents of the same breed, “either the male or the female
parent may give either series of organs.”’*

Mr. Spooner, in an article on Cross-Breeding, which appear-
ed in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England
some years since the publication of his well known work on
Sheep, adopts the Ortonian theory with some slight modi-
fications. He says:—“The most probable supposition is that
propagation is done by halves, each parent giving to the
offspring the shape of one-half of the body. Thus the back,
loins, hind quarters, general shape, skin and size follow one
parent; and the fore quarters, head, vital and nervous
system, the other; and we may go so far as to add, that the
former, in the great majority of cases, go with the male parent
and the latter with the female.”

The Ortonian theory, or either of the above modifications
of it, if actually carried into practice, would lead to singular
results. According to Mr. Orton, the effects of cross-breeding
would, comparatively speaking, stop with the first cross, for
each succeeding generation of cross-bred males and females
would continue to transmit to their descendants substantially

* Vide pp. 142, 145.
+ Journal of Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1859.

108 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

the same halves, in the same order, both with respect to form
and general properties.* :
According to Mr. Walker the effects of crossing, among
animals of different breeds, would generally absolutely stop and
become unchangeable with the first cross, for every generation
of descendants would receive the same half of the organization
without any modification! And on the other hand, between
animals of the same breed, the descendants might either
permanently exhibit the same relative paternal and maternal
halves, or they might by in-and-in breeding, in the second
generation, become exactly like their sire in both halves!
The theory of propagation by halves appears to have
considerable support from facts when it is applied to hbybrids—
animals derived from inter-brecding distinct species,—as for
instance the male ass with the mare, the horse with the female
ass, the goat with the sheep, ete. But as applied to sheep,
every observing breeder ought to know that it is essentially
unfounded and chimerical. The Merino ram crossed with a
ewe of some thin and coarse-wooled family, does not, either
fully or approximately, transmit the weight, fineness or other

*If this were so, half bloods, when bred together, would reproduce their own
essential qualities about as uniformly as fall bloods when bred together; and the
attempt to form them into permanent families, occupying the same relative place they
do between the original breeds of which they are composed, should result in as splendid
success as it does, in point of fact, in complete and uniform failure. And by this theory,
it would seem the half blood ram ought always to be used to perpetuate half bloods —
yet experience shows that half blood rams are worthless for that object. I never have
seen anything more than extracts from Mr. Orton’s paper on this subject. Ido not
therefore know what exceptions he made for breeding back. He must of course have
regarded it as only the exception, or else he could not have assumed any set of facts
opposed to it to be the rule. Then, in his view, a majority at least of the descendants
of half bloods, bred to half bloods, or to mongrels of their own degree, would
continue uniformly to produce their own essential characteristics,— which every
observing breeder knows they do not do.

+ Mr. Walker says : —‘‘ Let the example be that in which, of the animals subjected
to in-and-in breeding, the father breeds with the daughter, and again with the grand-
daughter. Now, it is certain the father gives half his organization to the daughter,
(suppose the anterior series of organs,) and so far they are identical; but, in breeding
with the daughter, he may give the other halfof his organization to the grand-daughter,
(namely, the posterior series of organs,) and as the grand-daughter will then have both
his series of organs — the former from the mother and the latter from himself — it is
aes that there exists between the male and his grand-daughter a-quasi identity.

p. i

Mr. Spooner does not develop his views very fully, but so far as he states them,
he would appear to adopt Mr. Walker's theory of a strict propagation by halves, and at
the same time to assume, by implication, that either parent may give either series of
organs, in all cases, as Mr. Walker only assumes they may among animals of the same
breed. If these are Mr. Spooner’s real opinions, he must be prepared to believe that
results like the following may ensue :—If a Merino ram was put to a Leicester ewe he
would transmit half of his organization to their common progeny. If the same ram
was put to his own half-blood daughter of that cross, he might give the other half of
his organization to the progeny, so that it would be, de facto, a pure Merino. This
would be a very summary process of creating pure Merinos out oft Leicesters! If the
same rule held good in regard to horses, an Arabian stallion might in two generations
produce pure Arabian stock from cart mares! Is Mr. Spooner prepared to adopt such
a sequitur to his theory?

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 109

qualities of his fleece to his progeny. He, it is true, transmits
a fleece which is much heavier and finer than that of the ewe;
and if again crossed with the half-blood, he transmits addi-
tional weight and fineness. Each ascending grade toward the
Merino will continue more and more to resemble the Merino
in these particulars. But the process is gradual, not immediate;
the properties are transmitted by degrees, not by halves.
The Ortonian theory, as applied to the transmission of
form, in sheep, has a little more apparent foundation. .The
ram does, much oftener than the ewe, transmit his general
external structure to the progeny. But the hypothesis that
he does so as invariably as Mr. Orton contends, or as Mr.:
Walker contends in the case of crosses between different
breeds, or even as generally as Mr. Spooner supposes,* will
fall to the ground at once when examined in the light of actual
facts. In any and every flock of lambs, whether pure blood
or crossed, there will be found entirely too many to be classed
as mere exceptions, which, without breeding back of their
immediate parents, do take the general form of the dam, and
not that of the sire. And it will also be found that the
instances which, even by the most liberal resort to imagina-
tion, can be adduced as proofs of the theory of a strict
transmission by halves, and of such a division of those halves
as the advocates of the theory have agreed on, do not
comprise a majority of cases. In my judgment, they do not
include a fourth of them; and could scarcely be shown
conclusively to include any. As a general thing we see
distinct resemblances to each parent, or modified resemblances
to both parents, existing in different proportions in the form,
the fleece and the skin. One lamb has a carcass mostly like
that of its sire and a fleece mostly like that of its dam.f
Another takes a middle place between its parents in one or
both particulars. Another actually, to some degree, divides
the form, taking, for example, the shoulders of the dam with
the hind quarters of the sire, or vice versa. I have a specific
case in view of a ram (“21 per cent.,”) which has a shoulder
obviously defective in being too thin. He transmits most of
his form, his fleece, etc., to his progeny, with marked force.
But not one in thirty of them exhibits a thin shoulder. By

* I mean making all due allowance for breeding back, or for an exceptional want
of relative vigor in the male, &c.,

+ I think it is not common to see these two characteristics quite so broadly divided ;
and probably never, when the pure blood ram is coupled with the cross-bred ewe.
But with both those pure and cross-breeds which most resemble their sires in form, it
is common to see the fleece at least equally partaking of the characteristics of the dam,

110 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

the half-and-half theory, all this would be impossible.
According to that theory, all these characteristics belong to
the same half of the organization, which is always transmitted
as an entirety by one parent or the other.

But it is easier to defend the half-and-half theory, so far
as it pertains to the viscera and internal organization, because
it is very difficult to follow it there! I do not see how a
really reliable decision can be arrived at except by a practical
ocular examination of the parts, and it is not easy to
understand how even the dissecting knife would let in much
light on the subject. In healthy animals, it is not probable
that any particular and persistent differences could be
discovered in the viscera, except in the mere particular of
size, and in this, the theory would not be likely to derive any
support from a comparison of facts.* If it be contended that
internal structure is to be judged or inferred by certain
effects—such as constitution, strength, appetite, etc, I
undertake to.say, from abundant experience, that the progeny
as often and as fully inherit these qualities from the sire as
from the dam, even when they most distinctly inherit the
general form of the sire.

I have pursued this subject at greater length, because I
have observed that too many men who have the word
“practical” ever on their lips (who seem to consider
themselves practical on all agricultural subjects, because they
work practically with their own hands on a farm!) are always
ready to adopt the most baseless theories: and I consider the
Ortonian theory as mischievous as it is baseless.

I have said that the ram much the oftenest gives the
leading characteristics of the form; and I will now add, that
he much the oftenest gives the size, and several of the
leading properties of the fleece, particularly its length,
density, and yolkiness. Its fineness and general style are
probably usually, other things being equal, as much con-
trolled by the dam as by the sire. But I do not believe the
superior power of the ram to transmit his own qualities is
purely an incident of sex. I believe co-operating causes are
equally potential, and that the chief of these are superiority
of blood, and superiority of individual vigor.

* I suppose that if a large ram were put to a small ewe, and as usual gave his size
(comparatively)to the progeny, the size of the viscera would necessarily follow the size
of the sires’, because the viscera always correspond with the size of the external struc
tures and of the cavity to be filled. If, on the other hand, the ewe gave the size of
carcass, she would also give the size of the viscera. This is exactly at variance with
the Ortonian theory, if the size of the intestines is one of those properties said to be
given by that parent which does noé give the size and form.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 111

The ram is generally “higher bred” than the ewes, even
in full blood flocks. As pure blood is only separate family
blood which has been kept distinct until it transmits but
one set of family characteristics, so higher blood is produced
by the selection of pure blood animals of choicer qualities
and breeding them together separate and distinct from all
others, until they form a smaller improved sub-family, alike
possessing a permanent hereditary character. The thin-chined,
low fore-ended, roach-backed, black-faced sheep which
formerly depastured the downs of Sussex, were of as pure
blood as the superb South Downs which Mr. Ellman created
out of them—but they were not so highly or well bred.
The improved South Down ram of to-day does not transmit
the same properties to his progeny which the unimproved
animal of eighty years ago did. He not only transmits
better ones, but he transmits them with more force and
uniformity. This last is occasioned by two circumstances.
The restriction of the sub- family for a number of generations
to one fixed standard, gives greater force of hereditary
transmission to the fewer properties—that is, fewer in
kind — which that standard admits of, because by that law
on which “blood” or “species” rests, the oftener the same
quality is reproduced, the stronger becomes its tendency to
continued reproduction. The improved South Down breeds,
so to speak, to one uniform pattern. The unimproved one
breeds to a dozen different varieties of a family pattern.
The second circumstance which gives a stronger power of strict
hereditary transmission to the high-bred animal, consists (after
the improved family becomes thoroughly established) in the re-
striction placed on the limits of breeding back. The unimproved
South Down could breed back to fifty different ancestors, all
differing quite widely; the improved one, unless he casually
goes far back of the ordinary limits of breeding back, can
only breed back to ancestors of very close resemblance.

If the pure blood ram is put to grade ewes of different
and no determinate blood, his strong power of hereditary
transmission is encountered by no corresponding power on
the other side, and the, resemblance of the progeny to
himself is unexpectedly striking, considering that they are
but half of the same breed. If put to full blood ewes of
his own breed, but lower bred than himself, the resemblance
to himself is much less marked, though it is still very
perceptible. If put to ewes of the same breed and as high
bred as himself, the resemblance to himself is still fainter

112 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

and considerably less uniform. In these last, he has
encountered a force of hereditary transmission equal to his
own, except in so far as he is aided by superior power of sex.

Persons who buy rams, generally buy from flocks better
bred than their own, and hence is witnessed that assimilation
of the progeny to the sire, and consequently that improve-
ment, which is by some referred exclusively to sex, and by
others to some inherent property to “mark” his offspring
supposed to be peculiar to the sire. This hypothesis is not
overthrown by the notorious fact that rams from the same
flock exhibit the power of hereditary transmission in
essentially different degrees, any more than is the hypothesis
of the superior influence of the male sex overthrown by the
same fact. Hvery flock has separate and better strains of
blood within itself—even where all are descended from the
same stock. Not only better males occasionally present
themselves, but also better females. If the latter are found
to transmit their own properties in a special degree to their
offspring, they are highly prized and carefully reserved from
all sales. Each female descendant is prized and reserved in
the same way, and a sub-family is thus created. A touch of
in-and-in breeding (by using a ram from the same sub-family
on his relatives, as well as on the rest of the flock,) frequently
aids to confer an identity on this little group of sheep which
preserves itself for generations — as long as the flock is kept
together. Iam not acquainted with a celebrated breeding
flock which has not within it several such recognized groups
or sub-families of different value, but all better than the
body of the flock. This explains how rams of the same blood
and flock, and perhaps general appearance, may differ materi-
ally in their qualities as sires, without imagining the existence
of an independent faculty based on no physical properties.

There is still another circumstance which affects the
power of hereditary transmission, viz. vigor,— general
physical vigor, and also special sexual vigor. very strong,
powerfully developed ram, full of power and vital energy —
and full of untiring sexual ardor— will get stronger and
better lambs and impress his own qualities on them more
strongly than an ill, or feeble, or flaccid ram, with naturally
weak or exhausted sexual powers. The ram should be
essentially masculine in every organ and function.* He

* Large testicles, and large, firm spermatic cords connecting these with the body,
are regarded as indications of sexual vigor intheram. The capacity to “ bear heavy
feed’ has also much to do with a ram’s endurance in this particular.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 113

should not even have what is termed a “ewe’s fleece,” but a
longer, thicker and coarser one.* :

The Merino ram produces strong, healthy lambs from the
age of seven or eight months to that of eight or ten years,
and sometimes later, if he has never been over-worked. He
does not attain his full maturity of vigor until he is three,
and he usually begins to decline at seven or eight. A ram
lamb ought not, for his own good, to be used to over ten
or fifteen ewes —merely enough to test his qualities as a sire ;
and to fit him properly for even this amount of work, he
should be large, strong, and fleshy. A yearling can, without
injury, do one-third and a two-year-old two-thirds the work
of amature ram. Strong, mature rams will, on the average,
properly serve about two hundred ewes a year. I speak
in all the above cases of but a single service to each ewe,
and of a coupling season extending from forty to forty-five
days. Rams have often exceeded these numbers. An
Infantado ram lamb owned by Loyal C. Wright, of Corn-
wall, Vermont, got one hundred and three lambs in the
fall of 1862. The “Wooster Ram,” so celebrated through-
out Vermont, served three hundred ewes when a year
old.t Some strong rams, in their prime, have served
four hundred. The “Old Robinson Ram” is believed to
have got nearly three thousand lambs during his life ot
thirteen or fourteen years. The Merino ewe breeds from
her second to her tenth or twelfth year, and sometimes
considerably longer, if carefully nursed after she begins to
decline.{ It is better for her, however, not to breed until
her third year. Some, however, who have valuable ewes,

* A ram of the same blood and breeding does not require to be as fine as a ewe,
to get female progeny equal to her in fineness ; and an over-fine ram generally gets too
light-fleeced progeny. His own fineness, unless an exceptional quality, shows that he
has been bred too far in the direction of fineness, and, consequently, away from the
proper standard of weight, for the maximum of these two qualities in the same fleece
is not even approximately attainable. If the over-fine ram has himself a fleece of
good weight, it is to be apprehended—in the absence of a fall knowledge of antecedents
—that the latter quality is exceptional, and that he may breed too much in the
opposite direction.

+ So Iam informed by Mr. Abel J. Wooster, of West Cornwall, Vermont. He
archased the ram of Mr. Hammond when a lamb—and hence the name of ‘ Wooster
Ram,” or rather, according to a prevailing Americanism, ‘‘Wooster Buck.” Some
Merino breeders who find this name in the pedigrees of their sheep may be interested
to learn the following particulars communicated to me by Mr. Wooster. The ram
never exceeded about 100 lbs. weight with his fleece off. His first fleece weighed 12%
1bs., his second 1934 Ibs., and “after that he began to run down,” and died before the
completion of his fourth year. ‘‘He would bear heavy feed, and that and hard ser-
vice shortened his life.” .

+ Istated in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbanry, 1862, that I had been informed
that the dam of the “Old Robinson Ram” produced a lamb in her twenty-second
year. I have since ascertained that I was misinformed on the subject.

114 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING.

put them to breeding at two, but take off their lambs and
give them to foster-mothers. If the young ewe is carefully
dried off her milk, she will experience no injury and no loss
of growth. The increase of growth during pregnancy
will make up for the slight falling off after yeaning.
The English breeds both mature and decline considerably
earlier in life.

A theory of considerable importance to the breeder, if
true, has recently been started, viz., that the male which first
impregnates a female, continues to exert an influence on
some of the qualities of her subsequent offspring, or at least
is liable to do so. J have not, in my own experience,
observed any proofs of this.*

It has been a prevailing opinion among American breeders
that it is much better to breed between a small male and
large female, than in the contrary direction. The reason
assigned by Mr. Cline, of England, who first, I think,
publicly advanced this view, was that the fetus begotten
by the larger male has not room to expand and develop
itself properly in the womb of the small female; that it does
not obtain sufficient nutrition from stores intended for a
smaller foetus; and that, in consequence of these things, it
can not obtain its normal size and proportions anterior
to birth: secondly, that it is liable on account of its extra
size to cause difficulty, if not danger to its dam in yeaning;
and finally, that the opposite course, by giving the foetus
unusual room and extra nutriment, tends to its most perfect
development. This is probably true as between different
breeds, where the disparity in size is extreme, as, for
instance, between the Saxon Merino ewe and the Cotswold
ram. I would not expect a greatly overgrown ram to get
as good stock as a more moderate sized one, even on ewes
of the same breed, but it would be quite as much for
another reason as for any of the preceding ones, viz., that
these overgrown animals never possess the highest attainable
amount of vigor and general excellence themselves, and are
not therefore fitted for sires, irrespective of relative size.
But the rule should not be extended to the exclusion of
large rams of the breed, if good in other particulars. Nature
adapts herself unexpectedly to circumstances, in the face of
all theories. Constant and recent experiments, in England,

,__* Those who wish to see the facts and arguments which are set forth to support
this theory will find them in Mr, 8. L. Goodale’s interesting work on the Principles of
Breeding, published in 1861.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF BREEDING. 115

in crossing ewes with the rams of much larger breeds (to
obtain large lambs for the butcher) demonstrate, as has been
already seen, that the prevailing fears on this subject have
been somewhat exaggerated.*

* The Down or New Leicester ram is coupled with almost any of the smaller
sized local varieties for the purpose of getting larger and earlier maturing lambs for
the market. The very smull and hornless heads of the Down and New Leicester
lambs, it is true, peculiarly fit them for easy and safe parturition; but in other
respects, they are exposed to all. the disadvantages of disproportioned size before and
after birth, and these are not found sufficient, in practice, to prevent the crosses from
proving highly profitable for the objects in view.

CHAPTER XII.
BREEDING IN-AND-IN.

Brexepine in-and-in is ordinarily understood, in our
country, to mean breeding between relatives, without
reference to the degree of consanguinity; and I shall
therefore use it in that sense in this work, specifying, when
there is occasion, whether the degree of consanguinity is
close or remote. But this is not the sense in which it has
been used by those eminent European writers who have done
so much to plant an inveterate prejudice against its very
name in the public mind. Sir John Sebright ranks among
the highest of these, and he did not consider procreation
between father and daughter, and mother and son, to be
breeding in-and-in! Breeding between brother and sister
he thought might “ be called a little close,” but “should they
both be very good, and particularly should the same defects
not predominate in both, but the perfections of the one
promise to correct in the produce the imperfections of the
other, he did not think it objectionable!” And again, he
says breeding in-and in “ may be beneficial, if not carried too
far, particularly in fixing any variety which may be thought
valuable.” It is to be regretted that Sir John does not
define what he considers to be in-and-in breeding. J apprehend
that he means by it breeding the father with the daughter
and again with the grand-daughter, or the mother with the
son and again with the grand-son. In all the distinguished
British works I have ever perused on the subject, I have found
the same lack of definitions. The authors evidently vary in
the meaning they attach to the term, but I think I can
confidently say that none of them make it include breeding
between all relatives, or object to breeding, when there is
occasion for it, between relatives not of near consanguinity.

It is a very prevalent impression in the United States,
particularly among those who have no personal experience
on the subject, that the inter-breeding of the most remote

BREEDING IN-AND-IN. 117

relatives is fatal — fatal not only to the physical organization,
but to the mind among human beings, and even to the
instinct among brutes. ,

It was stated in the preceding Chapter that when
hereditary disease or a predisposition toward 7¢, exists in
either parent, there is always danger that it will be trans-
mitted to offspring, and that if the disease or predisposition
exists in both parents, that danger is greatly increased. If
the parents be nearly related to each other, the danger of
transmission is virtually converted into certainty, with an
aggravation of the conditions and increased incurableness in
the malady. Consequently when mankind degenerated from
their original physical perfection—when disease entered the
world and predispositions to it became engrafted in the
human system —the Divine Lawgiver made cohabitation
within certain degrees of affinity a crime by prohibition.
But if it was evil in itself (malum in se) why was it not
prohibited to the immediate descendants of our first parents,
and why were not unrelated human beings created to avoid
its necessity? The peopling of the world in the second
generation at least, was necessarily carried on between
brothers and sisters, the closest possible relations. Can it be
supposed that, under the direct ordination of Omnipotence,
the human race originated in a crime against nature — in an
extreme violation of the fundamental laws which regulate
physical and mental well being?

The brute, it is fair to assume, was started in its course of
procreation equally unrestricted, for it would understand no
prohibition; and it was created with habits which must
constantly and necessarily lead to cohabitation and breeding
between the nearest relatives. Some varieties of birds, like
the dove, are hatched in pairs, one of each sex, and with
habits which would render the separation of those pairs, for
procreation, the exception instead of the rule. Some varieties
of quadrupeds, like the lion, are born and brought up in
isolated families ; and having no aversion to breeding between
relatives, it would be most natural that those who thus live
together should at maturity pair together. In herds of
elephants, wild horses, buffaloes, etc., particular males
dominate over the same herd for years, and make it their
harem until they become enfeebled and are conquered by
some more youthful and more vigorous rival — probably a
son — who in turn dominates, decays and gives place to a
successor. In this course of things, the father must be

118 BREEDING IN-AND-IN.

constantly breeding with his own daughters, and, if he lives
long enough, with his grand-daughters; and his male
successors must commence breeding with sisters and continue
it with their descendants. All these animals are, de facto,
paired together by that Being who created their instincts and
gave them their habits. Is there any visible proof that their
races have become physically degenerate on this account?
Are not the lion and the elephant as large, healthy and
powerful as they were ages ago?

No one pretends to the contrary. But we are told—
and this was Sebright’s argument — that a natural provision
was also made to prevent animals from degenerating from the
effects of in-and-in breeding. ‘A severe winter, or a scarcity
of food, by destroying the weak and the unhealthy, has all
the good effects of the most skillful selection.” And he might
have added, that the strong male kills the weak male, the herd
trample down the sick and the feeble, and gore to death the
wounded. Such causes, undoubtedly, combine to extirpate
what may be termed accidental degeneracy. But these facts
do not go far enough to sustain the position of those who
believe that in-and-in breeding necessarily results in degen-
eracy. If it did, instead of a few, the whole or nearly the
whole flock or herd or family, in such cases as I have
mentioned, would perish; and whole races would long since
have become extinct.

The moment we step from the domain of nature to the
domain of man, the scene changes. We have treated our
domesticated animals as we have treated ourselves. By
artificial surroundings— by changing the natural habits m
regard to nutrition, exercise, etc. — by cruelty or kindness —
by breeding the diseased with the healthy — we have brought
malformation, infirmity, disease and premature death among
all of them; and we have continued the causes until we have
made the effects a part of the physical systems, and thoroughly
hereditary among them. Therefore no longer, like the free
normal denizens of the forest and the air, can they follow
their natural instincts with impunity; and the inter-breeding
of the infirm and diseased, and especially of infirm and
diseased relatives, must, as in the case of man, be prevented.

But all the facts I have ever seen or ascertained from
entirely reliable sources, go to show that the inter-breeding of
relatives, and even near ones, is innocuous when both parents
are free from all defects and infirmities which tend to impair
the normal physical organization. It is difficult to’ improve

BREEDING IN-AND-IN. 119

animals, give them a marked family uniformity, and give
their peculiar excellencies a permanent hereditary character,
without in-and-in breeding. Consequently a great majority
of the ablest breeders of domestic animals of every description
in England—such as Bakewell among long-wooled sheep;
Elliman among short-wooled sheep; the Collings, Mason,
Maynard, Wetherell, Knightly, Bates ‘and the Booths among
Short-Horn cattle;* Price among the Herefords,+ and a
multitude of others of nearly equal celebrity — have been
close in-and-in breeders. The Stud Book abounds in examples
of celebrated horses produced by this course of breeding.
The same is true of nearly all the improved English varieties
of smaller animals, such as pigs, rabbits, fowls, pigeons, etc.

But we need not go abroad for examples. The Paular
sheep of the Rich family were first crossed in 1842. They
were then pre-eminently hardy. No one claims that they
have gained either in hardiness or size by the cross. Yet
for thirty years preceding that period, they had been bred
strictly in-and-in, to say nothing of their previous in-and-in
breeding in Spain. Whether and how far the Spaniards aimed
to avoid breeding from very close individual relationships I
am not informed. I have never learned that they paid any
attention to them one way or the other; and their general
course of breeding was certainly in-and-in. Each Cabana, or
permanent flock, was kept entirely free from admixture with

¥ I quote the following from a note in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry, 1862:
“In the first volume of American Short-Horn Herd Book (edited by Lewis F. Allen,
Esq.,) are diagrams showing the continuous and close in-and-in breeding which pro-
duced the bull Comet, by far the most superb and celebrated animal of his day, and
which sold, at Charles Colling’s sale for the then unprecedented price of $5,000. His
pedigree cannot be stated so as to make the extent of the in-and-in breeding, of which
he was the result, fully apparent, except to persons familiar with such things, and such
persons probably need no information on the subject. But this much all will see the
force of: the bull Bolingbroke and the cow Phenix, which were more closely related
to each other than half-brother and sister, were coupled and produced the bull
Favorite. Favorite was then coupled with his own dam and produced the cow Young
Phenix. He was then coupled with his own daughter (Young Phenix) and their pro-
duce was the world-famed Comet. One of the best breeding cows in Sir C. Knightly's
herd (Restless) was the result of still more continuous in-and-in breeding. I willstate
a part of the pedigree. The bull Favorite was put to his own daughter, and then to
his own grand-daughter, and so on to the produce of his produce in regular succession
for six generations. The cow which was the result of the sixth inter-breeding, was
then put to the bull Wellington, “‘ deeply inter-bred on the side Qf both sire and dam
in the blood of Favorite, and the produce was the. cow Clarissa, an admirable animal
and the mother of Restless. Mr. Bates, whose Short-Horns were never excelled (if
equaled) in England, put sire to daughter and grand-daughter, son to dam and grand-
dam, and brother to sister, indifferently, his rule being ‘always to put the best
animals together, regardless of any affinity of blood,’ as A, B, Allen informs me he
distinctly declared to him, and indeed as his recorded practice in the Herd Book fully
proves.”

+ Mr. Price, whose Herefords were the best in England in his day, declared, in an
article published in the British Farmer's Magazine, that he had not gone beyond his
.own herd for a bull or a cow for forty years.

120 BREEDING IN-AND-IN.

others, and its stock rams were selected from its own number.
Consequently fathers and daughters, and brothers and sisters
must have constantly bred with each other. Mr. Chamber-
lain’s Silesians have not received any cross, or any fresh blood
from either of the original families, within half a century;
yet they are 50 per cent. larger than the sheep they originated
from and are entirely healthy. Mr. Hammond’s Infantados
present a still stronger case. They were bred in-and-in
by Col. Humphreys up to the period of Mr. Atwood’s
purchase; Mr. Atwood bred his entire flock from one ewe,
and never used any but pure Humphreys rams; Mr. Ham-
mond has preserved the same blood entirely intact — and
thus, after being drawn beyond all doubt from an unmixed
Spanish Cabana, they have been bred in-and-in, in the
United States, for upwards of sixty years. Fortunately Mr.
Hammond has preserved some of his leading individual
pedigrees, and I will give one of these as a most forcible
illustration of the subject under examination. For that
purpose I will select the pedigree of Gold-Drop, one of his
present stock rams. It includes that of Sweepstakes — the
ram figured in the frontispiece and has the advantage of.
exhibiting the course of breeding for two generations later.
The pedigree is given on next page.

121

PEDIGREE OF GOLD-DROP AND SWEEPSTAKES.

Gold-Drop,
1861. 4

L

( Sweepstakes,
1856.
California, }
1860.
Beauty Ist,
| 1887.
“Old Queen,
1954. Old Queen’s

dam, 1851.

Wooster, es
, (Old Greasy, 1849, First choice of ewe lambs.
: 1850. Dam of Old Old Black,
. ye Greasy, 1847. 1841.
Old Wrinkly, First choice of old ewes.
1853, Old Greasy, by ooster, by Old Black,
Light Color- 1850.
(Little Wrinkly, aa gae > aight Catered, (4, Mebane,
1855. owe Ist, 1848. [pam of Light Colored ewe.
Twin of Little (Wooster, by Old Black,
J Lawrence ewe, 1849.
1850. First choice of old ewes.
oe ee by ooster, by Old Black,
Light Colored , Old Greasy, by Wooster, by Old Black,

ewe 3d, 1854. |} right Colored 1850,
ewe 2d, 1851, < Light Color- Old -Matchless,:
ed ewe Ist, 1841,
1848, Dam of Light Colored ewe.
(Sweepstakes, by Little Wrinkly, by Old Wrinkly, by. Old Greasy, &c.,

E 1856,
ai : Olt Gresey, by Wooster, by Old Black,
, 0.
3 2 Fong, Fools Wien, by Old Black,
: Young Match- :
Lawrence ; . (Old Matchless,t
-1Old Queen, > ewe, 1851, { less, 1850. Light Colored isa,”
L 1864. » °° (Dam of L. Col’d ewe.

First choice of ewe lambs.

Old Queen's fa Black,’

1841.
dam, 1851. "First choice of old ewes.

Tong. Wool, by Old Greasy, by Wooster, by Old Black,

First choice of old ewes.

122 BREEDING IN-AND-IN.

It will be seen that Gold-Drop, after the recurrence of
seven generations, traces every drop of his blood to two
yams and three ewes, purchased of Mr. Atwood! A careful
study of this pedigree will disclose a closeness of in-and-in
breeding which will surprise most persons, and will surprise a

ortion of them the more in view of the fact that Mr.

ammond’s whole flock has been bred with the same disre-
gard of consanguinity, and yet all the time since his purchase
of its foundation, has been increasing, not only in amount of
wool, but in size, bone, spread of rib, compactness, easiness
of keep; in short, in all those things which indicate improved
constitution. Nor has there been the least tendency toward
that barrenness which has been thought by some to be one of
the results of in-and-in breeding.*

Every one who draws rams from his own flock and
breeds from the best, will inevitably find himself a close
in-and-in breeder. The best beget the best. If a ram of
surpassing excellence as a sire arises and makes a decided
improvement in the flock, he is of course coupled with the
best ewes, and all the choicest young animals in the flock are
soon of his get—-and consequently, leaving out of view all
previous consanguinity, are as nearly related as half brothers.
and sisters. These must be bred with each other, or the best
of one sex sold, or the highest grade of perfection, on one
side, prevented from being joined with the highest grade of
perfection on the other. The latter alternatives are most
discouraging hindrances in the progress of breeding improve-
ment; and how can we assume that they are necessary, in
the face of such facts as those above given? I could add
hundreds of examples, both in Europe and the United
States, to prove that in-and-in breeding does not, per se,
produce degeneracy.

But while I am satisfied that even close in-and-in breeding
is one of the most powerful levers of improvement in the
hands of such men as Bakewell, Ellman, and Hammond —
breeders who thoroughly understand the physiology of their
art —I shall not claim that it is so, or even that it is safe,
in the hands of those who do not fully and clearly know
what is perfect and imperfect in structure; who cannot detect
every visible indication of hereditary disease; and who are
not familiar by long experience with the effects of combining
different forms, qualities and conditions by inter-breeding.

* See APPENDIX A, -

BREEDING IN-AND-IN, 123

With such notable instances of successful in-and-in breeders
as I have given, and with the hundreds that might be added
to the list, it is equally true that the instances of those who
have failed have been vastly more numerous. When the
masterly hand. of Bakewell no longer guided his improved
Leicesters, but a very small number among all the prominent
breeders of them were found able to preserve them without
some admixture of fresh blood. When not ruined entirely,
they became delicate and inclined to sterility. And so the
pinnacle of success is often but one step from the final over-
throw. In view of all the facts, therefore, the great majority
of sheep farmers, who do not make breeding a study and an
art, had better continue to avoid anything like close in-and-in
breeding — though there is no occasion for those exaggerated
fears which many entertain on the subject, in respect to
remote relatives, where the animals to be coupled are
obviously robust and well formed.

Some persons believe that the dangers of in-and-in breed-
ing are less between animals of pure blood than between
mongrels or grade animals.* I can see no reason for this,
if the latter are equally perfect in that structural organization
on which health depends.

* See Goodale on the Principles of Breeding.

CHAPTER XILI.
OROSS-BREEDING.

CROSS - BREEDING THE MERINO AND COARSE BREEDS —
CROSSING DIFFERENT FAMILIES OF MERINOS — CROSSING

BETWEEN ENGLISH BREEDS AND FAMILIES — RECAPITULA-
TION.

Cross-BrreEpine, as I shall use the term, signifies
breeding between animals of different breeds, varieties, or
families; but it is not applicable to breeding between
animals of the same family, though they belong to different
and unrelated flocks. ;

Cross-BrEEDING BETWEEN THE Merino anp Coarse
Brrxrps.— The range of cross-breeding between fine and
coarse-wooled sheep is comparatively limited, because there
is but one breed of the former of any recognized importance,
viz., the Merino. And no intelligent man, at the present day,
would any more think of crossing the Merino with another
breed to improve the characteristics sought in the Merino,
than he would of alloying gold with copper to improve the
qualities of the gold.

When the object of such crossing has been to improve
coarse inferior races, it has succeeded for certain purposes.
The coarse common sheep of our country, for example, are
always rendered more valuable by an infusion of Merino
blood. They gain materially in fleece, and lose in no other

articular. But all crosses between the Merino and the
arge, early-maturing improved English breeds and families,
such as the Leicesters, Cotswolds, and the different families
of Downs, have uniformly resulted in failure, and must
always do so, as long as the characteristics of the respective
breeds remain the same. The largest and heaviest fleeced
Merinos would probably increase the weight of fleece of even
the heaviest fleeced English long-wools, but the wool loses by

CROSS - BREEDING. 125

the cross its present specific adaptation to a demand always
ie in England and now rapidly increasing in the United

tates.* ‘Tlie mutton is not injured, nay, for American tastes,
it is decidedly improved by the cross; but the long-wool sheep
loses its size, its early maturity, its propensity to fatten, and
its great prolificacy in breeding. It loses the faultless form
of the English sheep, without even acquiring the knotty
compactness of the Merino. In short, in the expressive
common phrase, it becomes “neither one thing nor the other,”
but only a comparatively valueless mongrel between two — for
their own separate objects — unimprovable breeds !

The cross between the Merino and the Down materially.
increases and improves the fleece of the latter. But it is held
to detract from the value of the mutton, and it seriously
impairs the value of the Down in all the same particulars in
which it impairs the value of long-wools.

All attempts to establish permanent intermediate varieties
of value by crosses between the Merino and any family of
mutton sheep, with a view of combining the especial excel-.
lencies of each, have ended in utter failure. Those with the
Down and the Ryeland seemed to promise best,{ yet they
not only resulted in disappointment, but produced mongrels
incapable of being bred back to either of the English types.

The Merino, owing doubtless to its greater purity of
blood compared with most other breeds, and to its vastly
greater antiquity of blood compared with any of them,§
possesses a force and tenacity of hereditary transmission
which renders it a most unmanageable material in any cross
aiming at middle results. Its distinctive peculiarities are

* The combination of a wool so pre-eminent for certain- necessary objects with
such valuable mutton properties, render these sheep one of those great gifts to man-
kind which it would seem almost wicked to tamper with!

+I made some experiments in this cross —quite enough to satisfy me—in the
earlier part of my life.

+1 bred a few hundred South Down and Merino cross-breeds, many years ago, and
they. made avery pretty sheep. They were not much larger than the largest sized
Infantados of the present day— because, filled with Mr. Cline’s ideas, I selected a very
small and excessively high-bred ram for the cross. He was bred by Francis Rotch,
Esq., and got by a prize ram of Mr. Eliman’s out of an Ellman ewe.

§ The fine-wooled sheep of Spain are clearly traceable to a period anterior to the
Christian Era, on the authority of Strabo, Pliny and other Roman writers of conceded
veracity. Pliny was himself the Roman Procurator in Spain in the opening part of the
first century, and could speak from the result of his own observations. The often
re-published statement— that the breed was formed and subsequently perfected by
crossing these fine-wooled sheep with coarse, hairy, long-wooled Barbary rams, intro-
duced for that purpose by Columella, Pedro IV, of Castile, and Cardinal Ximenes—rests
on no sound historical proof, and is not credited by any recent intelligent writer on
sheep. It never was credited by men who were practically acquainted with the breed-
ing of Merino sheep. If these Barbary crosses are not altogether mythical, they
undoubtedly were made with, or first formed, the Chunahs, a long, coarse-wooled
breed of sheep which have existed for ages in Spain.

126 CROSS- BREEDING.

made to give way with difficulty, and its tendency to breed
back is almost unconquerable. But if the Merino fuses with
reluctance, it absorbs other breeds with rapidity. A cross
between it and a coarse breed is always legitimate and
successful, where the object is to merge that coarse breed
entirely in the Merino. This is accomplished by putting the
ewes of such breed, and every new generation of their cross-
bred descendants, steadily to pure blood Merino rams.

Many grade flocks were commenced in this way, a few
years since, in the Southern States, and particularly in
Texas,— not a few of them under my advice, and to some
extent under my direction. The pasture lands in those
regions were limitless and their market value only nominal.
They were generally yielding no returns to their owners. If
they could be stocked speedily with any kind of sheep, the
gain would be immense. But wool would be the main object,
as there was little or no market for mutton. To stock such
large tracts with pure blood Merinos was out of the question,
both on the score .of expense, and because they could not be
obtained rapidly enough at any cost. I therefore counseled
the purchase of the common ewes of the country where there
were any, and where there were none, those most readily to
be obtained,— even though, as it often happened in Western
Texas, none could be obtained better than the small, coarse,
thin -wooled, miserable. Mexican ewes. These and their
progeny being bred steadily to Merino rams, the result was
in every instance a decided success. The first generation of
cross-breeds, even from Mexican sheep, were signally improved
in weight and quality of wool, and when from a mediocre
Merino ram, would sell for more than twice the price of their
dams; and each ascending grade toward the Merino continued
to increase steadily in value. *

* George W. Kendall, Esq., by far the largest and most experienced wool grower
in Texas, who started a portion of his flock with Mexican ewes, in a letter published
in the Texas Almanac, 1858, says:

“The produce of the old Mexican ewes gave evident signs of great improvement,
not only in form and apparent vigor of constitution, but particularly in the quantity and
quality of the wool. Here I might state that a Mexican ewe, shearing one pound of
coarse wool, if bred to a Merino buck of pure and approved good blood, will produce
a lamb, which, when one year old, will shear at least three pounds of much finer wool;
and the produce of this lamb, again, if a ewe, will go up to four and a half or five
pounds of still finer wool. Ican now show wethers in my flock of the third remove
from the original coarse Mexican stock which last May sheared seven pounds of wool—
unwashed, it is true, but of exceeding fine quality, and worth 30 cents per pound at this
time in New York, or $2.10 for the fleece. Thisisarapidimprovement. Had the old ewe
and her produce been bred constantly to Mexican bucks, the wether would have sheared
about 35 cents worth of coarse wool—not more than 40 cents worth at the outside.”

ee facts further’ show the nonsense of the half-and-half theory of propaga-
By

CROSSING FAMILIES OF MERINOS. 127

In such crosses the high qualities of choice rams render
themselves eminently con8picuous —even more s0, relatively,
than in breeding among full-bloods. The descendants of
such rams in the second cross (3 blood) are frequently more
valuable than those of mediocre rams in the fourth or fifth
cross ({£ or 34 blood.)

In the. matter of profit—for the mere purposes of wool

rowing for our American market — these grades approach
the full-blood rapidly. But there never was a more prepos-
terous delusion than that entertained by the early French
breeders, that “a Merino in the fourth generation [14 blood]
from even the worst wooled ewes, was in every respect equal
to the stock of the sire.” Chancellor Livingston, who asserts
this to have been the opinion of the French breeders, further
says:—‘ No difference is now [1809] made in Europe in
the choice of a ram, whether he is a full-blood or fifteen-
sixteenths.”* This undoubtedly solves problems in relation
to a portion of the French Merinos, which otherwise would
be quite inexplicable. They are, undoubtedly,- grade. sheep.
The Germans, on the other hand, refuse to the highest bred
grade sheep any other designation than “improved half
bloods.” They found, says Mr. Fleichmann, that their
original coarse sheep had 5,500 fibers of wool on a square
inch of skin; that grades of the third or fourth Merino cross
have about 8,000; the twentieth cross 27,000; the perfect
pure blood from 40,000 to 48,000.t I do not apprehend that
there is any thing like an equal difference between the number
of fibers on a given surface of the American Merino and its
grades; but in thirty years observation of such grades of every
rank — some of them higher than the tenth cross, where there
is but one part of the blood of the coarse sheep to 1,023 parts
of Merino blood {—I never have yet seen one which, in every
particular, equaled a full blood of the highest class.

CROSSING DIFFERENT Famities or Mrrinos. —This has
resulted more or less favorably under different circumstances.
The Spaniards did not practice it. The French were the first
who undertook it on a comprehensive scale. They selected,
as we have seen, from all the Spanish families indiscriminately

* Livingston’s Essay on Sheep, p. 181.
+ See Mr. Fleichmann’s article on German sheep in the Patent Office Report, 1847.

+ Probably most persons are familiar with reckoning the degrees of blood in
ascending crosses — but for those who are not, I will say that the frst cross has 1-2
improved blood ; 2d, 3-4; 3d, 7-8; 4th, 15-16; bth, 81-82; 6th, 63-64; 7th, 127-128; 8th,
255-256; 9th, 511-512; 10th, 1023-1024, and so on.

128 CROSSING FAMILIES OF MERINOS.

where they could find animals which presented desirable
qualities, and mixed these families indiscriminately together.
To this cause, in a very considerable measure, is to be
attributed the remarkably unhomogeneous character of the
French flocks. Breeding back, in the hands of persons
entertaining different views, has separated them into almost
as many families as they started from; and the new families
lack within themselves the uniformity and permanent hered-
itary character of the original ones. Mr. Jarvis, in the
United States, crossed several families —all prime Leonese,
and not widely variant in character. The cross was guided
by a single intelligent will, and always toward a definite
and consistent end. Therefore a much greater degree of
uniformity was obtained.

The present highly popular Paular family in Vermont is,
as has been already seen, dashed with Infantado and mixed
Leonese (Jarvis) strains of blood.* Crosses between the
present Paulars and Infantados are now common throughout
Vermont, and the produce is held in high estimation. The
Paular ewe in such cases is usually bred to the Infantado
ram. It should be borne in mind that the widest of these
crosses do not go beyond six original cabanas of prime
Leonese sheep,—among the best and most uniform of Spain.
The cross began in Germany by Ferdinand Fischer,

* I gave an account of the origin of this cross in my Report on Fine-Wool
Husbandry, 1862, from the information of those who ought to have known the facts;
but on fuller investigation it proves to have been erroneous in some particulars. The
Rich iar a! and Jarvis ay Leonese) eg ee been crossed somewhat anterior
to 1844. Judge M. W. C. Wright, of Shoreham, Vermont, having conceived the idea of
crossing the produce with the Infantado or ‘Atwood family, purchased a ram for that
purpene of Mr. Atwood at the New York State Fair in the fall of the last named year.

udge Wright sold the ram, immediately after his return to Vermont, to Prosper
Elithorp, of Bridport, and Loyal C. Remelee, of Shoreham, but used him himself
more or less for three years. This, the ‘ Atwood ram,”’ got the “Elithorp ram" out
of a ewe bred by Mr. Remelee, and sold by him to Mr. Elithorp. The dam of the
Elithorp ram was got by Judge Wright's ‘* Black Hawk” out of a pure Jarvis ewe,
purchased by Mr. Remelee of Mr, Jarvis. Black Hawk was got by ‘ Fortune,” out of
a pure Jarvis ewe purchased by Ji udge Wright of Mr. Jarvis. Fortune was bred by
Tyler Stickney, and got by ‘‘Consul” out of a pure Paular (Rich) ewe. Consul was
a pure Jarvis ram, purchased by Mr. Stickney of Mr. Jarvis. Mr. Elithorp sold the
Elithorp ram, then a lamb, in the fall of 1845, to Erastus Robinson, of Bhoretian,
The rey etree got the ‘‘ Old Robinson ram’? out of a ewe bred by Mr. Elithorp,
and sold by him, with twenty-nine others, to Mr. Robinson in 1848. The dam of the
Old Robinson ram was got by the Atwood ram, above mentioned, out of a pure
Paular (Rich) ewe bred by Mr. Robinson, and sold by him to Mr. klithorp in 1843.
The Atwood, Elithorp and Old Robinson rams, and particularly the last named, were
the founders of the crossed family. The Old Robinson ram in the hands of Mr.
Robinson and his brother-in-law, Mr. Stickney, (who subsequently purchased him of
the former,) begot an immense number of lambs, which were very strongly marked
with his own characteristics, and which, in turn, penerey transmitted them with
great force to their posterity. They were generally smallish, short, exceedingly
round and compact, with fine, yolky, and for those times and for the size of the sheep.
heavy fleeces. Messrs. Robinson and Stickney spread rams of this family far and
wide. See APPENDIX B.

CROSSING AMERICAN AND FRENCH MERINOS. 129

between the Negretti and Infantado families, and continued
in the United States by Mr. Chamberlain, and its results have
already been described.

The cross between the French and American Merino has
been well spoken of in some quarters, but it has not yet, so
far as my indiyidual observation has extended, justified those
expectations which, it would seem, might reasonably be based
on the character of the materials. The best French ewe, or the
French and American Merino ewe (with a sufficient infusion
of French blood to have large size,) has few superiors as a pure
wool-producing animal. But the wool lacks yolk to give it
weight. The full-blood French sheep also lacks in hardi-
ness*. Both it and its cross-breeds are excellent nurses. The
American Merino ram has a super-abundance of the desired
yolkiness of fleece and of hardiness. As the smaller animal,
his progeny have especial advantages for an excellent develop-
ment before parturition, and they receive abundant nutrition
afterwards. Here then, scemingly, are all the requisite
conditions for an excellent cross; and I cannot but believe
that such a cross will be made with decided success, as soon
as precisely the fitting individual materials are brought
together and managed with the requisite skill.t

The cross between the American and Saxon Merino results
proverbially well—better in almost every instance than
it would be considered reasonable to anticipate. I gave a

* It lacks very materially in hardiness if from a pampered flock, or immediately
descended from pampered ancestors, The early crosses between French and American
Merino sheep require extra attention when young, but when fully grown are, on fair
keep, a healthy and hardy animal. :

+ I tried this cross a few years since, and the following statement of the results
appeared in my Report on Fine Wool Husbandry, 1862 :—“* My own experiments in
this cross, candor requires me to say, have been less successful. Some of them were
made with a ram bred by Col. F. M..Rotch and pure-blood American Merino ewes;
some were purchased of gentlemen who started with such ewes and bred them to first-
rate French rams obtained of Messrs. Taintor and Patterson; and some were got by
pure American rams on high grade French and American ewes (averaging say fifteen-
sixteenths or more. French, and the remainder American Merino blood.) From this
last cross I expected much. The ewes were compact.and noble looking animals. The
produce was obviously better than the get of French rams on the same ewes, but after
watching it for two years, I have recently come rather reluctantly to the conclusion
that, in this climate, even these grades are not intrinsically as valuable as pure
American Merinos. But the Merino ram which got them, though apparently present-
ing the most admirable combination of points for such a cross, has not proved himself.
a superior sire with other ewes; and I do not therefore regard this experiment as
conclusive, (This ram weighed about 140 lbs., was compact and symmetrical, and his
fleece weighed 14 lbs. washed. He was a very dark, yolky sheep. He was bred in
Vermont; and though undoubtedly full blood, probably did not spring from ancestors
as good as himself, or in other words, he was an ‘accidental’ animal.) Some well-
managed experiments of both these kinds have been tried by the Messrs. Baker, of
Lafayette, and the Messrs. Clapp, of Pompey, N. Y. They bred toward the French
until they obtained about fifteen-sixteenths of that blood, and now find the cross best
the other way. One of the last of these crosses now appears to promise extremely
well.
6*

130 CROSSING AMERICAN AND SAXON MERINOS.

striking instance, in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry,
1862, of the good results of a Paular and Saxon cross. I will
now give one of an Infantado and Saxon cross. Capt. Davis
Cossit (U. S. V.) of Onondaga, New York, had ih 1859 a
flock of Saxon ewes with sufficient American Merino blood to
yield, on ordinary keep, about four pounds of washed wool
per head. In that and the two succeeding years he put
his ewes to the Infantado ram ‘21 per cent.,” (named in
connection with Petri’s table of the dimensions, etc., of Spanish
sheep in Chapter 1st of this volume.) In 1862 the fleeces of
the young sheep produced by this cross were first weighed
separately. Kighty-three two-year old ewes yielded 552 lbs.,
and eighty yearling ewes 504 lbs. of washed wool— within a
fraction of 64 Ibs. per head, and an advance of about 24 Ibs.
per head over the fleeces of their dams. Each lot was the
entire one (of ewes) of its year: not one having been excluded
on account of inferiority. I saw them several times before
shearing, and them and their wool immediately after shearing.
The wool was in good condition; and the sheep obviously had
not been pampered. They were very uniform in size and
shape, and bore a strong resemblance to their sire. Not one
of the whole number had short or thin wool.

In 1863, sixty-five two-year olds (the portion remaining on
hand of the eighty yearlings of the preceding year) and
ninety-two yearlings (the third crop of lambs got by ‘21 per
cent.”) yielded 1,1194 lbs. of washed wool, or an average of
7 lbs. 2 oz. per head. All these sheep had been heavily tagged
and the tags, which would not have averaged less than 2 oz.
of washed wool per head, were not weighed with the
fleeces.*

Notwithstanding these brilliant and rather frequent
successes in crossing different Merino families, (especially
where the object is to merge an inferior in a superior family,)
the failures, or comparative failures, have been far more
numerous. To cross different families of any breed merely
for the sake of crossing, under the impression that it is in
atself beneficial to health, or in any other particular — or with

*Ido not give the weight of the three-year olds’ fleeces in 1863, because they
were put in with the fleeces of other breeding ewes, and not weighed separately.
Abont fifteen of the yearling ewes were out of some qovee ewes of a previous cross,
then just come into breeding, which yielded about 5 lbs. of wool per head. The two-
year olds were sheared on the 24th of May in 1862, and on the 8th and 9th of June in
1863, so that their fleeces were of 12}2 months’ growth. The yearlings were dropped
between the 6th of April and 1st of June, 1862, and sheared at the same time with the
preceding in 1863, so that their fleeces did not average over fourteen months’ growth—
the usual one at the first shearing. Neither lot was pampered.

CROSSING WITHOUT AN OBJECT. 131

a vague hope that some improvement of a character which
cannot be anticipated may result from it, is the height of folly
and. weakness. Aven uniform mediocrity is far preferable to
mediocrity without uniformity; and he who has the former
should not break it up by crossing, without having a definite
purpose, a definite plan for attaining that purpose, and enough
knowledge and experience on the subject to afford a decent
prospect of success. It is always safer and better in seeking
any improvement, to adhere strictly to the same breed and
family, if that family contains within itself all the requisite
elements of the desired improvement, or as good ones as can
be found elsewhere. The most splendid successes, among all
classes of domestic animals have been won in this way.”
Successful crossing generally requires as much skill as success-
ful in-and-in breeding. And as it is vastly more common, so
vastly more flocks in this country have been impaired in
value by it, or at least hindered from making any important
and permanent improvement. They are not permitted to
become established in any improvement, before it is upset by
a new cross; and these rapid crosses finally so destroy the
family character of the flock — infuse into it so many family
and individual strains of blood to be bred back to — that it
sometimes becomes a mere medley which has lost the benefit
that blood confers —viz., family likeness and the power to
transmit family likeness to posterity.

Every breeder or flockmaster should, after due observation
and reflection, fix upon a standard for his flock —a standard

* The English race-horse and the Short-Horned family of cattle are both frequently
cited as instances of choice breeds originating from a mixed origin. In regard to the
origin of the race-horse, the yolene of proof and intelligent opinion is the other way.
In regard to that of the Short-Horn, the matter is involved in much doubt. (Those
who wish to see the facts on both sides of the question stated, will find them in
Stevens’ edition of Youatt and Martin on Cattle 1851.) But conceding, for the sake
of the argument, that both breeds were originally the result of crosses, can any one
show that they owed such merit as they first possessed to the cross? And have either
of them been improved up to their present matchless character, by the aid of any new
crosses? Mr. Youatt says:—‘‘In the descent of almost every modern racer, not the
slightest flaw can be discovered; or when, with the splendid exception of Sampson
and Bay Malton, one drop of common blood has mingled with the pure stream, it has
been immediately detected in the inferiority of form, and deficiency of bottom, and it
has required two or three generations to wipe away the stain and get rid of its conse-
quences.” The Short-Horns have been bred pure, with an equally jealous exclusive-
ness; and no breeder of them would admit a cross in his pedigrees sooner than he
would a bar-sinister on his family escutcheon, except in the single case of the
descendents of.a polled Galloway cow, to which Charles Colling resorted for a cross
with some of his Short-Horns. He took but a single cross and bred back ever after to
the Short-Horns, so that there is not probably a thousandth, or perhaps five thousandth
part of the blood of that Galloway cow in any of the Alloy (as the descendants of
the cross are called,) now living, Yet the English breeders think one of the Alloy
can now be distinguished from a pure Short-Horn, by its aypearance! This cross
once enjoyed— perhaps was written into—great popularity; but its reputation has
waned; and there are many leading breeders in England who would not on any
consideration have a valuable cow bulled by the best sire of the family.

132 CROSSING ENGLISH BREEDS.

of form, of size, of length of wool, of quality of wool, etc., etc.;
and on this he should keep his eyes as steadily as the mariner
keeps his eyes on the light house, in the darkness, when on a
dangerous coast. Even in using afresh ram from an unrelated
flock of the same family, (which is not crossing,) he should
use one which conforms as nearly as possible to his standard.
If he disregards this; if he uses rams now tall and long
bodied, and now low and short; now short and yolky wooled,
and now long and dry wooled; now fine, and now coarse —
in a word, each varying from its predecessor in some essential
quality — he will not, perhaps, break up his flock quite as
much as he would by crossing equally at random, but he will
do the next thing to it; he will give it an unsettled and
unhomogenous character and materially retard, if not alto-
gether prevent essential improvement.

CROSSING BETWEEN Enetiso BreEeps anp Famirirs. —
If we assume, with Mr. Youatt, that the long and short-wooled
sheep of England are each respectively descended from
common ancestors, they form but two breeds of sheep,
according to the mode of classification adopted in this volume.
There have been but a very few successful crosses between
these two breeds. The Hampshire and Shropshire Downs,
however, both ranked as first class sheep, and both officially
classed as short-wools, have usually a dip of long-wool blood.
The Oxfordshire Downs are the result of a direct cross
between the Down and the Cotswold, and they are already
claimed to be an “established variety.”* But the instances
of failure in blending the breeds have been so much more
numerous than the successes, that the balance of intelligent
opinion seems to be decidedly against such attempts. ith
them, as with the Merino, the successes in crossing between
the different families of the same breed, have been numerous and
signal. Mr. Bakewell, there is little doubt, was the first great
improver in this direction, though we are scarcely authorized
to cite his example, because, with a spirit much better befitting

* In this and all similar instances, we should not forget that a breed regarded as
‘established’? in England, might not prove so, literally, elsewhere. The English
breeders, as a class, are men of education, and of ample wealth and leisure to choose
materials for their experiments, devote time to those experiments, and sacrifice by
weeding out, without regard to time or money. And by devoting themselves to the
pursuit, and constantly comparing their opinions with other opinions, and their stock
with other stock, among a whole nation of breeders striving to excel each other, they
acquire a degree of knowledge, taste and skill on the subject which is professional,
and which far exceeds that (within their own particular circle of breeding,) of any
other people. And in no place has Engligh breeding skill manifested itself more than
in creating, moulding and “establishing” mutton breeds of sheep.

CROSSING ENGLISH FAMILIES. 133

a nostrum vender than a reputable breeder, he veiled all
his proceedings in the closest mystery, and even permitted
the knowledge of them to die with him. Some therefore have
affected to believe that he resorted to different breeds, as he
is known to have done to different families, in selecting his
materials. But there are no proofs of the fact, and all the
probabilities favor the conclusion that he adhered strictly to
the long-wooled families.* Among the facts which would
seem, by analogy, to favor the latter conclusion, was his own
rigid in-and-in. line of breeding, after his materials were
selected. If he deemed such quasi-identity both in blood and
structure necessary or favorable to the completion of his
object, it can scarcely be supposed that he would have volun-
tarily, and wholly unnecessarily, disregarded so great a
discrepancy as that of a total difference in breed, in its outset ;
or, even that, he would have spread his selection over any
unnecessary number of families within the same breed. _

Mr. Bakewell’s-improved Leicesters have, since his death,
again been improved by a dip of Cotswold blood. It is found
to invigorate their constitutions, and to render them better in
the hind quarters. The Cotswolds of the present day have
generally been rendered a little more disposed to take on fat
rapidly, and to mature earlier, by a Leieester cross. The New
Oxfordshire sheep, as has been seen, is but a Cotswold
improved by Leicester blood.

The Hampshire and Shropshire Downs may be cited as
conspicuous examples of successful crossing between the
short-wooled families —for it is, in my opinion, mainly to
these families they owe their peculiar excellence, and not to
any strain of long-wool blood, where it exists in them.
Various of the minor British short-wooled families have also
been improved by crosses with the Down, and with each other.

For another and merely temporary purpose, viz., to obtain
larger and earlier lambs or sheep for the butcher, it is
legitimate to cross between different breeds or families indis-
criminately, where the object in view can be effected in the
first cross. The nature of the soil, food or climate may be
unfavorable to the large, early-maturing mutton families, but
sufficiently favorable to some smaller and hardier sheep;
indeed, many such localities in all old countries have families,
grown on them for many generations, which have gradually

* This is decidedly Mr. Youatt’s opinion, though, like other British writers, he
uses the word breed to classify the diferent families (as they are termed in this
volume) of the long-wooled breed.

134 CROSSING ENGLISH AND LOCAL BREEDS.

become so adapted to their surroundings, that conditions
highly unfavorable to other sheep have become innocuous, if
not actually favorable to them. Yet these local families may
be ill adapted to meet the requisitions of the most accessible
mutton markets, or, indeed, of any mutton market. They
may be too small, too late in maturing, too indisposed to take
on flesh, fat, etc. In such cases, rams of an improved mutton
family — the family being selected with especial reference to
the demands of the particular market and the defects to be
counteracted in the local family — are put to the ewes of the
local family, and the produce, as is usual with half-bloods,
partakes strongly of the physical properties of the sire and yet
retains enough of the hardiness and local adaptation of the
dam to thrive and mature where the full-blood or high bred
grade of the superior family could not do so. But in all such
instances, the grower should stop with the first cross. If,
seduced by the beauty of that cross, he makes a second one
between the full-blood ram and the half-blood females, he ob-
tains animals very little better than their dams for the purposes
of mutton sheep, and decidedly less adapted to the local cir-
cumstances. Accordingly, some portions of the local family
should always also be bred pure by themselves, to furnish
females for the cross. This last course is generally pursued
among the breeders of England who make such crosses.

It is wonderful that, with the highly successful example of
the English constantly before us, in the mode of cross-breeding
last described, it has not been more extensively resorted to
in the United States. In the heart of the mutton-growing
region on our Atlantic sea-board, there are very many locali-
ties which, by the poverty of the soil, by the severity of the
climate and the want of proper winter conveniencies, or by
these causes combined, are rendered unfit to sustain the large
English mutton breeds. But they sustain local varieties, or
in default of these, would sustain the coarse, hardy “‘ common
sheep ” of the country; and these bred to Down or Leicester
rams would produce lambs which, with a little better keep,
would sell, at four or five months old, for as much as the cost
of their dams, so that, if the fleece and manure would pay for
keeping, and if the number of lambs equaled that of the ewes
(always practicable with such sheep when not kept in large
numbers,) the net profit of 100 per centum would be annually
made on the flock.*

* Mr. Thorne, whose superb South Downs have been described, finds his lands
well adapted to the pure South Down, but his sheep of that family are too valuablo

CROSSING ENGLISH AND COMMON SHEEP. 135

An analagous course of crossing might be resorted to
with great profit by those farmers in our Western States, who
prefer to make mutton production the leading object of their
sheep husbandry, and who now grow those immense flocks of
“common sheep,” which are annually driven eastward to find
a market. A single proper cross of English blood on these
sheep would produce a stock which it would cost little more
to raise than it now costs to raise common sheep in the most
profitable way, and which would habitually command 50 per
cent. more in market and be ready for market a year earlier
than the common sheep. They would require good feed and
consequently not overstocked ranges in summer, and comfort-
able sheds and an abundance of corn in winter. In regions
where the latter can ‘be grown more cheaply than its equiva-
lent in meadow hay in the Atlantic States, nay, more cheaply
than an equivalent of prairie hay can be cut and stored on
the same farm, it is a sufficiently cheap feed ; and no one will
fatten sheep more rapidly or produce more wool.* The value
of the wool would not be lessened by any of the proper
English crosses, and would be considerably increased. by some
of them. -

The selection of the English family for the purposes of
the above cross should be made with strict reference to local
circumstances. On rich, sufficiently moist lands, unsubject to
summer drouth, bearing an abundance of the domesticated
grasses, and near good local mutton markets, the unrivalled
earliness of maturity in the Leicester would give it great
advantages ; but it would bear no even partial deprivation of
feed, no hardships of any kind, and no long drives to distant
markets. The Cotswold is a hardier, better working and

for breeding purposes, to be sold as mutton; and, living in the mutton-growing region
and having more land than is necessary for his breeding flock, he pursues the follow.
ing course. He purchases the common sheep of the Western States—say, one part
Merino to three parts of coarse-wooled varieties —as soon as they begin to be driven
eastward, about mid-summer or 2 little later. He has generally, in past years, bought
goed ones from $2.50 to $3.00 a head. It is necessary that they have some Merino

lood or they will not take the ram early enough. He puts them toa South Down ram
as near as practicable to the first of September. The ewes are kept on hay in winter
until just before lambing, when they get turnips, and after lambing, meal or bran slop
in addition. The lambs are also fed separately. Theylare sold when they reach 40 Ibs.
weight, and all are generally disposed of by first of June. They have always brought
$5 a head on the average. The ewes having only to provide for themselves durin;
summer get into good condition, and a little grain fed to them after. frost has touche
the grass ripens them for the butcher. They, too, have sold for $5 a head, on the
average. ‘If the fleece, manure, and one dollar a head in addition, will pay for the
keeping, this leaves 200 per cent. net profit. One htindred and fifty per cent. ought to
leave a waren wide enough for all casualties. See Mr. Thorue’s letter tome in my
Report on Fine- Wool Husbandry, 1862, p. 104.

* I mean corn cut up and cured with all the ears on, and fed out in that state. The

system of Western keeping and corn feeding will be fully examined in Chapter XXI
of this volume,

136 ENGLISH BREEDS ADAPTED TO SUCH CROSSES.

driving sheep, inferior to the Leicester in no particular, which
would be very essential in such situations; and I cannot but
think that, for the object under consideration, those sub-
families of it which have not been too deeply infused with
Leicester blood, offer excellent materials for a cross. The
different Down families will bear shorter keep than the pre-
ceding, and will range over larger surfaces to obtain it.
They are considerably hardier than the Leicesters, or those
families of the improved Cotswolds which have much
Leicester blood. They can endure slight and temporary
deprivation of food better than the long-wools; but it is a
mistake to suppose that any mutton breed or family will
fully, or profitably, attain the objects of its production, with-
out abundance of suitable food being the rule, and depriva-
tions of it any more than the occasional exception.* The
Downs also produce better mutton; and the dark legs and
faces of the halfbloods always gives them a readier and
better market. But the halfblood Downs would generally
carry less wool than the half-blood long-wools.

In hardiness, patience of short: keep, and adaptability to
driving long distances, any of the halt-bloods would surpass
their English ancestors, and would, under the conditions
already stated, generally flourish vigorously in our Western
States. If the views here expressed of the value of such a
cross are even approximately correct, the utility of embark-
ing in it at once, and the immense advantages which would
thereby accrue to individuals and to our whole country, must
be apparent to all eyes.

Though the crossing of mutton breeds has, in many
instances, entirely different objects from those sought in
crossing sheep kept specially for the production of wool, and
though, consequently, the proper modes of crossing in the
two cases often vary essentially, still the general views ex-
pressed at page 130 in regard to unmeaning, aimless and
unnecessary crossing, are as applicable to the English mutton
sheep as to the Merino.

RecapituLation.—I will now, for greater convenience of
reference, recapitulate the principal positions taken in this
chapter.

I. That it is wholly inexpedient to cross Merino sheep with

* I speak of course of sheep which are grown only for the butcher, the leading
objects of whose production is high condition and early maturity.

RULES OF CROSSING RECAPITULATED. 137

any other breed to improve the Merino in any of the charac-
teristics now sought in that breed.

I. That while an infusion of Merino blood is highly
beneficial to unimproved coarse families, to increase the
fineness and quality of their wool, it injures the improved
mutton races more in size, early maturity, propensity to
fatten and prolificacy in breeding than it benefits them in
respect to the fleece, or otherwise.

III. That no valuable intermediate family of permanent
hereditary character has yet been formed, or is likely to be
formed, by crossing between Merinos and coarse sheep; and
that the only successful continuous cross between them is
when the object is to merge a coarse-wooled family wholly
in the Merino, and when the breeding is steadily continued
toward the Merino (i. e., when no ram is ever used but the
full-blood Merino.) ;

IV. That an infusion of the blood of one coarse-wooled
breed has been supposed, in a very few instances, to benefit
another coarse-wooled breed, but that as a general thing it is
much safer to avoid all crossing between distinct breeds.

V. That crossing between different families of the same
breed, for the purpose of obtaining permanent sub-families,
has, both among the Merinos and English sheep, resulted
highly favorably in many instances; but that, nevertheless,
the instances of failure have been much more numerous; that
it is not expedient to cross even different families of the same
breed for this object, except in pursuance of a well-digested
and definite plan, founded on some experimental knowledge
of the subject; and finally, that such crosses (like all others)
should only be made when the necessary materials for the
desired improvement cannot be found within one of the
families (in other cases breeds) which it is proposed to cross
together.

VI. That crossing between different families of the same
breed for the purpose of merging one family in another is
still more likely to prove successful: but that, in attaining
either this or the preceding object, it is desirable to unite
families presenting the fewest differences, and to limit the
cross to as few families as the circumstances admit of.

VII. That for the purposes of mutton production it is
highly expedient to breed rams of the best mutton families
with ewes of hardier and more easily kept local families —
but that, in such cases, it is almost uniformly advisable to
stop with the first cross. That such a system to produce

138 RULES OF CROSSING RECAPITULATED.

early lambs for the butcher on sterile and exposed situations
of the mutton region proper, or to produce earlier and better
mutton on the natural pastures and corn-producing soils of
the West, where its production as a leading object is
preferred to the production of wool, would redound enor-
mously to individual profit and to public utility.

VII. That with all breeds and families, crossing for the
sake of crossing, without a definite and well understood
object — under the vague impression that it is in itself bene-
ficial to health or thrift, or that some benefit, the character of
which cannot be anticipated, is likely to spring from it—is in
the highest degree improper and absurd. That in using rams
of the same breed and family taken from different and not
directly related flocks, the utmost care should be used to
select such only as conform as nearly as practicable to a
uniform standard of qualities, which the owner should have
previously adopted as the settled one of his flock.

CHAPTER XIV.
SPRING MANAGEMENT.

CATCHING AND HANDLING — TURNING OUT TO GRASS —TAG-
GING — BURS — LAMBING — PROPER PLACE FOR LAMBING —
MECHANICAL ASSISTANCE IN LAMBING——INVERTED WOMB—
MANAGEMENT OF NEW-BORN LAMBS — ARTIFICIAL BREED-
ING — CHILLED LAMBS — CONSTIPATION—CUTTIING TEETH—

PINNING — DIARRHEA OR PURGING.

Catcuine AND Hanpurne Surep.—As nearly every
operation of practical sheep husbandry is noceianily attended

with the catching and handling of sheep, I will
make these the first of those practical manipula-

tions which I am now to describe. A sheep '

should always be caught by throwing the hands
about the neck; or by seizing one hind leg
immediately above the hock with the hand; or
by hooking the crook round it at the same place.
‘When thus caught by the hand, the sheep should
be drawn gently back until the disengaged hand
can be placed in front of its neck. The crook
is very convenient to reach out and draw a sheep
from a number huddled by a dog or ina corner,
without the shepherd’s making a spring for it
and thus putting the rest to flight ; and a person
accustomed to its use will catch moderately tame
sheep almost anywhere with this implement.
But it must be handled with care. It should be
used with a quick but gentle motion — and the
caught sheep immediately drawn back rapidly

SHEPHERD'S
CROOK*.

enough to prevent it from springing to one side or the other,
and thus wrenching the leg, or throwing itself down, by
exerting its force at an angle with the line of draft in the

* The cut represents the crook with but a small portion of the handle, This

is made seven or eight feet long, of light, strong wood.

140 USE OF CROOK — HANDLING SHEEP.

crook. Care must be taken not to hook the crook to a sheep
when it is so deep in a huddle with others that they are liable
to spring against the caught one, or against the handle of the
crook, either of which may occasion a severe lateral strain on
the leg. When the sheep is drawn within reach, the leg
held by the crook should at once be seized by the hand, and
the crook removed.

A sheep should be lifted either by placing both arms
around its body, immediately back of the fore-legs; or by
standing sideways to it and placing one arm before the fore-
legs and the other behind the hind-legs; or by throwing one
arm round the fore parts and taking up the sheep between the
arm and the hip; or by lifting it with the left arm under the
brisket, the right hand grasping the thigh on the other side,
so that the sheep lays on the left arm with its back against the
catcher’s body. The two first modes are handiest and safest
with large sheep ; the third mode is very convenient with small
sheep or lambs; and a change between them all operates as a
relief to the catcher who has a large number to handle.

Under no eircumstances whatever should a sheep be
seized, and much less lifted, by the wool. The skin is thus
sometimes literally torn from the flesh, and even where this
extent of injury is not inflicted, killing and skinning would
invariably disclose more or less congestion occasioned by
lacerating the cellular tissue between the skin and flesh, and
thus prove how much purely unnecessary pain and injury has
been inflicted on an unoffending and valuable animal, by the
ignorance or brutality of its attendant. *

It cannot be too strongly enforced that gentleness in
every manipulation and movement connected with sheep is the
first and_one of the main conditions of success in managing
them. They should be taught to fear no injury from man.
They should be made tame and even affectionate —so that
they will follow their keeper about the field — and so that,
in the stable, they will scarcely rise to get out of his way.
Wild sheép are constantly suffering some loss or deprivation
themselves, and constantly occasioning some annoyance or
damage to their owner; and under the modern system of
winter stable-management, it is difficult to get them through
the yeaning season with safety to their lambs.

* Let him who doubts the impropriety of lifting a sheep by the wool, have himself
lifted a few times by his hair! And let him who falls into a passion and kicks and
thumps sheep because they crowd about him and impede his movements when feeding.
or because they attempt to get away when he has occasion to hold them, &c., &c., teat
the comfort and utility of these processes in the same way — by having them tried on
himself! Such a person ovght not to lack this convincing kind of experience.

TURNING TO GRASS — TAGGING. 141

Turning our Tro Grass.—In northern regions, where
sheep are yarded and fed only on dry feed in winter, they
should’ be put upon their grass feed, in the spring, gradually.
It is better to turn them out before the new grass has started
much, and only during a portion of each day for the first few
days, returning them to their yards at night and feeding them
with dry hay. If this course*eis pursued, they make the
change without that purging and sudden debility which
ensues when they are kept up later, and abruptly changed
from entire dry to entire green feed. This last is always a
very perilous procedure in the case of poor or weak sheep,
particularly if they are yearlings or pregnant ewes.

Taccine.— After the fresh grass starts vigorously in the
spring, sheep are apt to purge or scour, notwithstanding the
preceding precautions. The wool about and below the vent
becomes covered with dung, which dries-into hard knobs if
the scouring ceases; otherwise, it accumulates in a filthy
mass which is unsightly, unhealthy, and to a certain degree
dangerous—for maggots are not unfrequently generated
under it. In the case of a ewe, it is a great annoyance, and
sometimes damage to her lamb, for the filth trickles down the
udder and teats so that it mingles with the milk drawn by
the lamb, and often miserably besmears its face. I have seen
the lamb thus prevented from attempting to suck at. all.
Whether the dung is wet or dry it cannot be washed out by
prook washing: it must sooner or later be cut from the fleece
and at the waste of, considerable wool.

Tagging sheep before they are let out to grass, prevents

this. This is cutting away the wool around the
_vent and from the roots of the tail down the
.. \ inside of the thigh, (as shown in cut,) in a stri
& wide enough so that the dung will fall to the
round without touching any wool. Wool on or
about the udder which is liable to impede the
lamb in sucking, should also be cut away — but
not to an unnecessay degree during cold weather, so as to
denude this delicate part of adequate protection. Tagging is
sometimes performed by an attendant holding the sheep on
its rump with its legs drawn apart.for the convenience of the
shearer. But it is best done by the attendant holding the
sheep on its side on a table, or on a large box, covered, except
at one end, and the breech of the sheep is placed at the
opening, so that the tags will drop into it as they are cut

142 BURS — LAMBING.

away. This is the only safe position in which to place a
breeding ewe for the operation, when near to lambing, unless
it be on her feet —and tagging on the feet is excessively
inconvenient. If a ewe is handled with violence, there is
danger of so changing the position of the fetus in the womb
as to render its presentation at birth more or less irregular
and dangerous. But if the*operation is performed as last
described, and the catching and handling are done with
proper care, there is no danger whatever.

Burs.— Pastures containing dry weeds of the previous
year, which bear burs or prickles liable to get into the fleece,
should be carefully looked over before sheep are turned on
them in the spring, and all such weeds brought together and
burned. The common Burdock (Arctium lappa,) the large
and small Hounds-tongue, or Tory-weed (Cynoglossum offici-
nale et Virginicum ;*) and the wild Bur-marigold, Beggar-
ticks, or Cuckold, (Bidens frondosa,) are peculiarly injurious
to wool. The damage that a large quantity of them would do
to half a dozen fleeces, would exceed the cost of exterminating
them from a large field. The dry prickles of thistles are also
hurtful to wool, and they render it excessively disagreeable
to wash and shear the sheep. They readily snap off in the
fleece, when sheep are grazing about and among them in
early spring.

Lampine.— It used to be the aim of flock-masters in the
Northern States, to have their lambs yeaned from about the
1st to the 15th of May — particularly when Saxon and grade
Saxon sheep were in vogue. Small flocks with abundant
range would grow up their lambs, born even at this season,
large and strong enough to winter well; but in the case of
large flocks they were not sure, or very likely to do so, except
under highly favorable circumstances. The least scarcity of
good fall feed told very destructively on them —and if there
were those which ware dropped as late as June, they
generally perished before the close of winter.

From the 15th of April to the 15th of May is now: the
preferred yeaning season among a majority of Northern
flock-masters. Some, however, have it commence as early

* The first named variety grows at the roots of stumps and by the sides of decaying
logs, etc., along road-sides, and in new cleared and other fields—the other grows more
particularly in woods and thickets. The last variety has finer stems, and its burs are
considerably smaller, but I think more difficult to remove from wool.

PROPER PLACE FOR LAMBING. 148

as the Ist of April, and those who breed rams for sale, as
early as the 10th or 15th of March. These very early lambs, if
properly fed and kept growing, are about as much matured at
their first, as late dropped ones are at their second shearing.*

It is understood, of course, that lambs yeaned earlier than
May, in the Northern States, must, as a general thing, be
yeaned in stables. But this in reality diminishes instead of
increasing the labors of the shepherd. The yeaning flock is
thus kept together, and no time is spent traversing pastures
to see if any ewe or lamb requires assistance, or in getting a
weak lamb and its dam to shelter, or in driving in the flock
at night and before storms. And the yeaning season may
thus be got through with before it is time for the farmer to
commence his summer work in the fields.

Proper Pracr ror Lamsine.— Stable yeaning, too, is
safest, (though I once thought otherwise,) even in quite
pleasant weather, provided the stables are roomy, properly
littered down and ventilated, and provided the sheep are
sufficiently docile to allow themselves to be handled and their
keeper? to pass round among them, without crowding from side
to side and running over their lambs. While the stables
should not be kept hot and tight, they should be capable of
being closed all round; and they should be so close that in
a cold night the heat of the sheep will preserve a moderate
temperature. On the other hand, they should be provided
‘with movable windows, or ventilators, so that excess of heat,
or impure air, can always be avoided.

Excessive care is not requisite with hardy sheep in lamb-
ing, and too much interference is not beneficial. It is well
to look into the sheep-house at night, the last thing before
going to bed, to see that all is well; but then if all is well,
many even of the best Merino shepherds leave their flocks
undisturbed until morning, holding that the lamb which
cannot get up, suck, and take care of itself until morning in
a clean, well-strawed, comfortable stable, is not worth raising.
Our English shepherds, who have charge of choice breeding
flocks, usually go round once in two hours through the night

* We have seen that Mr. Chamberlain, the importer and leading breeder of the
Silesian Merinos in this country, has his lambs dropped from November to February.
Under the admirable arrangements of Mr, C., and under the admirable handling of his
German shepherd, this works well, and a lamb is rarely lost: and being early taught
to eat roots, &c., separate from their dams, they attain a remarkable earliness of ma-
turity. Such a system would not, of course, succeed with ordinary arrangements and
handling, nor would it be profitable for ordinary purposes.

144 ASSISTANCE IN LAMBING.

during the height of the lambing season. This may be rather
more necessary among breeds which are accustomed to bring
forth twins — for one of a pair is less likely to be missed and
cared for by the mother, if it accidentally gets separated from
her. But unless the sheep are extremely tame, more harm
than good, even in this particular, would result from disturb-
ing them in the night.

MecuanicaL Assistancr iv Lampinc.—The Merino ewe
rarely requires mechanical assistance in lambing. The high-
kept English ewe requires it oftener. But in neither case
should it be rendered, if the presentation of the lamb is
proper, until nature has exhausted her own energies in the
effort, and prostration begins to supervene. The labors are
often protracted, or renewed at intervals, through many hours,
and finally terminate successfully without the slightest interfer-
ence. But ifthe ewe ceases to rise, if her efforts to expel the
foetus are less vigorous, and her strength is obviously begin-
ning to fail, the shepherd should approach her, without
alarming or disturbing her, if possible, and at once render his
aid. The natural presentation of the lamb is with the nose
first and the fore-feet on each side of it. The shepherd with
every throe of the sheep should draw very gently on each
fore-leg, alternately. If this does not suffice, he should
attempt to assist the passage of the head with his finger,
proceding slowly and with extreme caution. If the head is
too large to be drawn out thus gently, both the fore-legs
must be grasped, the fingers (after being greased or oiled)
introduced into the vagina, and the head and legs drawn
forward together’with as much force as is safe. But haste or
violence will destroy the lamb, if not the dam also. If the
former cannot be drawn forth by the application of considera-
ble force, it is better to dissect it away. In these operations
the ewe must be held by an assistant. .

If the fore-legs do not protrude far enough to be grasped,
the head of the lamb is to be pushed back and down, which
will generally bring them into place — or they may be felt for
by the hand and brought into place. If the forelegs protrude
and the head is turned back, then the foetus must be pushed
back into the womb, and the head brought along with the
legs into natural position. There are several other false
presentations, such as having the crown of the head, the side,
back or rump come first to the mouth of the womb. The
only directions which I can render intelligible in all such

INVERTED WOMB. 145

cases is to say that the lamb should be pushed back into the
womb, and either placed in natural position or its hinder legs
allowed to come first into the vagina. A lamb is born
perfectly safely with its hind feet first. In applying force to
pull away the lamb, it should always be exerted if practicable
simultaneously with the efforts of nature toward the same
end, provided the throes are continued and are of reasonably
frequent occurrence. But on the other hand, if a throe occurs
while the hand of the operator is in the womb, he should at
once suspend every movement until the throe is over, or else
there will be great danger of his rupturing the womb—a
calamity always fatal. But if the throes are suspended, or
only recur faintly and at long intervals, and the strength is
failmg, the operator should, as a dernier resort, attempt to
get away the lamb independently of them; and he may even,
where death is certain without it, use a degree of force that
would be justifiable under no other circumstances.

The English shepherds administer cordials to their ewes
during protracted labors to increase their efforts or to keep
up their strength. In some cases, they give ginger and the
ergot of rye *— in others oatmeal gruel and linseed.t They
also sometimes administer restoratives after long and exhaust-
ing parturition. One of these is thus compounded: — To

“half a pint of oatmeal gruel is added a gill of sound beer
warmed, and from two to four drachms of laudanum. Thisis
given and repeated at intervals of three or four hours, as the
case may require; the same quantities of nitric ether being
substituted for the laudanum if the pain is less violent and
the animal seems to rally a little.{ The diseases occurring
after parturition, will be mentioned among the general
diseases of sheep.

InverreD Woms.— The womb is sometimes inverted and
appears externally —especially when parturition has been
severe, and force applied for the extraction of the fetus. It
should be very carefully cleansed of any dirt with tepid
water — washed with strong alum-water — or a decoction of
oak bark — and then returned. If again protruded, its return
should be followed by taking a stitch (rather deep, to prevent
tearing out,) with small twine, through the lips of the vagina,

* Youatt on Sheep, 502. Amounts not stated.
+ Spooner on Sheep, 360. Amounts not stated.
t+ See W. C. Sibbald’s prize report ‘‘On the Diseases occurring after Parturition
in Cows 3 and Sheep, and their Remedies,” Jour. of Royal Ag’! Soc. of England, Vol.
12, p. 4
7

146 MANAGEMENT OF NEW-BORN LAMBS.

by means of a curved needle, and tying those lips loosely
enough together to permit the passage of the urine. The
parts should be washed frequently with alum-water or decoction
of oak bark, and some of the fluid be often injected with
moderate force into the vagina. If this fails to effect a cure
and the protrusion of the womb becomes habitual, it should
be strongly corded close to the vagina (or the back of the
sheep) and allowed to slough off. The ewe will not, of
course, breed after this operation, but she will fatten for the
butcher.

Manacemenr oF New-Born Lamas.—If a lamb can
help itself from the outset, it is better not to interfere in any
way to assist it. Ifthe weather is mild, if the ewe apparently
has abundance of milk, and stands kindly for her lamb, and if
the latter is strong and disposed to help itself, there is usually
little danger. But if the lamb is weak and makes no
successful efforts to suck, and particularly when this occurs in
cold or raw weather, the attendant — the “lamber,” as he is
called in England — should at once render his aid. The ewe
should not be thrown down, if it can be avoided, but the
lamb assisted, if necessary, to stand in the natural posture of
sucking, a teat placed in its mouth, and its back and
particularly the rump about the roots of its tail lightly and
rapidly rubbed with a finger, which it mistakes for the licking
of its dam. This last generally produces an immediate effort
to suck. If it does not, a little milk should be milked from
the teat into its mouth, and the licking motion of the finger
continued. These efforts will generally succed speedily —
but occasionally a lamb is very stupid or very obstinate. In
that case, gentleness and perseverance are the only remedies,
and they will always in the end triumph. Too speedy resort
to the spoon or sucking-bottle frequently causes a lamb to
rely on this kind of aid, and a number of days may pass by
before it can be taught to help itself properly, even from a full
udder of milk.

AgTIFICIAL FrEpine.—If the dam of a new-born lamb has
not good milk ready for it, it is better to allow it to fill itself
the first time from another ewe, or from a couple of ewes,
which can spare the milk from their own lambs. And it is
well to continue the same supply two or three days, if
there is a prospect that the dam will in that time have milk—
for ewes’ milk is better for young lambs than cows’ milk. If

ARTIFICIAL FEEDING. 147

cows’ milk must be resorted to, it should by all means be that
of a new-milch cow. This is generally fed from a bottle
having on its nose an artificial India-rubber lambs’ nipple —
now manufactured and sold for the express purpose. But
milk flows less freely from a bottle than from a vessel having
two vents, and accordingly tea-pots, or other vessels manufac-
tured for the purpose, with spouts so constructed as to hold
the artificial nipple, are now more used.* Milk should be
fed at about its natural temperature—but when cold, never
be heated rapidly enough to scald it, which renders it
costive in its effects. A new-born lamb fed on other ewes’,
or on cows’ milk, should be fed about six times, at equal
intervals between sun-rise and ten o’clock at night, and
allowed each time to take all it wants.+ After two or three
days it need not be fed so often.

Some farmers feed from a spoon instead of a nipple—
others milk directly from a cow’s teat into the mouth of the
lamb. By neither mode is the habit and disposition to suck
as well preserved —and by both modes, and especially by
the last, there is great danger of the milk entering the
throat so rapidly that a portion of it will be forced into the
lungs. If the strangulation of the weak little animal at the
time passes unnoticed by the careless “lamber,” a rattling
sound will soon be heard in the lungs, accompanying each
respiration; and it is a death-rattle. I never knew one to
recover.

A farrow cow’s milk is unsuited to young lambs, and it is
very difficult to raise them on it. When it must be used, it
is generally mixed with a little “‘sale” molasses, as that made
from the cane is familiarly termed, to distinguish it from
domestic or maple molasses, which is not supposed to be
equally purgative in its effects. Others do not mix molasses
with the milk, but in lieu of it, administer a teaspoonful of
lard to the lamb every other day.[ A farmer of my acquaint-
ance who is very successful in raising lambs, feeds in such
cases beaten eggs with, or in the place of, milk. This isa
highly nutritious food, and he intorms me that it is quite as

* My friend, Mr. Rich, has devised a sad substitute by winding cloth around the
spout of a lamp-filler, so that it will hold the artificial nipple.

+ Some persons do not allow lambs thus to fill themselves at first. If the lamb is
fed soon after birth, and then as often as above recommended, it is decidedly best.
‘But if a lamb has been for some hours deprived of food at birth—or is subsequently
kept on very scanty feed—a sudden admission to an unbounded supply is undoubtedly
hurtful and dangerous.

$ Some persons mix molasses, and others molasses and water, with new milch
cows milk. I used to do this, but have come to the conclusion that it is inexpedient.

148 CHILLED LAMBS.

good for the lamb as new milk, and that it passes the bowels
freely, without being too laxative.

Cutten Lamss.— When a lamb is found “chilled” in
cold weather, i. e., unable to move, or swallow, and perhaps
with its jaws “set,” no time is to be lost. It can not be
restored by mere friction; and if only wrapped in a blanket
and put in a warm room, it will inevitably die. It should at
once be placed in a heated oven, or in a bath of water about as
hot as can be comfortably borne by the hand. 'The restoration
must be immediate, and to effect this the degree of warmth
applied greater than an inexperienced person would suppose a
lamb capable of enduring. here neither oven nor water are
ready, (one of these always ought to be ready at such times
in the farm house,) the lamb should be held over a fire or
over coals, constantly turning it, rubbing it with the hands,
bending its joints, &c. On taking it from the water it should
be rubbed thoroughly dry. If sufficient animation is restored
for it to suck, and it at once fills itself, the danger is over.
But if it revives slowly, or remains too weak or languid to
suck, it should, as soon as it can swallow,* receive from half to
a full teaspoonful of gin, whiskey or other spirits, mixed with
enough milk for a feed—the amount of the spirits being
proportioned to the size and apparent necessities of the lamb.

If taken to the stable to suck it should be wrapped in a
woolen blanket while on the way, if the cold is severe; and
the temperature of the stable will decide whether it is safe to
leave it there, or whether it should be returned to the house
for a few hours longer. If returned, it should not be placed
in a room heated above the common temperature of those
occupied by afamily. It is astonishing from how near-a point
to death lambs can be restored by the above means. It often
appears literally like a re-animation of the dead.

If a lamb is found beginning to be chilled — inactive,
stupid, but still able to swallow —the dose of spirits above
recommended acts on it like a charm. If it will not drink the
mixture from the sucking bottle— which is scarcely to be
expected — it must be poured down it carefully with a spoon,
giving ample time to swallow. Some administer ground black
pepper in the place of spirits. It is not so prompt or so
decided in its effects, and its effects do not so rapidly pass
away, leaving the restored functions to their natural action.

* Under no possible circumstances should fiuid be poured down the throat before
the lamb can swallow.

CONSTIPATION OR COSTIVENESS. 149

But, in emergency, any stimulus should be resorted to which
is not lilely to be followed with directly injurious results.
One of the most skillful shepherds in the United States
administers strong tea in such cases—in extreme ones, tea
laced with gin. TO se 1

All lambs which get an insufficient supply of milk from
their dams, or from other ewes, should regularly be fed cows’
milk from the sucking bottle two or three times a day, until
the amount given by the dam can be increased by better
keeping. They will learn to come for it as regularly as lambs
brought up entirely by hand. If the sheep are not yet let out
to grass, those deficient in milk should, with their lambs, be
separated from the flock and fed the choicest of hay and roots,
oatmeal, bran-slop or the like. Some persons partition off a
little place with slats which stop the sheep, but which allow
the free ingress and egress of the lambs; and in this they put
a rack of hay for the lambs, and a trough into ‘which is daily
sprinkled a little meal. The lambs soon learn to eat hay and
meal, and it benefits them as much in proportion as grown
sheep.*

ConsTIPATION on CostIveNEss.— Lambs fed on cows’
milk, or fed on any milk artificially, are quite subject to
constipation. The first milk of the mother, too, sometimes
produces this effect.+ A lamb that gets strayed from its dam
for several hours and then surfeits itself on a full udder of
milk— or one that is changed, after it is several days old,
from one ewe to another —is subject to constipation. In all
these cases the evacuations cease, or they are hard and are
expelled with great difficulty. The lamb becomes dull,
drooping, disinclined to move about, and lies down most of
the time. Its belly or sides usually appear a little more
distended than usual. It becomes torpid — sleeps most of the

* Mr, Chamberlain's Silesian lambs, yeaned in early winter, are thus fed separately
all winter— but they, according to the German custom, are caught out of the flock
and conjined in a separate place during most of each day, They eat at their racks an
troughs as regularly as the old sheep. This undoubtedly materially contributes to the
extraordinary size they obtain the first year. The poet Burns had a good idea of a
shepherd’s duties! Among the ‘Dying words of Poor Mailie,” to be borne to her
“Master dear,” are the following, in respect to her ‘helpless lambs” left to his care:

“O bid him save their harmless lives
Frae dogs, ‘an tods, an’: butchers’ knives!
But gie them guid cow milk their fill,
a Till they be fit to fend themsel’;
An’ tent them duly, e’en an’ morn, %
Wi? teats o° hay an’ rips o’ corn.’

+ While the ewes are in the yards and before they are let out to grass. After
being let out to grass, I think the milk of the mother very rarly produces this effect,

150 CUTTING TEETH.

time —and if not relieved speedily dies. This not unfre-
quently happens when the lamb is a number of days old and
had previously appeared healthy. Constipation is liable to
attack the same lamb several times if the exciting causes are
continued. Cathartics are not rapid enough in their action to
meet the case at the stage when it is generally first. observed.
An injection of milk warmed to blood heat, with a sufficient
infusion of molasses to give it a chocolate color, should at
once be administered with a small syringe — say two ounces
at a time for a small lamb, and three for a larger one.* The
lamb is held up perpendicularly by the hind-legs, so that the
fore-feet but just touch the floor, during and for a moment
after the injection. If hardened dung is not discharged with
the fluid, or soon afterwards, the injection is to be:repeated.
This process generally gives prompt and entire relief, but if
the lamb continues inactive and dull, the tonic contained in
half a dozen teaspoonfulls of strong boneset or thoroughwort
(ELupatorium perfoliatum) tea, has an excellent effect. And
where, as it often happens, the urinary action is also insufficient,
pumpkin seed tea is the readiest and safest remedy in tho
hands of most farmers. The syringe and the injection
constitute the very sheet-anchor of artificial lamb raising.
The flock-master had better be without all other remedies
than these.

There is another form of constipation occurring to very
young lambs, with their first evacuations. The dung (yet ofa
bright yellow color) is so pasty and sticky that it is voided
with great effort, and the lamb sometimes utters short bleats,
expressive of considerable pain, in the process. The injection
is here also the most rapid remedy ; but two or three spoonfuls
of hogs’ lard administered as a purgative, will usually answer
the same purpose.

Currinc Trxrs.—Sometimes a healthy looking lamb
seems strangely disinclined to suck. It seizes the teat as if
very hungry, but soon relinquishes it. It repeats this perhaps
once or twice, and then gives up the attempt. On examining
its mouth it will be found that the front teeth are not through
the gums, and that the latter, over the edges of the teeth, are
sufficiently inflamed to be very tender. Drawing the back of
the thumb nail across the teeth with sufficient force to press

* It is not necessary to be exact. There are about eight ounces in half a pint of
fluid; and the ordinary teacup or water-tumbler hold half a pint.

PINNING — DIARRHEA. 151

them up through the gums, is the usual resort; but a keen-

edged knife or lancet inflicts less pain and leaves the

inflammation to subside more rapidly. It generally, however,

subsides in either case in a few hours; but it is well enough to

watch both the lamb and the ewe to see that the former does

ee suffer for food, and that the udder of the latter is properly
rawn.

Prynine.— The first yellow, gummy excrements of the
lamb often adhere to the tail and about the vent, and if
suffered to harden there, pin down the tail to the breech and
hinder or entirely prevent later evacuations. The dung should
be carefully removed and the parts rubbed with pulverized
dry clay, chalk, or, in the absence of anything better, dirt.
If there is a tendency to a recurrence of the pinning, docking
the tail lessens the danger.

DiarrHEa oR Pureine.— Lambs which suck their dams,
very rarely purge, and if they do, they usually scarcely
require attention. If a fed lamb purges, the cause should be
ascertained and discontinued— and a spoonful of prepared
chalk given in milk, and the dose repeated after a few hours,
if necessary.

CHAPTER XV.
SPRING MANAGEMENT — CONTINUED.

CONGENITAL GOITRE— IMPERFECTLY DEVELOPED LAMBS —
RHEUMATISM — TREATMENT OF THE EWE AFTER LAMBING
— CLOSED TEATS — UNEASINESS — INFLAMED UDDER —
DRYING OFF — DISOWNING LAMBS — FOSTER LAMBS —
DOCKING LAMBS — CASTRATION.

ConGENITAL GoITRE, oR SWELLED Nxecx.— The thyroid
glands are small, soft, spongy bodies on each side of the upper
portion of the trachea, (wind-pipe.) Lambs are sometimes
born with them enlarged to once or twice the size of an
almond, and they then have the feeling of a firm, separate body,
lying between the cellular tissue and the muscles of the neck.
The lamb thus affected is generally small and lean, or if it
is large and plump it has a soft, jelly-like feeling, as if its
muscular tissues were imperfectly developed. In either case,
the bones are unnaturally small. It is excessively weak —
the plump, soft ones being often unable to stand, and usually
dying soon after birth. The others perhaps linger a little
longer — sometimes several days— but they perish on the
least exposure. So far as my observations have extended this
condition always, to a greater or lesser extent, accompanies
the glandular enlargement under consideration; but it also
appears without it, and, as I shall presently show, sometimes
to a highly destructive extent.

Having early adopted the view that the preservation of
the life of a lamb, which is incapable of attaining that full
structural development on which the vigor of the constitution
depends, is a loss instead of a gain—and being specially
averse to tolerating in a breeding flock any animal even
suspected of being capable of carrying along and transmitting
a hereditary disease—I never have applied any remedy
whatever for “swelled neck.” I have seen very little of it
for the last few years; but events in 1862, presently to be
mentioned, have surrounded the subject with new interest,

CONGENITAL GOITRE. 153

and I now regret that I have not experimented more fully in
order to ascertain the precise nature of the malady.

I have learned some new facts in relation to it. Two or
three lambs which I saw, in 1862, decidedly affected by it,
but not as weak or as attenuated in the bony structures as
usual, very rapidly threw off all appearance of the goitrous
enlargement of the glands; and they thenceforth grew.about
as rapidly and appeared about as strong as ordinary lambs.
I saw another such case in 1863. I made no memorandum of
the facts at the time, but my impression is that in all these
instances the enlargement of the thyroid glands disappeared
within the space of as short a period as a fortnight. An
intelligent friend informed me that having some goitrous
lambs in his flock, last spring, he placed a bandage round the
neck of each over the thyroid glands, and wet it a few times
a day with camphor (dissolved in alcohol.) The swelling, he
thinks, disappeared in less time than a fortnight. Mr. Daniel
Kelly, Jr., of Wheaton, Illinois, who is represented to be a
highly successful flock-master, states in an article in the Rural
New-Yorker, that the disease is frequent among his lambs;
that he binds a woolen cloth about their necks and keeps it
wet “with spirits of camphor or the tincture of iodine” —
that “there is little, if any, difference in the effectiveness of
these tinctures” —that either “is sure to cure them.” *

These facts would seem to add to the number of anomalous
features of the malady, when they are compared with those
which appear in the human subject of goitre, if indeed it is
the same malady;+ and they suggest some doubts of the latter
fact. But fortunately no question affecting the practical.
treatment of the disease is to be settled by the determination
of that identity. It would now seem that mere evaporants
and external stimulants rapidly control it. Should the fact
be found otherwise, in the case of a lamb worth saving, the
application of iodine would undoubtedly remove the glandular

* I should rather say the article is published under the head of Western Editorial
Notes, Mr. C. D. Bragdon giving the statements as he received them from Mr. Kelly. .

+ Iwas the first public writer, so far as I know, who classified the ‘swelled
neck’ of lambs as goitre or bronchocele, (in Sheep Husbandry in the South,)—
though conscious then that some of its conditions were very different from those
generally exhibited in the human subject of that disease. These exceptional condi-
tions were :—1. That it was so often congenital; 2. That it so frequently affected the
progeny of parents that were not themselves subjects of the disease or known ever
to have been subjects of it; and 3. That it should so often affect young animals.
and so comparatively rarely affect grown ones. The additional anomalies disclose
py the facts stated in the text (if they are facts,) are the following :—4. The very sudden
and spontaneous disappearance of the supposed eerens enlargement. 5. Its sudden
disappearance on the application of camphor, and the apparent equal power possessed
by camphor and iodine 7 cause its absorption.

154 IMPERFECTLY DEVELOPED LAMBS.

enlargement. It might be applied to the parts with a little
less trouble in the form of an ointment, composed of one part
by weight of hydriodate of potash to seven parts of lard.

IyrererFectty Drevretorep Lamss.—Aside from abortions
and premature births, lambs. are sometimes yeaned of the
feeble and imperfect class described under the preceding
head, but apparently exhibiting no specific form of disease.
The plump, soft ones, and perhaps some of the others, are
frequently so colorless about the nose, eyes and the skin
generally, that they have the appearance of being nearly
destitute of blood. The small ones are often almost destitute
of the ordinary wooly coating. This, with their diminutive
size, the smallness of their bones, the remarkable delicacy of
their tissues, their general appearance of fragility, and their
feeble, languid movements, gives them so much resemblance
to prematurely born lambs, that the observer finds it difficult
to believe they are not so, until dates and other circumstances
are investigated.

Far more of these imperfect lambs were produced in 1862
than in any other year within my recollection. Some counties
in New York lost twenty-five and others probably thirty-three
per cent. of their entire number, and the mortality is said to
have extended to a greater or lesser degree further west. I
saw large numbers of these imperfect and perishing lambs.
A few, in some of the flocks, were affected by goitre, but in
others there was not an instance of it; and taking all I
saw together, not five per cent. of them were affected by that,
or, so far as I could discover, any other specific disease.

Any mode of treating lambs which are in the condition I
have described, so that they will, in more than an occasional
instance, wtimately attain the average size and the average
integrity of structures and functions possessed by good sheep,
is, according to my experience, wholly out of the question;
and the bestowal of excessive care merely to preserve the life
of an animal essentially lacking in the above particulars, is, as
remarked under the preceding head, labor thrown away:
indeed, it is much worse than thrown away if the animal is
suffered to remain in a breeding flock. No good sheep
breeder would permit this. And even if the subsequent
structural development appeared to become about as complete
as usual, I confess I should still feel decidedly averse to
breeding from such an animal. In the case of a ram, I should
regard it as inexcusable. We cannot too jealously guard our

RHEUMATISM. 155

flocks from the remotest predispositions to hereditary defect,
especially in the cardinal point of constitution. I fully concur
in this particular with Mr. George W. Kendall, of Texas,
who, on ordering some rams of me for the use of his flock,
sent the ‘following “particular description” of the points
which he wished to have regarded in their selection: he said
they must have, “Ist, constitution; 2d, constitution; 3d,
constitution.” And a congenital defect of any kind, whether
ostensibly removed or unremoved, should be a subject of
peculiar apprehension, from the stronger probability which
exists of its being hereditary. Acting under these views,
my directions in regard to my own flocks have always been
to give all lambs of the class under consideration merely good
care, and if that prove insufficient, to let them die. If they
live until fall, they are sold for any trifle they will fetch as
avowedly imperfect lambs, or are given away.

The causes which lead to the production of these
imperfectly developed lambs will receive some attention
when I treat of the winter management of breeding ewes.

Ruevmatisa.—| Lambs on being first turned out of warm,
dry, and well-littered yards and stables into the pastures
where they lie on the damp ground, and where they are for
the first time exposed to cold rains and chilly winds, some-
times exhibit symptoms which, with the present limited
information which I possess on the subject, I can only classify
as rheumatism.], The lamb suddenly becomes unable to walk
except with difficulty. It is lame in the loins, and the hind
quarters are nearly powerless; or it partly loses the use of all
the legs, without the back appearing to be particularly
affected; the legs, either from pain or weakness, are unable
to support the weight of the body; the lamb hobbles about,
and occasionally becomes wholly unable to walk. The neck
sometimes becomes stiff, is firmly drawn down, and is
perhaps drawn to one side|* Usually there is not much
appearance of constitutional disease. The lamb seems to be
bright and feeds well. But in some cases, a hollowness and
heaving at the flank indicate a degree of fever. Those unable
to rise, and those whose necks are so drawn down that they
cannot reach the teat, would soon perish without assistance ;
but in no other way do any of the forms of the disease, as
a general thing, very strongly tend to fatal results.

* J was not at first disposed to consider this the result of the same disease —but I
now have very little doubt of this fact.

156 TREATMENT OF EWES AFTER LAMBING.

' So far as my information extends, this malady is new,
infrequent, and in any other form than “stiff neck” is yet
limited to comparatively few localities in our country. .
Warmth, dryness, non-exposure to the damp ground, etc.,
and the careful feeding pom the teats of their dams) of those
unable to suck, are conditions necessary to recovery; and as
the weather becomes warm and settled it generally disappears
without other remedies. In a few cases, however, it has
proved quite destructive. | Mr. Luther Baker, of Lafayette,
New York, had a very valuable flock of Merino ewes, about
‘20 per cent. of the lambs of which died one year, and 50 per
cent. another, of this malady — though his sheep were very
carefully and judiciously managed. This is by far the severest
mortality which has come to my knowledge. Mr. Baker then
put his ewes to ram so the lambs would not come until the
flock began to be turned to grass, and the malady almost
entirely disappeared. The present year (1863) he had but
two or three oases, and these were promptly cured by
administering three spoonfuls of lard and one spoonful of
turpentine, once or twice, as required, to each la} Some
of Mr. Baker’s neighbors who had one or two diseased lambs
apiece, made use of the same remedy with equal success.

he dose above mentioned may prove rather large for a very
young lamb. Its constituents render it an appropriate internal
remedy for rheumatism. The cathartic, and the stimulating
and diuretic properties of the turpentine, are called for. Mr.
Spooner recommends (for a grown sheep) two ounces epsom
salts, one drachm of ginger and half an ounce of spirit of
nitrous ether—rubbing the affected parts with stimulants,
like hartshorn or opodeldoc; and he says if the disease
assumes a chronic form, a seaton should be inserted near the
part. | Rheumatism in grown sheep, or chronic rheumatism in
lambs, appears to be yet unknown in the United States. |

TREATMENT OF THE Ewr aFrrer Lampine.— Every sound
principle of physiology goes to show that the ewe, like every
other domestic animal, and like the female human being,
should be suffered to remain as quiet as possible for some
time after parturition. To drive her for any considerable
distance immediately after her lamb drops, when exhausted
with her labors, and when her womb remains fully distended,
is cruel and injurious; “hounding” her with a shepherd’s
dog, in that situation, as is sometimes done in driving, because
she lingers behind the flock, is to the last degree brutal.

CLOSED TEATS —UNEASINESS—INFLAMED UDDER. 157

As already said, there should be no hasty interference
with a new-born lamb, if it appears to be doing well. But if,
on making the usual effort, it fails to obtain a supply of milk,
the ewe should at once be examined. The natural flow of
milk does not always, particularly in young ewes, commence
immediately after lambing, though in a few hours it may be
abundant. In this case the lamb should be fed, in the mean-
time, artificially. If from the smallness of the udder or other
indications, there is a prospect that the supply of milk will be
permanently small, the ewe should be separated from. the
flock and nursed with better feed, as mentioned in preceding
Chapter. Some careful flock-masters separate from the flock
all the two-year-old breeding ewes, and all the old and weak
ones, either a few days before, or immediately after lambing,
and give them feed especially intended to promote the
secretion of milk.

Croszep. Trats.—Sometimes when a ewe has a full
udder of milk the opening of the teats are so firmly closed
that the lamb can not force them open. The pressure of the
human fingers, lubricated with spittle to prevent chafing or’
straining the skin, will readily remove the difficulty. If the
teat has been cut off by the shearer and has healed up so as to
leave no opening, it should be re-opened with a needle, and
this followed by inserting a small, smooth, round-ended wire,
heated sufficiently to cauterize the parts very moderately.
Neither of these should enter the teat but a little way —
barely sufficient to permit the milk to flow out. The sucking
of the lamb will generally keep the orifice open — but it may
require a little looking to and the application of something
calculated to allay inflammation.

UnEasIness.— A young ewe, owing partly, perhaps, to
the novelty of her situation, and partly sometimes either to
her excessive fondness for, or indifference toward her lamb,
will not stand for it to suck. As soon as it makes the

ttempt, she will turn about to caress it, or will step a little
ee In cold weather, she may thus interpose a dangerous
delay to its feeding. If she is caught and held by the neck
until the udder is once well drawn out, she will generally
require no further attention.

InrtameD Upprr.— But a ewe that refuses thus to stand
will sometimes be found to have a hot, hard, inflamed or

158 DRYING OFF—DISOWNING LAMBS.

“caked” udder — particularly if she is in high condition, and
lambs late in the season. In this case, the udder should be
fomented frequently for some time with hot water containing
a slight infusion of opium, obtained from the crude article,
from laudanum or from steeped poppy leaves. The oftener
the fomentation is repeated the sooner the inflammation will
subside and the proper flow of milk ensue. Repeated
washings with cold water will produce the same effect, but
less rapidly, and I think with a less favorable influence on the
subsequent secretions of milk. Ifa ewe has lost her lamb, and
from neglect the udder has become swollen and indurations
have formed in it, the iodine ointment is one of the best
applications. (For further particulars, see Garget, among
Diseases of Sheep.)

Drrinc Orr.—If a grown ewe having a full udder of
milk loses her lamb, she should receive a foster lamb, or be
reserved to give temporary supplies of milk to the new-born
lambs requiring it. But if it becomes necessary to dry off a
ewe, even a young one not having much milk, she should, if
‘convenient, be fed on dry feed, and care taken to milk out
the udder as often as once a day for several days, and a few
times afterwards, as may appear necessary, at intervals of
increasing length. The daily application of an evaporant —
say water with 15 grains of sugar of lead dissolved in a pint
—would facilitate the process. I am satisfied that many of
the troubles shepherds experience in raising lambs are
produced or greatly increased by the very careless manner
in which ewes are habitually dried off.

Disownine Lamps.—Ewes, and especially young or very
poor ones, or those which have been prostrated by difficult
parturition, occasionally refuse to own their lambs or are
exceedingly neglectful of them. When, notwithstanding, it
is advisable to compel the ewe to raise her lamb, both should
immediately be separated from the flock and placed in a small,
dark inclosure together, and if convenient out of hearing of
other sheep—care being taken to hold the ewe, at first, as often
as five or six times a day for the lamb to suck. As soon as
she takes to it, she may be let out; but for a few days she
should be let out only with her lamb, and be closely watched,
for when she mixes with other sheep as soon as she regains
her liberty, her indifference sometimes returns. It is very

PENS—FOSTER LAMBS. 159

convenient to attach some peculiar paint mark both to the
ewe and lamb, so that they can be readily recognized. If a
ewe is obstinate about accepting her lamb, frightening her
sometimes aids to arouse her maternal instincts: Some
shepherds show her a strange dog, a child wearing a bright
colored mantle, or the like. I never chanced to suffer
inconvenience by it, but I am informed by good shepherds
that on driving tlocks of ewes with new-born lambs, when they
are wet, into a crowded barn,j and keeping them there for
some time, it produces great confusion in the recognition of
lambs, particularly by the young ewes: and my informants
attributed this to the lambs rubbing together, and thus
blending or disguising those odors by which each ewe is
supposed alone to distinguish her own lamb, until she
becomes accustomed to recognize it by sight and by its voice.
If a ewe exhibits the least indifference to her lamb when it is
first born— or if it is quite weak, or in a crowded stable,
or requires help of any kind, a pen should be immediately
brought and placed around them.

Prews.— Every breeding barn should be provided with
a dozen or two of pens, ready made, and hung up on pegs
overhead. They should be about three by three and a half, or
three and a half by four feet in dimensions, very light but
strong; and in field lambing, canvas covers on top and
one canvas side cover to a few of them would be highly
convenient to keep off rain and cold winds.

Foster Lauss.—If a ewe having a good udder of milk
loses her lamb, and a young or feeble ewe disowns hers, or
is unable to raise it properly, the lamb of the latter should
be transferred to the former. This can usually be readily
effected. If the skin of the foster dam’s lamb can be taken
off soon after death, and fastened on the lamb she is required
to adopt, she will generally take to it at once or after only a
moment’s hesitation. Neither the head, legs nor tail of the
skin need to be retained. It should be fastened by strings
(sewed through the edges of it,) tied under the neck and
body—the labor of a moment—and that is all that is
required. Those persons, already mentioned, who transfer
all the lambs of their two-year old ewes to foster dams, in
some instances put good-milking coarse ewes to ram at the
same time with their young ewes, or a trifle later. These are

160 DOCKING LAMBS,

watched and when one yeans, her lamb is immediately taken
away, if practicable, before she sees it. The foster lamb is
rubbed about in “the waters,” (amniotic fluid,) blood, etc.,
which accompanies the “cleanings,” (placenta,) and then is
left with her in a pen. She generally does not suspect the
substitution, or if she does, after a short delay the adoption
on both sides becomes complete. When neither of the above
modes is available, the ewe required to adopt a lamb is
treated like one which disowns her own. Some take to them
pretty readily; others exhibit great obstinacy. If the ewe is
confined long in a pen, she should be given feed calculated to
produce milk, or should, after a little, be let out daily in a
small, green paddock alone with the lamb.

Docxine Lames.— This is most safely performed when the
lamb is not over two or three weeks old. Some experienced
shepherds do it well, on simply having the lamb lifted by an
attendant and its breech held toward them —the lamb being
held with its back uppermost and in about the same position
as if it was standing on the ground. The shepherd seizes the
tail with one hand, places the knife under and cuts up and
toward himself, with a swift, firm motion. But an inexpe-
rienced person attempting this, will cut the tails of different
lengths, cut off some of them obliquely, and will occasionally
leave the bone projecting half an inch outside of the skin, to
heal over slowly and cause a vast deal of unnecessary pain.
This last is sure to occur in a good share of cases if an
unfeeling booby performs the operation, without an attendant,
holding the lamb by the tail as it stands on the ground pulling
with all its might to escape.* A flock of choice sheep owe
too much to the neat and uniform appearance of their tails —
especially among the Merinos, where it has become a “fancy
point ”— not to have the process well performed. The safest
mede is to have an attendant hold the lamb, upright but
leaning back, with its rump resting on a block, and the hind-
legs drawn up out of the way. The shepherd with his right
hand fore-finger and thumb slides the skin of the tail toward
the body, places a two or three inch chisel across the tail,
with his left hand—pressing it down enough to keep the
skin slidden toward the body; and taking a mallet in the right
hand he severs the tail ata blow. The tail of the Merino
should be left barely long enough to cover the anus and

* IT knew a brutal fellow who, cutting thus, with all his strength, severed not
only the tail but one of the hind-legs of a lamb.

CASTRATION. 161

vagina. The breeders of English sheep usually leave it three
or four inches long.

Docking is best performed in cool, dry weather, and the
lambs should not be previously heated by chasing or even
driving them fast. The flock should be driven into a stable,
the lambs caught out, one by one, and as they are docked
placed in another apartment. The tails of the rams should be
thrown into one pile and those of the ewes into another, so
that when the docking is done, a count of each pile will give
the number of each sex; and this should then and there be
recorded in the “Sheep Book” of the farm. It is well, also,
to mark those of one sex with a brand, or a dot made by the
end of a cob dipped in paint, to facilitate later separations.
Sometimes, though very rarely, a lamb bleeds to death from
docking. This generally can be stopped by a tightly drawn
ligature. If this fails, resort should at once be had to actual
cautery —the red-hot iron. If lambs are docked after the
weather becomes quite hot, it is advisable to apply a mixture of
tar, butter and turpentine to the parts. I this year saw eighty
lambs, docked on the 7th of July, with their tails swollen and
covered with small maggots, for the want of some such
application to keep away the fly. The scrotums of the
castrated ones were also filled with maggots. Docking is
necessary to guard against filthiness. Maggots, too, are
liable to be produced under that filth, and to cause the
death of the animal. And, finally, habit has rendered a long
tail an unsightly appendage to the sheep.

Castration — Is usually performed at the same time with
docking — but it is rather severe on the young lamb to do
both at the same time. Some, therefore, put off castration a
few days later. It should be performed with still more care
in regard to the weather, heating the lamb in advance, etc.
An attendant holds the lamb (with a fore and hind-leg grasped
in each hand,) in an upright position, with its back placed
against his own body. He draws the hind-legs up and apart,
and presses against the lamb’s body with sufficient force to
cause the lower part of the belly to protrude between the
thighs and the scrotum to be well exposed. The operator
then cuts off about one-third of the scrotum ; takes each testicle
in turn between the thumb and fore-finger, and after sliding
down the loose enveloping membrane to the spermatic chord,
pulls out the testicle with a moderately quick but not violently
jerking motion. The connecting tissues (of the spermatic

162 CASTRATION.

cord) snap with very little bleeding.* If they snap so that
a portion of the nerve adhering to the body remains exposed,
it should be cut off. Tar, butter and turpentine should be
applied to the parts.

* Some foreign shepherds have various absurd processes of severing the last
attachments, before the entire spermatic cord snaps asunder. Some chew them off—
others cut them off by rubbing the thumb nail across them. Mr. Spooner recom-
mends, even in the case of a young lamb, to put iron clams on the spermatic cords
and to divide them with a hot iron, "

Ihave given the process, in the text, as it is generally performed, and _as it is
always performed among my own sheep. But there is no denying that pulling out
the testicle in this way often draws out the spermatic nerves (plexus testiculares) 80
that they do not snap within three or even four inches of the testicles. The remain-
ing part, of course, retracts within the abdominal ring, which must certainly be
injurious, and might, with an animal less capable of enduring all sorts of mistreat-
ment, have serious consequences. I have tolerated the practice because thus tearing
the spermatic cord asunder, prevents bleeding; and the hot iron, etc., are inconven-
ient. Pulling out the testicle far ‘enough and severing it with a hot iron (without
using the clams) might also sufficiently prevent bleeding. _

CHAPTER XVI.
SUMMER MANAGEMENT.

MODE OF WASHING SHEEP—UTILITY OF WASHING CONSID-
ERED — CUTTING THE HOOFS—TIME BETWEEN WASHING
AND SHEARING — SHEARING — STUBBLE SHEARING AND
TRIMMING — SHEARING LAMBS AND SHEARING SHEEP SEMI-
ANNUALLY — DOING -UP WOOL— FRAUDS IN DOING UP
WOOL — STORING WOOL— PLACE FOR SELLING WOOL—
WOOL DEPOTS AND COMMISSION STORES — SACKING WOOL.

Moprs or Wasnine SuEzp.—Sheep are now washed,
in the Northern States, somewhat earlier than formerly —
usually between the first and fifteenth of June—as early
as the warmth of the streams will admit. When it used
to. be considered an object to sell clean wool, it was the
common practice to wash fine-wooled sheep under the fall of
a mill-dam; or to make an artificial fall by damming up a
small stream, conducting its water a few feet in a race, and
having it fall thence a couple of feet into a tub or washing vat.
The vat was a strong box, large enough to hold four sheep
at a time. It was from three and a half to four feet deep,
about two and a half feet of it rising above the surrounding
platform, for the washers, and the remaining portion being
sunk in the ground. The sheep were penned close at hand,
and the lambs immediately taken out to prevent their
being trampled under foot. Two washers generally worked
together, and a catcher brought the sheep to them. If the
sheep were dry, four were usually placed in the vat together,
so that two were soaking while two were being washed.
Every part of each fleece was exposed for a short time to the
full force of the descending current. ‘The dirtier parts, the
breech, belly and neck, were thoroughly squeezed, (by
pressing the wool together in masses between the palms of
the hands,) and these operations continued until the water
ran entirely clear from the fleece. The animal was then

164 WASHING SHEEP CONSIDERED.

grasped by the fore parts, plunged down deep into the water
and the re-bound taken advantage of to lift it over the edges
of the vat without touching them. It was set carefully on its
feet, and, if old or weak, a portion of the water was pressed
from the fleece. Washing under a mill-dam was performed
in substantially the same manner, except that the washers
were compelled to stand in the water.

These modes rendered wool quite too clean for the
fashion of the present day. The reasons for the change have
been elsewhere adverted to. The object now is, with a large
proportion of the growers, to see how little they can wash
their wool and yet have it sell as “washed wool.” It would
be difficult, if indeed desirable, to give any instructions on
this head! English sheep require very little washing
compared with the Merino, and it can be done with sufficient
expedition and thoroughness in any clear, running water of
proper depth.

Urmiry or Wasuine ConsiperEp.— The utility of
washing sheep before shearing is now the subject of a good
deal of discussion. One class of producers advocate it on
the ground that it prevents a useless transportation of dirt to
market, that it improves the saleableness of wool, and that it
avoids the operation of an unequal rule of shrinkage applied
by buyers indiscriminately to all unwashed wools. Another
class of producers contend that it is injurious to the health
of sheep; that it renders shearing impracticable at that period
which best tends both to the comfort and productiveness of
the animal, and which enables the producer to avail himself
of the early wool markets; that it subjects sheep to the
danger of contracting contagious diseases; and, finally, that
any custom of buying, or conventional rule of shrinkage,
which is found unfair in itself’ or opposed to public utility,
should be promptly abandoned.

The objection to transporting dirt is a good one, unless it
secures some advantage which counterbalances its cost. I
am satisfied that washing, properly conducted, in water of
suitable temperature, is not in the least injurious to decently
hardy sheep —not any more so than an hour’s rain any time
within a month after shearing — the rain being of the same
temperature with brook water when fit for washing. But if
it can be shown that shearing before about the 25th of June
is better for the sheep, or gives the grower a better chance
to sell, there is a weighty and pertectly legitimate reason

WASHING SHEEP CONSIDERED, 165

against washing in many portions of the Northern States —
for the streams are not warm enough usually for washing
sheep without injury until about the second week of June.
This is true among the high lards of New York* and
Northern Pennsylvania, and certainly ought to be still more
so in Vermont, New Hampshire, etc., where the snows which
feed the streams lie later on the mountains.

Highly intelligent and candid flock-masters who have tried
the experiment, (I have never myself done so,) assure me that
Merino sheep sheared a month before the usual period — say
from 20th of May to 1st of June — get sooner into condition
if they are lacking in that particular; that the wool obtains a
better start before the opening of hot weather, and retains it
through the year; and that the sheep have better protection
from inclemencies of weather during those periods when they
most require it—that is, in the winter—and still more
particularly during the cold storms of autumn. Whatever
may be thought of the two first of these propositions—and
they certainly are not unreasonable ones—the last is
undeniably true; and the additional autumn _ protection
alone would be a sufficient reason for earlier shearing, in
the absence of any special reason to the contrary. The
apprehension of contagious diseases, too, from using the
same washing yards, from temporarily occupying the same
fields during the process, and even from driving sheep
over the same roads, is, as I know from bitter experience, +
perfectly well founded ; and it is often highly inconvenient, if
not altogether impracticable, for the farmer to wash his sheep
without using the same washing pens, or at least the same
roads, with the public.

And what sound objection can the buyer have to the

* My residence is less than 1,200 feet above tide-water, surrounded by no lofty
hills, and I know that here it is generally difficult to find the water as warm as it
ought to be to wash sheep, before about the time specified in the text.

+ [have had four different visitations of hoof-rot in my flocks— all clearly and
distinctly traceable to contagion. The third ¢ase occurred from some wethers
affected by that disease, getting once among a flock of my breeding ewes. The
wethers were found with the ewes at 9 o’clock, A. M., and were not with them at
night-fall the preceding day. They might therefore have been with them a few hours,
or only a few moments. In the fourth case, half a dozen of my lambs and sheep
jumped into the road when a lame flock was passing, and remained with them half an
hour. Both lots of animals were thus exposed when I was not aware there wasa
sheep having hoof-rot in the town! The diseased sheep had just been brought in by
drovers, and the farmer who took them to pasture, in the lot adjoining mine, in the
third case, did not dream of their being thus affected; and they had mixed with mine
pefore I knew there was a new flock in the neighborhood. I mention these facts to
show how readily sheep contract the disease, and how idle it would be for any man
to lay aside all fears of contagion in going to and ceranying a public washing pen —
because he supposed he knew there were no diseased flocks in his neighborhood.
There could be no better place for contracting hoof-rot or scab, than a washing-pen.

166 WASHING SHEEP CONSIDERED.

farmer’s shearing his sheep a month earlier and unwashed, if
he chooses to do so, even if we should admit, for the sake of
argument, that all the reasons assigned for it have no
real weight? Ifthe farmer sends dirt to market, he, not the
buyer, pays for the transportation. Washed or unwashed,
the wool must go through the same cleansing process. Am I
asked if the buyer has not the right to judge of’ the conditions
in which he shall voluntarily purchase a commodity with his
own money? By no sound principle, either of morals or
commerce, have any class of buyers a right to establish rules
of purchasing, not necessary to protect their own legitimate
interests, which are calculated to injure the legitimate
interests of producers.

The rule that all wools shall be washed or subjected to a
deduction of one-third to put them on a par with brook-
washed wools, operates very unequally. A large, highly
yolky ram, housed in the summer, will have at least two
pounds, and a ewe one pound, more yolk in its fleece than
would the same animal if unhoused in the summer. Should
the unwashed wool then sell at the same rate of shrinkage in
both cases? If we were to admit that one-third is a fair
average rate of shrinkage on all unwashed wools, is there any
justice in making the producer of the cleaner ones suffer for
the benefit of the person who chooses to grow yolkier wools,
or who houses his sheep in summer to preserve all their
yolk? Does the manufacturer wish to pay a premium on the
production and preservation of yolk in the wool?

No manufacturer claims that the present rule of shrinkage
operates strictly equitably in all cases; but some manufacturers
contend that a discrimination in unwashed wools would be
impracticable, or at least inconvenient, and that if the present
rule injures the interest of the producer, all he has to do is to
wash his wool. It would be difficult for any one to show
that there is any greater practical inconvenience in deciding
between the different amounts of yolk in unwashed wool than
there is in deciding between the different amounts of foul
seed in wheat and other varieties of grain, of useless weeds
in hay, or even of yolk in washed wool, yet who thinks of
buying these impure commodities at a fixed rate of shrinkage?
Still less excuse is there for preserving an arbitrary and
unequal rule, as a quasi punishment on growers who only
believe themselves consulting their own legitimate interests,
and who certainly are not invading those of others.

The ground directly or impliedly assumed by some

WASHING SHEEP CONSIDERED. 167

growers, that a reduction of the present rate of shrinkage is
all that is now called for—leaving it as fixed in its rate as
at present — must be a pleasing one to those who grow and
preserve the largest amount of yolk, for this would increase
the present premium on yolk precisely in proportion to that
reduction. But it would do it at the expense either of the
producer of cleaner wools, or of the manufacturer. Equally
fallacious and interested is the pretence that unwashed wools
come nearer to a uniform standard in respect to cleanliness
than washed ones, and therefore that, as a matter of right or
mutual protection, all wool growers ought to combine
to omit washing for the purpose of forcing all wools on the
market in that situation. .

The only sound and equitable course is to abolish any fixed
rule in the premises — to buy unwashed wool as wheat, other
grain, hay, and washed wool containing impurities are now
bought, viz. subject to a deduction proportioned to the
amount of impurity in each particular case—clean wool
being made the standard. It is as easy for the buyer and
seller to agree on the amount of deduction as to agree on the
quality. Indeed, they have no especial occasion to agree in
terms on either; nor do they now, in the case of washed wools
of different qualities and degrees of cleanliness. They simply
agree or disagree on price, each basing his estimates on such
data as he pleases. The moment this mode of purchasing is
adopted and put fairly into operation, its propriety will
commend it to all. It will equally promote the legitimate
interests of both buyer and seller. But one leading purchaser
has to adopt it rapidly to procure its general adoption —
because those who bought thus would secure the decided
advantage of pope without competition in the rapidly
increasing market of unwashed wools, while they still could
compete on equal terms in the market of washed wools.

Two sets of persons have taken what I esteem to be very
uncalled for positions on this subject. Those who assume
that manufacturers should, at the first intimation and without
understanding the reasons, abandon any established custom
of their calling, or submit to the imputation of laboring to
take advantage of the wool producer, and of “ combining”
to secure that advantage, assume positions which are equally
unsupported by proof and at war with good sense. The
manufacturers have been at least as much sinned against
as sinning. There is no more intelligent, honorable, public-
spirited and liberal class of business men in our country.

168 CUTTING THE HOOFS.

The one-third rule of shrinkage was adopted by them at an
early day, when but very little domestic wool came unwashed
into the market. It was brought in usually by owners of small
lots, who took no care of their sheep. The wool was not
only frequently filled with wood-dirt, sand and dung, but it
was also frequently out of condition—here a fleece cotted,
there one jointed, and anon one filled with burs. It was not
convenient to classify these with good washed wools, nor
was it obligatory on anybody to encourage their continued
production. Under such circumstances, the one-third rule of
shrinkage met the case fairly enough.

Very few persons are the first to discover that their
customs have survived their original causes. Even sensible
men surrender old ones with reluctance, and are quite apt to
suspect the motives of proposed innovators. Weak and
prejudiced men mistake them for principles and support them
with bigotry and fury. As soon as the manufacturers become
convinced that the present feeling among flock-masters against
the washing of wool springs from legitimate motives, and
indicates a settled purpose instead of a mere freak, they will
meet it, not by a suspension of purchases or by holding on to
any unequal and unjust rules, but in a fair and business-like
way. But if the grower errs in denouncing and “passing
resolutions” against the manufacturer who does not at once
accede to his precise terms, not less does the manufacturer
err in assuming, in a matter where his own real interests are
not at stake, to dictate modes and times of preparing a
commodity for market to the producer of it; and especially
in assuming that the reasons offered by the latter for the
change under consideration are either false or frivolous.

I have in this connection spoken only of the manufacturers
as buyers, though, directly, other classes of buyers are equally
concerned in the question. But I have done this on the supposi-
tion that as all wools go ultimately into the hands of the former
to be prepared for consumption, their action in the premises
would be the controlling one among all classes of purchasers.

Corrine TuE Hoors.— The hoofs of the improved English
mutton breeds usually retain nearly their natural size and
form. The hoofs of the Merino often continue growing to
twice their natural length, and their horny crusts turn up in
front and curl under at the sides. There is some difference
between individuals in this particular, and considerable is
made between flocks, by the nature of their summer pastures.

CUITING THE HOOFS. 169

Moist, low grounds encourage the growth of the horn; and
it is also highly increased by the presence of hoof-rot. But
all Merino flocks require examination, at least once a year, in
this particular, or else a considerable portion of the shee
will have their hoofs grown out to an extent which is highly
unsightly, which gives them a hobbling, “groggy” gait, and
which, when the hoof turns under at the sides, confines
between it and the sole a mass of mud or filth which remains
there constantly. Occasionally, the hoof turns under so far
that these impurities are also kept confined between the
toes. This situation of things greatly increases the tendency
to fouls, and aggravates hoof-rot where it exists. In England
it would probably be thought to originate both.

Where no disease is present, and the hoofs only require
their usual annual shortening, the time of washing is often
avery convenient one to attend to it. The hoofs are then
freed from dirt and softened by soaking. When the sheep is
removed from the washing-vat, the washer, or an attendant,
holds it sitting on its rump with its back resting against his
legs. He then, with a thin-bladed, strong, sharp knife, cuts
away the horn underneath the foot so as to restore it toa
level with the sole; and some of the sole should be pared off
too, if it has become unnaturally thick. Care should be taken
to preserve the natural bearing of the foot—not lowering the
heel so much as to throw the weight on the toes, and not
lowering the latter so much as to throw it on the heel. An
experienced, firm, swift hand will perform this operation on
each foot by one or two rapid strokes with the knife. The
long toes are then to be cut off with a pair of nippers made
for the purpose. As these
are sometimes necessarily
used when the hoofs are dry
and tough, they should be

TOE-NIPPERS. made very strong, with
handles eighteen or twenty inches long, the rivet being half
an inch in diameter and confined with a nut, so they can
be taken apart for sharpening. The cutting edge should
descend upon a strip of copper inserted in the iron to prevent
dulling. With this instrument, the largest hoofs are readily
severed. All these operations should be performed in a little
more time than it takes to read this description of them— or
else deferred until some other occasion, because, both on
account of the washers and the sheep, the washing process
is one which ought not to brook much delay.

8

170 TIME BETWEEN WASHING AND SHEARING.

TIME BETWEEN WAsHING AND SuEARING.— This should
be determined by the weather. The fleece should become
thoroughly dry, and be so far again lubricated with yolk as
to have its natural silky feel and glossy appearance. The
secretion of yolk depends much on temperature. More of it
is secreted in one really hot day than in half a dozen dry,
cool ones. Consequently the time of shearing should be
controlled by the condition of the wool, and not by the lapse
of any established period of time. The old-fashioned wool
growers usually sheared within ten days of washing, if the
weather was dry, without much respect to temperature.
Their successors, for reasons which have been repeatedly
alluded to, generally aim to let enough time elapse for the
fleece to become well nigh as yolky as it was before washing.

SHEaRine.— This should always be performed on smooth,
clean floors or platforms, with the sheep penned close at hand.
If the weather is fair, it is best to drive only enough sheep
into the pen at once to employ the shearers three hours — the
rest remaining in the pasture to keep themselves filled with
feed. A hungry, empty sheep is more impatient, and the
shears run round its collapsed belly and sides with more
difficulty. The bottom of the pen should be kept clean with
straw, saw-dust, or corn-cobs.* If there are any sheep in the

en dirty from purging, they should be the first taken out.

hey should be carried a little aside from the shearing floor
and the dungy locks cut away. When the catcher catches a
sheep in the pen he should lift it in his arms clear of the floor,
instead of dragging it to the door and thus filling its feet
with straw, manure, &c. At the door of the pen, he should
hold it up with its back resting against his own body and its
feet projecting toward the shearer, who should be there with
a proper shaped stick to clear its feet of loose filth, and with
a short broom to free its belly from any adhering straws,
chaff or saw-dust — before the sheep is carried to the place of.
shearing.

It is difficult to give any practical directions for shearing
which are of any use to the novice; and experienced shearers
do not need them. The art can only be properly acquired by
experience and observation. A few suggestions, however,
may not be entirely thrown away. The first care of the

-* These last, if epead on the bottom of the pen afew inches deep, answer the
purpose admirably, They keep the feet clean and do not adhere to the wool if the
sheep lie down, 7

SHEARING. 171

shearer should be to clip off the wool evenly and smoothly,
without breaking the fleece and without cutting the wool
twice in two, or cutting the skin. It is difficult to avoid the
last, occasionally, on the corrugated surfaces of the Merino:
but repeated and severe cuts should always procure the
shearer’s dismissal. Especial pains are to be taken in this
particular about the udders of ewes. There is perhaps less
danger if these are large and in sight. In the case of a
young Merino ewe having no lamb, and whose udder is small
and mostly covered with wool, I have repeatedly seen a teat
clipped off—thus rendering it forever after incapable of allow-
ing the passage of milk, unless re-opened by the artificial process
already described at page 157. The shearer who holds his
sheep in the easiest manner for itself, who keeps it confined
for the-least period in one and especially an uncomfortable
position, and who makes use of the least violence in case it
attempts to escape, accomplishes more work, performs it
better, and incurs far less labor and fatigue.

Wool should be cut off reasonably close, but not close
enough to have the skin show naked and red—so as to
expose it to sun-burn, or to have the sheep suffer severely
from a moderate degree of cold. The English shepherds
have a system of shearing their large sheep in uniform ridges
or flutings, running in a particular way, which has a very
pleasing appearance. I see no objections to it; and every-
thing which tends to raise any process toward the dignity of
art, and increase the esprit du corps of any class of laborers,
is beneficial both to themselves and their employers.

Fair ordinary shearers will shear about twenty-five
common Merinos in a day, and active ones from five to ten
more. The highly corrugated sheep which are now becoming
fashionable among a class, demand far more time. The
comparatively open-fleeces, and smooth, round carcasses of the
English breeds, admit of considerably more rapid shearing.

While sheep are being sheared, the catcher should always
be at hand with shovel and broom to remove dung, pick up
scattered locks, and keep the floor perfectly clean. When a
sheep is sheared, he should catch another for the shearer and
set it on a new place on the floor, before taking up the fleece
of its predecessor. This done, he should bring the preceding
fleece together as it lies with its inner side up, and then,
pressing it between his hands and arms, lift it up, carry it to
the folding table and turn dt over as he lays it down. He

172 STUBBLE SHEARING AND TRIMMING.
next should go back, pick up every “frib,” and sweep the
place so that it will be ready for another sheep.*

Stugste Saearine anp Triumine.—If wool is left half
an inch long or more at shearing, it will, of course, (in the
case of all varieties which do not annually shed their wool,)
retain that extra length through the ensuing year. This is
called “stubble shearing ;” and is sometimes resorted to by
the sellers of Merino sheep to deceive purchasers in relation
to the actual length of the staple. The sellers are always
ready to make or produce affidavits, if need be, of the time
of shearing — but the mode of shearing is not stated in these
interesting documents! Indeed, thousands of unsuspecting
buyers never think to ask that question. “Stubbling” is par-
ticularly convenient to convert an unimproved Merino into
an improved one in appearance, by doubling the length of
wool about the head, legs, belly, etc., where the former is
most deficient.

“Trimming ” is a little higher branch of the same art. It
is “‘ cutting a sheep into form,” by shortening the wool where
there is over-fullness, and leaving it longer where there is a
lack of fullness, so that the sheep takes many of its leading
points — such as fullness in the crops, straightness of back,
etc. — quite as much from the shears as from nature. This is

racticed by exhibitors for prizes in the show yards of the
oyal Agricultural Society of England! t+

“Trimming” has entirely the advantage on the score of
respectability of association, for “‘stubbling” in this country
is not practiced by any but the acknowledged Bedouins “ of
the profession!” Both are disreputable frauds.

Surarine Lames anp SHEARING SHEEP Sumi-ANNUALLY.
— When lambs are yeaned, as Mr. Chamberlain’s Silesians
are, in the early part of winter, and fed up to a large size
before shearing, there is no impropriety in shearing them in
the spring with their dams; but there can be no good reason
for shearing spring lambs when two or three months old.

* J once knew a powerful Englishman who would thus tend twelve good shearers,
do up the wool beautifully, (this was when the fleeces were done up entirely by hand,)
and bring out the sheep so fast that the shearers were constantly hurried by him!
Most who both catch and do up the wool do not tend more than half a dozen shearers,
and want a boy to pick up the fribs.

+ So says the Editor of the Mark-Lane Express (by implication,) in his paper of
January 19th, 1863, and he there entirely dissents from the opinion of a correspondent
who asserts that the animals which take the prizes are those which are ‘‘least cut
n' orm,

DOING UP WOOL. 173

Sheep are sheared twice a year in portions of the Southern
States. This may be a sort of necessity to save the wool,
where they are suffered to run at large in forests or on lands
infested by brambles. But where sheep are treated like domes-
ticated animals, and kept on cleared and inclosed pastures,
neither necessity nor utility can be pleaded for the practice.

Doine Ur Woot.— The fleece having been desposited on
the folding table, with its inside ends downward, the wool-tyer

j 4

8 fo---~-----

FOLDING TABLE.

first spreads it out to its full extent, restoring every part to
its natural relative position. Dung and other impurities
being removed, the fleece is pressed together in the same
position as closely as practicable. One of the sides (1 in
above cut,) is then folded directly over or inverted toward
the middle of the
fleece so that it covers
5. The opposite side
(2) is then folded over
and inward in the
same way, covering 6,
and leaving the fleece
in a long strip, some
twenty inches wide.
The neck (3) is next
folded toward the ~~

breech; and the breech —S>—

(4) toward the neck. / eo
The fleece is now
brought into the ob-
long square represented by 5 and 6. Having placed the clean

FLEECE READY FOR PRESS.

174 DOING UP WOOL.

fribs belonging to the fleece in a bunch on top, and having
folded 5 over on 6,80 that it will take the form presented
in the preceding cut, it is ready for the wool press. The
wool-tyer then takes it carefully
between his hands and arms, so as
7, not to disturb its arrangement, and
places it unbroken in the wool
press, either on one side, as in the
left hand cut annexed, or on what
may be termed its edge, as in right
hand cut annexed.

_ The wool press I consider one of the most convenient
minor agricultural inventions of the day. Combining some
previous plans with my own, I furnished a plan of it substan-
tially as it now is, except that it was worked by a lever
instead of the crank arrangement described below, to Mr.
James Geddes, of Fairmount, New York. Mr. Geddes
perfected it by adding that arrangement. I am indebted to
him for the following cut and description:

FLEECE IN PRESS.

“The Press consists of a substantial and firmly made box, sup-
ported on legs of convenient height; the length of the box, four feet,
and its width eleven inches, and its depth ten and one-half inches,
both measured inside of the box.* One end or head of this box (a)
is fixed, and strongly
‘braced by a sort of iron b a
bracket made for the

ose; the other or 4

arp
movable head (8,) has a
horizontal support to £
which it is also firmly
braced, and slides under @(Y* i! : :
the cleet nailed at f up 0 a
to within any requisite Gg
distance of the other
head, a Through both
the heads there are three
perpendicular slits
which render so many
braces gy 4 oe cise
strength, and throug! :
which the strings are ; ==
extended for the tying wOOr; BRaEE
of the fleece. In oper- 7
ation, these strings having been put in place, the fleece is folded to go
into the box, but not rolled; the crank, turned by hand and prevented
by a ratchet from springing back, moves the roller at d, which, by
means of the strap, two inches wide, shown at e¢, pulls up the follower

* Large fleeces require a rather larger box.

FRAUDS IN DOING UP WOOL. 175

b—the strings are tied; the catch lifted and crank reversed, when the
straps, one inch wide each, at g, draw back the follower, and the
fleece is released in perfect shape.”

There are several other forms of wool presses, but they
possess so little proportionable value that I do not regard
them as worth describing.*

The fleece comes from the press in a nearly square mass,
and if it is properly folded, and placed in the machine with
respectable skill, not a black or outside end of a single lock is
visible; and none but the best parts of the fleece are visible.
This is expected by the buyer, and therefore has no odor of
deception about it.

The twine used in tying should be of flax or hemp. If
of cotton, particles of it are liable to be mixed with the wool
and to become incorporated with the cloth. They receive
different colors from wool in the process of dyeing, and might
thus spot the surfaces of dark, fine cloths. Wool twine should
be large enough not to render the continuous tying of it too
painful to the fingers, but if over large, it looks unwork-
manlike and also as if the seller was anxious to sell twine for
wool. The three bands of twine placed on each fleece in the
press is sufficient, unless it comes loose at the edges and
requires an extra band placed round it, the other way, after
being taken from the press. :

Fraups iv Dorve Up Woor.—Some farmers have the
habit, if they have a few sheep die in winter, of putting the
wool pulled from them into the sheared wool, distributing a
a handful or two into each fleece. If the pulled wool is
unwashed and the fleeces ‘are sold as washed, the practice is
a serious fraud. If the pulled wool is washed, or is in the
same condition in this respect with the fleece wool, then it is
a petty fraud—for pulled wool is not as well adapted to some

* The only possible exception, I think, is the original of this press, worked bya
lever. It is not so good an implement as the above, but is much more conveniently
made with the rough tools usually found on a farm. One end of the lever passes
through a hole in the middle of the cross-piece or brace, which is nailed on the left
hand segs of the machine, near their bottom, as seen in the cut. The strap (¢,) which
is attached in above cut to the movable head (6,) is fastened to the lever under the
front end of box (d.) The lever is a couple of feet longer than the box, so that a man
can, if necessary, stand on the elevated end to press it down. That end is raised
about half-way from the floor to the box, when the movable head (0) is slid back to /.
Consequently when forced down by the foot, it draws forward the sliding head toward
the stationary one, in the same manner as the crank does above. A strip of notched
iron attached perpendicularly to the inside of one of the fore-legs with a piece of iron
on the lever to catch into the notches, holds down the lever to any point to which it ia
pressed. The lever-press requires to be fastened to the floor by a hook and staple at
the Tet end, fe prevent it tipping up when the weight of a man is put on the lever at
the other end.

176 STORING WOOL.

purposes as sheared wool, and “dead wool” is apt to be
inferior in various particulars.* Putting unwashed tags. into
washed fleeces is also fraudulent. If as well washed as the
wool, it is nat fraudulent, for they are parts of the same
fleeces.{| Breech wool simply discolored by dung may enter
the fleece, but all respectable flock-masters should take good
care that no lumps or masses of dung are accidentally rolled
up init. Locks wet with urine should be dried in the sun
before being done up in the fleece. It is not a fraud to put
the hairy shank wool in the fleece, but it is unworkmanlike.
It is fraudulent to sell fleeces burred to any extent, unless
the buyer is distinctly put on his guard. All such fleeces,
however much or little burred, should be put by themselves,
and the buyer invited to open them.{

Srorina Woor.— Wool should be stored in a clean, dry
room, into which neither dust, vermin nor insects can obtain
entrance. Both of the latter are very fond of building nests
in it.§ A north light is the best one to show wool in. If
there is room for it, the fleeces should be piled up neatly
and regularly in walls, with alleys between, so that a large
proportion of them can be seen by the purchaser without
disturbing their arrangement. Fleeces of the same lot or
flock should be piled promiscuously, or divided into lots
according to quality. If the want of room or other circum-
stances require the wool to be piled in a large, compact
mass, it is not only for the character but even often for the
immediate interests of the seller to place a full proportion of
the inferior fleeces in sight. Few persons buy without
opening the pile somewhat, and he who opens it and finds
that it has been “faced” with the best fleeces, is apt to
overestimate the inferiority of that which remains unseen.

It is a common but erroneous idea, that wool continues to
gain in weight for long periods after being stored. It does
so for a short time: at any rate it has where I have seen the
fact tested; but every wool merchant knows that in the
course of a year it loses several per cent. by the evaporation
of yolk and moisture. :

* When the sheep die of diseases it is apt to be uneven, jointed, weak, harsh
and unelastic. :

+ And the buyer is a gainer by their being washed separately, because, being
severed from the sheep, they receive no yolk after washing.

+ However badly wool is burred, not one is usually visible on the outside of fleece
when it is well done up in a press.

§ Especially rats, mice and bumble-bees.

PLACE FOR SELLING WOOL— WOOL DEPOTS. 177

Prace ror Serimve Woor.— My own experience and
observation for more than thirty years, in regard to selling
wool, has satisfied me that, on the whole, the best, and, to the
farmer, by far the most satisfactory place for disposing of his
clip, is at home in his own wool room. It shows better there
than in the sack ; and the bargain a man makes. for himself, he
is bound to rest contented with. The local competition, too,
in places frequented by buyers, I think usually runs up prices
to'quite as high a point as the general market authorizes at
the time of sale — not unfrequently quite as high as would be
received directly from the manufacturer, after deducting
freight and the other incidental charges which cluster round
such transactions.

Woot Derrots anp Commission Srorrs.—The wool
depot system, as it was called, was introduced by H.
Blanchard, at Kinderhook, New York, in 1844. It was
conducted on the same general principles with the ordinary
commission establishments, but varied in its method of
transacting business. Each lot of wool was graded and
stapled and the owner credited with the amount; but his
wool was no longer kept separate. The charges were for
receiving, sorting and selling, one cent a pound; cartage,
three cents a bale; and insurance, usually thirty cents on $100
for three months. The anticipated advantages of the system
were that each owner would get the highest market value for
his wool, and that the manufacturer could afford to pay a
better price when he could buy the kind he wanted unmixed
with others. T.C. Peters opened such an establishment at
Buffalo, New York, in 1847, Perkins & Brown one at
Springfield, Massachusetts; and I think others were com-
menced. It was anticipated for a time that they would
receive and sell most of the wool of the country, but, though
conducted with acknowledged. skill and probity, the system
failed utterly. Americans generally prefer to do their own
bargaining. Wool commission stores, however, still flourish
in the important centers of commerce. For a class of
sellers — those like the prairie wool growers, for example,
who have large lots and no suitable place of storage, or those
who are remote from regular markets and wish to realize at
stated periods — they are indispensable.

Sacxinc Woor.— When wool is sold at the barn, the
place of delivery is the subject of stipulation. The sacking,
8*

178 SACKING WOOL.

unless otherwise agreed, must be done by the purchaser. It
is sacked in bales nine feet long, formed of two breadths of
“pburlaps” from 35 to 40 inches wide. The mouth of the
sack is sowed with twine round a strongly iron-riveted hoop,
and the body of it is let down through a circular aperture
usually in the floor of the loft or room where the wool is
stored, if it is in an upper story. If sacked on the farm, and
the wool room is not in an upper story, a temporary platform
is sometimes erected for that purpose, and the wool tossed up
toa, catcher. The hoop rests on the edges of the floor around
the hole, and the suspended sack should swing clear of
everything beneath. man enters it, and another standing
at the mouth passes down the fleeces to him. He arranges
them as closely as possible in successive layers and tramples
them down with his feet until they are as compact as they
can be made. When the bale is filled, the top of it is sowed
up with twine, and it is marked as the buyer wishes. It
renders the bales more convenient for lifting, if handles are
formed by tying up a little wool in their lower corners.

CHAPTER XVII.
SUMMER MANAGEMENT — CONTINUED.

DRAFTING AND SELECTION — REGISTRATION ——-MARKING AND
NUMBERING — STORMS AFTER SHEARING — SUN -SCALD —
TICKS — SHORTENING HORNS — MAGGOTS — CONFINING RAMS
-—— TRAINING RAMS -—— FENCES — SALT — TAR, SULPHUR,
ALUM, &C.— WATER IN PASTURES —SHADE IN PASTURES
—HOUSING SHEEP IN SUMMER — PAMPERING.

Drarrine anp SELEcTION.—To secure constant improve-
ment in a stock of sheep, as well as to remove all animals
from it which have individual peculiarities which render
them comparatively unprofitable, or troublesome, it _ is
necessary annually to “draft” the flock, as it is termed, that
is, exclude from it all animals which fall below a certain
standard of excellence. The leading defects to be had in
view in drafting are, first, the general ones of a want of the
requisite degree of perfection in the form and fleece, judged
by the existing standard of the flock. What satisfies the
owner, in these respects, in one generation of sheep, ought
not to in the next. However perfect the flock, there ought
to be some degree of improvement visible in the get of every
new stock ram, or that ram ought at once to give place to
another. And as each year brings more perfect younger
animals into breeding, the most defective old ones should be
excluded, or drafted, to make place for them. If, however,
the get of a new stock ram do not meet expectation— or if
it is found that they bring some new prominent fault into the
flock, or, what is still worse, restore an old one partly bred
out and toward which a predisposition yet lingers in the
flock—or if they present a type not uniform with the
established type of the flock, even though, in itself, it may
be an equally good one—it would be better to draft this
entire get of lambs, and allow the year of their birth to bea
stationary one in the progress of the flock.

180 DRAFTING — REGISTRATION.

The principal special and, in prime flocks, exceptional
defects which call for drafting, are weakness of constitution,
predispositions to particular diseases, poor qualities either as
breeders or mothers, difficulties of any kind connected with
lambing, tendencies to barrenness, or any important vices,
such as wool-biting, jumping, untamable wildness, &c. Ewes
which have attained an advanced age are usually excluded
unless they are peculiar favorites. If crones are retained on
account of their marked value as breeders, they ought, both
on the score of utility and appearance, to be separated from
the rest of the flock and fed and nursed by themselves.

The selection of the young stock to take the place of the
drafted sheep,. should not depend on one examination,
however deliberate and careful. It is one of the most
important operations of the sheep farm, and can only be
properly performed by noting the characteristics of every
animal in the young flock, from the time it is yeaned until
that for selection arrives.

The best time for drafting is at shearing. There is no
other one period during the entire year when all the charac-
teristics of each individual are either so apparent to the eye,
or so fresh in the recollection, as then. No person ever
attains so perfect a knowledge of the fleece in any other way
as by seeing it roll from the carcass under the shears, spread
out on the folding table, handled into and out of the wool-
press, and put to the last and crowning test of being
separtely weighed. The least defect of form, too, is then
laid most naked. And, finally, in the case of sheep not
permanently numbered, if the drafting and selection are not
then made, the removal of the fleece usually destroys all
means of distinctly identifying the animal, and consequently
of recalling its past history, unless in the case of a few very
superior or otherwise peculiar animals.

Reeistration.— Some owners of small and very carefully
managed flocks remember, or imagine they remember, the
history of every sheep in them; but this is obviously
impracticable in regard to flocks of any considerable size. A
history of each individual sheep is by no means necessary in
a flock kept mainly for wool-growing or mutton purposes, or
in order to effect a good and even a rapid degree of general
improvement in any flock; but it is indispensable to the
breeder to enable him to make the greatest individual as
well as general improvement—to preserve his pedigrees

REGISTRATION. 181

correctly — and. to sell sheep with a full understanding of
their particular qualities at periods of the year when those
qualities cannot be determined solely by the eye. The
careful breeder should invariably be on the shearing floor
with his Register in his hand, minutely scrutinizing each
sheep as its fleece is taken off, and noting down his observa-
tions on the spot. It is most convenient to have a prescribed
form of record in which each particular can be stated by a
figure; and it will, of course, include those particulars which
each person is most desirous of preserving. I have always
had my own include such facts as would give me a full
general idea of the sheep without going beyond the record.
I have changed the form several times, but that used for the
last three or four years has been a blank book with each page
ruled into columns, and headed as follows:

oy
Blo locl e [iB Be | rd
S/sidialia a.) 8 j
gi2@/8yei/8ly eo] a es
5 m | oO wie fala]
S/Flelalelalas|/ei/si els REMARKS.
Ls lo | wl o;]oloi Bla! ew} wi a] 5
g @7/fleleiale/e;s/a|/s)/2
4)oisolalealelelé|Si3lalelei2iz
Gis lslEla s/f a/P/S/8)e) 2/214
Bloewi NSN] oj ai se }B]/e}/Ailo};lojleo °
vidiInZ IB ISIM IB ICIS IBIRISISIBIS
1) 4] 1] 8/7 O}] 1] 8) 3] 1] 2) 8] 1] 4] 14 1
*2) 5] 5] 1) 4) 3/5 1/ 3] 8) 2] 4) 1) 5] 4

Except in the columns for number, age, and weight of
fleece, the figures imply relative degree or quality: and 1 is
assumed as the maximum and 5 as the minimum of that
degree or quality. Thus the first of the above records being
translated reads thus: No. 1 is four years old, very large, of
middling form, has no lamb, has hitherto exhibited first rate
breeding qualities, yields 84 lbs. of'wool, the wool is of middling
quality, and of the longest staple, its thickness is better than
middling but. not first rate, yolkiness medium, covering on
belly excellent, the head badly covered, wrinkled in the

182 PERMANENT MARKS ON SHEEP.

highest degree, constitution excellent. The second would
read thus: No. 2 is 5 years old, is of the smallest size, of the
best form, has an inferior lamb, her breeding qualities are
only middling, weight of fleece 5 lbs., quality of wool prime,
length of staple middling, thickness of fleece middling, fleece
of more than medium yolkiness, covering of belly below
middling, covering of head first rate, no wrinkles, constitution
quite defective. The star at the left of No. 2, signifies that
she is to be drafted from the flock. If I had a ram exceed-
ingly strong in the points where No. 1 was most defective
viz., in form, quality of wool and covering of head, I should
be likely to write his name opposite in the column of
“Remarks,” to signify the propriety of coupling them the
ensuing fall. If any sheep had any special defect not
included in the record, I would place that fact in the same
column. *
The above system of registration may appear to many
ce to be attended with a good deal of labor and trouble.
know by abundant experience that there is not the slightest
difficulty in recording these memoranda with the utmost care
and accuracy, and at the same time keeping up with five or
six shearers. To prevent any confusion, where there is alone
a chance for it, namely, in crediting fleeces to the wrong
sheep, I throw down a card by each sheep which is being
sheared, marked with its number as entered in the Register,
in connection with its other qualities. The card is taken up
with the fleece, and kept with it until the latter is done up
and weighed.. Habit soon renders the eye prompt to decide,
and at least as accurate here as under any other circum-
stances. I had as lief sell sheep, or select them for coupling,
by my Register, as to give them a new examination at the
time; and I certainly could do so far more understandingly
than by examination without the Register at any period
within five or six months after shearing.

Marxine anp Numperine.—Sheep should be marked
immediately after shearing with the mark of ownership —
usually two of the owner’s initials stamped on the side by an
iron brand dipped in paint. Whether they need additional
marks, so that each can at any time be distinguished from all
the rest of the flock, depends upon the owner’s modes of

* It is understood, of course, that the above are merely imaginary cases to illus-
trate the mode of keeping a record. Such a sheep as No. 2, would hardly be found in
any good breeding flock. ©

PERMANENT MARKS ON SHEEP. 183

treatment, breeding, &c. In “Sheep Husbandry in the
South,” I recommended Von Thaer’s elaborate system of
permanently numbering lambs, by notches on the ear. By
this, one notch over the left ear signifies 1; two notches over
the same, 2; one notch under the same, 3; three notches
under the left ear, 9; one notch over the right ear,10; two
over same, 20; a notch under the right ear, 30; three notches
under right ear, 90; a notch m end of left ear, 100; in the
end of right ear, 200; these added together, 300; the point of
the left ear cut square off, 400;. the point of the right ear cut
square off, 500; the latter and: the notch for 100 added, 600,
and so on, i ;

Von Thaer indicated the age by round holes in the ears.
As there could not be a mistake of ten years in the age of a
sheep, the holes are the same for every succeeding ten years.
The absence. of any hole indicates the beginning of each
decade of years, as 1840, 1850, or 1860; one- hole: in left
ear, 1861; two holes in left, 1862; one hole in right, 1863;
one hole in right, and one in left, 1864; one hole in right and
two in left, 1865; two in right, 1866; two in the right, and
one in left, 1867 ; two in each, 1868; three in the right, 1869 ;
none in either, 1870.*

I have again given this system of numbering because it
has proved a highly satisfactory one to some pains-taking
men; but I confess I long since got tired of and abandoned
it. It requires considerable trouble; and if the holes and
notches are not made large enough to mutilate the ear, they
are liable to heal up or become obscure ; and they therefore
require watching while healing. Even when made as small
as will answer, they still, in high numbers, cause a dis-
agreeable mutilation.

There is another German system by which the different
numerals are made. by rows of sharp, steel points inserted in
metallic types, as in the two upper figures on following
page; and these types have dovetails which can be slid into
corresponding grooves (@@aa@ in cut on next page) in the
lower jaw of a pair of nippers constructed for the purpose,
and thus will be made ready for use.

The inside of the ear is smeared with a thick paint made
of vermillion, indigo, or gunpowder and whiskey. By means
of the nippers, the steel points giving the proper numbers, are

¥. The proper instrument to use is aspring punch like those used by railroad
conductors — cutting 2 hole a little less than one-fourth of an inch in diameter. James
Martin, 20 Beaver Street, Albany, manufactures beautiful ones of any size, to order.

184 PERMANENT MARKS ON SHEEP.

forced into the skin inside the ear as far as is practicable
without causing bleeding, and when they are withdrawn the
paint is rubbed into the punctures. Mr. Fleichmann—t

MARKING IMPLEMENTS.

whose Report on German Sheep* I am indebted for the
illustrations of this process—declares, as the result of his
own observation and experience, that it succeeds fully, and
that the numbers remain visible “in old sheep which have
been marked for several years.”

I have seen imported sheep which had been perfectly
tattooed in this way ;
and it constitutes a ,
very beautiful mode €
of marking for those
who have time and
taste for manipula- TNEIDE BAB MARES:
tions demanding so much care. They must be performed
with great exactness to be successful. Mr. George Campbell,
of West Westminster, Vt., writes me that “he likes the
system very much when the figures can be made plain; that
he has been using gunpowder, but does not get all the figures
legible; that he is now experimenting with India ink.”

A third mode of permanent marking is performed by
punching a hole an eighth of an inch in diameter through the
ear and inserting a lead rivet of the size and form of the
ordinary No. 8 copper belt rivet, sold in hardware shops.
Like the belt rivet, it has a bur on which the opposite end

* In United States Patent Office Report for 1847.

PERMANENT MARKS ON SHEEP. 185

of the rivet is headed down, on the inner side of the ear.
The head is about half an inch in diameter, and on this is
stamped the number of the sheep. I have never tested it;
but learn that it has given satisfaction to those who have
done so. The copper belt rivet itself might be used.

A fourth mode of permanent marking was introduced to
some extent among the breeders of New York in 1862. To
a ring three-fourths of an inch in circumference,
and a of smallish No. 14 brass wire, was
suspended a plate of copper of the form exhibited
in the annexed cut, on which were stamped the
initials of the owner’s name, and the number of
the sheep. The ring was inserted about the
middle of the ear, so that the plate would remain
visible outside the wool. It was found, however,
that the ring sometimes cut down through the
ear, and sometimes that it was itself cut through
by the plate. The cutting of the ear might
doubtless be prevented by making the holes ™™™*4™ ™™4"™
with a punch, and allowing them to heal fully before
inserting the rings,* and, if necessary, reducing the weight
of the plate by making it no larger than in the cut, or even
no larger than a five or three cent piece, and as thin as the
last named coin. This reduction of weight would probably
also prevent the ring from being cut through. Or a split steel
ring, or a small T might take the place of the brass ring. +
This is so neat and convenient a mode of permanent marking,
that it ought to be brought to perfection.

If not permanently numbered, every large flock of any
considerable value, from which sales of breeding sheep are to
be made, or which is to be bred with particular reference to
individual characteristics, should be annually numbered — for
without this there can be no registration. It is performed by
stamping figures about 24 inches long, on the side or rump,
with paint, by means of iron or wooden brands. The latter
are cut like a type on the end of blocks of soft wood. It is
convenient to have a box of brands (arranged and kept in
their order,) with special marks for wethers, cull or draft

* Brass is corrosive to a new wound, and by keeping the edges of the hole raw,
works down through the ear more readily.

The ring turning freely in a hole on sound healed up flesh, would be less likely
to cut through. The split ring is inserted with considerable difficulty. The T, half an
inch long, inserted through a hole already healed and lying across the upper side of
the ear could not cut through. But if the plate is lightened, as suggested, (its upper
odes caine be be thickened and ronnded) I have little doubt the present brass ring
would suffice. s

186 STORMS AFTER SHEARING.

sheep, those of particular crosses, etc., etc. It is a great
convenience to have even permanently numbered sheep also
receive this annual numbering on the body, so that they
can be readily distinguished in the field, without catching,
and at some distance. All marks should be put on near the
spine to prevent rubbing before the paint is dry.

Srorms arrmr Sararine.— It is remarkable how readily
even hardy sheep perish if exposed to very cold storms soon
after shearing. A cold rain-storm accompanied with a north-
west wind, occurred in Central New York in 1860, during the
height of shearing, a little after the middle of June. It came
on a day which had opened pleasantly, and many farmers
having made their preparations and having their sheep under
cover, shut their doors and kept on shearing. Some, with
singular thoughtlessness, turned the new-shorn sheep out as
usual. Probably three hundred perished within a circle of a
few miles. In one case within my knowledge, a wool buyer
approaching a barn found a number of dead and dying sheep
lying about. On entering the closed barn he found the farmer
and his assistants shearing away in high glee and turning
out new victims. They had not even thought to look out!

When death is not directly produced by such exposure,
the sheep are apt to contract obstinate catarrhs, and exhibit
other symptoms of unthriftiness for a considerable period
afterwards—a very bad way of commencing the summer,
particularly for ewes having lambs. Sheep should be housed
on cold nights and during cold storms for a few days after
shearing ; and in default of conveniences for this, they should
be driven into dense forests and to situations most sheltered
from cold winds.

Very early shearing should be. considered out of the
question in climates like those of the Northern States, without
a sufficient supply of barns and sheds to shelter every sheep
on the farm in case of necessity. But, in truth, the early
shorn sheep do not appear to suffer as much, in proportion,
from cold. The change to them is not so great or sudden as
when cold storms follow shearing after they have been
sweltering in their fleeces in hot weather. New-shorn sheep
rapidly become inured to much colder weather than they
could endure at first, and this long before their wool has
grown enough to offer them any additional protection. —

Sun - Scatp.— This is very rare now, but was not so when
Saxon sheep abounded in the country. - It was the fashion to

DESTROYING TICKS. 187

shear them very close, and their skins were so thin and
delicate, that they not unfrequently blistered, and became
sore under the scorching sun. Some greased these sores—

others gave the sheep shade and paid no further attention
to them.

Ticxs.— A very ticky flock of lambs can not be kept in
good order, and when they become poor and weak, toward
spring, these destructive parasites rapidly reduce them lower
and render it extremely difficult to save their lives. Ticks are
found on all sheep in neglected flocks, but the heat and cold,
and the rubbing and biting to which they are exposed on new
shorn sheep, drive them to take shelter in the long wool of
the lambs. Here they are so readily exterminated, that it is
as much of a disgrace as a loss to the flock-master to suffer
them to remain in a breeding flock. About a fortnight after
shearing, every lamb should be dipped in a decoction of

ae

_ DIPPING BOX.

tobacco strong enough to kill the ticks. The last point can be
readily settled by an experiment on a few of these insects.*
The decoction is poured into a narrow, deep box, which has an
inclined shelf on one side, covered with a grate, as shown in
the cut. One man holds the lamb by the forelegs with one

* The rule used to be to boil 5 lbs. of plug tobacco (after chopping it fine) or 10
Ibs, of stems for a hundred late Saxon lambs. The larger, earlier and longer fleeced
lambs of the present day require more—say 6% lbs. or % ibs. The decoction is used
cold or blood-warm. Care must be taken not to dilute it so that it will fail to kill
both the tick and its eggs.

188 DESTROYING TICKS.

hand, and with the other clasps the nose so as to prevent any
of the fluid from entering the nostrils or mouth; another
holds the lamb by the hind-legs, and they then entirely
immerse it in the fluid. It is immediately taken out, placed
on the grate, and every part of its wool carefully squeezed.
The grated shelf conducts the liquor back into the box. In
default of a dipping box, two tubs may be used. After
dipping the lamb in one it is set on its feet in the empty one,
‘its wool squeezed out, and the liquor returned to the dipping
tub as often as is necessary.

Mr. Thorne informs me that he mixes whale oil with the
tobacco water, until the latter is considerably thickened by it;
and he thinks this renders the wash beneficial to the fleece.

A solution of arsenic has long been used for the same
purpose in Great Britain, and at the present time it is vastly
more economical than tobacco. Three pounds of white
arsenic, in powder, are dissolved in six gallons of boiling
water, and forty gallons of cold water are added. The whole
is well stirred with a stick, and the lamb is then immersed pre-
cisely in the same way as in the tobacco water. The remaining
liquor, containing this deadly poison, should be poured where
no animal can get to it; and the dipping box, after being well
rinsed, should be put in a safe place and used for no other
purpose. Arsenic is not poisonous to the hands, if they are
sound ; and even if the skin should be a little broken, a couple
of hours exposure to the above described solution would be
attended with no danger. If large surfaces of the hands
were denuded of skin, an injurious absorption of the arsenic
might take place. The old sheep are frequently dipped at
the same time with lambs, in arsenic water, in England.

If the lambs of a breeding flock are properly dipped, but
very few ticks will be found either on the old sheep or lambs
at the next shearing. If killed in the same way on the
succeeding years’ lambs, they will generally be wholly
exterminated from the flock; and if no ticky sheep are
subsequently introduced into it, and it is kept in good order,
two or three or more years may elapse before another tick
will be found in it.

When lambs have been suffered to go until winter without
dipping, and are covered with ticks, arsenic boiled in water,
an ounce to a gallon, is poured on them; but the Mountain
Shepherd’s Manual, which recommends this, adds :—“ In this
method, however, several of the ticks escape by crawling to
the extremities of the filaments.” The common mercurial

SHORTENING HORNS — MAGGOTS. 189

ointment of the shops, mixed with seven parts of lard, is an
effectual remedy. It is rubbed on the skin in furrows made
by opening the wool, and should be most freely applied to
the parts which are especially frequented by the insects, viz.,
the neck and brisket. Half an ounce of it may thus be used
with entire safety on a common sized Merino lamb, having
the ordinary access to shelter, in any but exceedingly
tempestuous or changeable weather; and this would be more
than sufficient for the purpose. In England, where mercurial
ointment is frequently used, it is believed to have a generally
salutary effect on the skin and on the growth of the wool.
Indeed, it is often applied for this express purpose, about the
first of October, to lambs which were dipped at shearing, and
which, therefore, have no vermin on them. It is also applied
to grown sheep for the same purposes, at the close of the
coupling season — 2 lbs. to twenty head — or 12 oz. per head.
An ounce would be sufficient on a grown Merino.

Ssorrentne Horns, Erc.—Every horn in the flock should
be examined at marking time. When those of the ram press
upon the side of the head or neck, a longitudinal: section
should be sawed from the inside of each, so as to relieve the
parts of their contact— and the edges should be rasped
smooth. Ewes’ horns sometimes grow into the eyes or sides
of the face. They should be sawed off, and it will save the
trouble of repeating the operation often if they be taken off
near the head. By far the best saw I have ever used for
these different purposes is a butcher’s bow saw.

Maceors.— New-shorn rams do not recognize each other
at once after shearing’; and those often fight which have pre-
viously run kindly together. If the skin of the head becomes
broken, and especially if blood oozes from the wound to a part
where a horn presses on the flesh, or where the shearer has
left a mass of wool between the flesh and horn, maggots are
promptly generated, and they soon burrow in the flesh and
produce death under the most distressing form. Where they
have entered the flesh deeply it is difficult to exterminate them
by one application of the proper substances—and they should
be carefully re-examined at intervals of a day or two,
according to appearances. Spirit of turpentine will kill the
maggots it comes in contact with, and prevent the fly from
again attacking the parts until its effects are dissipated. It is
common also to daub tar over the wound. Having always

190 CONFINING RAMS.

found these applications sufficient, I have not experimented
with others. Spirit of tar is said to be more effective than
turpentine. A flock-master who is an excellent practical
shepherd writes me that he has found that “two ounces of
corrosive sublimate in a, quart of any spirits that will dissolve
it” is a sure remedy in such cases; and that the flies will not
return to a wound to which it has been applied.*

Prevention here, as in most other cases, is much the best
remedy. There is no excuse for leaving a horn pressing on
the head, or wool under the horns. Jams should be smeared
back of and between the horns immediately after shearing,
with tar and turpentine, or with fish oil, to. repel the flies in
case the skin becomes broken. A ram attacked by maggots
will soon show it by his rapid emaciation and by his agonized
movements, but the mischief has then proceeded to a serious
extent. When rams fight, or when it is necessary to keep
them in considerable flocks together, they should be frequently
examined: and it would be labor well spent to renew the
smearing of fish oil on their heads once a fortnight through
the months of July and August.

Maggots are sometimes generated under adhering dung
on the breech. They are to be removed and the same
remedies applied. Maggots in the feet will be mentioned
under the head of Hoof- Rot.

CoxFinine Ranus.— It is not often that a properly trained
ram gives much trouble by leaping good fences — particularly
if he is allowed one or two companions. But it is not very
safe to allow very valuable grown rams to run together,
even if acquainted and ordinarily peaceable. Nobody can
tell how soon a sudden and fatal battle between them’ will
occur. A choice ram should only be mated with a weather
or two, or after lamb-weaning with some ram lambs. I
would sooner, if necessary, build a high board fence round a
sufficient enclosure for stock rams, than hopple or clog them.
Hoppling, when resorted to, is effected by fastening a leather
strap around a fore and a hind leg, just above the pastern
joints, leaving the legs about the natural distance apart.
The ends should be broad enough not to cut into the flesh.

* My informant is Mr. Prosper Elithorp, of Bridport, Vermont. He considers it
much more effectual than turpentine in continuing to repel the attack of flies. Itis
soluble in two and a third parts of alcohol. It dissolves in about 20 parts of cold
water, and in three of boiling water. But a boiling saturated solution deposits it
again in crystals after cooling. Applied externally it is an active stimulant and caustic
and has been much used with other substances in applications to ill-conditioned ulcers

TRAINING RAMS. 191

Clogging is effected by fastening a billet of wood to one fore-
leg by astrap. It used to be quite customary to fasten two
rams together by a long yoke having bows like an ox yoke.
These and similar modes of confinement are injurious to the
sheep, and they are at best insecure.

Tramyinc Rams.— Great pains should be taken to teach
stock rams the most perfect docility. They should be so
tame that their keeper can anywhere walk up and put his
hands on them. They should be taught to lead by the halter
and to stand confined by the halter as quietly as well broken
horses. Buta rope should never be put around their heads,
as it rubs and tears off the wool. An iron ring about an inch
and a half in diameter, should be attached by an eye to a
small bolt passing through ‘the thin part of the (left) horn,
confined on the other side by a nut. The halter should be a
strap of leather with an iron snap, so that it can be readily
fastened to or detached from the ring. On the hornless
English ram the strap must buckle around the neck.

From being teazed or petted—or from natural viciousness
of temper —a ram sometimes acquires a habit of attacking
strangers who enter its enclosure—and occasionally even
its keeper. Another will strike only when some other sheep
in the flock is caught. A cross ram that requires constant
watching, is not only an annoyance but a serious danger —
for the full blow of one might inflict material injury and even
death. Unless of great value, such an animal should be
castrated at once. If kept, he should have a blind put on
‘him —that is, his face should be covered and his line of
sight forward cut off by a flap of leather in front of his face,
secured to the horns. If very quarrelsome, he may be
entirely blinded by tying back the ends of the flap over his
eyes.

A ram that is not seriously disposed to be vicious, is often
made so by the cowardice of those who are in the habit of
meeting him. If he finds his attendant is afraid of him, he
will soon exert his mastery to the utmost. It is not expedient
to court an issue, but as soon as it is discovered that a ram is
determined to test the question of mastery, his first motion
toward an attack should be followed by carrying the war
into Africa. He should be punished until he is taught the
complete and absolute superiority of his attendant.*

* He should be sprung'in upon with a good tough whip —with two or three in the
left hand to supply the place of broken ones—and such a storm of blows rained on

192 FENCES — SALT.

Fencrs.— It does not require a fence of more than very
ordinary height, if it is kept constantly in repair, for the
Merino or for the improved English breeds of sheep. But if
portions of it are suffered to get partly down, and the flock pass
over these low portions a few times, some of the more restless
ones learn to be constantly on the look-out for such opportuni-
ties to escape; and they will gradually leap higher and higher,
until they are ready to scale any ordinary fence that lies in
their way. Therefore, the fences of sheep pastures ought in
all cases to be thoroughly repaired before turning out flocks
in the spring; and they should be frequently examined
through the season, particularly after heavy winds.

If sheep are to be driven through an opening in the fence,
that opening should be extended to the ground —so as never
unnecessarily to make them acquainted with the fact that
they can even leap over two rails. One ‘‘breachy” sheep
will rapidly teach its habits to the whole flock; and it
ought to be considered a fraud to sell one, without giving
notice of its vice. Such a sheep should not be tolerated in
an “orderly” flock, for a single day.

Stone walls unless very high and smooth, or unless
surmounted by rough coping stones, set up on edge, do not
turn sheep as well as rail or board fences. Sloping sod fences
are still worse. In new cleared countries, where inclosures
are very imperfectly made with brush, logs, etc., poorly kept
sheep sometimes acquire a habit, almost equal to that of
swine, of crawling through every opening.

Satr.— Salt is admitted by all to be necessary for the
health of sheep. It may be kept in the fields, under cover,
where they can have constant access to it: or as much as they
will eat may be fed to them once a week on the grass. It is
common to throw it in handfulls on mossy knolls, on tufts of
coarse grass not eaten down by sheep, on new sprouting bull
thistles, or around the roots of Canada thistles, or other
weeds——so that it shall call in the aid of the sheep to
extirpate vegetable enemies, and so that, if any of it is left, it

his head that he stands_confused, not daring to open his eyes. If he retreats he
should be pursued, and if recently shorn, whipped over the back as he runs, until
thoroughly cowed. If he makes his attack on a person not prepared with whips, a
Yew rapid and hearty kicks in the face will generally settle the contest. If he charges,
the assailed person should stand firm until he is close upon him and then he should
spring suddenly aside, and as the ram rushes past dash in upon him and so punish
him that he will have no desire to renew the onset. If after one sound beating he is
not quelled permanently, or for a considerable period, resort should at once be had to
the knife or the blind.

TAR, SULPHUR, ALUM, ETC. 193

shall aid in the same particular, and in preparing the soil for
better products. I prefer weekly salting, because it is just as
well for the health of the sheep; because it keeps them tame
and ready to come at the call; and because it compels the
owner or shepherd to see them once a week, and consequently
to observe whether anything is amiss among them. He
should make it an invariable rule to count them if practicable
at salting.

Tar, Sutpaur, Arum, Erc.— Some persons compel healthy
sheep to eat these substances by mixing them with salt, on
the supposition that like salt, they tend to preserve health and
increase thrift. There is no proof of this; and we have every
reason to believe that nature would prompt healthy sheep to
eat these substances as it does salt, were they in like manner
necessary to the animal economy. Tar is an impure turpen-
tine, containing, however, some different principles, of which
the principal medicinal one is creosote. Turpentine taken
internally is stimulant, diuretic and in large doses laxative.
The creosote, which adds greatly to the value of tar as an
external application to old sores, has been used internally for
various human maladies,* but it is one of the last things
which would be administered in a state of perfect health.
Sulphur is laxative, diaphoretic—i. e., it tends to produce a
greater degree of perspiration than is natural, but less than in
sweating—and resolvent, or in other words, possesses the
power of repelling or dispersing tumors. Alum is astringent
in moderate doses, purgative in large, and does not possess a
property which gives it a place among the internal remedies
of sheep, except as an astringent, and there it is inferior to
other astringentst and is scarcely in use. Of what use can
such a compound as this be to a healthy animal?

If there is a practice in sheep or any other animal
husbandry, which more than all others lacks the shadow of
an excuse, it is, in my opinion, that of cramming drugs or any
substances which nature does not prompt them to eat, down
the throats of Aealthy brutes, under the idea that these will,
or can, make them healthier ; or under the wholly mistaken
idea that the medicines which are appropriate to particular
diseases, are therefore preventives of those diseases, or even
exert a tendency in that direction. On the contrary, by dis-

* Diabetes, epilepsy, neuralgia, chronic catarrh, hysteria, etc.
+ Both Youatt and Spooner concur in this opinion,

194 WATER IN PASTURES.

arranging the habitual and orderly action of the functions,
they actually increase the tendency to disease; and if there is
any prevailing malady at the time, they, as it were, open the
door for its entrance. To what an innumerable number of
domestic animals of all sorts would the epitaph of the
Spaniard apply, with a slight change: “I was well; my
owner wanted me to be better, and I am here.”

Some extremely intelligent men, however, attach much
virtue to the articles under consideration, in combination with
salt, as a general remedy for certain obscure diseases. <A. B.
Allen, Esq., formerly editor of the American Agriculturist,
writes me :—“ My brother Lewis had a flock of about two hun-
dred sheep which were dying off with what was supposed to
be the rot. They were on Grand Island. He called on me in
despair, said he had done everything he could think of, and
asked if I could help him. I told him to get large scows,
load them with sheep and send them to my farm, nearly
opposite to him on the main land. I then took long troughs
made of two narrow boards put together in the form ofa V.
Into these I poured tar about three inches deep; then I
sprinkled sulphur profusely; then salt and pulverized alum
sparingly. Then I took each sheep. and examined its feet
thoroughly. If in the least diseased, I washed the feet clean
with soap suds and applied the above mixture to them. The
sheep would come to these troughs many times per day,
just lick a little and go away. I believe I also placed some
boards before and behind the troughs (for they stood in an
open position) smeared with the above, so that they would be
obliged to tread in the mixture when they went to the
troughs. The tar, etc, was renewed as often as was
necessary, for several weeks. The result was that only three
or four sheep died after this: all the rest were soon restored
to health, and in six weeks or so, my brother had the pleasure
of selling as fine and healthy a fat flock to the butchers as
was seen in Buffalo that season. I presume change of
pastures and air were beneficial to my brother’s flock, but let
me tell you that there is nothing like plenty of tar, sulphur,
salt and a modicum of pulverized alum to keep sheep in good
health, especially on heavy soils, low grounds, and when the
water is not over pure and abundant.”

Warer in Pastures.— Water is not indispensable in
summer pastures, but it is unquestionably beneficial to all
sheep, and highly important for ewes suckling lambs. It will

SHADE— HOUSING SHEEP IN SUMMER. 195

do at any time in the summer to change sheep from a dry
to a watered field or range; but the reverse of this I have
always found injurious, particularly to nursing ewes and
their lambs.

SHapE 1x Pastures.— The eagerness with which sheep
seek shade from the full glare of the summer sun, is of itself
a sufficient proof of its utility. Occasional trees or clumps of
trees in each pasture afford the most natural shade. Where
these and all others (except those made by open‘rail fences,)
are lacking, I believe it would repay the flock-master to form
artificial ones by the cheapest means within his reach; and
planting at the same time young, rapidly growing shade trees,
for the future, would be a judicious and economical measure.

Hovusine Surrer iy SumMer.— The comparatively small,
choice, high-priced breeding flocks of Merinos are frequently,
as has already been mentioned, housed from all summer rain-
storms. They are put up nights when there is any prospect
of rain, and some put them up nights habitually after the
lapse of a few weeks after shearing. The object is to preserve
the yolk in the wool, and thereby obtain color and weight
of fleece.

Sheltering in warm weather is unnecessary, and in the
case of the sheep, as in that of all other animals, it is the
tendency of habitual non-exposure to beget an inability to
withstand exposure. But the Merino is not only an exceed-
ingly hardy animal, but one which possesses a remarkable
power of adapting itself to different circumstances. I have
repeatedly bought sheep out of these summer housed flocks,
and found no difficulty whatever in accustoming them to
ordinary treatment. Housing in summer is not, then, of
itself of much consequence, if it and its effects are, as I
now believe them to be, universally understood. This being
the case it would be binding the sheep breeder by more
stringent restrictions than we impose on other breeders, if
public opinion refused to tolerate the practice. *

* I expressed different views in my Report on Fine-Wool Husbandry, 1862.
While I stated that the leading breeders were guilty of no deception in this particular,
because they avowed their treatment and their motives for it, I urged that it led to
disappointments on the part of the buyer, and that it was a purely unnecessary waste
of labor and capital. Further information has convinced me that the effect of summer
housing sheep is about as generally understood among sheep men, as the effect of
stabling and currying horses is understood among horsemen. And the animals sub-
jected to it or not subjected to it can be as readily distinguished from each other, in
the fall, when the selling of breeding sheep commences. It is a waste of time; but
why shall not the sheep breeder be permitted to waste his time as well as the cattle

196 PAMPERING SHEEP.

Pamprrine.— But when housing is connected with
pampering, with a high and forced system of feeding, the
case is different. To make show sheep, to make rams
saleable, to stimulate an unnatural growth of wool and
secretion of yolk, and thus produce what are termed “ brag
fleeces”—to cover up defects of carcass, to convey false
impressions as to the natural size and substance of the animal
— some persons feed their sheep a good portion of the summer
and all winter, as much as they can safely get them to eat
of the richest feed. This treatment is not often given to
breeding ewes, at least in its full extent, for it materially
interferes with their own safety in lambing, and the lambs
are small, weak and difficult to raise. But to young
ewes kept for sale and for show sheep, and to rams kept for
sale, it is applied to the fullest extent. Thus a good sized
Merino ram is made to produce three or four more pounds,
and a good sized ewe one or two more pounds, of wool and
yolk, than they would if only kept in good ordinary condition.

But he who buys such sheep (for other purposes than
slaughtering) — particularly if they are descended from
several generations of ancestors which have been pampered
in the same way—buys a spent hot-bed. It never will
produce again the monster fleece which tempted him to give
a monster price for it. If its feed is kept up, it has little
value for breeding purposes; if its feed is taken off, it runs
down, becomes debilitated and incapable of withstanding
ordinary hardships, is subject to every malady, and succumbs
to the first one. This was the case with that tribe of monster
French rams which first spread over this country, and died
within a year like mushrooms — ruining the reputation of the
breed. Some of them had been so thoroughly pampered,
that they could not sustain themselves on good pasturage,
and perished almost without disease, of mere debility. This
mode of preparing breeding sheep for sale is not a legal
fraud; but it is dishonest and dishonorable by whomsoever it
may be practiced.

No one will deny that every man has a right to keep his
sheep well, whether he proposes to sell them or not. Good
keeping may be pronounced the custom of all breeders. I
am not sure, indeed, that it is not necessary to certain

breeder, the horse breeder, and the breeder of every other description? The world
has agreed to find fault with no class of producers for “‘ putting the best side out,”
provided no deception is practiced and no injury done to the thing produced in thus
fitting it for market,

PAMPERING SHEEP. 197

improvements. For example, size cannot be increased, nor
even kept up without abundant feed. The highest bred
Short-Horn dwindles rapidly in size in each succeeding
generation — however strong the individual and family
tendency to size—if put on thin upland pasturage and fed
only hay in winter. I do not suppose that Mr. Ellman could
ever have raised the flat rib of the unimproved South Down
to its present almost horizontal spring from the back-bone,
had he suffered his sheep to remain ill-fed and empty —
because, while it is true that the viscera adapt their size to
the inclosing structures, it is equally true that the bony and
muscular inclosing structures adapt their size and shape to the
viscera. Whatever we may do, nature insists on and enforces
harmony!

Good keep may be pronounced necessary to improvement
in other particulars’: but while the fire warms and cheers and
strengthens, the conflagration destroys! Knaves are generally
very much puzzled to ascertain, in all such cases, where the
good. agency ends and the bad one begins. Men of common
sense, common experience, and common honesty, labor under
no such difficulties. They can decide at once between good
keep and destructive pampering.

CHAPTER XVII.
FALL MANAGEMENT.

WEANING AND FALL FEEDING LAMBS—SHELTERING LAMBS
IN FALL— FALL FEEDING AND SHELTERING BREEDING EWES
— SELECTING EWES FOR THE RAM-— COUPLING — PERIOD
OF GESTATION —MANAGEMENT OF RAMS DURING COUPLING—
DIVIDING FLOCKS FOR WINTER.

Weaning anp Fatt Frerpine Lamps.— Lambs of all
breeds should be weaned at about four months old; and if
drouth or other circumstances have occasioned a particular
scarcity of pasturage for the lambs and their dams, and the
former can be put on good feed by separating them, it would
be advisable to take off the lambs three or even four weeks
earlier. The somewhat prevalent idea that it is improper to
wean them in “dog days,” has not a particle of foundation.
But whatever the period of weaning, sweet, tender pasturage
is indispensable for them. New seeded stubbles and the
rowen of meadows are usually reserved for them in this
country. But many flock-masters prefer rested pastures —
i. e., those which, after being fed close, are cleared of stock
and allowed to spring up fresh. A few of our breeders of
English sheep fold their ram lambs on rape.

The modes of weaning and fall feeding lambs now
practiced in England may interest the breeders of English
sheep in this country. The following directions are from the
Royal Agricultural Society’s prize essay on the Management
of Sheep, written by Mr. Robert Smith, of Burley, 1847:

‘Lambs should never be placed upon rested summer-eaten
clover pastures, however tempting they may appear, as they
invariably cause scouring, fever and other severe ailments.
Old grass, clover, or grass-eddish [after-math] is preferable
until the autumn quarter commences, which is considered an
important one, as much depends upon the manner in which
the lambs are started, or taught to eat their winter feed. In

WEANING AND FALL FEEDING. 199

the middle of September the lambs are placed in moderate
lots upon grass or seeds, as, from the domestic habits peculiar
to the race, they are fond of picking their food at this season
of the year, cabbages being thrown to them upon the pastures,
or cut for them in troughs: after a short time a few white
turnips are mixed with them as a preparation for the winter.
As October advances they are placed upon the common or
white turnips. Some breeders mix a little cole seed in the
first sowing, which is an excellent plan. After a short time
the wether lambs are given } lb. of oil cake, or corn to that
value, each per day; at Christmas they are placed upon the
Swedes which are cut for them, as also the white ones upon
bad. layer.” ,

In the “ commended essay” * of Mr, T. E. Pawlett, on the
same subject, 1847, occur the following statements :—“I have
found lambs to thrive much better on old keeping — as red
clover, ‘sanfoin, or grass—than upon what are termed
eddishes; yet I must state that old white clover, or trefoil
stubbles, are, when they are seeded and have become dry, the
very worst of all kinds of food for young lambs. If, however,
proper food cannot be provided for them, they should often
have their pastures changed to keep them healthy, when a
little oil cake or a few split peas or beans (one pint a day
among four lambs,) would do them no harm. Having proved
by many experiments the advantages of putting young lambs,
after weaning, upon old keeping — namely, pastures that have
been stocked from the commencement of the spring — over
eddishes or pastures that have been previously mown the
same season, I will state one experiment as a sample of the
rest. In the year 1834, I put a lot of lambs on some old
sanfoin, having a few tares carried to them, and another lot of
lambs were put on young sanfoin, or an eddish which had
grown to a pasture; these, also, had some tares. Each lot
was weighed at the commencement, and again at the end of
the trial:

“Gain in weight on a lot of lambs fed on old sanfoin, from July 10 to August
10,,each: on: the average, <-2.25.-.62 020 secce cases cs cece sens eene see ccs o sm 14% Ibs

Lambe fed on sanfoin eddish, gained each in the same time, -- 8% lbs
Difference, ....... real de gt rag Odeth ec aOets ea au sled 6 Ibs.”

The moist, mild climate and constant rain, in England,
affect pastures very differently from the scorching and often

* This is headed as follows :—‘t A Commended Essay, written in competition for
the premium awarded to Mr. R. Smith, by the Royal Agricultural Society, 1847." Mr,
Pawlett is known as a distinguished breeder of Leicesters.

200 WEANING AND FALL FEEDING.

very dry summers of the United States; and as a general
thing I have found good fresh rowen or after-math on
meadows, or the new seeded grass in grain stubbles, better
feed for lambs than rested pastures, unless the latter have
been seeded the same or the previous year, and the grass on
them is tender and fresh.

Both of the above quotations, however, teach one valuable
lesson to those who have not already learned it — the high
importance of giving lambs generous keep from the time
of weaning until winter in order that they may continue
growing rapidly during that entire period. If by poor keep
or any other cause, their growth is seriously arrested, and
instead of the rounded plumpness of thrifty lambs, they put
on the dried-up appearance of “little old sheep” — the poorer
ones are likely to perish outright before the close of winter;
and by no amount of care or feed can the others be brought to
the next spring equal with lambs which receive only common
feed in winter, but which were kept properly through the fall
months.

Lambs, when separated from their dams for weaning,
should, if the feed is good enough, be left for a few days in
the field where the flock has been previously kept—their dams
being taken away to a new one. The lambs are more
contented and make fewer efforts to escape when thus familiar
with the place. The two fields should be so far apart that
they cannot hear each others’ bleating. If this is imprac-
ticable, the fence should be carefully stopped, for if a few
lambs crawl through and again reach their dams, they will not
give up renewing their efforts to escape and communicating
their own restlessness to the others, for twice the usual weaning
period. Two or three escapes establish a habit which it is
difficult to overcome.

It is a great advantage to put two or three very tame old
crones which have not lambs of their own, or a lead wether,
among the lambs, to teach them to come at the call; and to
lead them up to, and set them the example of eating salt,
trough - feed, etc.

The dams should be put on the dryest feed on the farm for
a fortnight after separation, to stop their flow of milk. The
udders of some of them may require to be milked out once or
twice, and if these exhibit much redness and warmth, they
should be bathed as recommended at page 158. Smearing
the udders with a thick, pasty mixture of soap and water,
after a previous washing in cold water, is sometimes resorted

\

SHELTERING LAMBS IN FALL. 201

to. I have already sufficiently adverted to the high import-
ance of preserving the udders of breeding ewes in a perfectly
normal condition. When entirely dried off, they should be
put on good feed to get into condition for winter. ‘

AAs soon as the fall frosts have touched the grass, it is
highly beneficial—nay, it is indispensable in good sheep
farming—to give lambs some kind of artificial feed. Turnips
are (I am sorry to say,) but little raised among the great mass
of our sheep farmers, and rape and cabbage are nearly
unknown as field crops. Any of these would be vastly
cheaper than grain feed; but in default of them, grain feed
should be given. At first a little sprinkling of oats, shorts,
bran or the like should be put once a day in troughs, in their
pasture. By keeping them from salt on other occasions and
salting their trough feed very slightly, they, led up by the
crones, will first: nibble at and then eat it; and when even a
few do this, the rest will rapidly follow their example. A
spoonful of oats a head is more than enough to begin with;
and when they get well to eating, this may be gradually
increased to half’ a gill per head—and before winter to a gill,
or to its equvalent in shorts, bran, or other grain. Bran
and shorts, or shorts and oats; mixed half-and-half, are
proverbially good feed for lambs. An addition of turnips to
these would leave nothing to desire. Indian -corn, in despite
of the fears entertained of it by some persons, for that object,
is also an excellent lamb feed; but it must be given more
sparingly. A bushel of it is equivalent to its weight in
oats.*

Surtrerine Lames 1v Fatu.— Sheltering lambs from the
heavy, cold rain-storms which fall for a month or a month
and a half before the setting in of winter, in our northern
latitudes, is now beginning to be practiced by all the best
flock-masters; and when the ground becomes wet and cold,
and frequently freezes, toward the close of autumn they should
also be regularly housed every night. It is well to have
racks of hay ready for them in their stables; and it is very
easy to learn them to eat grain, etc., there. If it is regularly
placed in the troughs over night, with a very light dusting of
salt, as before mentioned, but two or three days will elapse
before it will be regularly and entirely consumed. Getting

* A bushel of corn weighs 58 Ibs., a bushel oats 32 1bs., by the rule established in
New York. gt

202 FALL TREATMENT OF BREEDING EWES.

the lambs accustomed to the stables before winter, is in itself
no inconsiderable advantage.

Fatt Frepine anp Sazttrerine Brervine Ewxs.— It is
a common and very truthful saying among observing flock.
masters, that “a sheep well summered is half wintered.”
Breeding ewes should be brought into good condition by the
time the first killing frosts occur. After that, they should not.
be suffered to fall off, but be kept rather improving by feeding
them, if the condition of the pastures render it necessary, with
pumpkins, turnip-tops, and any other perishable green feed on
the farm—and after these are exhausted, with turnips. If
some of the oldest and youngest ewes remain thin, they
should be separated from the others and fed rather better —
grain not being withheld, if it is necessary to bring them
into plump condition before winter. Shelter from late, cold
storms, though not as important as in the case of lambs,
is very desirable, and there can be no doubt that with persons
possessing convenient and commodious sheep stables, it will
well pay for the trouble to put up breeding ewes nights
whenever the weather is raw and the ground wet and cold. *
In default of artificial green feed, hay or corn stalks should be
regularly fed to sheep—once or twice a day, according to
circumstances—as the pasturage becomes insufficient for
their full support.

A singular idea prevails among a class of our farmers, in
regard to fall feeding sheep, which has been handed down
from those days when the two dozen gaunt, “native” sheep
which belonged to a farm and which roamed nearly as
unrestrained as wild deer through field and forest, did not
“come in to the barn” before the grovad was covered with
snow. In coppices, on briars, and in swamps where the
water kept the snow dissolved—and by digging in the
fields —they even found subsistence until the snow became
deep and so packed and crusted by sun and wind as to prevent
their reaching the ground. They then retreated to the barn-
yard, usually lank enough! But every farmer knows the
immense difference whether in the fields in summer, or in the

* My own flocks have generally been too large and spread over too much surface,
to render housing from storms practicable until the sheep are brought into their
winter quarters; and if well kept, they certainly do well enough without it. But I
housed a flock of lambs last fall, and I thought the benefit was very obvious. I have
repeatedly observed the same thing in other men’s flocks — particularly in Vermont.

that State, fall housing is almost as common, and is regarded as almost as indispen-
sable, as winter housing. This is probably somewhat a question of climate.

FALL TREATMENT OF BREEDING EWES. 203

stable or barn-yard in winter, between recruitin up and
getting into condition two dozen, or two hundred lean,
reduced sheep. The little handful of “natives” choosing
every morsel of their food over one or two hundred acres of
land, through the summer, had high condition to fall back on,
in the pinch of the early winter; and when put into the barn-
yards with the cattle and young horses, they still chose all the
best morsels of the hay—robbing the latter animals — so
that they not only made a shift to live, but usually got round
to the next spring in tolerable order. True, when let out to
grass again, their condition began to change so rapidly that
they frequently shed off nearly all their wool—so that many
of them had not half a pound a piece at shearing; and those
which escaped this were very likely to have their fleeces half
ruined by cotting. But what of all this? This was the way
things were done in those days!

‘Brought up under such traditions, many of our older
farmers who consider it highly essential as well as profitable
to give their cows, horses and other animals, artificial and
extra feed a month before the winter sets in, consider every
pound of fodder bestowed on sheep -at that time, so much
taken from the profits which these animals are bound, under
all circumstances, to yield to their owners—a total loss!
A more absurd and pernicious notion could not prevail. If
sheep could withstand the effects of such treatment with as
little danger to life as the horse or cow, it would still occasion
a much greater.proportionable loss in their products.* But
they can not. The former are capable of being raised at any
period of the year, from the lowest condition of leanness,
without danger. The muscular and vascular systems of the
sheep are so much weaker, that if they become reduced below
a certain point in winter—and if they herded together in
considerable numbers — their restoration to good condition is
always difficult and doubtful, and, in unfavorable winters,
impracticable. Their progress thenceforth is frequently about
as follows: If fed liberally with grain, their appetites become
poor and capricious, or if they eat freely it is followed by

* Turge no ‘petting’ or euerraling system of treatment. I have not five times
within thirty years fed hay or grain, or brought in the body of my store sheep from
their summer pastures, before the fall of snow— which generally occurs in this
climate not far from the first of December. But I should have done it in all cases, if
they had not sufficient feed in their pastures. In this respect I would put them on
precisely the same footing with cows and horses. AndI would sooner limit the feed
of éither of them in the winter, than during the month preceding winter. Unless the
fall feed was unusually abundant and good, I have always fed my lambs and crones
pumpkins, turnip tops, grain, etc., and a little hay as soon.as they would eat it.

204 FALL FEEDING OF BREEDING EWES.

obstinate and enfeebling diarrheas. Low, obscure forms of
disease seem to attack them and become chronic. The
strength of the lambs and of the very old sheep, rapidly
fails. They scarcely move about. The skin around the eyes
becomes bloodless. The eyes lose their bright, alert look,
and yellow, waxy matter collects about and under them. A
discharge frequently commences from the nose — perhaps the
result df a cold, but how or when taken it is frequently
difficult to say. The viscid mucus dries about the nostrils so
that they cannot breathe freely without its removal. The
evacuations become dark colored, viscid, and have an offensive
odor. The strength fails more rapidly; the sheep becomes
unable to rise without assistance ; and it falls when jostled to
the least degree by its associates. It will taste a few morsels
of choice hay, but generally the appetite is nearly gone.
Some, however, will eat grain pretty freely to the last.
Finally, it becomes unable to stand, and after reaching this
stage, it usually lingers along from two or three days to a
week, and then, emaciated, covered with filth behind, and
emitting a disgusting fetor, it perishes miserably.

Post mortem examination shows that this is not the rot of
Europe. Some American flock-masters term it the “hunger
rot.” If to this could be added something to express the tact
that the hunger which engenders it, usually occurs in the fall,
before the setting in of winter, it would be an admirably
descriptive name! * It is true, that entering the winter poor
does not prove equally destructive in all instances. Its effects
doubtless may be materially enhanced or diminished by the
regularity and excellence of the winter management, the nice
condition of the feed, etc., or the reverse of these conditions.
And the character of the winter itself exerts a very marked
influence. Sheep thrive best when the temperature is compar-
atively steady—no matter how cold. A cold, blustering,
stormy winter is preferable to one of greatly milder tempera-
ture, if its fluctuations are frequent and great—storm and
thaw, rapidly succeeding to each other. There comes
occasionally what farmers term a “dying winter,” when
almost any adverse conditions become fatal—and when
almost every disorder assumes an epizootic, malignant and
fatal type.

Certain specific. diseases, like cold, catarrh, pulmonary
affections, diarrheay dysentery, etc.— the most common ones

* It might not inappropriately be termed the “ fall-hunger rot.”

SELECTING EWES FOR THE RAM. 205

which are of a dangerous description — are far more liable to
attack sheep when in low condition. And it is surprising
with what destructive effect ticks will work on very poor
sheep and lambs. The latter are sometimes literally depleted
and. irritated to death by their blood sucking.

I have specially and strenuously urged the point of
bringing sheep into the winter in good condition, because it
admits of no doubt that this, far more than any other one
item of management, constitutes the sheet anchor of all
successful sheep farming.

There is a point of importance which I have overlooked
in the preceding statements. A flock of ewes which are in
inferior condition, and especially if they are at the time
running down, will not take the ram as readily as a fleshy,
thriving flock. It will take six or seven weeks to get the
bulk of them served, and then a number of them will “ miss,”
especially if the weather is very cold. A high-conditioned
flock is often served in about thirty days. The saving of
time and trouble at lambing, and the superior evenness and
value of a flock of lambs which is obtained by having them
all yeaned within a few days of each other, is well known to
all sheep farmers. Many flock-masters give their ewes extra
feed during the coupling season, to promote this object. A
little sharp exercise, like an occasional run across a field, is
thought, by many to excite ewes to heat— but I have never
tried the experiment.

Szrectine Ewes ror tar Ram.— Where there is an
opportunity to choose between several valuable rams, the
selection of the ewes to breed to each, requires judgment and
eareful study. The flock of ewes should be examined, the
individual excellencies and faults of each, and her hereditary
predispositions and actual habits of breeding, so far as can be
ascertained, fully taken into account; and then she should be
marked for the ram, which, in himself, and by his previous
get, appears, on the whole, best calculated to produce
improvement in their united progeny. Many of the Vermont
farmers thus divide their small fiocks of ewes into parcels of
ten or twenty each, and take them to rams owned by a
number of different breeders: for, by a prevailing custom, the
liberality of which cannot be too highly commended, all the
most distinguished breeders of that State allow other persons
to send ewes to their best stock rams for a merely nominal
compensation, considering the advantages which are often

206 COUPLING RAMS AND EWES.

thus secured.* This enables the owners of flocks who can not
afford to incur the serious cost and risk of keeping a. number
of high-priced stock rams, to obtain, notwithstanding, the
services of those which are best adapted to breeding with
each class of their ewes. And the young or less skillful
breeder can thus, too, obtain the immense advantage of using
the most perfect sire rams in the country — those which are
too costly for his purchase t — and those which will improve
his flock more in the first generation than he could possibly
otherwise improve it in five generations.

Courtine.— Very few flock-masters now feel that they
can afford to bestow the whole annual use of a choice, high-
priced ram on the seventy-five, or at the very utmost, on the
one hundred ewes he can serve, if he is permitted to run at
large with them; and to accomplish this, he must be a very
strong animal, and must be taken out of the flocks nights and
fed by himself. And no even tolerably good manager
turns two or more valuable rams at the same time. into the
same flock to waste their strength, { excite, worry, fight, and
perhaps kill each other. Even the ewes are frequently injured
by the blows inflicted by a ram while another ram is
covering her. :

There are several different modes of putting ewes singly.
Some keep “teasers” in the flock so “aproned”§ that they
can not serve a ewe, and daubed with lard and Venetian red
under the brisket, so that when a ewe will stand for them she
is marked red on the rump. The flock is driven several
times a day into a small inclosure (usually a sheep barn,) in
apartments of which the stock rams are kept, the “redded”
ewes are drawn out and each is taken to the ram for which
she is marked. After being served once she is turned into
the flock of served ewes.

* The customary price has been from $1 to $2 per ewe— but I am informed that
pome lene ae breeders will feel themselves under .the necessity of raising the price
of service.

+ Some of the more celebrated stock rams whose services are thus let, would sell
for more than the entire flocks of many of those who hire their services !

+ The question is sometimes asked whether the cohabitation of two males with
the same female, i superfetation, or ption after prior conception. When
there are two or more progeny at the same birth, facts have occasionally occurred
which appeared to show quite conclusively that they were begotten by different males,
but snch cases are exceptional; and when there is but one progeny, no facts ever goto
show that it is the combined progeny of two male parents.

§ The apron is a piece of coarse, open sacking, which covers the belly from the
fore to the hind-legs, and extends half way up each side. Careful persons tie or buckle
it over the back at both ends and in the middle, and then fasten it from slipping back
by a strap round the breast, and from slipping forward by a strap around the breech,
Though allowed to bag a little in the middle, the urine soon renders it a very dirty
affair, When I last used teasers, I kept the same one ina flock only every third day.

PERIOD OF GESTATION. 207

Another mode is to. use no teasers, but to drive in the
flock selected for a particular ram twice a day, and let him
loose in it; and as soon as a ewe is served to draw her out.
After three or four are served, the ram is returned to_ his
quarters, and the remainder of the flock to the field. A very
vigorous ram may be allowed to serve from eight to ten ewes
a day. This last mode is now generally preferred. It takes
up but little more time than the other. It saves the expense
and trouble of keeping teazers, which must be frequently
changed; for after making their fruitless efforts for two or
three days, they generally almost cease to mark ewes. Lambs
and yearlings are nearly useless as teazers. Good stock rams
ought not to be put on this service, for it rapidly reduces
them in condition. 7

Any mode of effecting the object in view—one on the
correct management of which the success of breeding so
much depends— must be conducted with rigid accuracy, so
that the mark on the ewe shall in all cases indicate the ram
actually used. An erronéous record is vastly worse than
none. It misleads the owner, and cheats the purchaser who
buys with reference to its showings.

The served ewes should be returned to the ram after the
thirteenth day. If they come in heat again, it is usually from
the fourteenth to the seventeenth day; but the number is
ordinarily quite small if the ram is a good one, and is well
managed. *

Periop or Grstation.— The time during which ewes go
with young frequently varies upwards of a week—in some
unusual cases, nearly two weeks. They usually go longer
with ram than with ewe lambs. The average period of
gestation does not usually vary much from one hundred and
fifty-two days.

ManacemMent oF Rams Durine Couprtine.— Whatever
system of coupling is adopted, the ram demands extra care:
and feed during the season of it. Whether taken from the
flock only at night, or kept from it entirely except when

* A ram which has been ill, or overworked, may not get lambs one year and may
prove a sure lamb-getter the next. Sometimes rams fail-in this respect:in the opening
of the season, but not subsequently —or vice versa. Occasionally a Merino ram is
hung so low in the sheath that he cannot serve aewe. Ifhe is valuable. some persons

ive him the advantage of a platform, raised three or four inches. Others buckle a
broad strap tight enough around his body to elevate the point of the sheath sufficiently.
With some rams confinement to dry feed a few days is all that is necessary.

208 MANAGEMENT OF RAMS IN COUPLING.

covering, his separate inclosure should of course be dry, clean
and conifortable — properly ventilated and lighted: and it is
better that it entirely seclude him from seeing or hearing the
ewes, except when he is admitted to them. It should also be
strong enough to defy his utmost efforts to escape.* He
should have fresh water in a clean bucket ‘ sheep freely
drinks dirty water, or out of a dirty bucket,) at least three
times a day—the choicest of hay—and be fed on grain
morning and evening. That mixture of oats and peas which
is produced by sowing three bushels of the former to one of
the latter —with one-quarter part of wheat added, constitutes
an admirable grain feed, when the ram’s powers are severely
taxed. A quart of this mixture daily, and sometimes even
more, is often fed to a good-sized, mature animal, which has
been used to hard service and high feed. It would, however,
cloy the appetite, if the feeding was not commenced two or
_ three weeks in advance of the coupling season,and gradually
raised to that point. This should be done not only to prevent
that result, but to give the ram a degree of preparation for
his work. He ought, by no means, however, to be shut up in
his stall without exercise during this preparatory period.

It is not to be understood that the precise mixture of feed
above recommended, is indispensable. But all the articles
named contain a very large proportion of those nitrogenized
matters which produce muscle, or lean meat, and consequently
strength, energy and activity,—while Indian corn, oil meal,
etc., contain an excess of carbon which tends to the production
of fat. The ram demands the former, and is only encum-
bered by any excess of the latter.

One rule is to be kept steadily in view in feeding a ram
during the coupling season. He should not be fed more at a
meal than he will consume briskly and cleanly. If he leaves
any part of his allowance, it should be removed from his
manger; and if this is found to be habitual, the allowance
should be reduced.

I regard it as highly inexpedient to keep two rams in the
same inclosure or room at this period, however well one may
seem to be subjected to the other. Jealousy often provokes
even the weaker one to make battle: and an animal of great
value may be sacrificed by a chance blow. —

The modes of putting ewes and managing rams I have

* Powerful Merino rams which have acquired the habit of breaking inclosures
will often dash through the side of a barn, or knock a stable door from its hinges, at
the second or third blow. They are “ battering-rams,”’ indeed !

DIVIDING FLOCKS FOR WINTER. 209

recommended demand some expenditure of time and labor.
It would probably consume all the time of an active shepherd
properly to take care of four hundred and fifty or five hundred
ewes and the number of rams required to serve them, during
the ordinary coupling period of thirty-five or forty days: and
if he had but two hundred and fifty or three hundred to take
care of, it would still consume all his time. But the labor of
one or two men for that period, would be a very trifling
matter compared with the benefits thus secured. These
directions are not, of course, intended for the owners of
cheap, common flocks who are aiming at no important
improvements, and who would regard $25 an enormous price
to pay for a ram, and who oftener do not pay more than $5.*
But for the last ten if not twenty years preceding the late rise
in the price of sheep, those Merino and English rams which
breeders regard as first class ones, have sold for at least $100
a piece —frequently for twice or three times that amount,
and, as already remarked, no property is more precarious.

‘When the period fixed on for coupling is over, it is
generally decidedly best to separate the rams from the flock
and keep them separated until that period again recurs. If
rams are allowed to run with the ewes either in winter or
summer, there is always a chance of having lambs come at
very unseasonable times. Eating at the same rack or trough
in winter with horned rams, is dangerous to breeding ewes.
If the former are cross the danger is great; but even if not,
the ram, in making his way to the rack through a crowd of
ewes, is liable to inflict unintentional injury on those in
advanced stages of pregnancy.

Divinine Frocks ror WintEr.— In latitudes where
sheep are fed dry feed, and are kept confined to stables and
small yards in winter, even Merinos will not bear herding
together in large numbers. They should be divided into
separate lots before, and preparatory to, going into winter
quarters. It is better that these lots be made as small as
convenience permits, and not exceed 100 each. The sheep in
each should be as nearly uniform in size and strength as
practicable, or otherwise the stronger will rob the weaker,
both at the rack and trough, and will jostle them about

* T could illustrate the curious kind of economy sometimes exhibited in regard to
rams, by naming an individual residing on the borders of this (Cortland) county,
who has within the last five years allowed 60 good ewes owned by him to go without
the ram one year, rather than pay $10 for a decent one, which was offered him at that
price! :

210 DIVIDING FLOCKS FOR WINTER.

whenever they come in contact. Breeding ewes, wethers and
weaned lambs, should always be kept in separate parcels
from each other, in well regulated flocks.

Sheep which are old and feeble, late born lambs, etc., had
better be sold at any price or given to a poor neighbor who
has time to nurse and take care of them. But if kept by the
flock-master, they should be put by themselves in a particularly
sheltered and comfortable place where they can receive extra
feed and attention. This is usually called “the hospital.”

English sheep should be divided. into still-smaller parcels,
and with the same regard to age, condition and sex.

CHAPTER XIX.
WINTER MANAGEMENT.

WINTER SHELTER — TEMPORARY SHEDS — HAY BARNS WITH
OPEN SHEDS—SHEEP BARNS OR STABLES — CLEANING OUT
STABLES IN WINTER — YARDS— LITTERING YARDS — CON-
FINING SHEEP IN YARDS AND TO DRY FEED.

Winter Saetrer.— It has already been assumed that a
degree of winter shelter is requisite for the most profitable
management of sheep in all parts of the United States. ‘The
Merino can withstand far greater exposures to extremes and
to rapid fluctuations of weather, than any other improved
or really valuable breed. In Spain it was unsheltered. In
Western Texas—in that magnificent sheep-growing region
which lies immediately north of San Antonio—it has been
claimed that it requires no shelter; but facts which I shall
allude to hereafter incontestibly prove the contrary.

———=
SHED OF POLES.

Temporary Sueps.— Adequate shelter in warm regions
like Western Texas, demands no arrangements which would
be at all expensive in a well-wooded region, or where sawed
timber could be obtained at moderate prices—for the
cheapest form of open shed (i.‘e., open on one side,) would
answer the purpose. Or, excellent sheds might be constructed
with logs or poles. The pole shed is made as shown above.

212 STELLS — BARNS WITH OPEN SHEDS.

This is covered with straw, reeds, sods, brush, clay, or
anything else which will prevent the wind and rain from
driving through it. It is decidedly improved by raising the
lower ends of the poles two feet by means of a log, stone-wall,
or a bank of earth or sods.

Ciumps oF TREES AND StELLs.—If one generation would
be persuaded to make arrangements for another generation,
good sheep shelters could be cheaply formed, and on the most
comprehensive scale, by planting clumps or belts of woodland,
for that purpose, on the vast timberless plains of the South-
west. Evergreen trees would be far preferable, if they could
be obtained, and would flourish in the situations where they
are required. With stone walls or hedges on the west and
north, even a small clump of such trees would form a far
better stell than many of those which are. used on the bleak
and storm-swept highlands of Scotland,— which consist of
walls alone. Larger clumps would answer without the walls;
but they should be sufficient to protect sheep from the fury of
the wind, which renders cold vastly less endurable by them
— particularly when it follows a rain which has penetrated to
their skins. For this object, and indeed for all objects, naked
stells composed merely of high stone walls, board fences, or
double lines of poles with straw, sods or earth filled in
between them, are far better than no protection.

Hay Bagns wira Opzn Sxxeps.— In all the States lying
south of 40 deg., open sheds are sufficient winter protection
for Merino sheep, and probably so for the English mutton
varieties,—though perhaps the high-bred New Leicester would,
in many situations, find more protection profitable at some
periods of the year.

Hay barns and sheep sheds like those on the following
page, or of some analagous construction, were much in vogue
in the Northern and Eastern States, a few years since.

But there were many difficulties about them, in the
climates of those States. Snow often blew under the sheds
when the wind was in front ; and in severe gales, even when
the wind was in their rear, it drifted over from behind —
piling up large banks immediately in front, which gradually
encroached on the sheltered space, and filled its bottom with
water whenever there was a thaw.

If a cold storm, or a very freezing temperature occurred
at lambing time, these open sheds did not sufficiently exclude

BARNS WITH OPEN SHEDS. 213

the cold; and they did not prevent the ewes going out of
them to lamb, or from leading their new-born lambs out at
very unseasonable times, to follow the movements of the flock,

i

SHEEP BARN.

No female animal is more attached to her young than the
ewe, but none exhibits less providence in protecting it from
any danger, except by setting it an example of running from
those which terrify and demand flight.* If the ewe needed

- * Even then, if seriously frightened, she generally runs directly away from the
danger without stopping for her lamb if it cannot keep up. She has not the remotest
idea of sheltering it from cold by the warmth of her own person, or any apparent
consciousness that anywhere, or under any circumstances, it is weaker or tenderer or
more exposed to danger than herself. We read anecdotes of a very contrary tenor
among sentimental writers, and naturalists who wish to enliven their narrations, or
sustain some favorite theory. These anecdotes are very pretty— sometimes affecting;
but unfortunately in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, untrue! Jessie, for example,
expatiates on the fact that the ewe with twins does not allow one of them to suck
until the other is ready to share in the meal. Now every practical sheep farmer has
been a thousand times provoked by seeing a ewe, followed by one strong, fat twin
Jamb which she allowed to fill itself at ple e, moving restlessly about, without
waiting for, or seeming to have any care for, its mate, which was born weaker and less
able to follow —and which is being starved to death in consequence of its weakness.
Even Mr. Youatt talks of special attachments between particular sheep, and of their
“alternately sheltering each other from the biting blast and the pe tS drift.” He
quotes from the Shepherd’s Calender the following statement:—‘t When a sheep
becomes blind it is rarely abandoned to itself in this hapless and helpless state: some
one of the flock attaches himself to it and, by bleating, calls it back from the precipice,
and the lake, and the pool, and every kind of danger.’ (Youatt on Sheep, p. 875.) I
have no doubt that the half wild breeds in the mountains of Scotland, and in other
regions where they are left almost in a state of nature to obtain their food and take
care of themselves, retain far more of their natural instincts than the more thoroughly
domesticated sheep. They will band together to fight an enemy, and it is said the ewe
will fight a fox or small dog in defence of her lamb. I never saw an instance of either,
among the Merinos. I never saw one sheep render another any direct or intentional
assistance of any kind unless the following are instances of it. There are a few rams
which will not permit 2 stranger to catch out one of their ewes when they are
together in the winter yard. I own such a ram now, and even his attendant has to
act with great caution under such circumstances. Whether the precise object of the
ram is to protect its associates, I am unable to say. The Merino, removed to moun-
tains or great plains, and removed from the constant control and supervision of man,
may acquire, or resume habits more 'y in such situat: a

214 SHEEP BARNS OR STABLES

assistance in lambing, or if the lamb required to be helped to the
teat, it was difficult to catch her conveniently in an open shed.

SuErp Barns or Srasres.—For all the preceding
reasons, barns or stables for the winter shelter of sheep, now
receive universal preference in the Northern and Eastern
States. These are generally constructed —and always should
be—so that they can be closed as tightly as ordinary
horse or cow-barns. But they require doors sufficient for
ventilation and exposure to the sun in fine weather, and for
the ingress of a farm wagon to haul out manure. And by
means of movable windows, or slides covering apertures in
the walls, they should be capable of being thoroughly
ventilated at any time, with the doors closed.

When these close sheep barns first came into use, each
was generally made large enough for seventy-five or one
hundred sheep; and they were scattered about the farm so as
to be contiguous to the meadows from which they were to be
filled with hay, and so the manure made in and about them
would only require hauling a short distance. There was
another argument in their favor. Ifa contagious or infectious
disease broke out in one of the divisions of the flock, it did
not necessarily extend to all; and, theoretically speaking at
least, the fewer the sheep which inhale the same local
atmosphere the freer from impurities it must remain.

But serious inconveniences were found to attend this
system. It required almost a double outlay of materials and
expense to build separate barns and prepare separate yards,
arrangements for watering, etc., for each flock. These
scattered barns required the farmer or his shepherd to wade
wearily two or three times a day, mounted or on foot, for
long distances through sheets of snow which the winds
generally rendered pathless; and oftentimes, and even for
days together, to do this amidst blinding snow-storms or
the most terrible extremes of cold. Much shoveling was
constantly necessary to give the sheep access to water, etc.
If the supply of hay happened to fail at one of these distant
barns, it was often more trouble to get it there, than it would
have been to cart all the hay consumed in the barn to a central
one near the farm-house, and haul all the manure made from
it back. These barns were inconvenient at lambing time,
because the constant attention which one man could give to
all the breeding ewes at once, if in the same or contiguous
buildings, was necessarily divided up between the several
scattered parcels of them, leaving but little time, compara-

SHEEP BARNS OR STABLES. 215

tively, for each. And, finally, the farmer was not so apt,
under such circumstances, to see all his sheep daily with his
own eyes ; nor was either he or his shepherd half so prone to
turn out in the night to take care of the sheep or the lambs,
provided a change of weather, the rising of a gale, or any
other circumstance rendered it expedient. *

It is now usual to construct the sheep, like the horse and
cow barns, near the farm-house. When the farm flock does
not exceed about three hundred, it is often wintered in a
single barn which has separate apartments, holding from
seventy-five to one hundred sheep each; and each apartment
has a separate outside yard. The upper story of these barns
is devoted to hay for the sheep: the under one is eight feet
high, and floored on the bottom if it is necessary to insure
perfect dryness.

It is common to take advantage of a slope in the ground,
and by means of a small amount of excavation, so to place the
sheep barn that while the doors of the basement story open on
a lower level, those of the second story open upon a higher
level, or on the surface of an ascent, on the opposite side — so
that hay can be drawn on wagons into the upper story. This
is something of a convenience, and was a great one before the
invention of the horse pitch-fork. The side of the lower story
which supports the bank of earth resting against it, is generally
composed of stone-wall—- this being necessary both for
strength and durability. In various states of the atmosphere
this wall exudes moisture, or, as it is termed, “sweats,’”—
diffusing dampness through the apartment. Unless that
apartment is far higher, more spacious and better ventilated
than would otherwise be necessary, this dampness is unques-
tionably prejudicial to the health of sheep. The better course
would be, where such a barn is thought desirable, to build it
entirely independent of the bank-wall and connect them with
a short bridge.

The usual way of dividing the lower story of the sheep
barn into apartments for, different parcels of sheep, is simply

* For example, I remember some twenty or twenty-five years since to have
had several hundred ewes with young lambs left out on a warm and beautiful night
in early May, in four adjoining fields. A little after midnight I was wakened by the
first howl of a north-easter, which was accompanied by a blinding snow-storm.
This was a case to say come instead of go. In fifteen minutes three of us, with our
lanterns, had started for the fields about half a mile off: and we worked on until 9
o'clock the next morning in getting in the sheep, and half frozen lambs, and in resus-
citating the latter. _.We. probably saved a hundred lambs which would have perished
before morning. Had these sheep been out in the same number of parcels half a mile
from each other—some of them a mile and a half from my house—what chance
would there have been to save the great body of the younger lambs ?

216 SHEEP BARNS.

by placing feeding racks across them—so that in reality the
sheep are all in one room. This mode is a material saving
both of space and expense; and it is highly convenient,
inasmuch as the partitions can be changed in a moment to
‘adapt them to any change which it is desirable to make in the
relative number of sheep in the different apartments. But it
must be obvious that any considerable number of sheep when
thus kept breathing the same indoor atmosphere, require that
the means of ventilation be abundant and most thoroughly
kept in operation. Indeed, I should prefer, as a matter of
prudence, not to place more than one hundred and fifty sheep
in the same room, though divided into smaller flocks on the
floor. With different rooms, and with independent means of
communicating with the external air, four hundred or six
hundred could be kept, perhaps, just as safely, under the same
roof, unless during the prevalence of infectious or epizootic
diseases. But who can be certain that these will remain
absent? On the whole, such large and close aggregations of
sheep are inexpedient.

The room required for a given number of Merino breeding
ewes in a barn is, for Paulars, about ten and two-thirds square
feet of area on the floor each; in other words, an apartment
twenty by forty feet in the clear will accommodate seventy-five,
so that they can all eat at the same time at single or wall racks
placed round the entire walls, except before the doors. A
room forty feet square will accommodate one hundred and fifty,
but it requires forty feet of double rack* to be placed in the
area inside of the wall racks. Larger Merino, or English ewes,
require more room in proportion to their size. Some of the last
would probably require nearly twice as much room per head.

A sheep barn should open on the side least exposed to the
prevailing winter winds; and its yards should be placed as
much as practicable under its shelter. Some persons build
these barns in the form of an L, to break off the winds from
different quarters; others make a high stone wall or board
fence a substitute for one of the limbs of the L. The yards
are inconveniently narrow if restricted to the breadth of the
inside apartments ; and should, therefore, be widened accord-
ing to circumstances.

The following ground plan is intentionally confined to a

* There use the word single or wall-rack to signify one made to set against a
wall, which can only be eaten from on one side — the word double rack, to signify one
water can be eaten from on both sides, so that forty feet of one is equivalent to eighty

feet of the other.

SHEEP BARNS AND YARDS. 217

mere outline of a very simple and compact sheep barn, which
is under a single roof, has no waste space, and makes the
utmost use of all its materials. Three different modes of
watering are presented, either of which is sufficient, and the
choice between them should depend upon circumstances.

oO
6g , r)

+o

20.

60.

ia

Qa

sj

&
Als
X
&
alts
&

120.
PLAN OF SHEEP BARN AND YARDS.

a, a, @, a, Apartments or stables in sheep barn, 20 by 40 feet. The central parti-
tion a close one, with single racks on each side. The other two partitions composed
of double racks. Single racks round all the outside walls except at doors. .

6, b, Watering tubs, when water is brought into barn in pipes.

¢, ¢, ¢, A door in central partition and gates in the other two partitions.

, a, a, d, Sheep yards, 30 feet wide; the two outside ones 60 feet pone the two
inside ones 52 feet long: thus arranged to allow the four flocks of sheep to drink from
the troughs of one pump-house at e. fi
_ e, i alee and troughs for four yards, if water is not carried into the

arn at 6, b.

J, J, Pump-houses and troughs, each accommodating two yards, provided neither

of preceding plans of watering are available or desirable.

Sheep barns are often connected with other farm buildings,
such as horse stables, wool rooms, ram stables, etc. The
following is the plan of Mr. Hammond’s sheep establishment.*
His house, wood-sheds, etc., stand south of the barns, so that
they principally break the force of the wind from that
quarter.

i, * Except a slight change in respect to wool room, which stands detached from -
arn.
10

218 SHEEP ESTABLISHMENT.

a
e
20x24 20 x* 50..
— 20 X 40
@
fox e@ 40
f
Hes
af 20X40
SS f
£
3OX 65 3
9
£ 24X00
30 X OS
40 x60
ww

PLAN OF A SHEEP ESTABLISHMENT.

a@, Horse barn.
$i 6,6 a Sheep stables, each divided into two apartments by racks across them in
ie middle.
¢, Ram stable, divided into two apartments.
d, Hay barn.
€, Wool room.
SSF: 5,5, Ff, Yards before each apartment of sheep stables.
9,9,9, Watering places, each supplying two apartments.

Whatever plan is adopted for a sheep barn, certain things
are indispensable. It should stand on and be surrounded by

CLEANING OUT STABLES IN WINTER. 219

dry ground; occupy an elevated, airy position, but one as
little exposed as possible to prevailing winter winds; be of
easy access to water; possess ample capacity for the number
of sheep to be kept in it; and have means of thorough ventila-
tion in every state of the atmosphere. The hay floor above
the sheep stables should be matched. or battened, so as
entirely to prevent dust, hay seeds, or chaff from sifting
through on the sheep. It should have pens in the sheep
stables to throw the hay in from above when feeding, so that
it cannot fall on the backs of the sheep or be run over by
them.* Every gate, door, fastening and fixture about it
should be strong. and secure.

Creanine Out Srastes in WintEeR.— It is rather the
prevailing custom among Northern flock-masters not to clean
out their sheep stables in winter, but merely to cover the
manure occasionally with fresh litter. This is unquestionably
bad practice, in two particulars. It certainly prevents makin
anything like the amount of manure which could be formed
by mixing the dung and urine of the sheep with an amount of
litter which would half fill the sheep stable, if suffered to accu-
mulate there throughout the winter. And there can be no
reasonable doubt that a deep bed of manure, which, except
during severely cold weather, is constantly heating, evolving
gases, and filling the apartment with a warm steam and the odor
of fermenting dung, and which, after a decided thaw of a few
days, positively produces an offensive stench, can not form a
very healthy lair for sheep. It is rather the prevailing opinion
now among the best flock-masters, that the increased practice
among Merino sheep of pulling their own and each other’s
wool in the winter, is occasioned by an irritation of the skin
caused by lying on these beds of heating manure. Unstabled
flocks do not, so far as I have observed, thus become addicted
to “wool-biting.” Stables should be cleaned out three times
during each. winter, say in the early part of January, the
latter part of February, and in April. And in the interme-
diate periods, itis an excellent practice always to strew the
manure on the floor with plaster (gypsum,) prior to covering
it with fresh straw. This absorbs the escaping gases, and
thus not only preserves the purity of the atmosphere, but
vastly enhances the value of the manure.

* Some, instead of this, shut the sheep out of doors when filling the racks. But
the state of the weather, as, for instance, in a winter rain-storm, or the situation of
the sheep—say when they are lambing —sometimes renders this highly improper.

220 YARDS — LITTERING YARDS.

Yarps.— I by no means wish to be understood to express
the opinion that sheep yards should, for any purpose of utility,
be restricted to the narrow dimensions of those given in the
preceding ground plans. I rather consider those the least
dimensions which can be regarded as proper; and if
convenience equally admitted of it, I would prefer to have
them much more spacious. They should be constructed on
dry, firm, thoroughly drained ground; and a gravelly soil
rapidly permeable by surface water, and which quickly dries,
is much preferable to a clayey, tenacious soil, or a peaty or
mucky one which retains moisture. All the yards ought to
have separate access to water, and, if practicable, separate
access to different fields. This last fact renders the plan of
yards given with the first of the preceding ground plans
objectionable, unless the two middle flocks can be let into
different fields through doors in the opposite side of the barn.
That plan merely saves the digging of one well; and I should
much prefer to dig the two wells (at f, 7) and have the yards
of equal length, and each possessed of separate and indepen-
dent egress and ingress.*

Lirrerine Yarps.—Strawing or otherwise littering sheep
yards in winter in the most thorough manner, is a matter of
prime importance. If sheep are compelled to stand or move
about in mud or water whenever out of doors, the most
liberal feeding and good management in every other partic-
ular, will hardly preserve them in the best condition. They
should have a comparatively dry out-door bed to stand on in
wet weather, and a warm one in cold weather. The sheep —
or at least all the upland breeds of sheep — find one of the
worst enemies of their health and thrift in habitual wetness
under foot. Muddy yards prevent sheep from moving about
out of doors and spending a portion of the time in the sun
and fresh air, in pleasant winter weather; promote fouls;
render hoof rot incurable; and cause lameness and annoyance
to sheep which have sound feet, when a sudden freeze converts
the small pellets of mud which adhere to the hairs in the
forward part of the cleft of the foot, into pellets of stone. A
little straw is excellent feed for sheep. If it is scattered over

* By gates opposite each other on the eight-feet passage—one of them opening
entirely across it on the side of the outer yards—a separate passage could be obtained ;
but this would not be very convenient, and when the passage was thus closed, the
sheep in the outside yards would not have access to the water trough at e.

CONFINEMENT TO YARDS AND DRY FEED. 221

the yard they will “pick it over,” eating the best parts, and
leaving enough to keep the littering constantly renewed.

Conrininc Sarep iv Yarps anp To Dry Frerp.—A
decided majority of Northern flock-masters prefer the strict
confinement of sheep to their yards during the entire winter.
They contend that the slightest taste of the pasture during
thawing weather takes off the appetite from hay, and that
sheep are equally healthy and even more thrifty under such
confinement. I dissent from both conclusions.

If sheep, long kept from the grass by deep snows, are
suddenly admitted to it in consequence of a winter thaw, and
if they are allowed wholly to subsist on it for 2 number of
days —as long as the thaw continues — they unquestionably
lose condition and strength on herbage which has been
rendered. innutritious by age and by repeated freezings and
thawings. Thin breeding ewes and young sheep sometimes
suffer materially in this way, particularly in the critical month of
March. When returned to their confinement and to dry feed,
they have no vigorous appetite for it, and consequently do not
recover from their debility. In certain unfavorable seasons
they pine, and eventually perish, if not solely from this cause,
yet with the fatal termination accelerated and rendered more
inevitable by it. Stronger sheep recover from its effects —
but of course any check in the thrift of a flock results in a
proportionable loss in some of its products.

Having habitually and regularly fed turnips daily to
breeding ewes, young ewes, rams, and wethers, (when I have
kept the latter,) for the last fifteen or twenty winters, I am
enabled to affirm, of my own positive knowledge, that green
feed, administered in proper quantities, does not in the least
diminish the appetite for dry feed; and that proper green
feed, so far from weakening, adds to the condition and
strength of sheep, besides producing other good effects which
will be adverted to when I speak of the relative value and
influence of winter feeds. The experience of the great body
of English farmers fully sustains these conclusions. The prac-
tice of wintering sheep exclusively on dry feed—say on
meadow hay and straw, with or without grain-or pulse — is
substantially unknown in the arable districts of England.
For sheep of every class not to receive green feed daily
would there be an exception; and fattening sheep receive it
in abundant quantities.

The winter grass in our own Northern States, though

222 CONFINEMENT TO YARDS AND DRY FEED.

comparatively innutritious, is, in the absence of better green
feed, a healthful change in the diet of pregnant ewes. It
keeps down the tendency to costiveness, habitual to females
in that situation, and in conjunction with that exercise which
is required to obtain it, renders the system less subject to the
plethora, which is also natural in pregnancy, but which is
greatly fostered by rich food and inactivity. But to attain
these objects, the sheep should be let out an hour a day, instead
of the entire day, in warm winter weather. It should obtain
a small portion of its feed, instead of the whole of it, from
the fields.

Sheep, like other animals, spontaneously diminish their
amount of exercise as they advance in pregnancy, and it
thence may very properly be inferred that they require less
of it than at other times to preserve a healthy condition. It
is also undoubtedly true that excessive or fatiguing exercise
is positively injurious at this period. But if we can trust to
established physiological principles, or to the teachings of
analogy, the sudden change produced in the habits of an
active, roving animal, by rigid confinement from the com-
mencement to the close of gestation— accompanied by a
complete alteration of diet—must be attended by baneful
consequences. Are we told that pregnant sheep thrive and
grow fat in this confinement — fatter than when they are let
out on the fields? This is true, and it is one of the dangerous
incidents of the system. Pregnancy of itself favors the
taking on of flesh; and when this tendency is aided by
concentrated and highly nutritious food, and by entire
inactivity, the condition established is rather that of plethora
— high condition attended by an unnatural excess of blood —
than of the healthy fleshiness which comes with natural feed
and exercise. ; 2 ;

We know that the sow which is confined closely to the
pen and fed to fatness on wholly artificial food never farrows
in safety. We should esteem that farmer beside himself who
confined his mares and cows to little dry yards and to dry
feed during the whole term of pregnancy. The most
celebrated practitioners of medicine allow no such changes of
habit among their human subjects during this period. I
can not do better than to quote the sensible remarks of Dr.
Bedford on this subject. He says: :

“ Allow me here to remark that, as a general principle, if
the pregnant female observe strictly the ordinances which na-
ture has inculcated for her guidance; if, for example, she take «

EXERCISE AND GREEN FEED NECESSARY. 223

her regular exercise in the open air, avoid; as far as may be,
all causes of mental or physical excitement, employ herself in
the ordinary duties of her household, partake of nutritious
and digestible food, repudiate luxurious habits, * * * *
if, I say, she will steadfastly adhere to these common sense
rules, the reward she will receive at the hands of nature will
be general good health during her gestation, and an auspicious
delivery, resulting in what will most gladden and amply repay
her for her discretion—the birth of a healthy child. * *
But. if in lieu of these observances, the pregnant woman
pursue a life of luxury, ‘eat, drink, and become merry,’
neglect to take her daily exercise, and prefer her lounge —
the case is entirely reversed, etc.*”

I might swell quotations of the same tenor to a volume:
for such are the settled opinions of the whole medical
profession.

Am I asked where the injurious effects of the close
confinement of sheep to small yards and dry feed have
manifested themselves? I suspect that they have manifested
themselves in the prevailing and destructive loss of lambs
which annually takes place in our flocks. Why is it that with
better shelters and conveniences of every kind, and with
greatly increased skill as shepherds, the body of American
Merino flock-masters do not. raise a larger per centage of
lambs than they did twenty or thirty years ago? I have
already expressed the opinion that eighty per cent. is still as
high as the general average, taking a series of years together,
though I know, many small flocks in which 90, 95, and
occasionally 100 per cent. are raised. The American Merino
is a much larger and better formed animal than it was twenty
years since, and though it has undoubtedly lost something of
that locomotive power and energy which it possessed when it
was compelled to make a journey of eight hundred miles each
year in Spain, it remains a far hardier animal than the
improved English sheep, and it is less subject to parturient
difficulties and diseases.t Yet the English sheep rear from

* Principles and Practice of Obstetrics, by Gunning 8. Bedford, etc., etc. New
York, 1862, p. 131. ‘ :

+ Mr. Youatt enumerates among the defects of the Merino, “‘ partly attributable
to the breed, but more to the improper mode of treatment to which they are occasion-
ally subjected,” in Spain, ‘‘a tendency to abortion or to barrenness; a difficulty of
yeaning; a paucity of milk, and a too frequent neglect of their young.” (Youatt,

. 149.) The tendency to abortion is not greater in the American Merino than in the
Einglish ewe: the former does not so often experience difficulty in yegning: and itis
decidedly less subject to parturient fevers.. It has, however, a greater oy of
milk,” a greater tendency to barrenness, in the sense in which I presume Mr. Youatt

224 CONFINEMENT TO YARDS AND DRY FEED.

thirty to fifty per cent. more lambs! Our English flocks, it is
true, are usually small; and among the established natural
characteristics of the ewes are those of bringing forth twin
lambs and having a sufficient supply of milk to raise them
properly. But they also, so far as my knowledge extends,
lose fewer lambs. How is this to be accounted for? If the
Merino is a hardier animal than the mutton sheep, its lamb,
it would seem, ought also to be hardier. And so I have no
doubt it is, if it is born in a perfectly well developed, normal
condition, and if it gets anything like a corresponding supply
of milk. It is not among such that the annual losses among
our lambs occur. Those which perish are generally undersized
and feeble, or else they do not obtain sufticient support from
their dams. It is these causes and failure to take the ram
which keeps the rate of increase so low in Merino flocks.

This comparative want of prolificacy is the weak point —
now really the only one for the purposes for which they
are grown—of our American Merino sheep. Yet no other
point has received more of the care of those breeders who
have been so successful in improving them in every other
particular. Their comparative failure is occasioned by no
obstacle inherent in the breed, as I could show from a
variety of considerations and direct proofs, did space admit
of it. If it can be shown that there is a radical error in
our modes of management — that we habitually compel the
pregnant ewe to violate “‘the ordinances which nature has
inculeated for her guidance”—need we go further to find
the causes of that failure? Can we wonder that lambs are
born imperfectly developed when ewes are rigidly confined
for five or five and a half months — through the entire term
of pregnancy —in little yards; and even then fed almost
invariably within doors—so that they have no inducements
left to take the least degree of exercise —and so that more
than four-fifths of the whole time they are inhaling the
atmosphere of a stable, without going out into the fresh air and
sunlight? Can we wonder that an animal which obtains its en-
tire summer subsistence from green vegetation does not secrete
milk abundantly, and can not be bred to secrete it abundantly,
when, from the first to the last day of gestation, it is unnat-
urally restricted to exclusively dry food? And when young
and not fully matured ewes, or old and decaying ones, or

here uses the word, i. e., it oftener fails to take theram. Literal barrenness, or a
want of the power of conception, is almost unknown in the Merino; and its failure
to take the ram, generally, springs from incidental and not ry causes.

THE CAUSE OF WANT OF PROLIFICACY. 225

poor ones of any age — the classes which furnish the principal
portion of those which do not breed*—are suddenly subjected
to the commencement of the preceding changes, about con-
temporaneously with that great fall of temperature which
usually attends the setting in of winter, can we wonder that
the depressing effects of all these combined causes should
prevent cohabitation? It has already been stated as a well
established fact, that not only low condition, but anything
which, for the time being, lowers the condition, tends
to produce that effect. Even ewes in the most suitable
situation for coupling, viz., in good, plump, store order and
improving in condition, at the time, often wholly cease to take
the ram in severely cold weather. And as winter advances,
the heats of the Merino ewe are less to be relied upon.

Many American Merino sheep breeders, on reading this,
will say:—“I have used small yards, fed generally in the
stables, fed nothing but dry feed in winter, for ten, fifteen,
or twenty years, and I have always had good success
in lamb raising.” But what proportion of these breeders,
whose breeding ewes count up even to one hundred
and fifty, would be able to show from contemporaneous
records, or would dare to affirm as a matter of positive
recollection, that they had on the average, for any consid-
erable term of years, raised either 100 per cent. of lambs, or
any very close approximation to that number? Yet can lamb
raising be considered successfully carried on, or a breed to
have reached its highest attainable standard in this particular,
when a selected flock of only one hundred and fifty breeding
ewes can not be made annually to raise their own number
of lambs ? ; =

There is a material difference in the prolificacy of the
English and Merino sheep — first produced, in all probability,
by the different modes of artificial treatment to which they were
subjected f—but long since’ established as permanent and
hereditary characteristics of the different breeds: but I do
not entertain a shadow of ‘doubt that were the most prolific
English families of sheep subjected to the same winter treat-

_ | * If there are “dry ewes” in ‘the flock, i. e., those which raised no lambs the
preceding year, and they are allowed to become very fat, they too, are very apt not to
become, as the English Shepherds say, ‘intambed.””

__ + The Spanish sheep were sibjected neither to confinement nor dry feed, in the
winter, in Spain — but'there being'n6 object: to incredsé their number they were not
allowed to raise over 50 per cent, of lambs; and consequently prolificacy was not culti-
vated. ‘While their constant migrations gave them extraordinary general vigor, they
did not tend to develop their pelt operstet ae igs Root» 2)

10

226 CONFINEMENT TO YARDS AND DRY FEED.

ment which we give to the bulk of our American Merinos,
half a dozen getierations would find them seriously degene-
rated in prolificacy.

Occasionally there comes a year when double, treble and
even quadruple the usual number of our lambs perish. The
causes and symptoms appear to be the usual ones, but
aggravated and extended by an epizootic influence. I have
(at page 154,) described the appearance of the lambs, and the
singular degree of mortality which prevailed among them in
the spring of 1862. An extraordinarily deep snow fell in the
early part of winter, and it was replenished about as fast as it
wasted away until the opening of spring. It was remarked
that most of the breeding ewes clung very closely to their
stables — doing little more than rising to eat and then lying
down again. ‘Those flocks most accustomed to close yarding
in many instances did not tread down the snow a dozen yards
from their stables during the winter. But the weather was
steady and cold, so that they continued to eat well, and the
hay of that season was generally of good quality. Thus their
inactivity increased their fleshiness, and their fleshiness
re-acted and increased their inactivity. They generally
reached the spring in uncommonly high order. They
appeared to be well—but yet there were unmistakable
symptoms of a plethoric habit in the best fed flocks: and it
was in the best fed flocks that the loss of lambs was, as a
general thing, far most severe.

Putting all these facts together, I have been disposed to
trace this mortality in lambs to the condition of the mothers
—the unfavorable condition being aided by an epizootic
influence.* Is it asked why a proportionable degree of
mortality does not habitually attend all unusual confinement
of breeding ewes, and why, in 1862, it did not extend its
destructive ravages to Vermont, where the snow was equally
deep and laid still longer on the ground? When it is
explained why the directly exciting causes of various destruc-
tive diseases among human beings, lie comparatively dormant

* Having, from inability to fix upon any descriptive or definite name, termed
this imperfect state of the lambs of 1862, which resulted in such wide spread death,
“the lamb epizootic of 1862,” (in some articles which I published on the subject in
the Country Gentleman,) several writers appeared to think that I intended to charac-
terise it asa contagious, or infectious disease. An epider, or epidemy, is defined in
Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary to be ‘‘a disease which attacks at the same timea
number of individuals, and which is depending upon some particular constitutio aeris,
or condition of the atmosphere, with which we are utterly ignorant.” And he defines
epizootia (epizootic) to be ‘‘a disease which reigns among animals — corresponding
in the veterinary art to epidemy in medicine.” This correction is made simply to
prevent similar misconceptions in regard to the use of the word in this work.

OVER FEEDING AND WANT OF EXERCISE. 227

for years in a particular region — producing only sporadic or
Separate cases; why, in other years, when all the proximate
causes appear to be the same, some one of those diseases
assumes an endemic or epidemic form, desolating neighbor-
hoods or provinces; and, finally, why, at the height of its
fury, it passes round and spares this household or that, or this
neighborhood or that, and frequently leaves as well defined
margins as the track of a tornado, although the population
was as dense without as within its track;— when, I say, these
anomalies are explained, we shall be able to explain the
one under consideration. And let it be remembered that
the same anomalous facts will continue to exist, to stand
as much in the way of the true as of a false theory of
explanation.

I am not tenacious for the acceptance of this explanation.
I merely offer it as the most probable one within my
knowledge. Better observed facts may hereafter throw more
light on the subject.

I do not wish to be understood that restriction to dry feed
is necessary to produce that condition of the ewe which I
have assumed to be so prejudicial to the offspring. On the
contrary, I think it would be produced, though hardly so
readily or to so dangerous an extent, by an over-supply of
good, green feed, attended with the same other unhealthy
auxiliaries. It is the high condition, the excess of blood, the
excited vascular system ready to assume or produce intlam-
matory action, which produce or co-operate with the morbid
tendency to non-development in the fetus. Indeed, high
condition alone, may, to some extent, offer a mechanical ob-
struction to its development. The internal fat of the dam
may so far obstruct the full distension of the womb that the
foetus can not grow to its full size anterior to birth.

I urge letting out breeding ewes on the fields for a limited
time each day, because no animal more intensely craves a
portion of green food in the winter; and I consider nature or
instinct a first-rate judge of its own wants: because the small
portion of green feed obtained from the fields can exert no
injurious influence whatever in any direction, while it prevents
the costiveness peculiarly incidental to pregnancy, and, by
keeping the bowels in an open and regular state, has a strong
tendency to avert all unhealthy action or agencies; because
traveling about and digging in the snow for green feed affords
a most necessary and healthful exercise; and, finally, because
a neglect “of these ordinances which nature has inculcated”

228 MODES OF INSURING EXERCISE.

for the guidance of the pregnant ewe, has been followed by
wide-spread disaster, under circumstances which at least
give much color to the hypothesis that they are connected
together as cause and effect.

It by no means follows from anything which has been said,
that sheep require a very extensive winter range on grass. I
should decidedly object to their being allowed to feed down
all the grass lands on the farm at this period of the year,
and particularly the meadows.

A few moderate-sized old seeded pastures about the sheep
barn, with a good amount of grass left on them, in the
fall, would answer every purpose; for the sheep with its
fluted teeth will not only take the grass but some portion of
its very roots. It wants but little each day, and the harder it
works to obtain it the better it is.

Those who raise turnips for the sheep must, obtain exercise
for them in some other way. A stack to feed from at noon
in fine weather, a quarter of a mile from the sheep barn, is an
excellent arrangement; and who does not recollect the old-
fashioned, lively and merry scene of hauling out hay on an
ox-sled far from the dirty farm yard—the great oxen
hurrying forward as if satisfied some frolic was going on —
the feeder tossing the fragrant flakes right and left — each
succeeding flock pursuing with a Babel of cries—some of the
young ones bounding and kicking their heels into the air as
if greatly enjoying their fine run over the snow!

I made it a rule in entering upon the writing of this book,
to look little after authorities where I believed the facts were
established by my own observations; but the necessity of
winter exercise for sheep seems to be a much controverted
question in this country, and therefore I have largely
consulted the best. European writers on the subject. I have
thus far been unable to find one who mentions the subject at
all, without distinctly insisting on the necessity of exercise ;
and when. the destructive lamb epizootic of 1862 was termi-
nating its ravages, I. addressed letters to a number of the
oldest..and soundest breeders in our country, describing the
disease as I saw it, and asking their opinions as to it origin.
To no one did I suggest my own theory of that origin. In
every instance, I believe, the want of exercise was put forward
as either the leading cause, or as a cause second to no other
in its effects. Several also stated that they thought the
sheep “had been kept too long from the ground.” _,

CHAPTER XX.
WINTER MANAGEMENT — CONTINUED.

HAY RACKS — WATER FOR SHEEP IN WINTER — AMOUNT
OF FOOD CONSUMED BY SHEEP IN WINTER— VALUE OF
DIFFERENT FODDERS — NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS — MIXED
FEEDS — FATTENING SHEEP IN WINTER — REGULARITY IN
FEEDING.

Hay Racxs.—A great variety of racks for sheep have
been introduced into use, but for double and portable ones
for ordinary purposes, those of the form exhibited in the
annexed cut are generally preferred. The corner posts are 2
by 24 or 8 inches in
size, and are 2 feet 8 or
10 inches long-— some-
times 8 feet, where the
racks are to be used as
partitions. The side
and end boards are an
inch thick, the upper
ones six and the lower ones nine inches wide. The perpen-
dicular slats are three-fourths of an inch thick, seven inches
wide and seven inches apart, fastened.to their places by
wrought and well clenched nails, Each slat requires four
nails, instead of two as represented in cut. The slats are
highly useful in keeping in hay, but.their principal object is
to prevent the sheep from crowding. They give every sheep
fourteen inches at the rack while, eating. This is a liberal
allowance for the Merino; but the English sheep requires
more room. The ordinary breadth of the rack is two and a
half feet, and the length depends upon circumstances. Those
intended to be moved often are usually made ten feet long.
They should be so light that a man standing inside of one of
them can réadily'carry it about. 99 8 ge @

Single or wall racks to be used against the walls of stables
and othe places whete'the ‘sheep can approach them’ but on

SLATTED BOX RACK.

230 HAY RACKS, ETC.

one side, are often constructed like one side of the box rack
and attached to the walls by stay-laths. Some arrange them
so that they can be raised as the manure accumulates; but
there is no need of this if they are made with the bottom
boards a foot instead of nine inches wide, and if the manure
is cleaned out as often as it should be.

But a far neater and more convenient wall rack, having
troughs also connected with it, was invented by Mr. Virtulan
Rich, of Richville, Vermont.* The following cut, from a
drawing kindly furnished me by that gentleman, gives an
easily understood general view of it:

WALL RACK AND TROUGH.

@, Plank 2 inches thick and 9 inches wide, placed 20 inches from wall (e,) to form
bottom rail of outside rack.

6, Scantling 8 by 3 inches, forming top rail of outside rack.

c, Bottom of trough, being a board placed on floor, or if there is no floor, on
scantling to raise it sufficiently from ground.

d, Board five inches wide, to support the board 4 inches wide, which forms
bottom of the inside rack (f.) These would be better made of plank. Bottom of
inside rack should be 6 inches above bottom of trough.

é, Outside wall of barn or stable.

+ J, Inside rack hung with hinges to bottom board. It is made by nailing slats 1%
inches wide, 3 inches apart, on upper and lower rails, which are about 144 by 2 inches
in diameter.

q, Slats to outside rack % inches wide and 7 inches apart.

, Slanting board, from bottom of inside rack to bottom of trough and forming

back side of trough.

The end-views of the same rack (on next page) render the
details of its construction a little more apparent. The left
hand cut shows the inside rack (jf) in its place as when filled
with hay. In the right hand cut, it is turned up or thrown

* Thave previously, in this volume, named the Messrs. Rich as of Shoreham.
This is the name of the town in which they reside, and was until recently the name of
their Post-Office. The latter is now Richville,

HAY RACKS, ETC. 231

back on its hinges as when grain or roots are being put in the
trough (c,) or the trough is being cleaned out.

The advantages of this rack are, 1, That it prevents
crowding as well as the slatted box-rack; 2, That it prevents
sheep from thrusting their heads and necks into the hay, as
they can do to some extent in the slatted box-rack, thereby

W7}

END VIEW OF WALL RACK.

getting dust, hay-seeds and chaff into their wool; 3, That it
almost entirely prevents the hay which is pulled from the
inside rack from being dropped under foot and wasted ;* 4,
That it combines the advantages of a good stationary feeding-
trough with the rack; 5, That the trough, apart from its
ordinary uses, is found very convenient to keep hay-seed out
of the manure when it is is desirable to do so, and to catch
and save hay-seed for use.

Water For SHEep in Winter. — Sheep, and particu-
larly sheep fed with roots, will do very well in winter without
water if they have a constant supply of clean snow; but that
supply can never be relied on. And when watered at a pump
or stream a portion of the time, they (particularly pregnant

* A considerable quantity is wasted from all slanting racks with small, close
rounds (like the inside rack 7, in the cut;) and some is thus wasted even from the
slatted box rack, A sheep on being jostled by another, steps back from the rack
frequently dragging out quite a lock of hay, which is immediately trodden under foot
and hardly ever picked up.

232 WATER FOR SHEEP IN WINTER.

ewes) suffer if again forced to depend exclusively on eating
snow. Consequently, a regular supply of water throughout
the winter should be regarded as indispensable. It becomes
still more so, where sheep are housed and yarded. In winter
climates cold enough frequently to congeal water, the most
convenient arrangement, where it is practicable, is to bring
it directly into the sheep barn, by means of underground
pipes from a spring or dam of sufficient elevation to force it
up into tubs. These should be placed in the middle
partitions, (as seen. in the two plans of sheep barns in
the preceding Chapter,) so that each tub shall supply two
flocks of sheep. If different tubs are supplied from the same
spring, each must have a different pipe, or else the tubs must
be at different elevations, so that a waste pipe from the
higher one will go up into the bottom of and fill the lower
one. When the surplus water is finally discharged into the
ground, it should be by a waste-pipe emptying into a deep,
well-made drain, which will never become clogged. An
accumulation of ice in a sheep stable, or any overflow of
water into the bedding, would be a nuisance far more than
overbalancing all the conveniences of indoor watering. The
tubs should rise but a few inches above the floor, and should,
if they have much depth, have well secured but movable covers
to prevent sheep and lambs from falling into them—the covers
having holes cut through them barely large enough to enable
the sheep to drink.*

Two plans for outdoor watering are given in the ground
plan at page 217. As I have already stated, I decidedly
prefer that which exhibits two wells and pump-houses (at 7;
J;) because free egress from all the yards, independently of
each other, could thus be much more conveniently secured.
Each well or cistern should be fitted with a pump of a
construction which forces up water very rapidly, and which
does not admit of its being frozen in the body of the pump,
if some special precaution chances to be forgotten. Small
pump houses, which can be shut tight and provided with
proper conductors to the troughs, guard against numerous
accidents to pumps, preyent ice accumulating inconveniently
about them, and render it so comparatively comfortable to
water sheep in very cold and blustering weather, that there is

* As the tubs are constantly forced full of water the sheep need not even put its
head through the;cover to drink; and elliptical holes through it 444 by 5 or 54 inches,
for the mere insertion of the nose, are all that is required. If the tub waters two
apartments it should have two holes on each side. :

CONSUMPTION OF FOOD IN WINTER. 233

much greater probability of its being properly attended to.
Some persons place sheds over the troughs also, to prevent snow
from accumulating about them, and to offer greater induce-
ments to the sheep to visit them in stormy weather. The
troughs are placed lengthwise with and under the fence (as
at e, in cut page 217,) or crosswise with the ends projecting
(as at f, f, in same cut.) If the sheep are watered pretty
early in the day, the water will generally be lowered so
often by drinking that thick ice will not form over it, and
the sheep will usually keep drinking holes open. But the
shepherd should look to this; and in severely cold weather he
should water the flock two or three times a day, (so that all
will be likely to drink once,) and then by withdrawing a plug
in the bottom of the trough, let off the water into a drain
underneath.

A brook of sufficient volume and current not to freeze
deeply, brought near to the sheep yards, is an admirable
addition to a sheep farm, both in summer and winter; and
when it can be had, no other mode of watering is necessary.
The banks at the drinking places should be so'sloped that
there will be no difficulty in a number drinking at once, and
no liability of a sheep being crowded off a high bank or into
deep water; and the approach to and bottom of the drinking
place should be thoroughly gravelled. I should, however,
consider such a brook bought quite too dearly, if the sheep
were compelled to wade through it whenever they entered or
left their yards— even if the water did not usually exceed
three or four inches in depth. Every approach to the yards,
crossed by a stream, requires a bridge.

Amount oF Foop Consumep spy SHEEP IN WINTER.—
It is now generally estimated that, taking the average of
winter weather in our Northern States, American Merino and
grade Merino sheep kept exclusively on hay, require about
one pound of good hay, or its equivalent, per diem, for every
30 Ibs. of their own live weight—to be kept in that plump
condition somewhat short of fatness, which is usually regarded
as the most desirable one for store sheep. Mr. Spooner
adopts the same rule in regard to the consumption of English
sheep. *

Vaxuve or Dirrrrent Fopprers.—In most of the Eastern
and Southern counties of New York, in similar regions of

* He says “sheep grown up take 3 1-8 per cent. of their weight in hay per day to
keep in store condition.” Spooner on Sheep p. 217.

234 NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS.

Pennsylvania and throughout New England —the grazing
region proper of the older-settled Northern States — the
favorite meadow hay for sheep is produced by sowing about
three parts of timothy (Phlewm pratense) to one of red clover,
(Trifolium pratense.) The first and second years, the clover
is in excess, but after that it only appears in moderate quan-
tities; and in the meantime many spontaneous clovers and
grasses come in, such as June or spear grass, (Poa pratensis,)
white clover, (Zrifolium pa) red-top or herds - grass
(Agrostis vulgaris) in moist places, and various others in minor
quantities and in special situations, such as the rough-stalked
meadow grass, (Poa trivialis,) rye or ray grass, (Lolium
perenne,) and several of the fescue grasses. For sheep, this
collection of grasses and clover is cut down rather early and
cured as bright as possible. Where meadows are not
brought into a course of arable husbandry, and are only
plowed at long intervals, no better hay could be obtained
from the soil; and, indeed, better would hardly seem
desirable. But those who have tested it, know that red
clover cut early and cured bright is preferred by sheep, and
will fatten them more. It is a prevailing impression, too,
among clover growers, that it more specially conduces to the
secretion of milk when fed to, breeding ewes. ,

Norritive Equivatents.— But it is not economical in
most situations, to winter sheep exclusively on any kind of hay.
There are incidental products raised with other crops which
are regarded as necessary in even that limited extent of mixed
husbandry which is practiced on our sheep farms, such as
corn-stalks, the straws of the different grains, pea-haulm, etc.,
which must be consumed in part by the sheep, or be wasted ;
and there are other crops which, like turnips. and beets, are,
so far as they can properly be fed, vastly cheaper than
hay. Moreover, a well-selected variety in food is better,
other things being equal, than uniformity: because the
different products furnish more of all the different substances
which go to form wool and meat. It is, therefore, incumbent
on the intelligent sheep farmer carefully to study both .in
theory and practice, the effect of each of the kinds of
available food, separately or in combination, to produce these
results. Agricultural Chemistry has made new and important
disclosures in this particular; and though its. theoretical
deductions cannot be implicitly relied on, owing to excep-
tional or incidental circumstances which have thus far eluded

NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS. 235

detection, still they usually approximate sufficiently near to
the truth to be of great value to the farmer. Before offering
any comments on them, I will proceed to lay some of these
before the reader, in connection with a very valuable table of
experimental deductions.

TABLE OF NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS.

Practical values, as estimated by direct feed-

Theoretical values according to ~ ing experiments, according to
4 =
f= a) Bia
ae
&| 3 u1l8|&18
gis glelelslsl|éls3
Blo; }a| os a |
e/elelElelal2lalsiz lala
Ale lala lelelalsglBlalsle

Meadow hay..........------

Red Clover hay, ..-..-

Rye straw, ..._..

Oat straw,.... 2.

Indian corn, .
Buckwheat, -

> eee eee ose A Cy: ene Pn PP PN

Linseed cake, --- eit
"© When blossom is completely developed.

To this Mr. Rham adds the following as equivalents of
100 pounds of “ good hay :”—102 lbs. latter-math hay; 88 Ibs.
of clover hay made before the blossom expands; 98 lbs. of
clover of second crop; 98 Ibs. Lucerne hay; 89 lbs. sanfoin
hay; 91 Ibs. tare hay; 146 lbs. of clover after the seed; 410
Ibs. of green clover; 457 lbs. of green vetches or tares;
541 Ibs. of cow cabbage leaves; 504 lbs. turnips; 50 lbs. vetches;
167 lbs. of wheat, peas and oat chaff.*

No one will understand that because a certain weight o
one product is'a nutritive equivalent for a certain weight of
another, that each will necessarily answer as a substitute for

* Rev. W. Rham’s statements are not made from his own experiments, but Mr.
Spooner (from whom I borrow this column of the above table,) says they were trans-
lated from the French by him, and are “‘ the mean of the result of the experiments made
by some of the most eminent agriculturists of Europe in.the actual feeding of cattle.”

236 PRODUCTS OF DIFFERENT FEEDS.

the other in feeding. For example, taking the mean of the
experimental results in the above table, 3675 Ibs. of rye straw
contain as much nutriment as 100 Ibs. of meadow hay. A
Merino sheep weighing 90 pounds, daily consumes 3 pounds of
hay: and to consume its equivalent in rye straw, it would
have daily to masticate, digest, etc.,a fraction over eleven
pounds of’ it —a feat impracticable for a variety of reasons,
and among others for the very obvious one that its stomachs
could not be made to hold it, even though digestion should go
on with twice its natural rapidity.

The experiments made in feeding Saxon sheep in Silesia,
by Reaumur, show in what manner the nutritive parts of
certain ordinary vegetable products enter into the compo-
sition of different animal products.

_ Increased Produced | Produced | Per cent. of
Kinps oF Foop. live weight of} wool. tallow. | nitrogen in
animal. Ibs. oz. | Ibs. oz. such food
1,000 Ibs, raw potatoes with salt 46% 6. 8%]12 6% 0.36
1,000 “© “ “without salt 44 6 8 |10 1434 0.36
1,000 “* raw mangel wurzel.- 38 5 38%/ 6 5 0.21
1,000. “8 “peas. cseesssecsese 134 14 1 /44 6 3.83
1,000 ‘* wheat......-... 155 13 184/59 9 2.09
1,000 ‘* rye with salt 90 18 144/35 11% 2.00
1,000 ‘* rye without salt...... 83 12 104/33 8% 2.00
1,000 ‘* oats ...--. 146 9 12 |40 8 1.70
1.000 ‘ barley -..- 136 11 6% )60 1 1.90
1,000 ‘‘ buckwheat 120 10 4%/33 8 2.10
1,000 ‘* good hay .-. — 58 % 102/12 14 1.15
1,000 “ hay with straw, with-
out other fodder..-- 31 15 «8 6 li
1,000 ‘* whisky still grains or
WAS 05ers 35 6 1 4 0

At first view, there is a degree of incongruity between the
theoretical and practical results exhibited in the first of the
above tables, which, without due reflection, might materially
tend to impair our confidence in the accuracy of the tests
which are relied on in agricultural chemistry. But a further
glance discloses the fact that these results do not differ more )
widely from each other than those obtained by practical
experiments. How are we to explain these latter incongrui-
ties? If the results of actual experiments — experiments,
too, conducted with care by men possessing unusual ability
and means to do so understandingly and accurately — differ
so widely, what then? Are we thence to conclude that
experience is worth nothing, or that nature acts without
any uniform laws? —that every agricultural result, whether
successful or unsuccessful, depends upon chance—or that
fatality which is expressed in the delusive and detestable
word “luck ?”

VALUE OF DIFFERENT FEEDS, 237

The explanation of such differences is, in truth, easy
enough. The experiments were tried in different soils and
seasons. Variations in the latter, every one knows, highly
affect the comparative nutritiousness of vegetable products.
And unfortunately, too, the standard taken, hay, is the subject
of special variations. To say nothing of the natural difference
in the nfitritiousness of the various kinds of grasses, which,
when cut and cured, are termed “meadow hay,” we know
that the same kinds grown in a wet or dry season— cut a
week earlier or a week later—cured rapidly in the sun,
slowly in the cock, or slower still and with difficulty during
wet, cloudy weather—vary very essentially in quality and
nutriment. Take, for a single example, the main meadow
grass of the northern portions of the United States, viz.,
timothy, (Phlewm pratense.) According to the Woburn
experiments, * 64 drachms of it green give, when cut and
cured in the flower, 2 dr. 2 gr.; in the seed, 5 dr. 3 gr.;
latter-math, 2 dr. Thus, a difference of two weeks in the
time of making timothy hay might cause a difference of more
than 100 per cent. in the amount of nutriment it contains! +

While it is unfortunate that no unvarying standard can be
obtained, or fixed set of conditions agreed upon and observed,
in the trial of this class of agricultural experiments, still there
is quite as much accord in their results as we are accustomed
to find in the opinions of sound, intelligent, practical farmers
in regard to any of the experimental facts of farming, which
they have been familiar with all their lives. We do not
disregard the opinions of such men because they differ. And
if we find them all pointing towards the same conclusion, we
accept that conclusion as one beyond reasonable doubt. This
is the light in which the statements contained in the Table of
Nutritive Equivalents, on page 235, should be regarded.
When, for example, scientific theory declares that clover hay,
pound for pound, contains more nutriment than meadow hay,
and when out of six careful and intelligent practical experi-
ments, three also find it more nutritious, and the other three
equally so, we are bound, as reasonable men, unless we have

* Made some years since by Sinclair, on soils best adapted to each kind of grass,
on the estate of the Duke of Bedford, at Woburn, England.

+ But to prevent mistakes let me add, that it makes no such difference in the
practical value of timothy as sheep fodder, In the seed it is a dry, tough, unpalatable
feed for them—and no good sheep farmer intentionally cuts it in that state for his
flocks. This, however, in no wise affects the particular fact under consideration. It
is to be presumed that timothy composed no inconsiderable share of the meadow hay
assumed as a standard by Block, Petri, Von Thaer, Boussingault, ete.—but in
neither instance are we informed whether it was cut in the flower or in the seed.

238 COST AND ECONOMY OF DIFFERENT FEEDS.

better proof to the contrary, to admit its equality and presume
its superiority. When science and such an array of practice
combine to pronounce peas and beans about equal with each
other, and among the most nutritious of vegetable products,
we ought to adopt that conclusion, if, indeed, we did not
already know so notorious a fact. Accordingly, as few sheep
farmers are able to make all these experiments for themselves
in advance of trying them directly on the body of their flocks,
all ought to see the expediency of a very careful study of
such a table of Nutritive Equivalents as the preceding one.
Reaumur’s experiments, given on page 236, are also
especially valuable: and it is only to be wished that their
accuracy had also been tested by numerous other experiments
directed to the same specific objects of inquiry. Still, I have
great general confidence in them. Some of the facts he
arrives at are very striking, as, for instance, the superiority
of peas over every other vegetable substance named in his
list, in the specific production of wool,-while barley and
wheat considerably exceed it, and oats nearly equal it, in the
production of tallow. And a still more striking fact is found
in the increase of wool and diminution of tallow produced by
adding straw to “good hay” as a habitual food. If there is
no mistake in this showing, it is a high point of policy in the
wool grower to feed straw, and in the mutton grower to
avoid feeding it. :
This brings me to another very important consideration,
viz., the relative cost and general economy of the different
kinds of feeds. According to Reaumur’s Table, 1,000 pounds
of peas produce 134 pounds live weight of carcass, 14 pounds
11 ounces of wool, and 41 pounds 6 ounces of tallow, while
1,000 pounds of mangel wurzel produce 38 pounds of live
weight, 5 pounds 34 ounces of wool, and 6 pounds 54 ounces
of tallow. Thus the latter produces between a third and a
fourth as much live weight, a little more than a third as much
wool, and nearly a seventh as much tallow. Peas weigh 60
Ibs. to the bushel. If we assume that mangel wurzels weigh
the same,* four bushels of them will produce more live weight
and weight of wool than one bushel of peas. Not being per-
sonally familiar with the culture of mangel wurzel, I will, for
the purposes of this illustration, substitute Swedish turnips

* This is the statutory weight of a bushel of potatoes in New York,— but no
weight is prescribed for other roots. I have never raised or weighed a bushel of
mangel wurzels—but there cannot be difference enough between their weight and
that of potatoes to make any material difference for the purposes of the comparison
instituted in the text.

EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING SHEEP. 239

for them—which, by the united testimony of the experimenters
given in the: table of Nutritive Equivalents, contain more
nutriment. Which is most cheaply produced, one bushel of
peas or four bushels of Swedes?. An acre of ground is
thought to do unusually well in the region where I reside,
that produces, one year with another, 25 ‘bushels of peas.
That acre does very poorly that does not produce 500 bushels
of Swedes* — 20 bushels for one of peas. The difference in
the cost of preparing the ground, cultivating the crop and
harvesting, is considerable; but it makes no approach to the
difference in the product of nutriment. ats compare
equally unfavorably with turnips on the score of economy.

I wish to show by such facts as the above, that the sheep
farmer in determining what crops he will grow for the winter
keep of his sheep, is not merely to estimate the relative value
of feeds per pound, but to ascertain how he can. provide the
most nutriment suitable for sheep, at a given cost. Knowin
the adaptation of his farm to the different products, and the
cost to himself of producing each, every intelligent farmer
can, better than anybody else for him, institute comparisons
like the above, between. all the products named in the
preceding tables.

The following records of experiments in feeding are from
Mr. Robert Smith’s essay “On the Management of Sheep,”
which received the prize of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, in’ 1847:

- “Experiment No. 1.—On the 20th of December, 1842,
eight lambs were weighed and placed upon the regular turnip
land, (a red loam, with cold subsoil,) to consume the turnips
where they grew, and were regularly supplied with what cut
Swedes they would eat, which proved. to be on an average of
234 pounds per day. They were again weighed on the 3d
of April, 1848, being 15 weeks, and found to have gained,
upon an average, during the time, 253 pounds each.

“No. 2.—On the same day eight lambs were placed in a
grass paddock, under the same regulations, and found to have
consumed, on an average, 19 Ibs. of turnips per day, and

gained, during the time, 26% lbs. each.

“No. 8.—On the same day, eight lambs were placed
alongside the No. 2 lot in the grass paddock, and allowed to
run in and out of ‘an open shed during the day, but regularly
shut up at night. They were allowed half a pound of mixed

* I think my own crops have averaged at least 700 or 800 bushels to the acre, for a
period of 15 years or more; and one year they exceeded 1,100 bushels per acre.

240 EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING SHEEP.

oil cake and peas each per day, and consumed 204 pounds of
turnips per day, and gained 334 pounds each.

“No. 4.— On the same day, eight lambs were placed
with the Nos. 2 and 3 lots in the grass paddock, under the
same regulations as No. 3, but supplied with one pound of
mixed corn* per day. They consumed 20 pounds of turnips
per day, during the following ten weeks, being again
weighed on the 28th of February, 1843, and gained, on an
average, 264 pounds each.

“No. 5.—KEight lambs were also placed in a warm
paddock, with a shed to run under during the day, but were
shut up at least 18 hours, and fed upon 1} lbs. of mixed corn
per day, and consumed 184 lbs. of turnips per day. They
were again weighed at the same time as No. 4, and found to
have gained 334 pounds each during the ten weeks.

“No 6.—On the 5thof January, 1843, sixteen shearlings
were equally divided, and eight placed upon a grass paddock,
and allowed one pound of mixed corn each per day. They
consumed 24 pounds of Swedish turnips each lot per day.
They were again weighed on the 2d of March, being eight
weeks, and were found to have gained 214 pounds each.

“No. 7.— On the same day the other eight shearlings
were placed alongside the No. 6 in the grass paddock, and
allowed one pound of mixed corn each, and consumed 204
pounds of turnips per day. They were allowed an open shed
to run under during the day, and regularly shut in at nights—
and again weighed at the same time as No. 6, and were
found to have gained 24 pounds each during the eight weeks.

“No. 8.— On the third of April, the eight lambs (No. 3,)
having been weighed, were placed upon young clover, and
supplied with half a pound of mixed corn, as before. They
consumed 12 Ibs. of turnips per day during the following
month. Being again weighed on the 1st of May, they were
found to have gained 114 lbs. each. They had a shed to run
under during the day, and were shut up at night.

“No. 9.— On the 29th of May, the eight lambs (No. 8,)
were again weighed, having been allowed, as before, half a
pound of mixed corn upon the clover, but no turnips, with a
shed to run under at will. They were found to have gained
16 Ibs. each during the month.

* Wherever the word ‘“‘corn” occurs in this record of experiments, it is to be
understood in its general sense of grain; and the mixed grain, referred to by Mr.
Smith, did not even include Indian corn— that not being one of the grain crops of
England.

EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING SHEEP. 241

“To prove the temperature of the animal body during the
hot weather, I placed the two lots of shearlings, No. 6 and
No. 7, upon moderate clover on the Ist of July, 1843.

“No. 10.— The eight shearlings, (No. 6,): were weighed,
and allowed one pint of peas per day, and again weighed at the
the end of 21 days, and were found to have gained 94 lbs. each,

“No. 11.—The eight shearlings, (No. 7,) were also
weighed, and given one pint of old beans per day, and again
weighed at the same time, and were found to have gained 6
Ibs. each, the peas appearing most suitable to the animal
temperature during the hot weather, and the beans far too hot.
‘What is more important, those sheep fed upon beans were
getting full of humors in this short space of time, while
those fed upon peas were looking exceedingly healthy.

“Jn the autumn of 18438, after making the above experi-
ments, I determined upon testing the qualities of the various
vegetables open to our use at that season of the year. On
the 2d of October, 1843, thirty lambs were equally divided
into lots of ten each, and placed upon over-eaten seeds. They
were all weighed, and the roots regularly given them by an
experienced shepherd.

“No. 12.—Ten lambs, fed upon cut white turnips, were
again weighed on the 13th of November, and were found to
have gained, upon an average, 11 Ibs. each.

“No. 13.—Ten lambs, fed upon cut Swedes, gained during
the six weeks, upon an average, 11 Ibs. each.

“No. 14.— Ten lambs fed upon cut cabbage, gained
during the time, 164 pounds each, showing, as I fully
expected, a preference in favor of cabbage; but, to my equal
surprise, a great difference in favor of the white turnip over
the Swede. By subsequent experiments I found, as the cold
weather advanced, the cabbage and white turnip became of
less value, and that the Swede improved.

“Tn the autumn of 1844, having placed my ram lambs in
their winter quarters, and observing that those placed upon
cole-seed were going on apparently the best, I determined to
weigh a part of them in comparison with those placed in pens
upon grass land ; consequently, on the 14th of October, 1844,
the following lots were weighed, as in previous experiments,
the ten upon the cole-seed being selected from 24 others,
marked, and again placed with them: ,

“No. 15.— Ten lambs penned upon cole-seed,* with cut

* A species of cabbage.

242 EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING SHEEP.

clover chaff, were again weighed at the end of one month,
and found to have gained 12} pounds each.

_ “No. 16.— Ten lambs penned upon drum-head cabbage,
with cut clover chaff, and weighed as above; they gained
10% pounds each.

“No. 17.—Ten lambs placed upon grass and fed upon cut
Swedes and cabbage, of equal quantities, with clover chaff,
gained 93 lbs. each.

“No. 18.— Ten lambs placed upon grass and fed upon cut
white turnips and cabbage, of equal quantities, with clover
chaff, gained 11 lbs. each.

_ “Having frequently given my lambs carrots during the
winter and spring months, and to no apparent advantage,
when compared with other roots, I determined to test their
qualities after the expiration of the above experiments, and the
No. 16 lot were supplied with what Swedes they would eat,
and the No. 17 lot with carrots.

“No. 19.— Ten lambs, fed upon cut Swedes and clover-
chaff, having been weighed at the end of the other experi-
ment, were again weighed on the 9th of December. They
were found to have gained during the month 10 lbs. each,
and consumed 22 lbs. of turnips per day.

“No. 20.— Ten lambs fed upon cut carrots and clover-
chaff, were weighed as above on the 9th of December, and
were found to have gained 94 Ibs. each, and consumed 224
Ibs. of carrots per day.

“Thus proving that the carrot can not be given to sheep
with equal profit, when compared with the Swede turnip, the
carrot being more expensive and hazardous in its cultivation,
and producing. rather less animal food from a given weight
at this season of the year.”

I shall place a further list of English experiments in
winter feeds in the appendix of this volume. *

Turnips are not adapted either to the soil or circumstances
of all parts of our country where sheep are kept. I have been
informed by many of the farmers in those regions of Vermont
where the best sheep are raised, that this crop does not flourish
on their farms.+ And it would be folly to bring turnips into
competition with Indian corn, as a habitual winter feed, in
our Western States, where the latter crop can be raised for

* See APPENDIX C.

+ Iraised this question once in the presence of a number of the leading shee
breeders of Addison county—the first sheep breeding county in the State—an
ghey without an exception concurred in the opinion stated in the text.

MIXED FEEDS FOR SHEEP. 243

ten or fifteen cents a bushel. But I know of no cheaper feed,
except the last; and that does not approach turnips in
cheapness, on lands equally suited to their respective produc-
tion in the Middle or Eastern States. In all the latter
situations — even in those interior regions where the price of
hay has hitherto averaged less than $8 a tun—it is more
economical to.feed turnips with hay and straw, than it is to
feed hay alone. I have established that fact to my own
satisfaction by the experience of many years.

The beet is not included in the above English experiments,
and I have never used it as sheep feed myself. Mr. Chamber-
lain brought a variety of it with his sheep from Silesia, and is
satisfied of the economy and high utility of the crop— but
has not, so far as I am informed, tested it in comparison with
turnips. My friend, Hon. George Geddes, of Fairmount,
New York, has cultivated the same kind of beets, and also
turnips, for sheep feed. On his soils (among the best in the
State) he, thus far, gives preference to the beet. He has not
instituted any comparisons between them by weighing
respectively feed and product — but as a farmer who has no
superior in our country in both the theory and practice of his
occupation, his observations, although unaided by such tests,
are entitled to very great weight. Carrots have failed as
sheep feed in this country, for the same reasons assigned by
Mr. Robert Smith for their failure in England. Rape is
cultivated by a few of our growers of English sheep, and is
thought highly of by them. Tares and cole seed are unknown
to the great body of our sheep farmers, and I am not aware
that common cabbage is cultivated by any of them as a field
crop for sheep. .

Mixep Frrps.—In making up mixed feeds for sheep,
composed. of the different products which are found most
available and economical, care should be taken to keep the
proportion of nutriment to bulk such that a proper supply of the
former can be taken into the stomach, without oppressing that
organ. It has been seen that 34 per cent. of the live weight per
diem in hay, about meets the demands of the animal economy;
and it probably also about fills the stomach to a comfortable
state of fullness. If then a sheep weighing 90 lbs. received half
its nutriment in hay and half in the better kinds of straw
(which contain half as much nutriment as hay,) it would be
required to consume 1} lbs. of hay and 3 lbs. of straw daily
—an aggregate of 4} lbs., which, I think, could not be

244 MIXED FEEDS FOR SHEEP.

daily taken into and digested in the stomach of a sheep of
that size. Therefore, to put sheep on half straw feed, it is
necessary that some other portion of their feed be more
concentrated, or more nutritious in proportion to bulk than
hay — as, for example, grain or roots— or else they will not
get their proper supply of nutriment. ‘

My own course, when feeding straw, has been to give a
feed of hay at morning and evening, (intended to average
about a pound per head each time,) all the straw the sheep
will eat and about a pound of cut turnips each, at noon — the
latter being a little increased if the hay and straw are not of
prime quality. But Ido not often give over two bushels, or
120 lbs. of turnips, to a hundred. Hay here does not average
$8 a ton; and though I regard feeding turnips as economical,
my major object in growing and feeding them is to promote
the health and thrift of my breeding ewes, and the growth of
my lambs.

Some excellent sheep farmers on grain and clover-seed
farms lying a few miles north of me— where a contiguous
city market raises the average price of hay about 50 per cent.
higher than here — give their store sheep no hay until March,
teeding them in lieu of it, bright, good straw in abundance,
clover chaff,* and a daily feed of Indian corn ranging from one
and a half to two gills per head, according to their size and to
other circumstances. The straw and grain chaff are generally
fed fresh from the thrashing floor half a dozen times a day,
and the sheep are not required to eat it at all close. After
the first of March a full supply of bright clover hay is given
and the grain feed taken off. The sheep, as I have had
repeated occasion to observe, winter well, and the breeding
ewes raise good lambs.

I do not believe that breeding ewes or lambs could
properly be fed enough straw and turnips — particularly if
the straw was dry and ripe —to obtain the equivalent of a
full supply of hay. If turnips are fed in excess, they render
the evacuations too thin and active for severely cold weather.
But a pound a head given to straw-fed sheep with a little
diminution of the corn otherwise requisite, would, I think,
constitute a better and cheaper feed than entire corn and
straw.

The comparative nutriment of the different kinds of straw
has been given in the table on page 235. Oat and barley

* That is, what is left of clover after thrashing or hulling—a black, unpromising
looking mass. :

FATTENING SHEEP IN WINTER. 245

straw cut quite green and cured bright, are highly relished by
sheep. I had rather have them (particularly if thrashed with
a flail so that a few small green kernels remain in the ends of
the heads,) than hay in the situation in which it is frequently
cured for use. Wheat straw ranks next, among the common
varieties of straw. Sheep do not relish it, and will not eat it
very well if they get any hay. But when confined to it and
grain, they learn to eat it and thrive on it. They must not,
however, be compelled to eat it as close as oat and barley
straw. Ripe rye straw, unless cut fine and mixed with meal,
is a dry, harsh, unprofitable and wholly unacceptable food to
sheep. All straws are eaten much better by them when fresh
thrashed and fed frequently in small quantities.

Corn-stalks are contained in neither of the preceding
tables of nutrition. When cut and cured bright, before frost, no
feed is better relished by sheep than the leaves and some finer
portions of the stalks: and they thrive admirably on them.

Pea-haulm, if cut and cured green, is highly valuable
and is highly relished by sheep; but when not harvested until
dried up and dead — according to the more common mode —
it is utterly worthless for them.

In seasons of great scarcity of hay and straw, sheep have
been repeatedly and successfully wintered by feeding them
almost exclusively on grain. Such a “hay-famine” occurred
in the best sheep region of Vermont, in the winter of 1860-61,
occasioned by a severe drouth the preceding summer. Flock-
masters who were determined to keep well at all hazards, fed
their sheep a pound (or quart) of oats per head, with such
quantities of hay, straw, etc., as they could obtain. In better
Indian corn growing regions, a pound of corn a day is given
under like circumstances.

Farrentng SHEEP in WintEeR.— The present ordinary
mode of fattening sheep in winter in New York, is thus
described in a letter to me from John Johnston, Esq., of
Geneva, New York, who is one of the oldest and most
experienced feeders, as well as grain farmers in the United
States :

“T generally buy my sheep in October. Then I have good
pasture to put them on, and they gain a good deal before
winter sets in. I have generally had to put them in the yards
about the first of December. For the last 23 years I have
fed straw the first two or two and a half months, a pound of
oil cake, meal or grain to each sheep. When J commence

246 REGULARITY IN FEEDING.

feeding hay, if it is good, early cut clover, I generally reduce
the quantity of meal or grain one-half; but that depends on
the condition of the sheep. If they are not pretty fat, I
continue the full feed of meal or grain with their clover, and
on both they fatten wonderfully fast. This year (1862-3) I
fed buckwheat, a pound to each per day, half in the morning
and half at 4 o’clock P. M., with wheat and barley straw. I
found the sheep gained a little over a pound each per week.
It never was profitable for me to commence fattening lean
sheep, or very fat ones. Sheep should be tolerably fair mutton
when yarded. I keep their yards and sheds thoroughly
littered with straw.

“‘Last year I only fed straw one month. The sheep were
fed a pound of buckwheat each. From the 20th of October
to the 1st of March, they gained nearly 14 pounds each per
week. They were full-blood Merinos— but not those with
the large cravats around their necks. I have fed sheep for
the eastern markets for more than 30 years, and I always
made a profit on them except in 1841-2. I then fed at a loss.
It was a tight squeeze in 1860-1 to get their dung for profit.
Some years I have made largely. I did so this year, (1862-3,)
and if I had held on two weeks longer I should have made
much more. Taking all together it has been a good business
for me.”

Mr. Johnston by under-draining* and by the manure
obtained by fattening sheep, has almost created one of the
finest farms in New York. I think his land is not adapted
to turnips.

Recunarity In Frrpmve.—tThe utmost regularity should
be observed in the ¢imes of feeding either store or fattening
sheep, and in giving them just the requisite amount to last
them until the next feeding. If permitted to waste hay, they
rapidly acquire the habit of doing s0—i.e., picking out the
best and then waiting, even though quite hungry, for another
feed. If the hay is coarse and was cut over-ripe, and
especially if clover hay be thus circumstanced, it is not
profitable to compel the sheep to eat all the orts or refuse ;
but even with such hay, sheep can soon be taught by over-
feeding and carelessness, to make a most unnecessary degree
of waste.

All experienced flock-masters concur in the opinion that

* He is the father of underground tile-draining in the United States,

REGULARITY IN FEEDING—SALT. 247

sheep fed with perfect regularity as to time and amount
pean al allowance for the weather,) will do better on
rather inferior keep, than on the best without that regularity.
I prefer feeeding three times a day even in the shortest
days of winter ; but many good flock - masters feed but twice.
If fed three times, it should be at sunrise, noon, and an hour
before dark ; if but twice, the last feeding should be an hour
earlier. Sheep do not stand at their racks and eat well in
the dark. It is not very important at what period of the day
grain or roots are given provided the time is uniform.

Sart.—Salt is not perhaps quite as necessary to the health
of sheep in winter as in summer, but still all good shepherds
regard it as indispensable. It should be fed as often as once
a week, in the feeding troughs, or by brining a quantity of
hay or straw. The Vermont breeders almost universally
keep it standing constantly before their sheep in boxes placed
in the sheep-houses. My friend Gen. Otto F. Marshall, of
Steuben County, New York, has an excellent and economical
mode of feeding it. The orts when taken from the sheep
tacks are thrown into a box-rack wider and considerably
higher than the common ones, and placed under a shed. The
orts are sprinkled with brine, and the sheep when hungry
for salt go to the ort rack and consume them. Thus all
the hay is saved.

CHAPTER XXI.
PRAIRIE SHEEP HUSBANDRY.

PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT IN SUMMER— LAMBING— FOLDS AND
DOGS — STABLES —- HERDING — WASHING — SHEARING —
STORING AND SELLING WOOL—TICKS—— PRAIRIE DISEASES
— SALT — WEANING LAMBS — PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT IN
WINTER — WINTER FEED—SHEDS OR STABLES — WATER —
LOCATION OF SHEEP ESTABLISHMENT.

THE growing of sheep is rapidly increasing in nearly all
the new States of the Union west of the Mississippi, and in
those which lie on its east bank north of the Ohio.* In all
these States are immense tracts of natural pasturage, usually
lying in the form of level or rolling prairies—but occasionally
in broken tracts containing hills of considerable elevation.
The grasses which grow on them are invariably found to be
well adapted to the support of domestic animals.

It has already been ascertained by direct experiment that
flocks of sheep will obtain their support throughout the entire
year, from these natural pastures, as far north as- 33 deg. in
Central and Western Texas. Ascending north on the banks
of the Mississippi, the necessity for artificial winter feed
gradually increases until in latitude 40 deg.—about the range
of St. Joseph in Missouri, and Springfield in Illinois — it is
required through six months of the year. But the domestic
grasses will flourish a month longer there, so that the period
of dry foddering is restricted to about five months.

Ascending north from Texas on the coast of the Pacifie,
the temperature decreases less rapidly. The variation of the
isothermal line (the line of equal mean heat) on the shores of that
ocean and of the Mississippi river, has been popularly claimed
to equal ten degrees. While there are yet few settled data
to enable us to draw definite general conclusions on the

* For Census of sheep and predate of wool in all the States and Territories
anterior to 1863, see APPENDIX D.

TEMPERATURE OF PRAIRIE STATES. 249

subject, the thermometrical observations already taken do
not authorize the conclusion that the difference is so great. I
have picked out the following examples of the annual mean
heat at such points in Texas, on the Mississippi, and on the
Pacific, as came nearest to the regions I wished to compare in
this particular, from the multifarious tables contained in the
Report of “The Results of Meteorological Observations
made under the direction of the United States Patent Office
and the Smithsonian Institution from 1854 to 1859 inclusive.” *

: Latitude. 1854. 1855. 1856. 1857. 1858, 1859,
New Braunfels,t Texas. -29°.4 64.61 68.85 —~ -—— — 10.0%
Austin, Texas, --_ 64.43 65.84 64.64 65.85 67.58 68.08
San Francisco, C 55.28 —— -—— 5748 56.23 ——
Sacramento, California, - 59.51 —— 60.03 60.01 59.58 58.74
St. Louis, Missouri, .- - 88. 58.387 —— 53.42 53.42 56.69 65.45
Ottawa, ‘linois, ee Gniesecewece sua on 41.20 51.69 48.94 48.15 45.88 49.01 48.37

It will be observed that while the mean heat of St. Louis
and Sacramento, in almost identically the same latitude, varies,
on the average, 4.22 degrees, there is a much greater propor-
tionable difference in the mean heat of Sacramento and
Ottawa, which for six years averages 11.02 deg.{ These
facts render it obvious that the seasons of pasturage must be
materially longer on our Pacific coast, than in corresponding
latitudes on the Mississippi.

In all the newer States there are lands covered by natural
pastures which are exceedingly cheap. In most of them it can
be purchased in any-quantities for $1.25 an acre. In the older
prairie States, like Illinois, Missouri and Wisconsin, desirable
tracts would cost considerably more — but still very greatly
less than grazing lands of half their fertility in the old North
and North-eastern States.

But, in reality, it is not necessary for the wool grower now,
nor will it be for many years to come — in most of the above
States—either to own or pay rent on a great proportion of the
lands depastured by his sheep. We have no redundant popu-
lation ready to take up with lands which are destitute of any
of the essential requisites demanded by the settler. The
comparative lack of wood and of running water in the in-
terior of these vast western plains, prevents them from being

* Published by order of the Senate, 1861.

+ New Braunfels is about twenty-five miles by a direct line north-east of San
Antonio, and lies on the southern border of the sheep growing region proper, of
Western Texas. It was rather the head-quarters of Mr. G. W. Kendall’s different
sheep establishments.

+ To facilitate other comparisons I will here give the mean temperature of several
of the points named in the table:—Austin, 66.89 mean of 6 years; Sacramento, 59.69
mean of 6 years; St. Louis, 55.47 mean of 5 years; Ottawa, 48.67 mean of 6 years.

11*

250 COST OF KEEPING ON PRAIRIES.

settled, except on the edges and on water courses; and all the
sheep farmer needs in such situations is sufficient land for his
buildings, grain fields, and,—as his wealth and conveniences
increase —for pastures of artificial grass for the early spring
and late fall feed of his sheep. When the banks of the
streams and the clumps of wood-land are occupied by settlers,
they, in effect, have the permanent control of the interior
pasturage, often many miles in extent. I have been informed
of instances in Texas where an individual, or a small party of
individuals, have bought a narrow strip on each bank of a river
for a number of miles, and thus prevented the sale of and actually
threw out of market hundreds of thousands of acres which
were by this means cut off from all access to water, without
traveling, perhaps for miles, to the next river bank. But, in
truth, the vast extent of our Prairie lands defies all attempts
at monopoly. Even in a State comparatively as old as Ilinois
— containing at the last census a population of over one
million seven hundred thousand persons, and probably
now containing 50,000 sheep*—immense tracts of land,
owned in part by the Government, but principally by non-
resident owners, (“speculators,”) lie open and free to the use
of all; and there is now actually a class of nomadic shepherds
in that State who keep flocks of sheep, sometimes numbering
upward of two thousand each, who, in the words of the dying
Son of the Mist, “Take no hire — give no stipend — build ‘no
hut —inclose no pasture—sow no grain.” These men are
generally industrious Germans, who, after serving flock-
masters as shepherds for a year or two, invested their
earnings in enough sheep to commence flocks of their own.
They follow their sheep by day over the prairies, herding
them in little temporary inclosures at night to protect them
from wolves and dogs. In the fall they buy a field of corn,
drive their sheep to it for the winter, and in the spring
resume their wanderings.

In all the new Western States, sheep have been found to
acclimate without the least difficulty.+ In Texas in the
extreme South, in Minnesota in the extreme North, in Cali-
fornia in the extreme West, and in every intermediate region
where they have been introduced, sheep remain signally
healthy, thrive to the highest degree, produce as much wool

* By the United States Census of 1860, there were then 33,822 sheep in Illinois,
and they have increased much more rapidly than ever before, since that period.

+ For a letter showing how pay are got into the new States — how a sheep
establishment is started—and how the first winter is got over, see APPENDIX E.

PROFITS OF SHEEP ON THE PRAIRIES. 251

per head if as well fed, as in the old Eastern States, and the
wool is not deteriorated in any apparent or real quality.

It can require no formal array of facts to show that the
profits of sheep husbandry on the prairies must greatly exceed
those obtained in States lying further east, where the land is
no better and costs from five to fifty times as much. It seems
now also to be a conceded fact that the profits of sheep
production decidedly exceed those of horse, cattle, or swine
production on the prairies.

The surplus wheat and Indian corn of the West finds its
market on the eastern sea-board. It generally costs half of
the crop of wheat, and from five-sixths to six-sevenths of the
crop of corn to transport the remainder to New York by rail
in the winter, from regions lying ne further west than the
east bank of the Mississippi. ' It costs less than two cents a
pound to transport wool, which, at the average prices of wool
tor thirty-five years preceding the present war, is less than
two forty-seconds of the value of the medium, and two thirty-
fifths of the value of the coarse article. By the Mississippi, or
by the northern river, lake and canal navigation which is avail-
able in summer, the transportation of the heavy, bulky Western
products is considerably less. But when a pound of wool is
worth on the farm about as much as four bushels of corn, and
when that amount of corn is more than fifty times as bulky,
and two hundred and twenty-four times as heavy* as a pound
of wool, there must, under any circumstances, remain an
insuperable obstacle to the comparative profitableness of
corn as a marketable product—and indeed of all other bulky
and heavy products. t

* In some of the States the weight of corn is established at 56lbs., in others,
58 Ibs. per bushel.

+ Since the above was in the hands of the publisher, the articles on sheep, in the
Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, have fallen under my eye, and I find the
following statements in an article on “ Sheep on the Prairies,’ by Hon. J. B. Grinnell
of Grinnell, Iowa :—“ At any point two hundred miles from Chicago this ratio of cost
in freighting is well established; that to transport your products to the seaboard, on
wheat you pay 80 per cent. of its value; on pork 80 per cent.; on beef 20 per cent.;
gross on wool 4 per cent. This is not conjecture, but my own experience, that I give
80 per cent. of the value of my wheat which impoverishes my farm, to find a market ;
and 4 per cent. to find the best wool market, the production of which enriches my
acres beyond computation.” :

The following statements occur in a paper entitled ‘‘Sheep Husbandy in the
West,” by Samuel Boardman, of Lincoln, Logan county, Illinois :—‘‘ With wheat
worth sixty-five age bushel, it costs one bushel to send another from Central
Illinois to market. ith corn at ten cents per bushel, it takes over six bushels to
carry the one to New York. It costs one cent and two-thirds of a cent to senda
pound of wool to New York; less than two cents will carry fifty cents’ worth of wool
to market ; to carry fifty cents’ worth of corn costs about three dollars, In my own
case, I could haul my wool to New York in less time than I could haul the corn I feed
to my sheep in the winter six miles to the railroad, and I_could also haul the wool to
New York cheaper than I could ship the corn by rail. Even in this State, with its

252 PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT IN SUMMER.

Prairie sheep husbandry has the same general features
everywhere, in the summer. In the winter there are essential
differences in its operations in regions of perennial verdure,
like Western Texas, and in those of six or seven months
verdure, like Central Illinois, Northern Missouri and Kansas.
I shall proceed briefly to describe the proper summer manage-
ment in all these regions, and the different systems of winter
management in the North and South. It will not be
necessary to enter upon details, except when the management
differs from that of the older regions already described in
this work.

Prarriz ManacEMent In SummMeEr.—In latitude 40 deg.,
in the basin of the Mississippi — the latitude of Central Illinois
and Northern Missouri — sheep can generally find subsistence
on the prairies after about the middle of April. As soon as
the new grass sprouts in the smallest degree, the immense
range supplies them with food.

Lampine.— Lambs in the last named regions, where they
are, as it is termed, “raised on the range,” —i. e., where the
ewes are kept on the open prairie during the lambing season
—are not allowed to commence coming before the 1st of
May, when the feed is expected to be abundant, and the
danger of cold storms greatly over. Lambing on the range,
however, is at best attended with great labor and care to the
shepherd, and no little danger to the young of his charge.
In a prairie flock, eight or ten hundred breeding ewes is a
moderate number; and the same circumstances which compel
their being turned out on the prairies to lamb — the want of
suitable inclosures seeded to domestic grasses — also prevents
any division of flocks. When from thirty to fifty lambs are
dropped a day, it is a matter of difficulty to get the younger
and weaker ones to the folds within the proper time at night,
or on the appearance of a storm, without separating them
from their dams. When such separation takes place, near
nightfall, and twenty or thirty ewes are then running through
the flock bleating distractedly for their young, it produces a
scene of wild confusion ; lambs are run over and trampled on;
the ewes, in the increasing darkness, do not find their lambs ;

more than three thousand miles of railroad, wool-growing is more profitable than

wheat and corn, our great items of export. How much more, then, is it in the great

portion of the North-west, which does not now, and may not for many years, possess

ae eaten advantages of railroads with which to market wheat or corn in
e@ raw state

LAMBING — FOLDS — STABLES. 253

if new dropped and not well filled with milk, the latter are
liable to perish before morning in cold weather; and when
morning comes some of the ewes, particularly young ones,
never again recognize their lambs. 'The small portable pens
recommended at page 159, would not be available here,
because they would not keep out the wolf. All folding pens
on the prairies require to be five or six feet high for that
‘purpose. Iam not aware that it has been tried, but I am
well satisfied that three or four, or half a dozen temporary
pens, according to the size of the flock, put up on. different
parts of the range, each of which would conveniently hold
half a dozen sheep, and into which the shepherd should be
getting the youngest lambs and their dams some time before
nightfall, would amply pay for themselves in one stormy
lambing season — while they might be made to last through
a man’s life. *

Foips anp Does.—A permanent fold for the night, unless
a good sheltered one, affords so few advantages and produces
so many disadvantages, that it is highly desirable to dispense
with it at all times, and particularly in lambing time, if any
other way can be found to guard the flock from wolves and
dogs. This is effectually done in other countries by means of
suitable breeds of sheep dogs. The immense utility of
introducing some of these varieties into our prairie States, and
changing the system of folding, would seem to be obvious.
Some information on this subject will be offered in the
Chapter on Dogs.

SrasLes.— But by far the best place for lambing, in
northern prairie climates, is an inclosed field of domestic
grass, immediately about sheltered close sheds or stables,
which can be used as occasion requires. A large flock ought,
for obvious reasons, if it is rendered practicable by the
number of the fields, to be divided into smaller flocks — or

* It would be best tomake them with materials prepared and kept for that
express purpose. I should think it would be very convenient to construct them of
four lengths, or panels of light, strong fence, capable of being put together without
nails. Ten or twelve feet boards might be inserted in mortices or grooves in corner
posts, the upper and lower boards being fastened in them by movable pins. The
corner posts of these lengths might be fastened together by hooks and staples. Thus
four lengths would form a pen of 10 or 12 feet square. This could be covered as far ag
desirable — a great improvement for inclement weather —by boards two feet longer
than the side Fosrda This would form a pen which could be set up, or taken in
pieces and loaded in a cart, by twe men in less than half an hour, without any injury
to the materials. The materiais should of course be piled away under cover when
not in use.

254 PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT—HERDING, ETC.

else the ewes having the older lambs ought to be frequently
taken out and put by themselves. In other respects, the
general management should substantially comport with that
practiced in the Eastern States.

Herpinc.— From the period of lambing to that of
washing and shearing, there are no peculiarities in prairie
management except in herding. The great art of doing this
well, is to get out the sheep as soon as it is light in the
morning; to conduct them to the best pasturage; to follow
them about patiently, never losing sight of them, and allowing
them to spread as far as is prudent over the face of the
prairie ; to avoid all unnecessary dogging; to avoid huddlin
them together with the dogs to enable the shepherd to take a
siesta or attend to something else; to keep them out until
there is barely enough time to fold them before dark; and,
finally, to fold them at night carefully, gently and securely.

Wasuine.— Some prairie flocks are necessarily driven
from five to ten miles to reach running streams or “branches,”
as they are termed in the West, in which they can be
conveniently washed; and owing to the level surfaces of most
prairie regions, they generally have to be washed without any
dams, and frequently in quite sluggish water. But washing
is considered particularly necessary on account of the stained
condition of the wool. The wild grasses on prairies grow up
in separate stools or tufts, and do not sod over the ground
like domestic grasses. Consequently the hoofs of the sheep
detach the dirt in hot, dry weather, and it adheres to the
wool as they lie down on it, or as it rises in clouds of dust
under their feet. The sheep are usually washed at intervals,
in parcels of 800 or 1,000 each, so they can all be sheared at
about the same periods after washing, before the wool again
becomes dirt-stained.

Surarinc.— Shearing is performed from a week to two
weeks after washing. It is, or at least ought to be, con-
ducted in the same general way as in the older States. The
present practice is to pay hands five cents a head for
shearing, and they shear from thirty to sixty sheep per day.

Srorrne anp Szettinc Woot.— Few prairie wool growers
have yet constructed wool houses; and like growers every-
where else, most of them wish to obtain the avails of their

PRAIRIE SHEEP DISEASES. 255

wool as soon as practicable after shearing. The clip
generally remains in the barn a few days, and if not sold, is
sacked and sent to some eastern city market.

Tickxs.— Prairie sheep generally suffer but little trouble
from ticks, because they are kept in high condition the year
round, But wherever these parasites obtain a foothold, they
should be promptly exterminated.

Prairiz Diszases.—Scab is by far the most formidable
disease of sheep on the prairies, owing to its highly contagious
character and to-the labor it costs to eradicate it from large
flocks running together. My attention has also been very
frequently called by Texas correspondents to some minor
forms of cutaneous disease, believed also to be infectious,
which prevail in that State. Both of these maladies, and
their proper treatment, will be considered in a subsequent
portion of this work. Hoof-rot, the greatest scourge of the
flocks of New England, New York, etc., does not yet appear
to establish itself on the prairies. It is claimed, and no doubt
is true, that flocks to some degree affected with this disease
in the Eastern States, on being driven to the prairies lose all
traces of it. That this is true in respect to sheép taken to
the Southern and Southwestern States, I know from my own
experience. The hoof-rot was introduced into my flocks
about twelve years since, when I was receiving numerous
orders for sheep from those States. Having got the disease
subdued as far as practicable, for the time, I shipped several
lots to Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, apprising the
purchasers of the facts, and making myself responsible for the
consequences, by offering to refund the purchase money if the
sheep should again exhibit the disease. I requested to be
informed of their first lameness: and whether lame or not,
to be informed of their condition after the lapse of a few
months. Not one of the sheep again exhibited a trace of
hoof-rot, or lameness of any kind; and their thriftiness was
the occasion of especial remark. Before I exterminated the
disease from my flocks, I, in like manner, sent colonies to
nearly or quite every Southern State, except Florida, to all
the Southwestern States, and the Indian Territory on the
headwaters of the Arkansas, and always with the same result.

I am disposed to attribute this immunity from the disease
in the South to the dry, sandy, permeable character of the
soils, and to the dust which the sheep’s foot constantly comes

256 PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT IN WINTER.

in contact with, in dry weather, between the stools of grass
in the natural pastures. Ifthe disease does not appear on the
western prairies, I shall be disposed to attribute it to the
same causes, where both exist, or entirely to the last. During
active stages of the malady, dry dust might rather aggravate
its symptoms than otherwise; but it has long been known
that it will “dry up” and cure the old and partly subdued
ulcers of the feet. Eastern farmers sometimes drive their
sheep over dusty roads for this express purpose.

I am not aware that there are any other serious ovine
maladies which are either peculiar to the prairies, or peculiar
for not prevailing on them: although it is not at all improba-
ble that further experience and closer observation may develop
a number of this class.

Satt.— On the prairies, as elsewhere, salt is justly
regarded as indispensable. It is usually fed once a week,
about 40 pounds to a thousand sheep.

Weanine Lamps.—The lambs are weaned about the first of
September, when the prairie grasses in the North have be-
come too tough and dry to put them into proper condition for
winter. Accordingly the best prairie shepherds have a fresh
field of domestic grass — generally blue-grass — to put their
lambs on at weaning. Most of them have the corn-field, which
is to subsist the sheep during the winter, next to the lamb
pasture, and allow the lambs to run in each at will. This is
done not only for the immediate benefit of the lambs, but to
accustom them to eat corn before winter. Some sow the
corn-field itself to winter rye, at the last plowing. This
affords fall feed for the Jambs, and good spring feed for the
breeding ewes. And it is very common to turn the lambs on
the stubbles to eat down the sprouts of the scattered grain.

Turnips, of suitable. kinds, sown broadcast on the inverted
prairie sward, would be likely to do extremely well on soils
so rich and deep and so destitute of weeds; and they would
furnish cheap and admirable fall feed. for sheep of all ages.

Prarrig Management In WinTER. —In regions where
the pasturage is perennial, as in parts of Texas, and in
latitudes much higher north on our Pacific coast, the winter
management of sheep does not vary sufficiently from the
summer management to require separate description. The
sheep are daily driven out on the prairie in the same way,

PRAIRIE MANAGEMENT IN WINTER. 257

though they are necessarily driven further. They generally
occupy the same folds or yards at nights— with no shelter
whatever overhead. The utility of some shelter and some
artificial feed in winter, even in such climates, has been
already urged.

For the purpose of giving a clearer view of the winter
climate of the Prairie States, and particularly of Texas, I
shall devote some pages to the subject in another place. *

Prairie management in regions as far north as Central
Tllinois, requires as much artificial preparation for winter as
is required in New York or Pennsylvania. Should those
preparations be the same?

He who embarks extensively in sheep husbandry in the
older States must buy a large amount of comparatively high
priced land, clear up the forest, fence his land carefully, sow
pastures and meadows, build barns for winter storage and for
shelter —or buy all these things already fitted to his hand —
before he is ready to purchase a flock of sheep to commence
his business. All this requires the outlay of much capital.
The prairie sheep farmer can commence operations without
buying anything but his sheep. Or, if hé does not choose to
be a pure nomad, he can buy acres for less than the annual
interest of acres of the ordinary grazing lands of the old
States. His principal necessary capital is a decent knowledge
of his business, and enough energy to persevere in it.

Thus have started a large majority of the pioneer sheep
farmers of the new States. ‘The new settler builds a little log
house, for himself and wife to sleep in—a rail pen covered
with poles and prairie-grass, for his “team” and his cow, if
he is so fortunate as to own such luxuries—a high yard
for a fold, and then he is ready to commence wool growing!
And in ten years he can count more sheep, and sometimes
more dollars worth of property, than his eastern competitor,
who commenced with everything prepared to his hand. The
rail pen gives place to the stable, and the uncovered fold yard
is succeeded by the fold yard and spacious sheds. Fine fields
of domestic grass for spring and fall feed, and of luxuriant
corn for winter feed, surround the comfortable farm house.
Noble flocks of thousands are driven up nightly by his boys
and by the “hired men,” — who, in five years more, will be
flock-masters themselves!

Are such men to be told that they ought not to commence

* See Appendix F.

258 WINTER FEEDING ON THE PRAIRIES.

sheep husbandry on the prairies until they have this or that
special preparation for it? The sooner the prairie wool
grower can surround himself with all the convenient appli-
ances for his occupation, the better: but he acts entirely
wisely in not waiting for them!

Wintrtr Frerpv.— Hay made ftom the domestic grasses —
the “tame grasses” as they are called in the West—or clover,
is but little known on the prairies. The wild grasses make
sufficiently good hay, but like the preceding, it probably, in
most situations, has a cheaper substitute in Indian corn. The
remarkable adaptation of most of our prairie soils to this crop
is well known. Eighty bushels of it to the acre would be
regarded as a heavy crop anywhere — but an extraordinary
one nowhere, on the first-class virgin soils. The stalks
properly cut and secured, yield nearly double the feed per
acre of the small varieties cultivated in the grazing regions
of the Eastern States. Its cultivation, too, on the mellow,
weedless, prairie soils can be performed vastly more easily
and cheaply. With two-horse corn planters, and two-horse
corn plows or cultivators, it is estimated that one man can
properly take care of fifty acres of it. It should be cut up
before the leaves are injured by frost, and placed in shocks,
where it remains until it is drawn out to be fed to the sheep.
It is drawn out twice a day and scattered on the ground.
One active man, with a suitable wagon and team, and devotin
his whole time to it, can feed about two thousand sheep.
firm, sodded field of domestic grass is very desirable to feed
on, instead of one of wild grass, which soon becomes poached
and muddy in wet weather. If the field is large enough to
change the feeding places often, very little of the corn is
wasted. Some farmers, in place of cutting up the corn and
drawing it out in this way, leave it standing on the hill, and
fold the sheep on it a couple of hours twice a day; but it is
a wasteful mode for the’ frost-bitten fodder is much less
valuable. . : P

The sheep are generally wintered in the feeding fields
without shelter, and even the farmers who have sheds do not
put their flocks into them except in very stormy nights, and
at lambing time. Those who have a sufficiext number of
feeding fields divide the sheep in the peginning of winter into
three or four lots. When this is impracticable, the lambs are
merely separated from the flock, and all the rest run together.
This last is very objectionable management, as it leaves the

SHEDS OR STABLES ON THE PRAIRIES. 259

weaker and smaller to be pushed about and driven from the
choicer portions of the feed by the strong, heavy wethers.
Most flock-masters aim, however, to draft occasionally from
the flock any that become poor or feeble, and to make some
separate arrangement for them.

The object of the prairie farmer is to have his sheep
consume as much corn as practicable; for it is more profitable
to convert it into animal products than to sell it at ten cents
a bushel.* A good sized grade Merino fed exclusively on it
will consume and waste from three to three and a half or
four bushels during the winter, and the stalks on which it
grew. If the corn is good, the proportion of ears to stalks is
greater than it should be for the benefit of the sheep. Some
farmers provide for this by making enough “tame hay” to
give their sheep one feed a day; some make a quantity of
prairie hay; and others, instead of burning their wheat straw,
according to a prevalent, wasteful method, thrash and stack
it in the feeding lot, so that the sheep can get to it at will, or
so it can be conveniently fed to them when necessary. If the
straw should be slightly brined when stacked, and the sheep be
fed salt in no other way, it would prove an acceptable
fodder for them, and would be sufficiently nutritious to meet
their wants when accompanied with so much corn.

Saeps or Stasres.— As has been seen, these are also
mostly for storms and for lambing time, because the Western
farmer feels that at the high prices for lumber which prevail
in almost all our prairie regions, and with the high price and
actual scarcity of the labor necessary for housing winter feed,
he can not afford to build regular sheep barns with room for
in-door feeding for his great flocks, or to bestow the time
necessary for housing his feed. Besides, his favorite corn
feed would not bear housing in great masses without injury.
Well shocked, it winters in the field without any serious loss.

Accordingly, the prairie sheep shed is but one story high,
and generally not more than seven or eight feet between the
ground and the eaves. It is made with a roof pitching both
ways; is generally, at the bes sheep establishments, closed
up all round; and is long and comparatively narrow, so that
by a proper arrangement of fences, portions of it can be made
accessible to different fields. The stable room required by
sheep has already been considered.

* ve it consumed for wel, a8 has repeatedly been ‘done, because it made
the checeat taal attainable in badly wooded regions. Will this fact be credited in
Europe! y

260 SHEEP ESTABLISHMENT ON THE PRAIRIES.

Water.— Snow on the surface of the ground is neither
very regular nor very abundant in many of the prairie regions
—and, as already said, many of these regions are very
deficient in running water. Fora sheep fed exclusively on
dry feed, water is indispensable; and one fed highly on dry
corn would undoubtedly require it in extra quantities. On
very many prairies there are frequent sloughs which are dry
in summer, but which, by deep, broad ditches, can be made
to supply abundant water in winter. It would be worse than
folly to locate the headquarters of a sheep farm where surface
water of no kind is available, and where it can not be
obtained abundantly by wells; and even wells are a very poor
resort, when, by going elsewhere and further, a running
stream, or spring, or permanent surface water in any other
form, can be obtained. *

Location or Suzup EstaprisHmMEnt.—The most desirable
place for locating a prairie sheep establishment is on the
banks of some permanent stream, where the land is high,
rolling, and gravelly, the grass abundant and of a fine quality,
small clumps of timber frequent, and a railroad to market
near by! An undesirable one is a low, wet, level plain — or
a dry one without water or timber —remote from all present
or prospective avenues to market.

Norz.— While these sheets are going through the press,
as I have mentioned in a preceding note, valuable articles on
Prairie Sheep Husbandry by Hon. I. B. Grinnell, of Iowa,
and Mr. 8. P. Boardman, of Illinois, have made their appear-
ance in the Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture —
and also a very discriminating and able paper of a more
general character, abounding in the most valuable statistics,
entitled “Condition and Prospects of Sheep Husbandry in
the United States.” I much regret that they did not appear
in time to allow me to quote their confirmatory testimony on
several subjects treated in this volume.

cry

* Artesian wells may become available at some fature day when the country is
far more thickly settled and land far higher priced. From ordinary wells, water is
comune raised at no great expense for stock, by means of pumps worked by small
wind-mills.

CHAPTER XXII.
ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF SHEEP.—THE HEAD.

COMPARATIVELY SMALL NUMBER OF AMERICAN SHEEP DIS-
EASES — LOW TYPE OF AMERICAN SHEEP DISEASES —
ANATOMY OF THE SHEEP-—-THE SKELETON—THE SKULL
— THE HORNS AND THEIR DISEASES —- THE TEETH —
SWELLED HEAD—SORE FACE—SWELLED LIPS—INFLAM-
MATION OF THE EYE.

CoMPARATIVELY Smart Numsrer or American SHEEP
Disraszes.— Many of the diseases of sheep which are
described as comparatively common in Europe, are unknown
in the United States; and this remark applies particularly to
those which have proved most destructive in the former.

I have owned sheep the entire period of my life — a little
over half a century —my flock numbering at alternating
periods from hundreds to thousands. I have for considerably
more than half of this period been constantly concerned in
their practical management, and a deeply interested observer
of them. For more than twenty years I have been engaged
in a constant and extensive correspondence in respect to
sheep and their diseases, with flock-masters in various portions
of the United States, and have been in the frequent habit of
inspecting flocks of every size and description, and I never
yet have witnessed or had satisfactory proof brought home
to me of the existence of a single case of hydatid, water on
the brain, palsy, rot, small pox, malignant inflammatory fever,
(La Maladie de Sologne,) blain or inflammation of the
cellular tissue about the tongue, enteritis or inflammation of
the coats of the intestines, acute dropsy or red-water, acute
inflammation of the lungs, or of a whole host of other
formidable maladies described by every European writer. on
the diseases of sheep. I do not aver that they never occur in
the United States, but the above facts would seem to show
their occurrence must at least be very rare, or confined to
localities where they are not recognized.

262 TYPE OF AMERICAN SHEEP DISEASES.

To correct or confirm my own impressions on_ this
subject, I addressed letters, a few months since, to a large
number of highly intelligent and experienced flock-masters
residing in various States, and in situations differing widely
in respect to climate, soil, elevation, etc.—asking them what
diseases sheep were subject to-in their respective regions, and
what remedies were most successfully employed for their cure.
The spirit and substance of nearly all the replies are contained
in the following extract from a letter of my off-hand friend,
Mr. Theodore C. Peters, of Darien, New York:

“You ask me for our sheep diseases and for the remedies.
After years of experience I discarded all medicines except
those to cure hoof-rot and scab; and I finally cured those
diseases cheapest by selling the sheep. An ounce of preven-
tion is worth a pound of cure. If sheep are well kept
summer and winter, not over-crowded in pastures, and kept
under dry and well ventilated covers in winter, and housed
when the cold, fall rains come on, there will be no necessity
for remedies of any kind. If not so handled, all the remedies
in the world won’t help them, and the sooner a careless,
shiftless man loses his sheep the better. They are out of their
misery and are not spreading contagious diseases among the
neighboring flocks.”

When to the two maladies above named, (hoof-rot and
scab,) are added the obscure one described at page 204, a
very fatal but infrequent one in the spring, ordinarily termed
grub-in-the-head, catarrh or cold, colic, parturient fever, (the
last quite rare and mostly confined to English sheep,) and the
few minor diseases of sheep and lambs mentioned under the
heads of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Management —
we have almost the entire list with which the American sheep
farmer is familiar. AII the diseases named do not, in my
opinion, cut off annually two per cent. of well fed and really
well managed grown sheep! Nothing is more common than
for years to pass by in the small flocks of our careful breeders,
with scarcely a solitary instance of disease in them. I
have not space to offer any conjectures as to the causes of an
immunity frpm disease so remarkable, in comparison with the
condition of England, France and Germany, in the same
particular.

Low Tyre or American Surrp Diszasxs.— A discrimi-
nating English veterinary writer, Mr. Spooner, has remarked
that owing to its greatly weaker muscular and vascular

TYPE OF AMERICAN SHEEP DISEASES/ 263

structure, the diseases of the sheep are much less likely to
take an inflammatory type than those of the horse, (and he
might have added the ox,) and that the character of its
maladies is generally that of debility.* Mr. Spooner wrote
with his eye on the mutton sheep of England — constantly
forced forward by the most nutritious food, in order to attain
early maturity and excessive fatness. Still more strongly,
then, do his remarks apply to the ordinarily fed wool-
ptoducing sheep of the United States. I long ago remarked
that the depletory treatment, by bleeding and cathartics,
resorted to in so many of the diseases of sheep in England, is
inapplicable and dangerous here. The American Sheep,
which has been kept in the common way, sinks from the
outset, or after a mere transient flash of inflammatory action ;
and in any stage of its maladies, active depletion is likely to
lead to fatal prostration.

It is not purposed here to enter upon any explanation of
the anatomy of the sheep, further than is necessary to give
a general view of the principal internal structures which
determine the form, discharge some of the principal animal
functions, and become the seats or subjects of disease. And
in treating of maladies, I shall aim,to adapt both the language
and the prescriptions to the degree of knowledge already
possessed on the subject by ordinary practical men, instead
of learned veterinarians. .

On the next page is given an illustration and description
of the skeleton of a sheep, and on the following page the
skull of a hornless sheep is represented and described.

* Spooner on Sheep, pp. 269, 271.

264

RESON

STRUCTURE OF THE SHEEP.

>

4
SKELETON OF THE SHEEP.

The Head.

1. The inter-maxillary bone.

2. The nasal bones.

3. The upper jaw.

4, The union of the nasal and upper jaw

bones.
6. The union of the malar and lachrymal
bones.
6. The orbits of the eye.
%. The frontal bone.
9. The lower jaw.
10. The incisor teeth, or nippers.
11. The molars, or grinders.
The Trunk.
1, 1. The ligament of the neck, support-
ing the head.
1, 2, 8. 4.5. 6.7. The seven vertebre, or
bones of the neck.
1—13. The thirteen vertebra, or bones
f the back.
1—6. The six vertebre of the loins.
%. The sacral bone.
8. The bones of the tail, varying in dif-
ferent breeds from 12 to 21.
9. The haunch and pelvis.
1—8. The eight true ribs with their car-
tilages.
9—13. The five false ribs, or those that
are not attached to the breast-bone.
14, The breast-bone.

The Fore- Leg.
1, The scapula, or shoulder-blade.
2. The humerus, bone of the arm, or low-
er part of the shoulder.
3. The radius, or bone of the fore-arm.
4, The ulna, or elbow.
The knee, with its different bones.
The metacarpal, or shank-bones — the
larger bones of the leg.
Arudiment of the smaller metacarpal.

The two first bones of the foot—the
pasterns,
The proper bones of the foot.

5.

6.

q

. One of the sessamoid bones,
10.

The Hind-Leg.

1. The thigh-bone,
2. The stifle-joint and its bone—the

patella.
3. Tue ae or bone of the upper part of
e leg.
The point of the hock.
The other bones of the hock.

hind-leg.
Rudiment of the small metatarsal.
A sessamoid bone.
The two first bones of the foot— the

4,
5.
6. The metatarsal bone, or bone of the
T.
8.
9.

pasterns.
10. The proper bone of the foot.

THE HORNS AND THEIR DISEASES, 265

SKULL OF A HORNLESS SHEEP.

1. The Occipital bone.
2. The parietal bones, the suture having disappeared.
The squamous portions of the temporal bone.
The meatus auditorius, or bony opening into the ear.
. The frontal bones.
The epeniags through which blood-vessels pass to supply
the forehead.
. The bony orbits of the eye.
8. The zygomatic or molar bones,
9, The lachrymal bones.
10. The bones of the nose.
11. The upper jaw bone.
12, The foramen, through which the nerve and blood-vessels
pass to supply the lower part of the face.
18. The nasal processes of the intermaxillary bones.
14. The pelatine processes, r
15. The intermaxillary bone, supporting: the cartilaginous pad,
instead of containing teeth.

2 sos

Tux Horns anp THEIR Drszases.— Whether sheep
should be bred to have horns or not depends upon the taste
of the owner. In the abstract, they are, undoubtedly, a
wholly useless appendage, render the lamb more difficult of
parturition, and in their massive proportions on the head of
the male Merino, cause him to be, however quiet his temper, a
dangerous associate to breeding ewes in advanced stages of
pregnancy. Yet I know no leading Merino breeder who
would use a polled or hornless ram, any sooner than would a
Down or Leicester breeder use a ram having horns! Each
clings to the characteristics of his breed. Most Merino
breeders, however, object to horns on ewes — though very
small ones, having but one convolution, are not uncommon.
I have never seen it remarked that the different families of
Merinos in Spain exhibited any different characteristics in
their horns — but the American Infantados and Paulars, as
now modified, generally do so. In the former, the. convolu-
tions are nearer together, and the first one frequently passes
down very close to the head and neck — in a few instances
presses so closely on them that, in the case of valuable ram
lambs, the horns are artificially spread apart by means of an
iron brace placed between thei (over the back side of the
head) which can be lengthened by a screw as the horns give
way to the pressure. the Paular, the horns are usually
quite divergent, and frequently of great size.*

* The fact that the Silesians, which are deep in Infantado blood, have also the
close or convergent horn, would go to show that it is a family peculiarity. I owneda
Paular ram two or three years since, which at two years old, measured three feet
between the tips of his horns. He died before he was three years old; and a person
sawed off his horns so as to take that portion of the skull covered by the base of each.
He subsequently boiled them to detach them from the bones. They have lain dry two
years. Weighed to-day, with the inside bones, they weigh 5 Ibs. !

12

266 TEETH OF THE SHEEP.

The proper mode of managing horns at shearing, was
mentioned at page 189. I am not aware that they are subject
to any diseases except those caused by fracture. They are
sometimes broken in fighting; and I have seen an old ram
which had one knocked clean from his head by the charge of
a ram from behind, while another occupied his attention in
front. The bleeding is very considerable in such cases, but a
tarred rag securely bound over the part to keep away flies
and irritating substances is all that is necessary.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 5. Fig. 6.
‘x TEETH OF THE SHEEP.

Toe Trrra.—The sheep has thirty-two teeth— eight
incisors in front of lower jaw, and six molars on each side in
the upper and lower jaw. The lamb at birth has two incisor
teeth visible, or pressing through the gums. Usually before
it ig a month old it has eight comparatively short, narrow
ones, as in Fig. 1. At about a year old, though sometimes
not until the fourteenth or sixteenth month, the two central
“lamb teeth” are shed and replaced by two “broad teeth,”
which gradually attain their full size. The sheep is then
termed a yearling, or “yearling past.” Two lamb teeth
continue to be shed annually and replaced by broad teeth,
until the sheep has eight incisors of second growth, when it is
termed “full mouthed.” Fig. 2 represents “the mouth” of a
yearling past; Fig. 3 of a two-year-old past; Fig. 4 of a three-
year-old past, and Fig. 6 of a four-year-old past.* Fig. 5 is a
back or inside view of the teeth of a three-year-old, showing
the narrow and dwindled appearance of the two last lamb

* The English, counting from the periods when each new pair of incisors become
Sully developed, usually speak of two broad teeth as indicating a two-year-old, four a
three-year-old, six a four-year-old, and eight a five-year-old.

TEETH OF THE SHEEP. 267

teeth, before they are shed; and they frequently, as in this
cut, stand so far behind the third pair of incisors that they
can not be seen, on looking into the mouth in front. Conse-
quently, unless the broad incisors are counted, the sheep is
often mistaken for a full-mouthed one.

The teeth afford the most decisive test there is of the age of
a sheep, until it is four years old, though there is sometimes
a variation of a number of months or even a year in their
development. High kept and rapidly grown sheep acquire
their second teeth earlier.

When perfect, the incisors are sharp, rounded on the edge,
as in the cuts; a little concave without and convex within (or
gouge-shaped;) and they project forward, so that with the
firm, elastic pad on the upper jaw with which they are
brought into contact, they are capable of taking up the
smallest body. They will not only crop the shortest grass,
but scoop up its very roots. A-sheep yarded on unpulled
turnips usually scoops out the centers of them so far as they
are in the ground, leaving little more than the mere skin of
the sides and bottoms, remaining unbroken like cups in
the soil. é

At six years old the incisors of the Merino begin to
diminish in breadth and lose their fan-like shape and position.
At seven they become long and narrow, stand about perpen-
dicular with respect to each other, and have lost their
rounded, cutting edges. At eight they are still narrower,
and their outer ends begin to converge considerably toward
the middle. At nine the convergence is still greater, the teeth
are not thicker than very small straws, and are very long,
particularly the middle ones. At ten these appearances have
increased and the teeth are becoming quite loose. At about
this period of life the teeth begin to drop out, though
frequently all are retained until twelve.* The sheep is then
called “broken mouthed.” In two or three years after
beginning to lose them, all the incisors are usually gone but
one or two. These should be pulled by a pair of nippers, as
they prevent the sheep. from cropping short grass.+ The

* It is stated by Dillon, in his Travels in Spain, 1779, (quoted by Youatt,) that
“the teeth of the Spanish ram do not fall out until the animal is eight years
old; whereas the ewes, from the delicacy of their frame, or from other causes,
lose theirs at five.” These are undoubtedly the loose assertions of a misinformed
traveler: at least, they do not approximate to accuracy in respect to the American
Merino, : “

+ Mr. Youatt is clearly mistaken; however, lin saying ‘‘ that if any of the teeth
are loose they should be extracted,:’ (vide p. 5.) Adi the incisors are frequently
loose, to a considerable degree, a year or two before any of them drop out, and the

268 SWELLED HEAD.

gum of the lower'jaw hardens after their removal, so that it
becomes, in a measure, a substitute for the lost incisors, in
separating their food. The molars, though shortened and
worn, are never shed, so that mastication continues complete.
Old breeding ewes often live, thrive, and raise good lambs
three or four years after ceasing to have any front teeth.

English sheep become broken-mouthed from three to four
years earlier—the difference about corresponding with the
difference in the longevity of the races. Sheep of all kinds
differ not only as between individuals, but between flocks in the
period of losing their teeth. If fed wneut and dirty roots,
they lose them much earlier. The prying action of the
incisors, as they are employed in scooping out a turnip, for
example — particularly if it be partly frozen—or the
obstruction of a bit of gravel (which often finds its way from
the tap roots even among ewt turnips) between an incisor
and the pad above it, not unfrequently causes a loose one to
be detached, or a comparatively firm one to snap off.

SweELLED Hrsap.—The head of the sheep sometimes
becomes swollen from causes which are not very well under-
stood. Ido not know of any special or characteristic disease
among sheep which produces this effect.* It is occasionally
heard of in this country — but I have never seen it, or heard
its symptoms accurately described. According to Mr. Hogg,
it appears in Scotland. An abscess is formed and breaks, and
the sheep then speedily recovers unless too much reduced by
the discharge. In England it is sometimes occasioned, Mr.
Youatt thinks, from the sting of a venomous reptile or insect,
in which case, he says, the wool should be cut off round the
wound, the parts washed with warm water, olive oil well
rubbed in, and small doses of hartshorn diluted with water,
administered internally — “half a scruple of the hartshorn in
an ounce of water every hour.”

Mr. Youatt conjectures that the Scotch form of the disease
may arise from eating poisonous plants, or from a species
of catarrh or influenza.t To these causes, and to the last
especially, I have been disposed to attribute such instances of

sheep remains capable not only of cropping grass, but of scooping out a turnip in the
manner already mentioned. Nor should all be pulled when only one or two drop out.
The judgment of the shepherd must be his guide in the matter; but as long as, say
five incisors remain together or press together, it is not usually best to remove them,
* T should except blain, but this disease has not appeared in the United States.
+ Youatt on Sheep, p. 371.

SORE FACE. ; 269

the disease as I have heard of in the United- States. In this
case, it should be treated like catarrh, (which see.)

Sort Facu.— The faces of sheep sometimes become so
sore, in the summer, that the hair comes off. This is usually
attributed either to coming in contact with, or eating St.
Jobn’s- Wort, (Hypericum perforatum.)* Mr. Morrell states,
in the American Shepherd, that the “irritation of the skin”
will sometimes extend “over the whole body and legs of the
sheep;” that “if eaten in too large quantities it produces violent
inflammation of the bowels, and is frequently fatal to lambs,
and sometimes to adults ;” that “its effects, when inflamma-
tion is produced internally, are very singular ;” that he “has
witnessed the most fantastic capers of sheep in this situation,
and once a lamb, while running, described a circle with all
the precision of a circus horse,” and that “this was continued
until it fell from exhaustion.” He recommends, if there are
symptoms of internal inflammation, that tar be administered,
but says that “simply hog’s lard is used frequently with
success.” He recommends that the sheep should be removed
to pastures free of the weed and salted freely; and remarks
that ‘it is said that salt, if given often to sheep, is an effectual
guard against the poisonous properties of the weed.”

Mr. Morrell does not state how he traced these extensive,
and especially these internal effects, to the consumption of St.
John’s-Wort. On consulting several works on Botany,
and Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary, lying before me, I do not,
with the exception below, find it mentioned as a poisonous or
noxious plant in any of them. Dr. Dunglison characterizes it
as an aromatic and astringent, and states that an infusion of
its flowers in olive oil is a vulnerary—or, is useful in
curing wounds.

On the other hand, in Dr. John Torry’s “Flora of the
State of New York,” (in the “Natural History of New
York,”) occurs the following remarks on the properties of
this plant : — “ This pernicious weed is generally believed, in
this country, to be the most common cause of ‘slabbers’t in
horses and horned cattle; and likewise to cause sores on
their skin, especially on animals whose noses and feet are
white, and whose skin is thin and tender. Dr. Darlington
remarks that the dew which collects on the plant appears to

* I gave this as the cause in Sheep Husbandry in the South, p. 271, but I did not
suppose it was eaten by sheep. i
+ Ihad supposed that honor was more particularly assigned to lobelia (Z. inflata.)

.

270 EFFECT OF 8ST. JOHN’S-WORT.

become acrid. He has seen the backs of white cows covered
with sores wherever the bushy extremity of their tails has
been applied, after draggling through the St. John’s- Wort.
Dr. J. M. Bigelow, of Ohio, states that he has known a high
degree of inflammation of the mucous lining of the mouth
and fauces produced by eating a few of the fresh leaves. It
was formerly in considerable repute for its medicinal virtues,
but was chiefly employed as a balsamic for wounds.” *

What should induce sheep to eat a noxious plant which
they are familiar with, and which is excessively acrid to the
taste, it is difficult to conjecture. I doubt whether they do
so. Indeed, I doubt whether it so often affects sheep in any
way as I formerly believed, and as many persons continue to
believe. It grows in most of my hill pastures; and having
ceased to fear it and consequently to make special efforts for
its extirpation, it being a hardy perennial-rooted plant, has
inereased so that it is readily found. Within a week of this
writing + I have observed abundant plants of it in a field
where I have kept one hundred and eighty ewes and lambs
since they were first turned out in the spring, and not one of
them has been in the least degree affected by it. J never saw
a case where the sheep were affected beyond a soreness of the
face: and I do not think I have seen even such a case within
fifteen years. All my recollections of it go back to the days
of the feeble little Saxon sheep, which were always peeling
on some excuse or other!

I have some Short-Horn cows, too, with white noses, white
spots on their backs, and long tails to draggle over the St.
John’s- Wort in their pasture, both when wet and dry; and
none of them are affected by it. While I am not prepared to
deny that it sometimes causes sores both on cattle and
sheep, I am not disposed to concede much to mere popular
belief on the subject without better proof than I have yet
seen adduced. { Popular beliefin France and Germany, says
Loudon, cause the people “to gather it with great ceremony
on St. John’s Day, and hang it in their windows, as a charm
against storms, thunder and evil spirits — mistaking the
meaning of some medical writers who have fancifully given
this plant the name of Fuga Demonum,§ from a supposition

* Flora of New York, Vol. 1, p. 8%.

+ August, 1863,

+ Lintended to make some experiments in regard to its effects, preparatory to
writing this article, but have not had time to attend to it.

§ Flight of evil spirits or demons.

SWELLED LIPS. 271

that it was good in maniacal and hypochondriacal disorders.
In Scotland it was formerly carried about as a charm against
witchcraft and enchantment!”

From whatever cause it arises, the sore face ascribed to
the effects of St. John’s-Wort is readily cured by sulphur
ointment, composed of sulphur and hog’s lard. If, as Mr.
Morrell supposes, it produces “violent inflammation of the
bowels,” I should not like to trust either to tar or lard,
but would resort to the treatment appropriate in the case
of vegetable poisons. (See Poisons.)

SweEtLepD Lirs.—Sheep are sometimes quite suddenly
affected with sore lips in the winter—and I think this oftenest
occurs to the lambs of the preceding spring. The lips
become swollen to several times their natural thickness, are
hard, crack open, and. are so stiff and sore that the animal
eats with difficulty. This disease visited a flock owned by
me five or six years since, and included nearly the entire
number. It promptly disappeared on smearing their lips with
tar rendered thin and soft by butter and slightly. mixed with
sulphur. A neighbor’s sheep which were thus attacked, were
simply, on my suggestion, smeared over the lips with pot-
grease; and it likewise immediately relieved them. There
appeared to be no observable constitutional disease in either
case. Several other such attacks and cures have occurred
within flocks which I am familiar with.

The causes of this affection are unknown. Some attribute
it to St. John’s-Wort, or other noxious weeds in the hay —
but, in my own case, it can not possibly be explained in this
way. A tun of the hay would have scarcely contained a
handful of St. John’s-Wort, and it contained no other weed
even suspected of being noxious—while the malady was
simultaneously exhibited by nearly every animal in the same
flock. The hay, however, came from a new field, and
contained an excessive quantity of bull-thistles. Whether
the dry prickles of these had anything to do in producing the
effect on the lips, I am unable to say. I have occasionally
seen it stated in Agricultural papers that a disease of which
swelled lips are one of the most prominent and characteristic
symptoms, has resulted mortally. I think it must be a
different malady from the one under consideration. I have
never witnessed any instance of swelled lips which I think
would have been likely to produce death without the applica-

tion of any remedy.

272 DISEASES OF THE EYE.

INFLAMMATION OF THE Eyz.—The eyes of sheep are subject
to few diseases, in our country. The only serious one I have
ever seen—and that is quite rare—is simple ophthalmia,*
characterized by redness of the eye, and its appendages,
with intolerance of light and a copious flow of tears. It is
generally, however, attended with but moderate inflam-
mation, and if neglected, its worst and that by no means the
most common result is blindness, almost invariably confined
to one eye. It might prove more serious among high fed
mutton sheep. Mr. Grove, the best practical shepherd of his
day, in our country, used to blow red chalk into the diseased
eye. “Others squirt into it tobacco juice, from those ever
ready reservoirs of this nauseous fluid, their mouths. Conceiv-
ing it a matter of humanity to do something, I have in some
instances drawn blood from under the eye, bathed the eye in
warm water, and occasionally with a weak solution of the
sulphate of zinc combined with tincture of opium. These
applications diminish the pain and accelerate the cure.” +

* There is occasionally a case of-cataract. Also see Art. Rabies in this volume.
+ Sheep Husbandry in the South, p. 239.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE SHEEP'S HEAD,
CONTINUED.

SECTION OF SHEEP’S HEAD—GRUB IN THE HEAD—HYDATID
ON THE BRAIN— WATER ON THE BRAIN — APOPLEXY —
INFLAMMATION OF THE BRAIN—TETANUS OR LOCKED JAW
— EPILEPSY — PALSY — RABIES.

SECTION OF SHEEP’S HEAD.

1. The nasal bone. .9.. A vertical section of the cerebellum.

2. The upper jaw bone. a. The cineritious portion of the brain.
3. The intermaxillary bone, thefore part | | 6: The medullary portion of the brain.
of which supports the pad, against | 10. The ethmoid bone, with its cells.

which the incisor teeth shut. 11. The cribriform or perforated plate of
4,4, The frontal sinuses, or cavities. the ethmoid bone, pierced with
5. The sinus of the horn, communicating

‘numerous holes for the passage of
with frontal sinus, disclosed by re- the olfactory nerve.
moving a section of the base and | 12. The development of the lower cell of
bone of the horn. ethmoid bone.
6. The parietal bone. 18. The superior turbinated bone.
%. The frontal bone. 14, The inferior turbinated bone.
8, A vertical section of the brain. 1%, The sphenoid bone.

Grus IN. THE Hrav.— In the months of July and August
sheep are often seen gathered in dense clumps with their
heads turned inward and their noses held down to the
ground. If driven away, they run without raising their
heads, or rapidly thrust them down again, as if they had

some very urgent motive for retaining them in that position.
12*

274 THE GAD-FLY AND ITS LARVA.

Occasionally they stamp or strike violently with their fore-
feet near their noses as if an enemy, invisible to the spectator,
were assailing them at that point. It is the
Gstrus ovis, or gad-fly of the sheep, attempting
to deposite its eggs within their nostrils. ‘“'The
head and corslet” of this insect, says Mr.
Youatt, “taken together, are as long as the
body; and that is composed of five rings, tiger-
colored on the back, with some small points, and ®#®=P eap-rrr.
larger patches of deep, brown color. The belly is of nearly
the same color, but has only one large circular spot on the
center of each of the rings. The length of the wings is
nearly equal to that of the body, which they almost entirely
cover. They are prettily striped and marked.” *

If the fly succeeds in depositing its eggs within the
nostrils of a sheep, they are immediately hatched by the
warmth and moisture, and the larve or young grubs, crawl
up the nose finding their way to the sinuses, where, by means
of the tentacula or hooks which grow from the sides of their
mouths, they attach themselves to the membrane lining those
cavities, and there remain feeding on its mucus until the
following year. As the minute worm ascends the nose, the
sheep appears to be distracted with apprehension. It dashes
wildly about the field, stamping, snorting and tossing its head.

Fig. 1 in the annexed cut, exhibits the larva or grub about
half grown. It is then white, except two brown spots near
the tail. Fig. 2 represents it of full size. The rings, and
particularly those nearest the tail, are now dark brown.

THE “GRUB” OR LARVA OF THE GAD-FLY.

Each ring has darker spots, and below them are others, as
seen in Fig. 2. Fig. 3 exhibits a full grown larva on its back
— the minute dots between the belly rings representing small
red spines, the points of which turn backwards.

The larva, after remaining in the sinuses through the

* Those who wish a further description of this insect, will find more on the
subject in Mr. Youatt’s work on sheep,—and especially in Mr. Bracy Clark’s mon-
ograph of the estrus ovis.

“GRUB IN THE HEAD.” 275

winter and early part of the ensuing spring, abandons them
as the warm weather advances. It crawls down the nose,
again producing great irritation and excitement; drops on
the ground; rapidly burrows into it; assumes the form of a
chrysalis; and finally again hatches forth a perfect fly.

Many French and English writers consider these larve,
while in the heads of sheep, the causes of most serious evils
and of frequent death. On the other hand, Mr. Bracy Clark
and Mr. Youatt are not only disposed to doubt this, but they
even suggest that these parasites may be placed where they
are for the benefit of the sheep, particularly those in high
condition —to save them from determination of blood to the
head. by establishing counter irritation!

This is as far-fetched as a conclusion, as is the- reasoning
on which it is founded. Mr. Youatt declares :—“ It is incom-
patible with that wisdom and goodness that are more and
more evident in proportion as the phenomena of nature are
closely examined, that the destined residence of the cstrus
ovis should be productive of continued inconvenience or
disease.” * Had Mr. Youatt forgotten that the “ destined
residence” of the scab acarus, of the tick, of the common
maggot, etc., are all productive of inconvenience, disease and
death to the sheep?

If a sheep dies in the spring of the year, fat or poor,
suddenly or lingeringly, with one or another set of symptoms,
the popular belief generally traces the malady to “grub in the
head.” It is the convenient name which covers all the
unknown fatal maladies of that season of the year. This
probably arises from the fact that on making what may be
termed the farmer’s autopsy—viz., on splitting open the body
and head of the dead sheep with an axe—the most striking
deviation, if not the only one, from what is supposed to be
the natural situation of things, which is discovered in the five
minutes scrutiny, is a quantity of large, fat, ill-looking worms
in the cavities of the head: and our rapid practitioner at once
decides that these are cause enough for any disease! His
theory is that the “grub” bores through the walls which
separate the nasal cavities or the sinuses from the brain, and
that they produce death by attacking the latter organ. I
have been triumphantly shown the cribriform plate of the
ethmoid bone (see 11, in Fig. on page 273,) with its natural
perforations for the passage of the olfactory nerve, in proof

* Youatt on Sheep, p. 368.

276 “GRUB IN THE HEAD.”

that the “grubs” had already “got small holes opened to the
brain,” when their further operations were, it was supposed,
suspended by the death of the subject!

I have had a singularly limited experience with any
diseases which could reasonably be attributed to the presence
of these parasites, and therefore do not feel myself at all well
qualified to judge of their actual effects on the sheep. That
want of experience is a strong proof of itself, that resulting
maladies are not as frequent by any means as is popularly
supposed. And knowing, as I do, that other and wholly
dissimilar diseases are habitually termed “grub in the head,”
I can entertain no doubt that the extent of the injuries thus
inflicted is enormously exaggerated.

Influenced by these latter considerations, and by the
strong counter testimony of such really able veterinarians as
Messrs. Clark and Youatt, and the silence on the subject of
Mr. Spooner and some other modern writers, I was formerly
led to doubt whether the larve of the estrus ovis ever did
more in the sheep’s head than effect a degree of temporary
irritation of the lining membranes, which might produce
serious inconvenience when acting in concert with the
inflammation already established by catarrhal or other
cerebral affections, but which never caused death. Again
reminding the reader that I speak from a very limited
personal knowledge of the disease, I feel it due to frankness
to say that my opinions have undergone some change. The
testimony of intelligent men has satisfied me that the irrita-
tion and ultimate inflammation of the mucous lining of the
head produced by the tentacula of the worm and by its
constant feeding on the secretions if not even on the
substance of the membrane itself, in certain stages of the
disease, * are sufficient in some cases to cause death. I should
not expect a sheep in high condition and apparent health to
die suddenly from this cause without previous symptoms
of disease, and under circumstances resembling those
of apoplexy. I should not expect the powerful nervous
disturbances of epilepsy. But if the sheep began to fall
off rapidly in condition a little before the opening of spring,
without any other traceable cause —if it wandered round
with irregular movements, twisting about its head occa-
sionally as if it was suffering pain — and especially if the
mucus discharged from the nose was tinged with blood —I

* This may be more doubtful.

HYDATID ON THE BRAIN. 277

should suspect “grub in the head,” and administer remedies
or antidotes on that hypothesis. And after the death of
patients, I should as carefully as practicable examine not only
the sinuses of the head, but also the entire nasal cavities, to
ascertain whether there were any traces of the supposed
destructive action of the larve.

Some farmers protect their sheep measurably from the attacks
of the estrus ovis, by plowing a furrow or two in different por-
tions of their pastures. The sheep thrust their noses into this
on the approach of the fly. Others smear their noses with tar,
or cause them to smear them themselves, by sprinkling their
salt over tar. Those fish oils which repel the attacks of flies
might be resorted to. Blacklock suggested the dislodgement
of the larve from the head by blowing tobacco smoke up the
nostrils,— as it is said to be effectual. It is blown from the
tail of a pipe, the bowl being covered with cloth. Tobacco
water is sometimes injected with a syringe for the same
purpose. The last should be prevented. from entering the
throat in any considerable quantity.

I trust that scientific and impartial investigation will
henceforth be more directed to a determination of the actual
existence and proper treatment of this real or supposed
malady.

Hypatip on THE Brain.— This disease, known as
turnsick, sturdy, staggers, etc., is spoken of by Chancellor
Livingston, and other writers of reputation, as having
occurred in this country within their own observation. I
have never seen a case of it, and shall be obliged, therefore,
to make use of the descriptions of others. Mr. Spooner says:

“The symptoms are a dull, moping appearance, the sheep
separating from the flock, a wandering and blue appearance
to the eye, and sometimes partial or total blindness ; the sheep
appears unsteady in its walk, will sometimes stop suddenly
and fall down, at others gallop across the field, and after the
disease has existed for some time will almost constantly move
round in a circle—there seems, indeed, to be an aberration
of the intellect of the animal. These symptoms, though rarely
all present in the same subject, are yet sufficiently marked
to prevent the disease being mistaken for any other. On
examining the brain of sturdied sheep, we find what appears
to be a watery bladder, termed a hydatid, which may be
either small or of the size of a hen’s egg. This hydatid, one
of the class of entozoons, has been termed by naturalists the

278 HYDATID ON THE BRAIN.

hydatis polycephalus cerebralis, which signifies the many-
headed hydatid of the brain; these heads being irregularly
distributed on the surface of the bladder, and on the front
part of each head, there is a mouth surrounded by minute,
sharp hooks within a ring of sucking disks. These disks
serve as the means of attachment by forming a vacuum, and
bring the mouth in contact with the surface, and thus by the
aid of the hooks the parasite is nourished. The coats of the
hydatid are disposed in several layers, one of which appears
to possess a muscular power. These facts are developed by
the microscope, which also discovers numerous little bodies
adhering to the internal membrane. The fluid in the bladder
is usually clear, but occasionally turbid, and then it has been
found to contain a number of minute worms.”

According to Mr. Youatt, this disease attacks many of the
weakly lambs in the English flocks. It usually appears, he
remarks, “ during the first year of the animal’s life, and when
he is about or under six months old.” It succeeds “‘a severe
winter and a cold, wet spring.” He says:

“Tf there is only one parasite inhabiting the brain of a
sturdied sheep, its situation is very uncertain. It is mostly
found beneath the pia-mater, lying upon the brain, and in or
upon the scissure between the two hemispheres. If it is
within the brain, it is generally in one of the ventricles, but
occasionally in the substance of the brain, and, in a few
instances, in that of the cerebellum. * * * This is a
singular disease; but it is a sadly prevalent and fatal one in
wet and moorish districts. * * * It is much more fatal
in France than in Great Britain. It is supposed that nearly a
million of sheep are destroyed in France every year by this
pest of the ovine race. * * * The means of cuie are
exceedingly limited. They are confined to tae removal or
destruction of the vesicle. Medicine is altogether out of the
question here.”

Many barbarous methods have been adopted to rupture
the hydatid. Mr. James Hogg thrust a wire up the nostrils
of the sheep, and through the plate of the ethmoid bone into
the brain, and thus, as he assures us, punctured the hydatid
and “cured many a sheep!”* This practice, which I can not
characterize otherwise than as atrocious, is justly condemned
by Mr. Youatt. Mr. Parkinson “pulled the ears very hard
for some time,” and then cut them off close to the head!

* Hoge on nay p. 59.
+ Parkinson on Sheep, Vol. 1, p. 412.

WATER ON THE BRAIN. 279

Where the hydatid is not imbedded in the brain, its
constant pressure, singularly enough, causes a portion of the
cranium to be absorbed, and finally the part immediately over
the hydatid becomes thin and soft enough to yield under the
ia le of the finger. When such a spot is discovered, the

nglish veterinarians usually dissect back the muscular
integuments, remove a portion of the bone, carefully divide
the investing membranes of the brain, and then, if possible,
remove the hydatid whole — or, failing to do this, remove
its fluid contents. The membranes and integuments are then
restored to their position, and an adhesive plaster placed over
the whole. The French veterinarians usually simply puncture
the cranium and the cist with a trochar, and lIaying the sheep
on its back, permit the fluid to run out through the orifice
thus made. K common awl would answer every purpose for
such a puncture. The puncture would. be the preferable
method for the unskilled practitioner. But when we take
into consideration the hazard and cruelty attending the
operation at best, and the conceded liability of a return of the
malady — the growth of new hydatids — it becomes apparent
that, in this country, it would not be worth while, unless in
the case of uncommonly valuable sheep, to resort to any
other remedy than depriving the miserable animal of life. *

Water on THE Brarn.—I have never seen this disease.
It was first described. by Mr. Youatt as an effusion of serous
fluid, or water, without being confined in any sack or bladder,
within the cavity occupied by the brain, or between its
investing membranes. It is peculiar to young lambs, and
sometimes occupies the head before birth, giving it unusual
size, ahd rendering parturition difficult. The skull is a little
enlarged; the bones of it are generally thin; but sometimes
they are thickened. The appetite occasionally fails, but
oftener is increased; the bowels are usually constipated —
though sometimes they are relaxed; the lamb appears more
or less stupid; is disinclined to move; staggers slightly; pines
away “almost to a skeleton,” and dies before it is two months
old. Mr. Youatt, after pronouncing the disease generally
incurable, advises the administration “of purgatives and
tonics combined—the epsom salts with ginger and gentian
and small doses of mercurial medicine, the blue pill, in doses

* J take the above remarks and quotations on the subject of this disease from my
Sheep Husbandry in the South, having learned nothing new in relation to it since
that work was written.

280 APOPLEXY.

of four or five grains,” with plenty of good milk, exercise and
air. Mr. Spooner says:—“ Nothing can be done in the way
of treatment,”—and he soundly adds:—“But it will be
prudent not to breed again from the ewe; and if there
are many such cases, the ram, too, may be changed with
advantage, for it is evident the disease is owing to some
constitutional fault in the parents, or mismanagement during
utero gestation.”

ApopLexy.— Apoplexy is frequent among the improved
mutton breeds of sheep in England—which, from their birth
to the time of their being butchered, are steadily forced
forward into the utmost attainable growth by rich and
stimulating food. During their whole lives, they are in a
condition of over-fatness and plethora—and apoplexy 1s a
natural result. ;

This disease is very rare among American sheep, and I
have never personally seen an instance of it. Yet when
fleshy sheep are first turned out to grass in the spring, and
the sun beats down with that burning heat occasionally
characteristic of our spring weather, one of the fattest sheep
in the flock is, suddenly, without a premonition of disease,
found lying dead on the ground. Sometimes one is seen to
leap suddenly and frantically into the air, act as if unconscious,
stagger, fall and die within five, ten, or fifteen minutes. The
farmer has a ready-made name for the malady. The sheep
has “grub in the head,” and the grubs have just “bored
through and penetrated the brain!” (See Grub in the Head.)
If the perishing sheep was examined closely, it is probable
that the eye would be found staring —the pupils dilated —the
sight nearly gone. If additionally the membranes of the nose
and eyes were found of a deep red or violet color, as if engorged
with blood, I should not doubt the presence of apoplexy.

The treatment, when all treatment is not too late, is
immediate bleeding from the jugular vein, until the animal
shows signs of weakness. Mr. Youatt and Mr. Spooner speak
of a pound as about the appropriate quantity of blood to be
taken, but I am confident this would be found too much for
the classes of American sheep — the Merino and its grades —
which are kept for wool growing purposes. Mr. Youatt says
four ounces of epsom salts should be administered as soon as
possible after the bleeding, and an additional ounce every six
hours until the bowels are opened. Mr. Spooner says that
two or three ounces of salt should be administered, and to

INFLAMMATION OF BRAIN — LOCKED JAW: 281

lambs half that dose. I should prefer Mr. Spooner’s prescrip-
tion — but for the Merino sheep, would be inclined to reduce
it to two ounces of the salts, followed by an ounce in six
hours, until a copious evacuation took place.

InFiamMaTION oF THE Brain.—This is a secondary
effect of the causes which produce apoplexy, by which the
substance of the brain, its membranes, or both, become the
subject of inflammation. The symptoms are much more
violent than the preceding. After a degree of dullness and
inactivity, accompanied by redness and protrusion of the eyes,
the animal becomes delirious, rushes about the field “ with its
tail cocked,” attacks men and trees; and, says Mr. Spooner,
“in lambs their motions are quite ridiculous, and have in
consequence, among the ignorant, given origin to the idea of
their being bewitched.” The disease is treated in the same
way with apoplexy.

Txranus or Locxsep Jaw.—In the spring of 1861, I had
about eighty rams — the “culls” * which had been accumula-
ting for two or three years in a breeding flock then numbering
three thousand. They were castrated —a portion of them
by slitting the scrotum and tying the spermatic cords with
waxed thread in the usual way that old rams are altered —
a portion of them (mostly yearlings and those older ones
which had small spermatic cords,) by cutting off the end of
the scrotum and removing the testicles precisely as is done in
the case of lambs—i. e., by pulling them out! This last
novel mode I permitted as an experiment, on the urgent
solicitation of the operator, a person of great experience and
practical skill in such matters, and who had heard of its being
practiced with success. And I am bound to state that not
one, or not more than one, of the rams castrated in this
unusual way was among the victims J am about to describe. t+

Owing to preceding bad weather and other hindrances,
the sheep were castrated rather late, and the flies caused
much trouble. After the lapse of about ten days, when the
animals appeared to be doing well enough, three or four of
them were suddenly found entirely rigid and unable to walk,
or only retaining some command. over the muscles of the

* They were those which promised too well to be castrated when lambs, but
which did not develop themselves satisfactorily as they grew older.

+ This may have been because they were younger, or had smaller spermatic cords
—but it at least shows that the mode is as safe as any other with such sheep.

282 EPILEPSY.

fore-legs, while the hind parts were as immovable as if already
stiffenéd by death. Their jaws were set. The parts of the
abdomen near the scrotum were considerably swollen and
very hard. They generally stood with their legs a little
farther apart than usual, but their postures were so natural
that at a few rods distance their situation, or that anything
unusual was the matter with them, would not have been
suspected by anybody. Some six or eight others were
speedily attacked and the symptoms were the same. There
was not, in a single instance, any peculiar protrusion or
retraction of the head or any other member; and though I
watched them for hours, I did not discover the least approach
to a convulsion, or even a spasm involving a single muscle.
They gave no peculiar evidences of pain-— breathed without
difficulty—and I think that they all died within about twenty-
four hours from the time their situation was discovered.* As
their jaws were immovably fixed, no internal remedies could
be administered, and I thought that the administration of
external ones under such circumstances would be labor
thrown away.

The malady is very rare in the United States, but as it is
liable to recur I will mention that the foreign veterinarians
recommend prompt bleeding from the jugular vein, and ape-
rient medicines, followed by opiates—also warmth and quict.
Mr. Spooner omits bleeding froth his recommendations.

Errepsy.— Mr. Youatt remarks that “tetanus and
epilepsy may be regarded as kindred diseases in all animals; but
that in none do they assimilate to each other as in the sheep.”

Epilepsy appears to be extremely prevalent in England
and on the continent of Europe, but is unusual in this country.
The sheep when laboring under its attack, suddenly ceases to
feed, stares about stupidly, runs round with a staggering gait,
falls to the ground, lays there struggling for a few moments,
and then gets up and remains for some period in a semi-
conscious state. These attacks recur, and a severer one ends
in death. It is thought to result from high condition and the
nature of the pasturage— aided by certain not very well
understood incidental causes. In England it is commonest
early in spring and late in autumn. It is so prevalent in

* Tam ashamed to say that being peculiarly hurried at the time, I made no con-
temporaneous written record of the facts,— and therefore am compelled partly to
guess at them, as do all persons who rely on their recollect: for h and exact
Jacts in such cases. But the general course of symptoms I have described are dis-
tinctly remembered by me.

PALSY — RABIES. 283

certain districts of France, that the people have given up
sheep husbandry. Tessier. ascribes it to the pasturage.
Gasparin states that it is most destructive in Germany in
spring and summer, but sometimes in the winter. He says
the shepherds of that country attribute it to the sheep’s
eating the sproutings of the pine in spring, and some species
of dock and garlic in the winter.* It would seem that in
regions where it particularly prevails, flocks acquire a predis-
position to this malady ; and the farmers of Beauce, in France,
either get rid of the whole flock in which it appears, or they
kill every sheep in any degree affected by it.t

Patsy.—I never have seen an instance of this malady.
It consists in a suspension of the nervous influence on the
muscles —the opposite of tetanus and epilepsy, by which
they are excited to unnatural action. The sheep sometimes
becomes powerless in every limb and unable to move; some-
times the palsy extends only to the loins or hind-quarters.
It is produced by cold and improper exposure,— and some-
times, it is thought, by improper feed. Young lambs when
yeaned in very cold weather, and lambs soon aftér weaning
when they receive too plentiful and stimulating food, are
most subject to its attacks-——though grown sheep are not
exempt from them, and particularly, says Mr. Spooner, “the
ewe that has aborted or produced her lamb with difficulty
and after a tedious labor in cold weather.”

The treatment of the disease consists, in the case of a
chilled lamb, in the restoration of warmth, and the adminis-
tration of warm gruel with a little ginger — and if activity is
not soon restored, with the addition also of a small quantity
of ale. If diarrhea ensues, the “sheep’s cordial” is given.
In the case of older sheep Mr. Youatt recommends removal
to amore comfortable situation, and a purgative consisting
of epsom salts and ginger, followed by a dose or two of the
cordial.

Rasres.— On Christmas eve, 1862, some sheep belonging
to my son, Henry P. Randall, were bitten by a dog. I saw
them next morning. The flock consisted of about one
hundred ewes, three years old last. spring, and in lamb. I
thought a dozen or more were wounded; but as their hurts
did not appear dangerous, I did not go to the trouble of

* Quoted bv Yonatt. pv. 398. + Thid.

284 RABIES.

ascertaining the precise number. All were bitten, so far as I
could discover, only about the head, and principally about the
nose and ears. The ears of some of them were torn into
shreds, and their noses and lips covered with tooth marks,
showing that the attack on them had been long persisted in.
This was evidently the work of an animal which was unable
to kill the sheep outright.

On Christmas morning, a small dog, belonging to a
neighbor, was found attacking some sheep owned by the
Messrs. Freer, kept about three-quarters of a mile from the
preceding. He had wounded two of them in the same way,
but more severely, when he was discovered and driven away.
He returned to the attack not long afterwards, was again
detected, followed home, and killed the same day. The idea
of his being rabid did not then occur to any one, though the
facts I have since learned lead to the impression that his
disease would have been apparent to a person familiar with
its symptoms.

The wounds on H. P. Randall’s sheep were found to heal
rapidly, and nothing was done for them. On the 12th of
January, 1863, he informed me that he had found one of the
bitten sheep on the ground unable to rise; that, on his
helping it up, it moved about with difficulty. It had frothy
saliva about its mouth. The next day it died. He had
observed some ewes riding each other about, prior to the
12th, but did not know whether the dead one was one of
these.

On the 14th of January, he informed me that two or three
of the wounded sheep were riding and fighting each other;
that one of them had suddenly butted him from behind; that
on his turning and offering to kick it, it would not retreat.
He confined it in the barn.

I saw the flock in the afternoon. It was in fine condition.
The wounds of the bitten sheep were mostly healed; and,
with two exceptions, they looked as healthy and full as
any in the flock. Two of the sheep were obviously laboring
under an attack of rabies. I continued to visit these and the
succeeding cases daily, and generally twice a day, until the
29th of January, and until all the earlier cases observed by
me (seven) terminated in death.* I usually remained from

* As each sheep was attacked it was immediately caught out of the flock. The
two first cases were put first in a barn and afterwards in a small pen together, shel-
tered on the north bya stack. The third one was put ina pen about twenty by forty
feet, partly sheltered on the north by a barn and on the west by an overhanging straw
stack, and the other four were placed also in this larger pen as fast as attacked.

CASES OF RABIES. 285

three-quarters of an hour to an hour at each visit, carefully
noting the appearance and actions of the sheep, and keep-
ing a separate and continuous record of each case, as I
was able to do without the least danger of mistaking one
animal for another—as every one exhibited its number
clearly printed on its side..

The history of these cases is published fully in the annual
volume of Transactions of the New York State Agricultural
Society for 1862, and is quite too long for re-publication here.
The recapitulation appended by me to that history is as
follows :
, SUMMARY.

The cases I have described present variations in the minor
developments of rabies, owing perhaps to individual peculiari-
ties of the different animals; but, as a whole, there has been
a remarkable identity in the general symptoms.

Assuming that the rabid sheep, which I have designated
as No. 3, was seen by me on the first day of the attack of the
disease—a fact of which I entertain no doubt after comparing
the subsequent symptoms with those of the later ones — and
estimating the two first numbered cases to have had the
average duration of the other five, the period of “incubation”
in the whole: seven, (that is, the period between the sheep’s
being bitten and the appearance of rabies,) ranged: from
fifteen to twenty-six days, and averaged about twenty-one
days.

"The first observed symptom, in every case which was
seen at or near its commencement, was the same, viz.,
ungovernable apparent salacity, (lust,) manifested not accord-
ing to the sex of the patients —all of which were ewes, and
supposed to be in lamb—but in the manner in which the
ram exhibits sexual heat. This resemblance extended to the
minutest particulars in movements, postures, and in that
characteristic note with which the male animal expresses
desire as he approaches and importunes the female. In no
instance did the rabid ewe show any of the usual indications of
rutting. She incessantly attempted to ride her companions,
but uniformly manifested rage, and turned and fought the one
attempting to ride her. This propensity remained active
until the sheep became too weak to exercise it, and never
entirely ceased.

Tn all the cases, rumination was totally suspended from the.
first visible attack of the disease until death; and throughout

286 CASES OF RABIES.

the same period, all the patients, with perhaps one exception,*
were not seen to consume an ounce of natural food, though
the choicest was repeatedly offered to them—in some
instances, where they had been purposely deprived of it for
twenty-four hours. They, however, manifested a depraved
appetite. All of them frequently ate wool from each other,
and gnawed the rails of their pen. One was seen to eat dung
balls from the breech of another — another, snow which had
just been saturated with sheep’s urine — and two eagerly
to lick the muous and saliva from the nose and mouth of a
dead one, and afterwards the post-mortem discharges from
the same parts. They preyed upon every substance within.
their reach which was unnatural as food, except the flesh of
their dead companions. Their eating, as I have termed it,
was attended, so far as could be observed, with no regular
mastication. When they gnawed the rails of their pen, they
held their heads down and extended, so that it could not be
seen whether they masticated or not. They did not pause
and raise their heads to do so, but continued intently gnawing.
The only evidence I had of their swallowing the wood was,
that considerable quantities of it were bitten from all parts of
the pen and none of it could be found on the snow underneath ;
and as some of the wood gnawed was of a red, and much of
it of a dark color, it would have been readily visible there.
When they ate wool, dung balls and the like, they generally
snatched them, as if in haste, and in all cases swallowed them
after two or three rapid movements of the jaws, which were
apparently only made to place the substance in a situation to
be forced into the esophagus.

No exhibition of thirst was observed in any case, and, on
the other hand, no dread of water, when it was placed in a
pail before them. One played in the water with her nose, as
a horse is often seen to do, and drank a little without apparent
difficulty. One or two were seen to nibble a little ice or
snow on two or three occasions.

The evacuation of both dung and urine was very slight.
The feces appeared natural in color and consistency.

I came to the conclusion, after considerable hesitation,
that the disease, in its earlier stages, and perhaps through-
out, was accompanied by a slight unnatural expression of the

* No. % was seen for an instant attempting to ride another sheep the afternoon
before the disease, apparently, was fully developed. She resumed eating hay while 1
stood looking on. I observed her eating for perhaps five minutes, When I next saw
her she was rabid.

CASES OF RABIES, 287
eyes, which, for the want of a more expressive term, I have
called glistening. But I do not think any one could safely
undertake to select a rabid sheep from a flock, even if one
was known to be there, by this indication alone. Yet
obscure as is this symptom, it is the only one which distin-

uishes the rabid sheep, in appearance, from one in perfect
health, until, emaciation and the other later effects of the
malady exhibit themselves. The animal is as gregarious as
ever; eats its food and ruminates as placidly as usual; looks
as plump, bright and healthy as any sheep in the flock; half
an hour later, with looks entirely unchanged, unless in the
trifling particular named, it is moving round restlessly and
incessantly among its companions, struck by a malady which
has transformed the habits of its sex*— which no human
power can arrest or even palliate—and which will know no
respite until terminated in a miserable death.

The subsequent occurrence and progress of the symptoms,
in the cases observed by me, were about as follows :— The
rabid sheep both exhibited and provoked extreme rage when
they were first put in a pen with other rabid sheep; they
fought or pursued each other fiercely; but this mood soon
subsided in the new comers, and for the next twenty-four
hours they remained comparatively peaceable, at least unag-
gressive, but they were ever ready to fight on being ridden.
On the second day the depraved appetite manifested itself,
and they began to rub their heads against fences, walls, etc.,
and to scratch them with their own hind-feet, leading to the
inference that they were suffering some cerebral pain. The
part of the head invariably rubbed was that over the parietal
bones. On the second or third day the scars left by the dog’s
teeth looked red and inflamed. The sheep were more restless
and irritable; they frequently assailed their companions
without any provocation; they fiercely butted, and two of
them actually bit at a stick, as often as it was pushed against
or towards them. On the third or fourth day they rushed at
a man if he entered their pen — bounded forward and dashed
against the fence which separated them from him, on his
thrusting a stick at them. Three of them thus charged the
fence, if only a hat or handkerchief was shaken towards them.
Two were so ungovernably. fierce at times that they sprung at
a bystander if he uttered a sound or merely approached their
pen. They bounded forward when they made these assaults,

* At least so in the case of ewes.

288 CASES OF RABIES.

most of them emitting that loud, snuffing sound (caused by a
violent expulsion of air through the nostrils,) by which rams,
bulls, etc., often express their rage at the approach of some
strange object. Two of them opened their mouths, gnashing
and threatening to bite, whenever they attacked a man or a
stick, but I did not see them offer to bite when fighting their
companions. On the fourth or fifth day the wounds ofa portion
of them, more or less, re-opened. On the fifth or sixth day
they began to exhibit considerable weakness, and most of them
displayed less ferocity. No.1, however, remained indomit-
ably savage to the last; No. 3 remained so until near death;
and No. 6, after a temporary lull, became more deeply
re-excited and ferocious, and remained so until death. These
three last named sheep would rush at a man, a stick, or
another sheep, when they were so weak as frequently to fall
before reaching their object, and as soon as they could rise
they would renew the attack. They and others frequently
fought each other when in this condition, constantly falling,
and some of them uttering short, bleating sounds, or groaning
piteously when they were hurt. Their voices on such
occasions were more shrill and plaintive than the notes ot
the healthy sheep; but the only one I heard utter the usual
prolonged bleat, with which sheep call to each other, or to
their keeper, uttered it in the natural key; and this was on
the sixth day of the disease.*

On the sixth day, one of the sheep began to rub her
breech, often and hard, against the fence, and she continued
this, more or less, until death. From the appearance of the
parts, I inferred this was occasioned by an irritation of the
vagina.

Those which exhibited the greatest decrease of aggressive-
ness, as their strength failed, never resumed the usual timid
habits of their nature. They retreated from nothing; and to
the last if a man entered their pen and threatened them with
a stick, they instantly attacked him.

The prostration of strength progressed with different
degrees of rapidity, owing probably to their different degrees
of constitutional vigor; but all showed much and rapidily
increasing debility by the close of the sixth day. Their
respiration was labored and sometimes irregular. The pulse

* Their notes were in no case very ‘“‘much altered” from the usual ones which
indicate rage, pain, &c., and the ‘‘ howl of the dog,” said by Mr. Youatt to be “char-
acteristic of the disease,” was entirely wanting. I do not suppose, however, Mr.
Youatt meant to be understood literally, but merely that the key of their voices was
changed, and rendered high and plaintive, as in the case of the rabfd dog.

CASES OF RABIES. 289

of the one counted rose to one hundred and forty a minute.
One became blind in one eye, one in both, and a third partly
blind in one eye. The cornea, in each instance, became
opaque and white; but this happened only where wounds of
the dog’s teeth could be found on the lids or close to the
affected eye. At this stage the scabs of nearly all of them
dried up, and their wounds appeared to be rapidly healing
again. When standing quiet, their heads sunk down low
and they trembled slightly all over, as an animal often does
after drinking cold water. Froth exuded in rather small
quantities from the front part of the mouths of two or three
of them, and ropy saliva fell from the lips of one to the
ground.

The last day or two of their lives they staggered in their
gait, fell over their dead companions, and rose with difficulty.
Finally they became unable to rise. The respiration was
more labored and irregular, and, in one instance, stertorous.
Their debility was extreme. Even at this stage, and unti:
actually dying, they did not manifest that degree of “stupor”
and “insensibility to all that is going forward,” mentioned by
Mr. Youatt. They looked up when a loud or unusual noise
was made, and those which were not blind evidently took
notice of objects of sight; and not one of them to the last
showed the least indications of becoming paralytic, as the
same distinguished author states that rabid sheep usually do
in England. Neither the appearance of the ground, nor their
postures, indicated convulsions or struggling at the time of
their death. I saw none of them die.

The five cases which were seen throughout, extended
respectively through nine, seven, eight, ten and six days,
giving eight days as the average duration of the disease.

While the preceding statement of the symptoms of rabies
accords in its leading features with that given by Mr. Youatt,
there are even more discrepancies between them in detail
than I have called attention to. I think it probable that
these differences are due in some measure to local or incidental
circumstances, such as the peculiar breed, constitution and
habits of the animals, their previous keep, etc. In all these
respects the American Merino differs widely from the English
breeds. The season of the year when the cases were noted,
may also have had an influence. And, finally, owing to
climate or other undetected causes, the malady may not
assume precisely the same form in different countries. But
be all this as it may, I at least know that I carefully noticed,

13

290 CASES OF RABIES.

and instantly, and, so far as I could, faithfully, recorded the
facts seen by my own eyes.

No remedies were administered to any of the sheep, under
the impression that it would be utterly useless, and attended
with disagreeable if not dangerous consequences.

Professor Hyde, of the Geneva Medical College, kindly
promised to assist me in making post mortem examinations
of the several patients — but necessary absence from home
prevented it from being attended to until it was too late. I
regretted this less, because it is well known that in all such
cases, the post mortem appearances are irregular, unsatisfac-
tory, and not characteristic of the special disease.

Two later cases occurred in the same flock, from the bites
inflicted on the night of the 24th of December — in the last
‘of February or first of March, according to my present recol-
lection; but I can not speak with certainty, having given my
memoranda to an Agricultural Editor. The general course
of the disease was the same. The last animal exhibited
peculiar violence, fighting a stick thrust toward her with a
ferocity resembling that of an enraged dog; and, unlike its
predecessors, it constantly uttered short, angry bleats when
making its attacks. It remained equally furious after it was
unable to rise.

CHAPTER XXIV.
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS.

BLAIN — OBSTRUCTIONS OF THE GULLET—THE STOMACHS
AND THEIR DISEASES —EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL APPEAR-
ANCE OF THE STOMACHS—THE MODE OF ADMINISTERING
MEDICINES INTO THE STOMACHS OF SHEEP—HOOVE—POISONS
—— INFLAMMATION OF THE RUMEN, OR PAUNCH — OBSTRUC-
TION OF THE MANIPLUS— ACUTE DROPSY, OR RED- WATER
—ENTERITIS, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE COATS OF THE
INTESTINES — DIARRHEA — DYSENTERY — CONSTIPATION —
COLIC, OR STRETCHES —— BRAXY, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE
BOWELS — WORMS — PINING.

Buarn.— This malady, as has been remarked, is unknown
in the United States. The following is Mr. Youatt’s descrip-
tion of its symptoms and treatment:

“Sheep are liable, although not so much as cattle, to that
inflammation of the tongue, or rather of the cellular tissue on
the side of and under the tongue, to which the above singular
names are given. A few sheep in the flock are occasionally
attacked by it, or it appears under the form of an epidemic.
A discharge of saliva runs from the mouth; at first colorless
and devoid of smell, but soon becoming bloody, purulent and
stinking. The head and neck begin to swell, and the animal
breathes with difficulty, and is sometimes suffocated. A
succession of vesicles have risen along the side of the tongue—
they have rapidly grown—they have broken— they have
become gangrenous—they have formed deep ulcers, or
deeper abscesses that occasionally break outwardly.’ When
this is the case it is probably the “Greathead” of Mr.
Hogg. The cause is some unknown atmospheric influence ;
but the sheep have been predisposed to be affected by it,
either by previous unhealthy weather, by feeding on unwhole-
some herbage, or by unnecessary exposure to cold and wet.

292 BLAIN — CHOKING

“Whatever may be the case with regard to cattle,
there is no doubt that the blain is often infectious among
sheep. The diseased sheep should immediately be removed
from the rest, and placed in a separate and somewhat
distant pasture.

“The malady must first be attacked locally. If there are
any vesicles in the mouth they must be freely lanced. If any
tumors appear on the neck or face, and that evidently contain
a fluid, they must be opened. The ulcers must be bathed
with warm water at first, and until the matter is almost
evacuated — then lotions of cold-water, in each pint of which
one drachm of the chloride of lime has been dissolved, must
be diligently used. Aperients must be administered very
cautiously, and not at all, unless there is considerable consti-
pation. The strength of the animal must be supported by
any farinaceous food that it can be induced to take — linseed.
mashes — bran mashes with oatmeal — and the best succulent
vegetables, as carrots and mangel wurzel; plenty of good,
thick gruel, if necessary, being horned down, and two drachms
of powdered gentian root and one of ginger, with four grains
of powdered cantharides, being given morning, noon and
night. Bleeding will be very proper in this disease before
the vesicles have broken, or the external tumors begun to
soften, and there is an evident and considerable degree of
fever; but after the purulent, fetid matter has begun to
appear, it will only hasten the death of the animal.”

OBSTRUCTIONS OF THE GULLET.—Sheep are much less
liable to become “choked” than cattle, but it occasionally
occurs when they are fed cut roots. The obstructing sub-
stance which is lodged in the esophagus or gullet, can
sometimes be felt from the outside, and moved upward or
downward by the pressure of the fingers. If this can not be
done the sheep should be placed on its rump between a man’s
legs and held firmly with the head extended upward in a line
with the neck. Some oil should then be poured into the
throat, and. a flexible probang very carefully inserted and
pressed -down with sufficient force to carry the obstruction
before it into the stomach. I trust gutta-percha probangs for
this purpose will soon be prepared for sale. The best
implement now attainable on most farms is a strong, flexible,
elastic rod of hickory or elm, made perfectly smooth, and
not far from five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. A

THE STOMACHS. 293

little bag of flax seed is firmly secured to the lower end, and
on dipping the rod into hot water to limber it for use, the
bag becomes perfectly soft and slippery. Some wind the end
of the probang with tow and dip it in oil.

There is usually no great difficulty in removing the
obstruction, but the sheep 1s often injured so that it subse-
quently dies, in consequence of the lacerations inflicted on the
parts by the haste or carelessness of the operator. Too much
care and gentleness can not be manifested in every part of
the process.

Where the obstruction can not be thus removed, veterinary
practitioners cut down upon it ftom the outside, and having
removed it, the edges of the esophagus are carefully brought
together with two or three stitches, and the threads left long
enough to project from the external wound. The skin is also
stitched together, and a bandage placed without much
pressure round the neck. If the sheep is fleshy a moderate
cathartic should be administered, and it should be kept on
mashes or gruel until the wound is closed. I would not,
however, recommend this process to persons unfamiliar with
surgical operations. 7

Tue Sromacus anp THEIR DisEasfis.—I shall describe
the stomachs to some extent for the better understanding .of
their diseases; and for this purpose I quote the following
from my “Sheep Husbandry in the South”:

“On opening the abdomen the omentum or caul is found
covering the intestines. It is a thin, and, in a normal state,
colorless and transparent structure, formed of two membranes,
between which extend streaks of fat in the form of a net.

“The external appearance of the stomachs is given in the
following cut (see next page) of those of a young sheep
which died of disease. Their arrangement is slightly
different in the animal.

294 STOMACHS OF THE SHEEP.

THE STOMACHS.

a, The esophagus or gullet, entering the rumen or paunch.
, 6, The rumen, or paunch, occupying three-fourths of the abdomen.
c, The reticulum, or honey-comb —the 2d stomach, ~~
d, The maniplus, or many folds — the 3d stomach.
e, The ab , or 4th st h.
J, The commencement of the duodenum or first intestine.
g, The place of the pylorus, a valve which separates the contents of the aboma-
sum and duodenum.

“The walls of the rumen or paunch consist of four coats or
tunics— Ist, The peritoneal or outer coat; 2d, The muscular;
3d, The mucous, covered with papille, or little protuberances,-
from which (or glands under which) is secreted a peculiar
fluid to soften and prepare the food for re-mastication ; and,
4th, The inner or cuticular coat, a thin, entirely insensible
membrane, which defends the mucous coat from abrasion or
erosion.”

STOMACHS OF THE SHEEP. 295

The following cut which I borrow from Mr. Youatt’s
work on sheep, exhibits the

INTERNAL APPEARANCE OF STOMACHS.

a, The esophagus or gullet.
6, The t of the esophag canal, slit open, with muscular pillars
underneath. i
€, ¢, ¢, The rumen, paunch or first stomach, slit open.
d, The reticulum or honey-comb —slit open.
é, The maniplus or many-folds—slit open.
J, The abomasum —slit open.
if The commencement of the duodenum or first intestine,
, The duodenum slit open.

i, m, l, Wands, showing course of esophagean canal, opening of stomachs, etc.

“The reticulum or honey-comb is composed. of the same
number of coats as. the rumen, fulfilling similar functions.

296 STOMACHS OF THE SHEEP.

But the mucous coat, in addition to minute papille, is covered
with elevations arranged in pentagons and sexagons of differ-
ent sizes, somewhat resembling a honey-comb, except that the
cells are larger and shallower.

“The maniplus has the same four coats. Its floor is a
continuation of the esophagean canal. From its rogf depend
many parallel folds of the cuticular coat—here thicker and
stronger than in the other stomachs — reaching nearly to its
floor. The cuticle is covered toward the edges of the folds,
with hard, bony processes, shaped like fangs, or cones bent in
a curvelinear form, and pointing toward the entrance of the
stomach. The interior of each fold or leaf contains muscles
which impart to it the power of a peculiar and forcible
motion. ‘There are forty-two of these folds in the maniplus
of the sheep— occasionally forty-eight. They do not all
equally nearly approach the esophagean canal, but are
disposed in groups of six—one of the central ones of each
nearly reaching the canal or floor of the stomach — the others
on each side growing shorter and shorter, so as to form a
series of irregular re-entering angles.

“The abomasum is the digesting stomach, where the
gastric juices are secreted, and where the pultaceous food is
converted into chyme. It is funnel-shaped, and its lower
extremity connects with the intestines as shown in the cut.
The cuticular lining of the three preceding stomachs is
wanting in this. The mucous coat is disposed in the form of
ruge or shallow folds, arranged longitudinally with the
direction of the stomach, and from this membrane the
gastric juices are secreted.

“The comparative size of the four stomachs will be
sufficiently seen in the preceding illustration.

“ Where the esophagus enters the rumen, it terminates in
what is called the esophagean canal, a continuation of the
former constituting the roof of the latter. The bottom or
floor of this canal is formed of divided portions or folds of the
upper parts of the rumen and reticulum—wmuscular “pillars”
or “lips,” as they are sometimes denominated — which may
remain closed so that the food will pass over them into the
third and fourth stomachs—or they may open, permitting
the food to fall between them, as through a trap-door, into
the first and second stomachs. It is probable that the opening
of these lips, as food passes over them, depends somewhat
upon a sechenical effect, and somewhat upon the will of the
animal. Fluid and soft pultaceous food fit for immediate

STOMACHS OF THE SHEEP. 297

digestion glide over them. But most of the food of thesheep,
like that of other ruminating animals, is swallowed with little
preparatory mastication; and these untriturated solids drop
down through the first opening above described into the
rumen. It is certain, however, that the animal can, at will,
also cause water to pass through the opening into the first
stomach. This would be necessary in the animal economy,
and the water is always found there. ;

“When the food has entered the rumen, the muscular
action of that viscus compels it to make the circuit of its
different compartments, and, in time, the food later swallowed
forces it on and up to near the opening where it originally
entered. In its passage it is macerated by a solvent alkaline
fluid secreted by the mucous coat. The papille of that coat
are supposed to influence the mechanical action of the
contents of the stomach, and, perhaps, to a certain extent, to
aid in triturating them. The food performs the circuit of the
stomach, and is ready for re-mastication, according to
Spallanzani, in from sixteen to eighteen hours. By a
muscular effort of the stomach, a portion of it is then thrown
over the membraneous valve or fold which guards the
opening from this into the second stomach. The reticulum
contracts upon it, forming it into a suitable pellet to be
returned to the mouth, and also covers it with a mucus
secreted in this stomach. By a spasmodic effort (always
perceptible externally when the sheep or cow commences
rumination) the pellet is forced through the roof of the
reticulum, by the opening before described, and returned to
the mouth by contractions of the spiral muscle of the
esophagus or gullet, for mastication.

“This explanation of the functions of the second stomach
is not accepted by all the physiologists who have examined
this subject. Some contend that all the solider portions
of the food are returned directly from the rumen for
re-mastication ; that when raised to the floor of the esopha-
gean canal, the hard parts are carried up to the mouth— the
more pultaceous ones (but still not sufficiently pultaceous
for the fourth stomach) passing into the reticulum, where
they are again macerated — the fluid squeezed out of them
by a contraction of the stomach and allowed to pass on to the
fourth stomach —and then the drier parts raised, like those
from the paunch, for re-mastication. More solid and indi-
gestible substances ‘may be submitted two or more times to
the process of rumination.’ as

13

298 STOMACHS OF THE SHEEP.

“Let us now observe the course pursued by the food, and
the process to which it is submitted, after rumination. It
glides over the trap-doors which open into the first and second
stomachs. As it passes over the floor of the third, or the
maniplus, the pendant leaves of this viscus, armed with their
beak-like protuberances, seize the advancing mass, and
squeezing out the fluid and the more finely comminuted
portions of the food which escape with it, commence tritura-
ting the bulkier fibrous portions between their folds. Their
bony papille give to these folds something of the mechanical
action of rasps, in grinding down the vegetable fiber. The
food being now reduced to an entirely pultaceous state, passes
into the fourth stomach, or abomasum, where it is acted upon
by the gastric juice, and converted into chyme. The amount
of food found between the folds of the maniplus, after death,
depends upon the time that has elapsed since rumination. It
is dry and hard, compared with the contents of the other
stomachs.

“The entrance to the fourth stomach—the cardiac opening
—is closed against regurgitation or vomiting, by a sort of
valve, composed of a portion of one of the ruge, before alluded
to, which line the interior of this stomach. The pylorus is
also closed by a valve, which prevents a premature passage
of the contents of the stomach into the intestines.

“Before the duodenum enters into (or changes its name
to) the jejunum, and about 18 inches from the pylorus, it is
lass ag by the biliary duct — ductus choledochus — which

rings the bile eliminated by the liver, from the gall-bladder,
and also the fluid which is secreted by the pancreas, or sweet-
bread, which last is introduced into the biliary duct two
inches from its entrance into the duodenum, by another duct
or small tube. The compound fluid thus introduced into the
duodenum exercises various important offices in the digestive
and assimilating processes. The bile is supposed to aid in the
separation of the chyme into chyle and fecal matter — or the
nutritive parts of the food which are assimilated into blood,
from the innutritious parts which are discharged as excrement.
It also prevents a putrid decomposition of the vegetable
contents of the intestines, and serves various other useful
purposes.

“The chyle—a white albuminous fluid, with a composi-
tion differing but little from that of blood —is taken from the
intestines by a multitude of minute ducts called lacteals, which
traverse the mesentary, constantly uniting as they advance,

MODE OF ADMINISTERING MEDICINE. 299

so as to form larger ducts. These enter the mesenteric glands
—small glandular bodies attached to the mesentary — after
the passage of which the chyle begins to change its color.
The lacteals still continue to unite and enlarge, and finally
terminate in the thoracic duct. In this the chyle is mingled
with the lymph secreted from a portion of the lymphatics —
another exceedingly minute system of absorbent ducts, which
open on the internal and external surfaces of the whole
system. From the thoracic duct, the chyle is conveyed to
the heart, and enters into circulation as blood.”

Move or Inrropvucine MeEpicines Into THE Stomacus
or Surep.— Owing to the peculiar arrangement and action
of the stomachs above described, solids, and even fluids if
forced down the throat rapidly, fall on the pillars or lips of the
esophagean canal with enough momentum to cause them to
open, so that the swallowed substance falls into the paunch:
and the comparatively insensible walls or coatings of this
stomach are scarcely acted upon, to any sensible degree, by
medicines, when they are administered in the proper and
usual quantities. Consequently, let him who administers
medicines in “ balls,” or in thick, heavy forms, or pours down
fluid ones with haste and violence through the usual horn,
remember that he is, in most cases, substantially throwing
away his medicine, or putting it where its effects will not be
felt in time to be of any service in acute cases. The reader
is requested to keep these facts distinctly in recollection
whenever the administration of remedies is spoken of in this
volume; for there can be no possible use of constantly
repeating the caution.

Hoovz.— When sheep are suddenly turned from poor
pastures on fresh clover, turnips, or other unusually succulent
food, and allowed to fill themselves to excess, its fermentation

_in the first stomach or paunch causes an elimination of gas,
which sometimes distends that organ almost to bursting. It.
presses against the diaphragm (midriff) so that the lungs
can not be filled with air, and thereby directly produces
.. suffocation; or the blood no longer circulates through the
paunch, and is determined to the head, producing stupor and
death.

It is most egregious folly in all cases, to make any such
sudden change in feed. If dried-off ewes, for example, are to

be put on rank clover, they should, at first, be admitted to it

800 HOOVE.

for only two or three hours a day— and driven in at mid-day,
when their hunger is already, to a good extent, satisfied.
This continued two or three days entirely prevents the danger
of hoove.

When sheep are discovered to be ‘“‘hooven,” they should

be driven gently about for an hour. If swollen to a very
dangerous extent, and the distress and oppression are
evidently increasing, they must be relieved by mechanical
means. Those provided with such instruments either pass a
flexible tube with a rounded perforated end* down the throat
into the stomach, through which the pent-up gas escapes, or
they plunge a trocar (a sharp stylet or puncturing instrument
covered with a canula or sheath,) into the paunch through the
left flank. The trocar is withdrawn, leaving its sheath in the
wound, which keeps the openings in the side and paunch
‘opposite to each other, thus allowing a freer exit to the gas,
and preventing the other matters forced along with it from
being left within the cavity of the abdomen or belly. Any
solid or semi-solid matter deposited there leads to inflamma-
tion, and ultimately, if in any considerable quantity, to death.
If a pocket knife is used instead of a trocar, the above
dangers are incurred; but it is often the only available
instrument at hand, and generally proves a safe one. The
place for inserting it is in the left flank, half way between the
haunch and ribs, and well up toward the back bone.

It is considered safest always to administer a purgative —
usually one or two ounces of epsom salts with a drachm of
powdered ginger— after a severe attack of hoove. Mr.
Spooner prescribes :—‘“ Sulphate of magnesia two oz., ginger
one dr., gentian two dr., chloride of lime half dr., to be dis-
solved in a pint of warm water or gruel.”

If gas continues to be developed, Mr. Youatt recommends
the introduction into the stomach of chloride of lime—a
drachm dissolved in a gill of water — either by means of a
horn or through the canula of the trocar. This would also
be an admirable remedy to administer (down the throat) in
earlier stages of the disease when the case was not urgent, or
the opening of the paunch yet called for. Once in the paunch
it would produce chemical results which would at once relieve
the parts of théir unnatural distension. Sulphuric ether, if

* Messrs. Youatt and Spooner mention such an instrument (having a stylet
within it which is withdrawn after its insertion into the stomach,) invented by Dr.
Munro. Ihave never seen it. Both writers state that its use is difficult and danger-
ous in unpracticed hands; and Mr. Youatt expresses a preference for the trocar.

‘POISONS. 301

more accessible, would. also, in doses of two drachms,
condense the inflating gases. A remedy in use among
farmers, but which I have never seen tried, is composed of
four ounces of lard and a pint of well-boiled milk, poured
down at blood heat — half at once, and the remainder soon
after. Others administer a gill of urine with as much salt as
it will dissolve.* Some give milk with a small quantity of
soft soap.

Porsons.—The effect of St. John’s-W ort has been adverted
to at page 269. The most ordinary poison which the sheep
partakes of in the regions with which I am familiar, is the
narrow-leaved or low laurel, (Kalmia angustifolia.) Sheep
unused to this plant, and driven hungry along roadsides
where it abounds, consume it and it acts as a virulent poison
on them. I never saw a sheep laboring under its effects.
Mr. Morrell says:—‘“The animal appears to be dull and
stupid, swells a little, and is constantly gulping a greenish
fluid which it swallows down; a part of it will trickle out of
its mouth and.sdiscolor its lips.” He adds:—In the early
stages, if the greenish fluid be suffered to escape from the
' stomach, the animal most generally recovers. To effect this,

gag the sheep, which may be done in this manner: Take a
stick of the size of your wrist and six inches long — place it
in the animal’s mouth —tie a string to one end of it, pass it
over the head and down to the other end, and there make it
fast. The fluid will then run from the mouth as fast as
thrown up from the stomach. In addition to this, give
roasted onions and sweetened milk freely.”

Mr. Grennell, in the Massachusetts Agricultural Report, 1860,
states that the broad-leaved laurel, “calico bush” or “spoon-
wood,” (Kalmia latifolia,) is equally fatal, and that “a far-
mer in Franklin county, Mass., lost sixty from a flock of two
hundred, in the fall of 1860, which strayed from a good feed
of aftermath grass, into an adjoining pasture, to eat laurel and
die.” Several plants growing in our Western States are
thought occasionally to poison sheep, but I do not know their
names‘ or the facts. Mr. Youatt enumerates among the
vegetable sheep poisons, the yew (Zaxus baccata,) and the
corn-crowfoot (Ranunculus arvensis.) Mr. Spooner mentions
that soot, when applied as a top-dressing on wheat on which
sheep were soon afterwards turned, acted as a poison, pro-
ducing palsy of the limbs and death.

* American Agriculturist, Vol. 3, p. 66.

302 POISONS.

M. Brugnone very successfully administered diluted white
wine vinegar to sheep poisoned with corn-crowfoot. They
were all comparatively well on the succeeding day. Mr.
Spooner quotes Mr. Coates, of Gainsborough, England, as
saying that three or four score of sheep poisoned by soot—all
those which had not become paralyzed — recovered on the
administration of cathartics until their bowels were well
acted upon. “They were then fed on linseed cake, and
ultimately did well.” It is a popular impression in this
country, how well founded I do not know, that a strong
decoction of the white ash, made by boiling the bruised twigs
for an hour, and administered from half a gill to a gill,
repeating the dose if necessary, is a sure antidote to the
effects of laurel, if taken within a day of the poisoning.*
Drenches of milk and castor oil are also resorted to for the
same object.

Active aperient medicine, so administered as to have its
full effect, (see page 299,) is usually given to poisoned sheep.
Mr. Youatt recommends, with obvious proprigty, that “ warm
water be injected into the paunch by means of Read’s
apparatus, pumped out again, and this repeated until either
vomiting is excited or the poison has been rendered harmless
by dilution.” There is a simple and inexpensive stomach
pump composed of a hollow ball and perforated tube of India
rubber worked by alternately squeezing out the air and fluid
from the ball, for sale in all our American drug stores, which
would answer for the above purpose admirably. Every
analogy goes to show that cathartics are not rapid enough in
their effects; and they do not, at best, avert the destructive
results of virulent poisons which have been received into the
stomach in quantities sufficient to produce death.

INFLAMMATION OF THE RumMEN or Pauncu.— This is
unknown in the United States, and as it is of very rare
occurrence even in England, where ovine maladies generally
flourish so vigorously, we have not much reason to fear its
future advent — accordingly space will not be consumed here
in describing it.

OxsstTRUCTION oF THE Manrpius.—It would appear from
Mr. Youatt’s statements (page 435,) that this is more common

_* Since the above was written I find this remedy given in Allen’s ‘‘ Domestic
Animals,” and also the following :—‘‘ Pour a gill of melted lard down the throat.”

INFESTINES AND MESENTARY. 303

than the preceding in England, and is a very serious malady ;
but I do not consider it necessary to describe it here.

THE INTESTINES AND MESENTARY.

1. The duodenum,

2, The jejunum.

3. The ileum.

4, The cecum, being the anterior prolongation of the colon, or first large intes-
tine. The ileum opens into this (on the back side as presented in the cut,)
euauy twelve inches from its extremity—the opening being defended by a
valve.

5. The large anterior portion of the colon, retaining its size (about three times
that of the smaller intestines) for about two feet.

6, 6. The colon tending toward the center.

", 7% The returning convolutions of the colon.

8. The rectum or straight gut, communicating with the anus.

9, 9. The mesentary, or that portion of the peritoneum which retains the intes-
tines in their places.

10, The portion of the mesentary supporting the colon, &.

The united length of these intestines is upward of sixty feet.

304 DROPSY, OR RED-WATER.

Acute Dropsy, or Rep-Warrr.—I have never seen
this disease in our country, but as others think they have, I
will introduce Mr. Spooner’s description of if and of the
proper mode of treating it. He says:

“The disease understood by this term consists of effusion
of reddish-colored serum or water in the abdomen, outside
the bowels, and is the effect of increased action of the
membrane called the peritoneum, which forms the outer coat
of the bowels, and also lines the abdominal cavity. It is the
natural office of this membrane to secrete a watery fluid, in
order that the bowels should glide readily on each other,
but when diseased action is set up in this membrane its
secretion becomes excessive, and the serous portion of the
blood, mingled with some of the red portion, becomes effused
in this cavity, where it can not escape.

“The disease is extremely common to lambs, both during
the time they are with their dams, and after they have been
weaned; and in them, as well as in sheep, it is very fatal,
destroying the latter in twenty-four hours, and the former in
less time.

“The nature of the fluid effused is similar to the serum or
watery portion of the blood, and as there is no active pain
manifested, we are not justified in considering that it is the
effect of inflammation, but one rather of debility of the vessels,
and the existence of too much moisture in the system. It
usually attacks both sheep and lambs when feeding on turnips,
and particularly when there is a hoar-frost, and the sheep are
folded on them during the night. From this circumstance it
has been attributed to the effect of lying on the cold, damp
ground, thus chilling the system, and particularly the abdo-
men. But the sheep is an animal covered with wool, which
can readily bear this exposure, and it is more likely to be
produced by an excess of this cold, watery frost taken into
the system, though perhaps assisted by cold lairs.

“This view of the matter, too, is borne out by the fact,
that when ewes in lamb are kept too much or too long on
turnips, they often cast their lambs, which are found dead and
water-bellied, as it is termed, that is, the abdomen is found
distended with the same description of watery fluid as we
find in red-water. Now, in this case, the ewe generally
escapes disease, therefore it cannot be from external cold,
but from the nature of the food; so likewise it is most
probable that such is the case with red-water.

“The symptoms usually observed in sheep, are refusal to

DRUPSY, UK RED-WATER. 3UD

feed or ruminate, a dull, heavy appearance, often attended with
giddiness, a staring eye, obstinate costiveness, and sometimes
the head is carried on one side. In lambs these symptoms
are less decidedly marked, but the little animal lags behind its
fellows, is unwilling to move, and is very dull, and dies in a
shorter time than the sheep. Acute pain is rarely manifested
in either sheep or lamb, but they are generally carried off in
a short time. It is not at all uncommon for the shepherd to
leave them apparently well over night, and to find one or
more dead in the morning.

“The treatment of the cases where the symptoms have fully
manifested themselves will generally be unsuccessful; but in
the earliest stages, and before the disease has actually been
manifested, much can be done. The sheep should be removed
to a drier situation, and pasture or seeds or stubble should be
substituted for the turnips, and the following medicine
administered :— Sulphate of magnesia, one pound; gentian,
powdered, one ounce; ginger, dissolved in warm water, one
ounce. This is sufficient for eight or ten sheep, or double or
treble the number of lambs.

“Above all, it is desirable, by way of prevention, to
remove the healthy sheep to some dry pasture, giving them
good, sound hay, a little corn and turnips, only in moderation.
Such, however, is the fatality of the disease, that it is a
question whether it will not be more prudent to kill the sheep
or lambs affected ; that is, if they are in any condition for the
table, or unless from any particular reason it is very desirable
to preserve them. Bleeding in these cases will ‘not be
prudent unless we are sure that inflammation is present,
which we may expect if active pain is manifested.

“Mr. W. Greaves advises the employment of tar as a
preventive, and adduces the following instance of its success-
ful employment. He says:—‘This disease is very prevalent in
this part of Derbyshire, and a friend of mine, Mr. Cooper, of
Ashford, for many years lost one-fifth of his hoggets from
red-water. Three or four years ago he was advised to brin
them into a yard, and give each hogget a tablespoonful of
common tar every fortnight, and the consequence has been,
that although they are kept in every respect in the same way
as before, and on the same ground, he has not lost one sheep
since the adoption of this treatment.’

“We give the above on the responsibility of the advisers,
in case any farmers may be desirous of trying it, but we can
give no opinion in favor of its efficacy.”

306 ENTERITIS — DIARRHEA.

Enteriris, oR INFLAMMATION OF THE COATS OF THE
InrrstinEs.—For the same reasons which are given in regard
to red-water, I present Mr. Youatt’s account of this malady.
He says:

“ By this term is understood inflammation of most, if not
all, of the coats of the intestines. * * Its early symptoms
are not to be distinguished from those of colic: possibly it is
simple colic which then exists; but the disease does not yield
to common remedies. The symptoms continue—they become
more aggravated—the animal stamps the ground with his
feet —he scratches it—he attempts to strike his belly with
his hind-legs—he bends his knees as if he would lie down,
but he dreads the pain resulting from the consentaneous
action of the muscles of the belly, and their pressure on the
contents of the belly; he looks round at his sides: at length
he comes suddenly down —he rolls on his back:—he main-
tains this position for some seconds, and then he suddenly
starts and scrambles up again. The muzzle, the horns, and
the feet are cold. The pulse is quick but small—the bowels
are usually confined — obstinately so—the strength of the
animal rapidly wastes away. Sometimes there is a determina-
tion of blood to the head; the animal is heedless of all around
it, the pupil is widely dilated — and to this delirium occasion-
ally supervenes. = . *

“The causes belong almost exclusively to the food or the
locality. Enteritis is produced by stimulating and acrimoni-
ous nutriment — by an excess of that which is healthful — by
the injudicious administration of purgatives, by exposure to
cold, and, more particularly, by the mingled influence of cold
and wet. ;

“The treatment is sufficiently plain — bleeding according
to the age and condition of the animal, and the urgency of the
symptoms —purgatives perseveringly administered until the
bowels are opened, and the purging being afterwards kept up;
the Epsom salts being employed to produce the first effect,
and sulphur the second. The food to consist of mashes or
gruel. No tonic to be allowed until the febrile stage is passed,
or until violent diarrhea, difficult to check, has succeeded
to the constipation.”

DiarreEa.—This disease is often more properly a nervous
than a febrile one —in the former case, a morbid increase of
the peristaltic motion of the bowels — in the latter, an inflam-
mation of the mucous coat of the smaller intestines. But for

DIARRHEA. 807

the purpose of viewing it in connection with dysentery, to
which it is sometimes closely allied, and into which it often
runs—and. which is clearly a febrile disease —it will be
described here.

Common diarrhea, purging, or scours, manifests itself
simply by the copiousness and fluidity of the evacuations of
dung. It is brought on by a sudden change from dry feed to
green, or by the introduction of improper substances into the
stomach. It is important clearly to distinguish this disease
from dysentery. In diarrhea there is no apparent general
fever; the appetite remains good; the stools are thin and
watery, but unaccompanied with mucus (slime) and blood;
the odor of the dung is far less offensive than in dysentery ;
the general condition of the animal is but little changed.

onfinement to dry food for a day or two, and a gradual
return to it, oftentimes suffice for its cure. I have rarely
administered anything to grown sheep, and never have lost
one from this disease. To lambs, especially if attacked in the
fall, the disease is more serious. If the purging is severe,
and especially if any mucus (slime) is observed with the
dung, the feculent matter should be removed from the bowels
by a gentle cathartic—as half a drachm of rhubarb, or an
ounce of linseed-oil, or half an ounce of Epsom salts to a lamb.
This should always be followed by an astringent, and in nine
cases out of ten, the latter will serve in the first instance. I
generally administer, say, } oz. of prepared chalk in half a
pint of tepid milk, once a day for two or three days, at the
end of which, and frequently after the first dose, the purging
will ordinarily have abated or entirely ceased.*

The following is the formula of the English “sheep’s
cordial,” usually prescribed in cases of diarrhea by the
English veterinarians, and there can be no doubt itis a safe and
excellent remedy — better probably than simple chalk and
milk in severe cases: Take of prepared chalk one ounce,
powdered catechu half an ounce, powdered ginger two
drachms, and powdered opium half a drachm ; mix them with
half a pint of peppermint water — give two or three table-
spoonfuls morning and night to a grown sheep, and half
that quantity to a lamb.

Mr. Spooner says: — “If the cases are not severe, and
entirely confined to diarrhea, astringents alone may be given;
but if any mucus is perceived, it will be proper to administer

* This, and the two recente paragraphs, are quoted with the alteration of a few
words from my Sheep Husbandry in the South.

308 DYSENTERY.

a laxative in the first instance. * * * In cases of simple
diarrhea the following astringent medicine will be found very
useful:—Powdered chalk, one ounce; catechu, four drachms;
ginger, two drachms; opium, half drachm; to be mixed
carefully with half a pint of peppermint water, and two or
three tablespoonfuls given morning and night to a sheep, and
half this quantity to a lamb.”

The following remedy for diarrhea appears in Mr. Robert
Smith’s prize essay On the Management of Sheep, already
several times cited. He says:—‘“ When the disease is
observed to be coming. on, the animals should be instantly
changed to older or dry keeping. If the disease has advanced
unnoticed, they should be taken up, kept warm, supplied with
dry food, and given one ounce of castor oil in half a pint of
gruel; if the animal has much pain or straining, add twenty
drops of laudanum, with rather more gruel; if the discharge
still continues, and the bowels have been cleared by this dose,
it will be proper to check it by astringents. The following is
found to be an excellent medicine and rarely fails: — Four
ounces logwood, one drachm of the extract of catechu, and
two drachms of cinnamon, mixed with three pints of water,
boiled for a quarter of an hour; strain it off, then add sixty
drops of laudanum. Give a pint night and morning as long
as the flux. continues.”

DysrnteRY.— Dysentery is caused by an inflammation of
the mucous or inner coat of the larger intestines, causing a
preternatural increase in their secretions, and a morbid alter-
ation in the character of those secretions. It is frequently
consequent on that form of diarrhea which is caused by an
inflammation of the mucous coat of the smaller intestines.
The inflammation extends throughout the whole alimentary
canal, increases in virulence, and it becomes dysentery —a
disease frequently dangerous and obstinate in its character,
but fortunately not common among sheep in the United
States. It differs from diarrhea in several readily observed
particulars. There is evident fever; the appetite is capricious,
ordinarily very feeble; the stools are as thin or even thinner
than in diarrhea, but much more slimy and sticky. As the
erosion of the intestines advances, the dung is tinged with
blood; its odor is intolerably offensive; and the animal
rapidly wastes away. The course of the disease extends
from a few days to several weeks.

DYSENTERY. 309

I have seen but a few well-defined cases.of dysentery, and
in the half-dozen instances which have occurred in my own
flock, I have usually administered a couple of purges of linseed
oil, followed by chalk and milk as in diarrhea (only doubling
the dose of chalk,) and a few drops of laudanum, say twenty
or thirty—with ginger and gentian. According to my
recollection, about one-third of the cases have proved fatal,
but they have usually been old and feeble sheep. *

Mr. Youatt prescribes bleeding as indispensable, cathar-
tics, mashes, gruel, etc. He adds:

“Two doses of physic having been administered, the
practitioner will probably have recourse to astringents. The
sheep’s cordial will probably supply him with the best; and
to this, tonics may soon begin to be added —an additional
quantity of ginger may enter into the composition of the
cordial, and gentian powder will be a useful auxiliary. With
this —as an excellent stimulus to cause the sphincter of the
anus to contract, and also the mouths of the innumerable
secretory and exhalent vessels which open on the inner surface
of the intestine —a half grain of strychnine may be com.
bined. Smaller doses should be given for three or four days.”

The following remarks on dysentery and its treatment,
oceur in Mr. Robert Smith’s prize essay :—“If the disease
has only just commenced, bleeding is highly necessary; but
if advanced, great caution should be observed, and the pulse
attended to, to avoid lowering the system too much. To effect
a cure, a reaction or perfect change in the system is neces-
sary, and may be best produced by exciting the action of the
skin. To effect this the animal should be immersed in a tub
of hot water for fifteen minutes, then given one ounce of
eastor oil, with thirty drops of laudanum, in a little gruel,
taking care that the animal be kept warm by wrapping, and
placed in a warm shed. ‘As the animal recovers, give gruel
freely, with a more moderate dose of the above; when the
appetite returns, give mixed feed, such as hay and vegetables.
During this disease care should be taken not to pull the
wool, as it frequently falls off; a change of pasture, and not

* This is also from Sheep Husbandry in the South, with a change of a few lines.
Since it was written, Ihave had sheep die where one symptom of the fatal malady
‘was dysentery. Ihave ceased to administer more than one purge—and the sheep
which I have had thus affected have been in such a situation that I dared not resort to
bleeding — notwithstanding the universal tide of modern authority in that direction,
when it can be resorted to in an early stage of the disease.- What I have mentioned
as “‘hunger-rot”’ on page 204, frequently closes with dysentery; but the poverty and
debility have reached an, advanced stage before that sets in,—so that dysentery can
not be considered the primary disease. ay i

310 CONSTIPATION — COLIC OR STRETCHES.

run too thick, is the best preventive. I have also found
either of the following recipes to stay its ravages when given
in time; they may be adopted, where parties reject the hot
water plan, with equal success:

“No. 1. Four tablespoonfuls of common salt, one tea-
spoonful of turpentine, mixed with a little water, and repeated
in a milder dose when necessary.

“No. 2. One teaspoonful of laudanum, one tablespoonful
either gin or rum, well mixed and given; repeat the dose if
necessary, or in a milder form.

“No. 3. One ounce of alum in half a pint of warm water.
The above three recipes will also stay the progress of
diarrhea in lambs.” A

Constipation. — There is a tendency toward this in
pregnant ewes confined too long to dry feed, as has been
already mentioned: and the appropriate remedy is to give a
portion of green feed, (see pages 221-228.) Long confinement
to dry feed produces a degree of costiveness in all sheep, which
occasionally results in colic. The preventive is the same.
The constipation of young lambs and its proper treatment
have been sufficiently described at page 149.

Coric, on StrercuEs.—The cause of this disease is given
under preceding head. The paroxysms recur at intervals.
During the continuance of them the sheep stretches itself
incessantly and often twists about its head as if in severe
pain. It lies down and rises frequently. The termination
is occasionally fatal, unless the bowels are promptly opened
by medicine. An ounce of Epsom salts dissolved in warm
water, with a drachm of ginger and a teaspoonful of the
essence of peppermint should be administered to a sheep and
half as much to a lamb.* Three very excellent practical
shepherdst+ write me—the first, that “he gives Epsom salts
successfully for stretches:” the second, that he “uses a
decoction of thoroughwort or boneset —that warm tea is
also good:” the third, that he “employs castor oil, and if the
case is obstinate, a moderate dose of aloes.” Attacks of this
disease become habitual to some sheep. It can always be pre-
vented by giving green feed daily, or even once or twice a week.

* Some farmers lift up the sheep by its hind-legs and shake it a little in that posi-
tion, under the belief that it cures stretches. I have never tried it. Others ‘drag
it about by the hind-legs!”

+ Nelson A. Saxton, of Vergennes, Vermont; William R. Sanford, of Orwell,
Vermont; and Prosper Elithorp, of Bridport, Vermont.

ad

INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 311

Braxy, on INFLAMMATION OF THE Bowe ts. — Braxy is
one of the formidable diseases of Europe, which I have never
met with in this country, though Mr. Morrell says.“‘it is not
unusual to sheep kept in the latitude of ours.” It is stated in
the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual that it chiefly attacks
lambs about the end of autumn and beginning of winter,
and that “inflammation of the bowels seems to be the
most common form” of it. “When a sheep is observed
to be restless, lying down and rising up frequently, and at
intervals standing with its head down and its back raised,
and when it appears to move with pain, inflammation may be
suspected. The progress of the inflammation excites great
pain; but when mortification comes on the pain ceases; and
thus we may sometimes account for an animal dying suddenly
when apparently well.” ‘The causes of the inflammation,”
continues the same authority, “‘may be various. Costiveness
from eating hard, dry food, drinking cold water while the
body is over-heated, or being plunged into cold water while
in that state, or suddenly chilled by a shower of rain or snow,
may bring on this destructive malady. Feeding on strong,
rank grass is also strongly suspected of inducing braxy. * *
Along with long, rank leaves, others that are decayed and
rotten or flaccid, may be eaten, and together with the too
large quantity of such rank food, which young sheep are apt
to swallow, contribute to excite fermentation ; and this, from
the extrication of air, swells out the intestines, preventing due
rumination; and thus, while the food itself is vitiated and
does mischief, the over-stretching of the bowels causes
inflammation.” Mr. Spooner thus gives the post mortem
appearances where death has been produced by inflammation
of the bowels :—“ After death, the paunch is found distended
with gas and with food—the latter in a state of putrid fermen-
tation, and necessarily producing the former. The small
intestines are in a gangrenous state, the liver is partly
decomposed, and filled with vitiated bile; but, most of all,
the spleen is gorged with blood, softened, enlarged, not
unfrequently ruptured, and filled with tubercles and ulcers,
with, in short, various appearances of disease, but all of them
the consequence of inflammation principally belonging to this
gland, and of the most serious character.”

Mr. Spooner recommends the following treatment : — “ It
should be met with very active treatment. Bleeding from
the neck in the early stage, mild aperients, setons, and blisters
appear to be called for; but depletion should not be persisted

312 WORMS — PINING. e

in long, and should be followed by plenty of gruel, vegetable
tonics and good nursing.”

Worus.— Sheep, says Mr. Spooner, are subject in rare
instances, in England, to a disease arising from the presence
of worms in the intestines. Mr. Copeman, of Suffolk, found
fifty lambs laboring under violent diarrhea. On examining
some which died, he found large patches of inflammation on
the villous membrane of the fourth stomach. “The small
intestines contained thousands of the folded tape-worm (Zoenia
plicata,) and about twenty-five of the large round worms,
(Ascaris lumbricoides) with a large quantity —several ounces
—of sand. The villous membrane was in a stage approaching
to mortification.” He ordered a total change in the diet, and
the following medicine: Castor oil, 1 0z.; powdered opium,
3 grs.; starch, 1 oz.; boiling. water sufficient to make a
draught. Thin starch was given night and morning. The
lambs improved. After administering this medicine, for four
or five days, a stimulant was administered to destroy the
parasites: linseed oil, 2 oz.; oil of turpentine, 4 drachms.
“One dose only was given to some of them, others required
two, and a few had three or four in the course of the following
month, and then all were well.” I never heard but of a
single alledged case, in the United States, of worms proving
injurious in the intestines of sheep.

Prninc.— Under this name Mr. Spooner describes a very
destructive malady in certain districts of Scotland, and
particularly on the Cheviot Mountains.. Mr. James Hogg,
the “‘Ettrick Shepherd,” lost upward of nine hundred sheep
by its ravages, within the space of nine years. I do not think
this peculiar disease, or anything analagous to it, has yet
appeared in the United States, but as the limits of sheep
breeding are rapidly extending to fresh regions, embracing
new varieties and combinations of climate, soil and verdure,
it may be erring on the safe side to include it in this catalogue
of maladies. Mr. Hogg says :—‘ The distemper is a strange
one; it may effect a whole flock at once. The first symptoms
to a practiced eye are lassitude of motion, and a heaviness about
the pupil of the eye, indicating febrile action. On attempting
to bleed the animal, the blood is thick and dark colored, and
cannot be made to spring; and when dead there is found but
little blood in the carcass, and even the ventricles of the heart
become as dry and pale as its skin. On the genuine pining
farms, the disease is more fatal in dry than in wet seasons ;

PINING. 313

and most so at, that season when, by the influence of the sun,
the plants are less juicy, or early in autumn, when the grasses
which have pushed to seed become less succulent. Conse-
quently, June and September are the most deadly months.
If ever a farmer perceives a flock on such a-farm, having a
flushed appearance of more than ordinary rapid thriving, he is
gone.* By that day eight days, when he goes out to look at
them again, he will find them all lying, hanging their ears,
running at the eyes, and looking at him like so many con-
demned criminals. As the disease proceeds, the hair of the
animal’s face becomes dry, the wool assumes a bluish cast, and
if the shepherd has not the means of changing the pasture, all
those affected will fall in the course of a month.”

Pining is thought to proceed “from an enervated and
costive habit, producible by want of ptoper exercise and
eating astringent food.” “The farms most liable to this
disease are those dry, grassy farms, abounding in’ flats and
ridges of white and flying bent. * * The lands which are
now most subject to this disease were once in the same
manner liable to the rot. As’the draining of the sheep
pastures proceeded, the rot gradually became. extinct, and was
ultimately superseded by the pining.” Mr. Hogg and Mr.
Laidlaw are of the opinion that the primary cause of the
pining of sheep was the extirpation of the ground moles from
their ranges. These, by throwing up the fresh earth on the
surface, preserved the soft, succulent herbage: on their
disappearance, it became coarse, harsh and ‘unpalatable. t
“In dripping seasons, shepherds, by strict~ attention in
changing. the sheep’s pasture every day, may, in great
measure, prevent its ravages; but in a dry one, without
infield land sown with succulent grasses or limed, it is
impossible to prevent it.” :

Mr. Spooner, after recommending the preparation of more
succulent pasturage, and suggesting the culture of some plants
in them having. laxative qualities, such as the purging flax,
adds :—“ With regard to medicine, the Epsom and Glauber
salts offer themselves as the most suitable, and the employ-
ment of common salt will also be found of much service.”

I feel constrained to say that the explanation above given
of the nature and causes of the malady termed pining, are
wholly unsatisfactory to my mind. —

. * In this-and the succeeding sentences I think we may suspect a little poetic
exaggeration — rather a habitual tendency in the mind of the author of The Queens’

ke. :
- + This cause for so general a result appears to me inadequate, not.to say fanciful,
14

CHAPTER XXV.

DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY AND THE RESPIRATORY
SYSTEM.

THE PULSE— PLACE AND MODE OF BLEEDING — FEVER —
INFLAMMATORY FEVER— MALIGNANT INFLAMMATORY FEVER
— TYPHUS FEVER — CATARRH — MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC
CATARRH -——~ PNEUMONIA, OR INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS
—PLEURITIS OR PLEURISY — CONSUMPTION,

Tue Circulatory System consists of the heart,- arteries
and veins. It does not enter within the scope of this work
to: describe their functions and action.

Tur Pursze.— The pulse in a healthy, full-grown sheep
beats according to Gasparin sixty-five, according to Youatt
about seventy, and according to Hurtel d’ Arboval seventy-
five times per minute. To ascertain the number of pulsations,
the hand is placed on the left side where the beatings of the
heart can be felt. When it is necessary to judge of the
character of the pulse, it is felt at about the middle of the
inside of the thigh, where the femoral artery passes obliquely
across it.

Puacz anp Mops or Biexepine.— Bleeding from the ears
or tail, as is commonly practiced, rarely extracts a quantity
of blood sufficient to do any good where bleeding is indicated.
To bleed from the eye-vein, the point of a knife is usually
inserted near the lower extremity of the pouch below the
eye, pressed down, and then a cut made inward toward the
middle of the face. Daubenton recommends bleeding from
the angular or cheek vein — “in the lower part of the cheek,
at. the spot where the root of the fourth tooth is placed,
which is the thickest part of the cheek, and is marked on the
external surface of the bone of the upper jaw by a tubercle,
sufficiently prominent to be very sensible to the finger when

PLACE AND MODE OF BLEEDING. 315

the skin of the cheek is touched. This tubercle is a certain
index to the angular vein which is placed below. * * The
shepherd takes the sheep between his legs; his left hand more
advanced than his right, which he places under the head, and
grasps the under jaw near to the hinder extremity, in order
to press the angular vein, which passes in that place, to make
it swell; he touches the right cheek at the spot nearly
equi-distant from the eye and mouth, and there finds the
tubercle which is to guide him, and also feels the angular vein
swelled below this tubercle; he then makes the incision from
below upward, half a finger’s breadth below the middle of
the tubercle.”

When the vein is no longer pressed upon, the bleeding
will ordinarily cease. If not, a pin may be passed through
the lips of the orifice, and a lock of wool tied round them.

Mr. Youatt says :— In cases of rheumatism, or garget, or
local inflammation referable to the hind- quarters, it may some-
times be advisable to bleed from the saphena or thigh vein.
The assistance of another person is required here. The sheep
must be laid on his side, on a table,or on some straw, the
thigh from which it is intended to extract the blood being
undermost. The other three legs must then be tied together,
and the assistant must draw out and firmly hold the fourth,
while. the operator cuts away the hair from that portion of
the thigh at which he intends to operate. A person
acquainted with the anatomy of the part will at once put his
finger on the course of the vein on the upper part of the thigh,
and compress it, and thus cause it to become larger below the
pressure; but he who is not so much used to the operation
will do right to pass a ligature (a piece of coarse tape will
constitute the best,) round the hinder part of the thigh, which
will render the vein sufficiently evident. It must be opened and
afterward secured in the same manner as the cheek vein.”

But for thorough bleeding, the jugular vein is generally
to be preferred. The sheep should be firmly held by the head
by an assistant, and the body confined between his knees, with
its rump against a wall. Some of the wool is then cut away
from the’ middle of the neck over the jugular vein, and a
ligature, brought in. contact with the neck by opening the
wool, is tied around it below the shorn spot near the shoulder.
The vein will soon rise. The orifice may be secured, after
bleeding, as described in the first of the preceding methods.

The good effects of bleeding depend almost as much on
the rapidity with which the blood is abstracted, as on the

316 FEVER — INFLAMMATORY FEVER.

amount taken. This is especially true in acute disorders.
Blacklock tersely remarks: — ‘Either bleed rapidly or bleed
not at all.” The orifice in the vein, therefore, should be of
some length, and I need not inform the least experienced
practitioner that it should be made lengthwise with the vein.
A lancet is by far the best implement, and even a sharp-
pointed pen-knife is preferable to the bungling fleam.
Another important rule in bleeding is that, when indicated
at all, it should always be resorted to as nearly as possible to
the commencement of the malady.

The amount of blood drawn should never be determined
by admeasurement, but by constitutional effect —the lowering
of the pulse, and indications of weakness. In urgent cases, as,
for example, apoplexy or cerebral inflammation, it would be
proper to bleed until the sheep staggers or falls. The amount
of blood in the sheep is less, in comparison, than that in the
horse or ox. The blood of the horse constitutes about
one-eighteenth part of his weight, that of the ox at least
one-twentieth, while the sheep, in ordinary condition, is one-
twenty-second. For this reason, we should be more cautious
in bleeding the latter, especially in frequently resorting to it.
Otherwise the vital, powers will be rapidly and _ fatally
prostrated. Many a sheep is destroyed by bleeding freely in
disorders not requiring it, and in disorders which did require
it at the commencement, but of which the inflammatory stage
has passed.

Frver.— Fever, without any particular local disease, is
very rare in the United States. JI never saw a case which I
believed came strictly within this class. The sheep suffering
from it is without appetite, retreats to a shady place and lies
on the ground, pants if it is driven, has a high pulse, a clammy
mouth, a dry, hot nose, hot feet, red eyes, and a dull, anxious
countenance. On examination, the disease has not yet
fastened upon any organ; it is simple fever. At this stage it
yields readily to moderate depletion—the abstraction of a
small amount of blood and a dose of cathartic medicine.

InrLrammMatory Frver.— Mr. Price, an English writer on
Sheep Grazing and Management, gives the following account
of this disease :—‘“‘ The number of animals that die of this
disorder in Romney Marsh is truly astonishing: I should
suppose nearly four in a hundred yearly in some soils and
situations, and at peculiar seasons, although every precaution

MALIGNANT INFLAMMATORY FEVER, 817

in stocking is taken to prevent it; which if the graziers did
not, they would lose half their flock annually. My opinion is
that the soil of Romney Marsh, being very rich, consequently
the clover and grasses equally so, that*sheep feeding on these
rich pastures must be more subject to inflammation than those
fed on poorer soils, particularly in the spring, when the young
shoots of the grasses and. natural clover are full of juices:
besides, when in this state they are greedily eaten by the
animals, which often proves fatal, particularly after a warm
day or two. :

“On opening them the contents of the abdomen are more
or less inflamed, and some parts are very dark colored, and
emit avery offensive smell. Sometimes the heart or lungs
appear to be primarily affected; and sometimes the liver,
bowels, and stcmach, which is very easily perceived by the
dark and livid appearance of the part. It is said that bad-
mouthed sheep never die of this disease, because they can not
feed on short, nutritious grass, but on coarse long herbage
which does not enrich the blood. I am of opinion that it is
an inflammatory disease, and that the only remedy is large
bleedings, so as rapidly to lower the system.”

Matienanr Inruammarory Ferver.— This malady
appears occasionally in England, but is common as a
very destructive epizootic in France, where it is termed
La Maladie de Sologne. It prevails in low, marshy districts
where the sheep are wintered very poorly, folded in close,
damp stables, and turned out in the spring to gorge them-
selves on the watery, rapidly-growing vegetation. It appears
toward the close of spring, and rages until August. Its early
symptoms are, says Mr. Youatt, “suspension of rumination,
loss of appetite, dullness, weeping from the eye, coldness of
the ears, alternate shiverings and flashings of heat. Soon
afterward the mouth and the breath become hot — the eyes
are red — the pulse is accelerated, and weak and irregular —
and there is a mucous discharge from the nostrils, to which
succeeds bloody mucus, and then a mixture of purulent
matter and blood. By degrees, the urine becomes bloody
and the excrements are covered with grumous blood — the
head and legs are swelled — the debility is extreme, and the
animal dies in the course of eight or ten days. The greater
part of the animals attacked by this disease perish. The
sheep in the finest’ condition die soonest, and with greatest
certainty.”

318 TYPHUS FEVER — CATARRH.

Dry food, salt, camphorated drinks and vegetable tonics,
are usually administered. Bleedings are sometimes resorted
to in the very earliest stage of the malady. Tessier, one of
the ablest agricultural Writers of France, suggests the follow-
ing modes of prevention :—“To keep the flock more in the
sheep house during the rainy season; to feed better the ewes
that are pregnant, or that are giving suck; never to milk
the ewes;* not to turn the young lambs on those marshy
situations on which the danger of being infected by the rot
makes them afraid to place thé mothers; to keep salt within
the reach both of the lambs and the ewes; not to send the
sheep to the field when the weather is cold, and to drive them
back when storms threaten; not to shear the sheep so early
as they are accustomed to perform that operation; and to
endeavor by every possible means to drain the ponds and
marshes with which that [La Sologne] and so many other
districts of France abounds.”

This formidable malady has never yet appeared in the
United States.

Typnus Frver.— Mr. Youatt expresses the opinion that
this disease often destroys thousands of sheep in Great Britain,
and that many of the diseases recognized as braxy are really
of this class. I do not know that it ever occurs, as a distinct
or idiopathic malady, in the United States; but I scarcely
ever sav any febrile symptoms attend any form of ovine
disease in our country which were not, or did not very soon
become typhoid in their character. (See page 262.) English
practitioners recommend “the lancet and ‘ salts,” at
the “very commencement” of the disease. In any stage of
any malady attended by the characteristic low form of fever,
where I have seen bleeding and purgative medicines both
resorted to, to any serious extent, their apparent effect has
been uniformly to accelerate the fatal result.

Cararru.— Catarrh is an inflammation of the mucous
membrane which lines the nasal passages — and it sometimes
extends to the larynx and pharynx. In the first instance —
where the lining of the nasal passages is alone and not very
violently affected —it is merely accompanied by an increased
discharge of mucus, and is rarely attended with much danger.

é * The French, in many districts, milk their ewes and manufacture the milk into
cheese.

t+ Quoted by Youatt, at p. 481

MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH. 319

In this form it is usually termed snuffles, and high-bred
English mutton sheep, in this country, are apt to manifest
more or less of it, after every sudden change of weather.
When the inflammation extends to the mucous lining of the
larynx and pharynx, some degree of fever usually super-
venes, accompanied by cough, and some loss of appetite. At
this point the English veterinarians usually recommend
bleeding and purging. Catarrh rarely attacks the American
fine-wooled sheep with sufficient violence, in summer, to
require the exhibition of remedies. I early found that
depletion, in catarrh, in our severe winter months, rapidly
produced that fatal prostration from which it is next to
impossible to recover the sheep — entirely impossible, with-
out bestowing an amount of time and care on it, costing
far more than the price of. any ordinary sheep.

The best course is -to prevent the disease by judicious
precautions. With that amount of attention which every
prudent flock-master should bestow on his sheep, the hardy
American Merino is little subject to it. Good, comfortable,
but well-ventilated shelters, constantly accessible to the
sheep in winter, with a proper supply of food regularly admin-
istered, is usually a sufficient safeguard; and after some
years of experience, during which I have tried a variety of
experiments on this disease, I resort to no other remedies —
in other words, I do nothing for those occasional cases of
ordinary catarrh which arise in my flock; and they never
prove fatal.

Mauienant Epizootic Cararru.—In “Sheep Husbandry
in the South,” from which the preceding paragraph is trans-
ferred, I give an extended account of a disease which
prevailed with destructive violence in the State of New York
in the winter of 1846-47. Some flock-masters lost half,
others three-quarters, and a few seven-eighths of their flocks.
One individual within a few miles of me lost five hundred
out of eight hundred — another nine hundred out of one
thousand. But these severe losses fell mainly on the holders
of the delicate Saxon sheep, and perhaps, generally, on those
possessing neither the best accommodations, nor the greatest
degree of energy and skill. —

I lost about fifty sheep by the disease. Up to February, my
sheep remained apparently perfectly sound, and they were in
good flesh. Each flock had excellent shelters, were fed
regularly, etc., and although sheep were beginning to perish

a

320 MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH.

about the country, my uniform previous impunity in theso
“bad winters” led me to entertam no apprehensions of the
prevailing epizootic. About the first of February my sheep
went into the charge of a new man, hired upon the highest
recommendations. A few days after I was called away from
home for a week. The weather during my absence was, a
part of the time, very severe. The sheep house occupied by
one flock containing one hundred sheep, was, with the
exception of two doors, as close a room as can be made by
nailing on the wall-boards vertically and without lapping, as
is common on our Northern barns. One of the doors was
always left open, to permit the free ingress and egress of
the sheep, and for necessary ventilation. A half dozen ewes,
which had been untimely impregnated by a neighbor’s ram,
were on the point of lambing, and it being safer to confine
the ewes in a warm room over night, the shepherd, instead
of removing them to such a room, confined the whole flock in’
the sheep house every night, and rendered it warm by closing
both doors. After two or three hours, the air must have
become excessively impure. On entering the sheep house, on
my return, I was at once struck with its highly offensive
smell. <A change, too, slight but ominous, had taken place in
the appearance of a part of the flock. They showed no signs
of violent colds, I heard no coughing, sneezing, or labored
respiration —and the only indication of catarrh which I
noticed, was a nasal discharge, by a few sheep. But those
having this nasal discharge, and some others, looked dull
and drooping; their eyes ran a little —were partially closed,
the lachrymal caruncle and lids looked pale — their movements
were languid—and the shepherd complained that they did
not eat quite so well as the others. The pulse was nearly
natural— though I thought a trifle too languid.

_ Not knowing what the disease was— and fully believin
that depletion by bleeding or physic was not called for, I
contented myself with thoroughly purifying the sheep house—
seeing that the feeding, etc.,* was managed with the greatest
regularity —and closely watching the further symptoms of
disease in the flock. In about a week, the above described
symptoms were evidently aggravated, and there had ‘been a
rapid emaciation, accompanied with debility, in the sheep
first attacked. The countenance was exceedingly dull and

* They had been fed with bright hay three times a day and turnips. As those
affected did not eat their turnips well, I commenced feeding some oats in addition to
the turnips. I believed that a generous diet was called for and I gave it.

MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH. 821

drooping —the eye kept more than half closed— the
caruncle, lids, etc., almost bloodless—a gummy, yellow
secretion below the eye—thick glutinous mucus adhering
in and about the nostrils — appetite feeble — pulse languid —
and the muscular energy greatly prostrated. Nothing un-
usual was yet noticed about their stools or urine,

I now had all the diseased sheep removed from the flock,
and placed in rooms the temperature of which could easily be
regulated. I commenced giving slight tonics and stimulants,
such as gentian, ginger, etc., but apparently with no material
effect. They rapidly grew weaker, stumbled and fell as they
walked, and soon became unable to rise. The appetite grew
feebler —the mucus at the nose, in some instances tinged
with dark grumous blood—the respiration oppressed, and
they died within a day or two after they became unable
to rise.

I proceeded to make post mortem examinations with great
care and deliberation—aided by Dr. Frederick Hyde, now
Professor of Anatomy in the Geneva Medical College.* My
minutes of those examinations have already been partially
published in “Sheep Husbandry in the South ;” and they are
quite too long for msertion here.

Laboring very strongly under the impression. that the seat
of the disease would be found in the lungs, or some of the
abdominal viscera, no examination was made, in the first six
cases, of the interior organs of the head and neck. But
failing to discover any sufficient indications of primary disease
among the latter to account for the results, I, in- the next
case, examined the bronchial tubes, the lower portions of
the windpipe, esophagus, &c., and. found them all in. an
apparently healthy condition. Before tracing these passages
to the throat, I removed the upper portion of the skull and
carefully examined the brain and its investing membranes.
All seemed in a perfectly normal state. I then made a
longitudinal section down through the middle part of the
whole, head, and the seat and character of the fatal malady
stood at once revealed. The mucous membrane lining the
whole nasal cavity, highly. congested and thickened, through-
out its whole extent, betrayed the most intense inflammation.
At the junction of the cellular ethmoid bones with the cribri-

* To guard against any misapprehensions on this point, I may be permitted to
say that we had a well warmed room —all the proper instruments for making such an
examination — and several hours were usually devoted to each case. :

14*

322 MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH.

form plate—in the ethmoidal cells—slight ulcers were forming
on the membraneous lining. The inflammation also extended
to the mucous membrane of the pharynx, and say three inches
of the upper portion of the esophagus. Here it rather
abruptly terminated. Fifteen or twenty more cases were
examined, and so far as the seat and character of the disease
of the mucous membrane was concerned, the appearances
were uniform in every instance.

This was obviously a species of catarrh—though the
feverish symptoms which ordinarily accompany a severe
attack of that disease were wanting.. From the very outset,
and in every case, the type of the disease was typhoid —
sinking — and rapidly tending to fatal prostration.

I was anxious, of course, to reduce the local inflammation
of the membranes lining the head, but felt perfectly satisfied
there was too much debility to admit of depletory treatment.
Nevertheless, to make myself sure, and to gratify the curiosity
of others, I bled in three or four instances, as near as possible
to.the commencement of the attack. As anticipated, it
evidently hastened the fatal termination. Blisters not being
regarded as available under all the circumstances, I blew Scotch
snuff (through paper tubes) up the nostrils of some of the
sheep, to cause the removal, by sneezing, of the mucus which
seriously obstructed respiration, and in the faint hope that it
might produce a new action, by which an increased mucous
secretion would be excited and the congested membrane
relieved. This was the only local treatment resorted to.

The next step was to fix on the constitutional treatment.
The liver had been shown to be in a torpid state. There was
a functional derangement in the mesenteric and probably
other glands, and a want of activity in the general secretory
system. What medicine would stimulate the liver, cause it
to secrete the proper quantity as well as quality of bile,
change the morbid action of the glands and secretory system,
and restore activity and health to the vital functions generally?
In my judgment, nothing promised so well as mercury; and
by its well known effect on the entire secretory system, it
would powerfully tend to relieve the congested membranes of
the head. The proto-chloride of mercury (calomel) was
supposed to possess too much specific gravity to reach the
fourth stomach, with any certainty, administered in a liquid ;
and if administered as a ball or pill, it would be almost sure
not to reach that stomach. The dissolved bi-chloride of
mercury (corrosive sublimate) was therefore hit upon. One

MALIGNANT EPIZOOTIC CATARRH. 323

grain was dissolved in two ounces of water, and one-half
ounce of the water (or one-eighth of a grain of corrosive
sublimate) was exhibited in a day, in two doses. —

As constipation existed in most of the cases, it was
thought that the bowels required to be. stimulated into
action, and slightly evacuated by'a mild laxative. Having
noticed in similar cases of debility and torpor of the intestinal
canal, that purgation is often followed’ by a serious diarrhea,
difficult to correct, and leading to rapid prostration, and there
being no intestinal irritation to suffer additional excitement, I
thought that rhubarb — from its well known tendency to give
tone to the bowels, and its secondary effect as a mild astrin-
gent—was particularly indicated. It was given in a decoction
—the equivalent of ten or fifteen grains at a dose—accompa-
nied with ginger and gentian, in infusion. Toa portion of
the sheep I administered the rhubarb and its adjuvants alone;
to others I gave the bi-chloride of mercury in addition.

Not a single sheep recovered after the emaciation and
debility had proceeded to any great extent. One such only
lingered along until shearing. Its wool gradually dropped
off: it seemed to rally a little once or twice and then relapse ;
and it perished one night in a rain-storm. In the generality
of instances the time from the first observed symptoms until
death, varied from ten to fifteen days. A few died in a
shorter time. I thought that the treatment produced favor-
able effects in some instances — particularly when resorted to
at the commencement of the disease. At all events, some of
the sheep recovered under the treatment— particularly under
that including the exhibition of the bi-chloride of mercury—
and very few, if any, reeovered without any treatment.
Candor compels me to say, however, that the results of the
treatment were far from being ‘satisfactory — that the cases of
recovery were: much fewer than the deaths. I have merely
stated what I believe to be the facts in the premises ; I do not
feel prepared to make any recommendations. As I now look
back on, and quote from my records written seventeen years
ago, I feel greatly disposed to doubt whether more recovered
under my treatment than would have recovered without it.
At all events, I prefer that view of the case should be taken,
so that if a similar epizootic should recur, those called upon
to combat it will start without any misconceptions derived
from me. J have given my treatment because it constitutes
part of the true history of the case; and because records of
Jailures are not without their value.

324 EPIZOOTIC OF 1846-47.

The epizootic gradually abated towards spring, and my
flock regained its perfect health. Near spring, many farmers
found what seemed to them an unusual number of “grubs” in
the heads of their sheep which died of the prevailing epizootic,
and therefore they attributed the disease to this cause — and
this seemed to be the prevailing popular opinion. In some
of the latest cases in my flock, I discovered more or less
grubs; and, in two or three instances, an unusual number.
In other cases, where the external symptoms and the post
mortem appearances were almost identical, no grubs were to
be seen— convincing proof that they had nothing to do in
originating this destructive disease.

The whole value of the preceding records, in connection
with the omitted post mortem examinations,—if they have
any—is in enabling us to determine what the sheep epizootic
of 1846-47 was, and what it was not. I am not prepared to
aver that it was identically the same with the “distemper”
which used to sweep off from twenty to forty or fifty per
cent. of carelessly managed flocks as often as once in five or
six winters—and which, though greatly mitigated in the
frequency and severity of its visitations, continues to destroy
more American sheep than all other maladies combined. It
is, indeed, the only malady which proves mortal on a large
scale. But, except that the “distemper” of the “‘bad winters”
sometimes closes with dysentery, I never saw any difference
between its general external symptoms and that of the epizo-
otic of 1846-47. If their identity should be established, it
would be a most important point gained; for then we should
know against what enemy to concentrate our efforts, instead
of “doctoring” for rot, inflammation of the lungs, braxy,
consumption, grub in the head, etc., ete—each of which
maladies the winter “distemper” of this climate has often
been pronounced to be. Unfortunately, I have had no
opportunities to make post mortem examinations of sheep
dying of that disease since 1846-47. Without this, all other
observations are uncertain and comparatively valueless. The
farmer who finds a prevailing and mortal disease among his
sheep, and who is not sufficiently familiar with the internal
structures and appearances of the animal to make an intelli-
gent examination of them after death, should always avail
himself of the services of a well educated physician.* How-

* I never knew such a physician who disdained to bestow his skill, on proper
occasion, on a brute. ‘‘ Where Allah hath deigned to bestow life, and a sense of pain
and pleasure,” said Adonbec el Hakim, ‘it were sinful pride should the sage, whom
he has enlightened, refuse to prolong existence or assuage agony.”

INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 825

ever little the latter may be acquainted with veterinary
practice, he will be entirely competent to decide, in a great
majority of cases, what organ is the seat of a mortal.malady:*
and it will be far safer to rely on his general directions,
founded on established principles and on a knowledge of the
properties of remedial agents, than to make experiments at
random, or what. is equally dangerous, call in the aid of an
ignorant quack.

PyrvumoniA, 08 INFLAMMATION OF THE Lunes. — Pneu-
monia, or inflammation of the lungs, is not a common disease
in the Northern States, but undoubted cases of it sometimes
occur,. after sheep have been exposed to sudden cold —
particularly when recently shorn. The adhesions occasionally
witnessed between the lungs and pleura of slaughtered sheep,
betray the former existence of this disease — though in many
instances it was so slight as to be mistaken, in the time of it, for
a hard cold. The sheep laboring under pneumonia is dull,
ceases to ruminate, neglects its food, drinks frequently and
largely, and its breathing is rapid and laborious. The eye is
clouded — the nose discharges a tenacious, fetid matter—the
teeth are ground frequently, so that the sound is audible to
some distance. The pulse is at first hard and rapid—some-
times intermittent; but before death it becomes weak. During
the height of the fever, the flanks heave violently. There is a
hard, painful cough during the first stages of the disease.
This becomes weaker, and seems to be accompanied with
more pain as death approaches.

After death, the lungs are found more or less hepatized,
i. e., permanently condensed, and engorged with blood, so
that their structure resembles that of the hepar, or liver —
and they have so far lost their integrity that they are torn
asunder by the slightest force.

It may be well in this place to remark that when sheep
die from any cause with their blood in them, the lungs have a
dark hepatized appearance. But it can be readily decided
whether they are actually hepatized or not, by compressing

* A healthy situation of the lungs, bronchial tubes, &c., would at once show the
absence of pneumonia, consumption, bronchitis, etc. The healthy condition of the
liver would show the absence of rot—the healthy condition of the intestines, the
absence of braxy, etc. Were any of those organs found diseased, it mph not be so
easy in all instances to decide on the precise character of the malady,— but enough at
least would be learned to furnish a suide to the general treatment in subsequent cases;
and at all events, to avoid exasperating the disease by entirely improper remedies, tt
is much to be hoped that a prof 1 body of educated and learned veterinarians
will soon be spread throughout our country.

326 BRONCHITIS —- PLEURISY.

the windpipe, so that air can not escape through it, and then
between such compression and the body of the lungs, in a
closely fitting orifice, insert a goose quill or other tube, and
continue to blow until the lungs are inflated so far as they can
be. As they inflate they will become lighter colored, and
plainly manifest their cellular structure. If any portions of
them can not be inflated, and retain their dark, liver-like
consistency and color, they exhibit hepatization — the result
of high inflammatory action—and a state utterly incompati-
ble, in the living animal, with the discharge of the natural
functions of the lungs.

With the treatment of pneumonia, I have but little
personal experience. In the first or inflammatory stages of
the disease, bleeding and aperients are clearly called for. Mr.
Spooner recommends “early and copious bleeding, repeated,
if necessary, in a few hours—this followed by aperient
medicines, such as two ounces of Epsom salts, which may be
repeated in smaller doses if the bowels are not sufficiently
relaxed. The following sedative may also be given with
gruel twice a day:—nitrate of potash, one drachm; digitalis
powdered, one scruple ; tartarized antimony, one scruple.”

The few cases I have seen have been of a sub-acute charac-
ter, and would not bear treatment so decided. Mr. Youatt
remarks :—* Depletion may be of inestimable value during the
continuance —the short continuance — of the febrile state; but
excitation like this will‘soon be followed by corresponding
exhaustion, and then the bleeding and the purging would be
murderous expedients, and gentian, ginger, and the spirit of
nitrous ether will afford the only hope of cure.”

Broncurris.— It would be difficult to suppose that where
sheep are subject to pneumonia they would not also be subject
to bronchitis — which is an inflammation of the mucous mem-
brane which lines the bronchial tubes—the air-passages of the
lungs. I have seen no cases, however, which I have been
able to identify as bronchitis, and have examined no subjects,
after death, which exhibited its characteristic lesions. Its
symptoms are those of an ordinary cold, but attended with
more fever and a tenderness of the throat and belly when
pressed upon. Treatment: Administer salt in doses from 14
to 2 oz., with 6 or 8 oz. of lime-water, given in some other
part of the day. This is Mr. Youatt’s prescription.

Prevritis or Preurisy.—I have seen no instance of this
disease. Mr. Spooner says of it:—‘*This disease consists of

CONSUMPTION. 827

inflammation of the pleura or membrane lining the chest. - It
is produced by the same causes as inflammation of the lungs,
with which it may be accompanied, and. particularly by any
sudden changes that may chill the whole system. It. often
occurs from this cause after sheep washing, when it is very
common to find a few sheep failing and in proportion to the
want of care exercised. It is not unusual, in examining the
bodies of sheep, to find the lungs in part adhering to the sides
of the chest, and the animal thus affected generally loses flesh.
This adhesion is the effect of pleurisy, and another and still
more dangerous result is water in the chest.

“The symptoms of this disease are in many respects like
those of inflammation of the lungs, but it is attended occasion-
ally by severe pain and by a variation of the symptoms
generally, such as a harder and more defined pulse and more
warmth of the-body. The treatment must consist of. active
bleeding in the first instance; and in this disease the sheep can
bear blood-letting to a greater extent than in most diseases.
The bleeding may be repeated if necessary, setons may be
inserted in the brisket, the bowels moderately relaxed, and in
other respects ‘the same treatment observed as advised for
inflamed lungs.”

Consumprion.— This has never, so far as my knowledge
extends, appeared in American flocks, Mr. Youatt thus
describes it: — “There is another and still more frequent and
equally fatal disease of the lungs, [with acute inflammation, |
but it assumes an insidious character, and is not recognized
until irreparable mischief is effected, viz., sub-acute, or
chronic inflammation of the lungs, and leading on to disor-
ganization of a peculiar character — tubercles in the lungs,
and terminating in phthisis [consumption.] The sheep is
observed. to cough — he feeds well and he is in tolerable
condition —if he does not improve quite so fast as his
companions, still he is not losing ground, and the farmer takes
little or no notice of his ailment. * * * He is driven to
the market and he is slaughtered, and the meat looks and
sells well; but in what state are the lungs? Let him who is
in the habit of observing the plucks of the sheep, as they hang
by the butcher’s door, answer the question. He sees plenty
of sound lungs from oxen — he sees the lungs of the calf in a
beautifully healthy state; but he does not see one lung in
three belonging to the sheep that is unscathed by disease —
whose mottled surface does not betray inflammation of the

328 CONSUMPTION.

investing membranes, and in the substance of which there are
not numerous minute concretions — tubercles.

‘Perhaps these lesions quickly follow sub-acute inflamma-
tion of the lungs, but they do not rapidly increase afterwards.
Their existence produces a slight cough which scarcely
interferes with health, * * * But what is the case, and
that not unfrequently, with the ram and the ewe when they
get three or four years old? The cough continues — it
increases — a, pallidness of the lips, or of the conjunctiva, is
observed —a gradual loss of flesh —an occasional or constant
diarrhea, which yields for a while to proper medicine, but
returns again and again until it wears the animal away. Of
how many diseases is this cough and gradual wasting the
termination? It. is the frequent winding up of turnsick ; it is
the companion and child of rot.

“This disease is especially prevalent in low and moist
pastures, and it. is of most frequent occurrence in spring and
in autumn, and when the weather at those seasons is unusu-
ally cold and changeable. It is almost useless to enter into
the consideration of treatment. It would consist in a change
to dry and wholesome and somewhat abundant pasture — the
placing of salt within the reach of the animal, and, if he was
valued, the administration of the hydriodate of potash, in
doses of three grains, morning and night, and gradually
increasing the dose to twelve grains. With regard, however,
to the common run of sheep—when wasting has commenced,,
and is accompanied by cough or dysentery, the most honest
and profitable advice which the surgeon could give to the
farmer would be, to send the animal to the butcher while the
carcass will readily sell.”

Some American writers appear to think they have
recognized this disease among the sheep of our country.
Consumption is considered distinctly hereditary in almost all
domestic animals.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
DISEASES OF THE GENERATIVE AND URINARY ORGANS.

ABORTION — INVERSION OF THE WOMB — GARGET.— PARTU-
RIENT OR PUERPERAL FEVER—CYSTITIS, OR INFLAMMATION
OF THE BLADDER.

A portion of the more ordinary diseases of the generative
system have been described in the Chapters devoted to the
treatment of sheep during the different seasons of the year.

Aszsortion.— Abortion is unusual among sheep in our
country; and when it occurs, is usually produced by some
violence, such as the hooking of a cow, the kick of a wanton
colt, the heavy sidewise blow inflicted by the horns of a
cross ram as he forces his way impatiently up to the rack or
feeding-trough, or the like. Severe running, leaping, or the
rough, careless handling of the operator for hoof-rot, some-
times produces it. There seems to be an occasional ewe
which is habitually subject to it from some unknown cause.
Mr. Youatt and Mr. Spooner both mention that it is thought
sometimes to occur in England in consequence of eating salt.
The constant habit of feeding salt freely at all periods of.
the year, during my whole life, without, so far as could be
reasonably judged, producing such an effect in a single
instance, leads one wholly to discredit this hypothesis. Mr.
Spooner says :—“ But what causes it more than anything else
is the unlimited use of turnips and succulent food.” I have
no experience in the “unlimited” winter feeding of any green
food; but I have fed breeding ewes about a pound of turnips
per head, sometimes a trifle more, daily, during their entire
pregnancy for many years; and by comparing them with
flocks about me restricted to dry feed, I have always been
satisfied that a moderate supply of green feed tended decidedly
to prevent abortion. *

* Mr. Youatt gives another singular cause of abortion—‘‘continued intercourse
with the ram after the period of gestation has derably advanced ;’’ and he says:

330 INVERSION OF WOMB—GARGET.

So far as this has fallen under my observation, it has
occurred oftenest about the close of the third or the beginning
of the fourth month of pregnancy. I have never known it to
assume that semi-infectious or enzootical character which it oc-
casionally takes in our great dairies of cows—though, as a matter
of precaution, as well as to give her a better chance, I always
prefer to have the ewe that has miscarried, drawn from the
breeding flock and put in “the hospital.” The aborted lamb
and everything that comes with it from the vagina, is also
removed from the sheep yard. The lamb is almost invariably
dead at birth. I have not been in the habit of administering
any medicine to the ewe.* She usually becomes poor and
weak unless nursed with great care—her wool ceases to grow,
and is very apt to be shed off. Sometimes she scarcely
recovers her condition during the ensuing summer. It is a
very great injury to a ewe to abort, and if she does so the
second time, she should invariably be excluded from the
breeding flock.

INVERSION OF THE Woms.— This has been sufficiently
noticed at page 145 of this work.

Garcetr.— This has also been noticed at page 157 under
the head of Inflamed Udder. In high-fed English ewes it
assumes a more acute and dangerous form than is there
described. Hard kernels or tumors form in the udder. The
udder itself becomes much swollen, with great heat and
tenderness. An ounce or two of Epsom salts with a drachm
of ginger, should be administered. If matter forms in any
part of the udder, a deep incision should at once be made, the
pus squeezed out, the parts well fomented, and if any offensive
smell proceeds from the wound it should be bathed or
syringed two or three times a day with a weak solution of
chloride of lime, until it assumes a healthy action.

In the place of the iodine ointment recommended by me
(at page 158) as an application to the udder from the earliest

“This is frequently the case among the mountain and the moor sheep.’? American
sheep are more modest! I will not undertake to say such a thing never occurs, but I
never yet saw or heard of one of our sheep taking the ram after the beginning of
regnancy, though nothing is more common than to allow rams to run with “ in-
tached! ewes the entire winter. : : ;

* Mr. Spooner recommends giving Epsom salts 44 0z., tincture of opium 1 drachm,
powdered camphor 34 drachm, with nourishing gruel: the two latter medicines to be
repeated the next day, but not the salts unless the bowels are constipated. Mr.
Youatt says, ‘if the foetus has been long dead—shown by the fetid smell and the
vaginal discharge —the parts should be washed with a weak solution of the chloride
of lime; and some of it also injected into the womb.”’

PARTURIENT FEVER. 331

stage of the disease, Mr. Spooner recommends camphor
ointment, (see List of Medicines,) and Mr. Youatt one
drachm of camphor ointment, one drachm of- mercurial
ointment, and one ounce of elder ointment, well incor-
porated together. Both also rely greatly on constant
fomentation with hoé water, without the ingredients which I
mentioned as proper to mix with it. (See page 158.) But
those ingredients must add to its salutary effects.

PartTuRIENT OR PUERPERAL Frver.— This disease, as
already remarked, is very unusual in this country, and is, so
far as I have learned, confined exclusively to English sheep.
T have never seen a case of it. I shall therefore present the
following account of its symptoms and treatment from a
Prize Essay on the subject, prepared for the Royal Agricul-
tural Society of England by Mr. Isaac Seaman. He says:

“Parturient fever may be defined a disease of low inflam-
matory character, involving more or less extensively the
organs of reproduction, digestion and respiration; the brain
and spinal marrow are also involyed. There is generally a
greater determination of blood to some organs than to others;
mostly the uterus is first and principally affected, in some the
bowels and lining membrane of the abdomen (peritoneum) i in
others the lungs; the brain and spinal marrow are often very
much affected. It shows itself generally during the last twenty
days’ gestation, and within the first six days after parturition:
the average duration of the disease is from seven to fourteen
days; some die in two days while others linger a month.

‘‘Cauaes.—Any circumstance or agency which depresses
the power of the system, insufficient or improper food, close
folding, exposure to fatigue, to cold, and moisture, may be
‘considered causes of the affection. I have repeatedly noticed,
where ewes about a month before lambing have been removed
from a sufficiency of wholesome food to other possessing less
nutritive qualities, they have suffered greatly from parturient
fever. The practice of fattening sheep and ewes being fed
upon the same piece of turnips, (the best parts of which are
consumed by the former, whilst the roots and other inferior
parts are consumed by the latter,) ought to be abandoned ;
a small fold, too — a circumstance so essential to the develop.
ment of fat in the one, whilst highly injurious to the pregnant
ewe, to whom exercise is ce the greatest importance for
the maintenance of health.* Moist and warm seasons,

* I have italicised these words, so strongly confirmatory of the views expressed
in the closing portion of Chapter XIX—extending from page 221 to 228 of this volume.

332 PARTURIENT FEVER.

vegetables growing luxuriantly, and the non-supply of dry,
farinaceous food, are alike productive of the affection. Fat
condition is thought to be a grand cause of the disease. I
certainly have noticed that the Sussex Downs (a breed most
disposed to collect fat,) suffer most; and, as I before stated, a
delicate sheep; but losses have been sustained from the fact
that the breeder, thinking them too fat, a short time before
the full period of gestation lessens the supply of food, which
is plentiful and nutritious, and substitutes that of a poorer
nature, * «= * * & kk #

“ Symptoms.—The most early symptom that marks the
commencement of this disease — first the ewe suddenly leaves
her food, twitches both hind-legs and ears, and returns again
to her food; during the next two or three days she eats but
little, appears dull and stupid; after this time there is a
degree of general weakness, loss of appetite and giddiness,
and a discharge of dark color from the vagina; whilst the
flock is driven from fold to fold the affected sheep loiters
behind and staggers in her gait, the head is carried downward,
and the eyelids partly closed. If-parturition takes place
during this stage of the disease, and the animal is kept warm
and carefully nursed, recovery will frequently take place in
two or three days; if, on the contrary, no relief is afforded,
symptoms of a typhoid character present themselves; the
animal is found in one corner of the fold, the head down,
and extremely uneasy, the body is frequently struck with the
hind feet, a dark colored fetid discharge continues to flow
from the vagina, and there is great prostration of strength.
A pair of lambs are now often expelled in a high state of
putrefaction; and the ewe down and unable to rise, the head is
crouching upon the ground, and there is extreme insensibility ;
the skin may be punctured and the finger placed under the
eyelids without giving any evidence of pain; the animal now
rapidly sinks and dies, often in three or four days from
the commencement of the attack. Ewes that recover suffer
aferwards for sometime great weakness, and many parts of
the body become denuded of wool.

“ Treatment.—The ewe immediately noticed ill should be
removed from the flock to a warm fold apart from all other
sheep, and be fed with oatmeal gruel, bruised oats and cut
hay, with a little linseed cake. If in two or three days the
patient continues ill, is dull and weak, a dark colored fetid
discharge from the vagina, and apparently uneasy, an attempt
to remove the lambs should be made. The lambs in a great

PARTURIENT FEVER. 333

majority of cases at this period are dead, and their decompo-
sition (that is, giving off putrid ee is a frequent cause of
giddiness and stupor in the ewe. If the os uteri (the
entrance into the womb) is not sufficiently dilated to admit
of the hand of the operator, the vaginal cavity and os utert
should be smeared every three hours with the extract of
belladonna, and medicine as follows, given: — Calomel eight
grains, extract hyoscyamus one drachm, oatmeal gruel eight
ounces — mix and give two tablespoonfuls twice a day.
Epsom salts two ounces, nitre half ounce, carbonate of soda
two ounces, water one, pint —mix and give two wine-glass-
fuls at the same time the former mixture is given. Let both
mixtures be kept in separate bottles, and well shaken before
given. The bowels being operated upon, omit both former
prescriptions, and give the following: — Nitre half ounce,
carbonate of soda one ounce, camphor one drachm, water
eight ounces—a wine-glassful to be given twice a day. Feed
the ewe principally upon gruel and milk, or linseed porridge.
Parturition having taken place, the uterus should be injected
with a solution of chloride of lime, in the proportion of a
drachm to a pint of water, and repeated twice a day whilst
any fetid discharge from the vagina remains. * .

“Post Mortem Appearances.— On opening the body of an
ewe in which parturient fever has existed, and has been the
cause of death, a great variety of appearances are presented.
In some cases a degree of redness, varying from clear
vermillion to a reddish brown, is variously disposed over the
coats of the intestines and lining membrane of the abdomen
(peritoneum) and the cavity of the abdomen, invariably
containing a great quantity of reddish serum (red-water.)
The liver mottled,.its structure soft, and the bile appearing
dark and viscid. The cavity of the womb containing much
dark colored putrid matter, emitting a most horrible stench,
its structure soft and almost black. The blood in the heart
and large blood vessels frequently found black, would not
coagulate, and destitute of tenacity. The lungs frequently
found gorged with a reddish serosity [fluid] and-of a deeply
red or brown color, and as soft as pulp, the cavity of the
chest containing much red serum. Dark colored spots
variously disposed over the surface of the brain, and within
the sheath of the spinal marrow.

“ Prevention—The most important feature connected
with our subject is the prevention of the disease, for it most
interests the breeder ina pecuniary point of view. I would

334 PARTURIENT FEVER.

recommend as most important during the last five or six
weeks’ gestation, regular and nutritious feeding, regular
‘ exercise, dry and extensive folding. If turnips be the article
of food, let there be given in addition a few oats, linseed
cake, with hay and straw chaff; let a well sheltered and dry
fold be arranged at a short distance from where the ewes are
fed during the day, wherein to lodge for the night; the
driving to and from these folds will give exercise —a cireum-
stance tending much to promote health in the pregnant ewe ;*
if the system of heath or pasture feeding is practiced, night
folding is then equally necessary. The night fold in common
use — that formed by building straw and stubble walls, with
sheds attached, the front of which has a southern aspect —
answers admirably. Further explaining the comforts of the
pregnant ewe, I will add in the words of the poet,
: “First with assiduous care from winter keep,

Well foddered in the stalls, thy tender sheep:

Then spread with straw the bedding of thy fold,

With fern beneath, to fend the bitter cold.”

These statements scarcely need addition; but as there is
a strong probability that this formidable malady will become
more common in the United States as the high bred English
sheep, and English systems of keeping are introduced, I will
append to it the following letter addressed to me by Mr.
Thorne:
, “THORNDALE, WasHInaton Hottow, N. Y., April 13, 1863.
Dear Sir:— * * The puerperal fever has been known

in this neighborhood since I first came here, though only to a
limited extent during the last two seasons. * * * The
disease more generally affects middle aged ewes, and ewes
producing or carrying twins. It does not select those lowest
in flesh; hence the farmers, as a class, are unwilling to
believe that feed can remedy it. It generally shows itself
from four or five to ten days before lambing. The symptoms
you will find fully described in Seaman’s Essay, in Vol. XV,
of the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. The
treatment which my shepherd has followed, and with good
success — saving sixteen out of twenty, sick in 1859 —has
been to separate the sick ewe at once from the flock and give
a dose of 2 ozs. Epsom salts, 2 to 3 ozs. molasses, 1 drachm
of nitre, mixed with a pint of warm linseed gruel. The

* T placed these words in italics,— and also the words ‘regular exercise” above.

+ Mr. Thorne’s statements of his losses, which here follow, have already been
mentioned at page 59.

PARTURIENT FEVER. 835

object is to open the bowels, and should the above not operate
in eight or ten hours, it should be repeated. After that, the
nitre and molasses: are given night and morning in an
ordinary quart bottle of gruel until there is an abatement of
the fever, when the nitre is discontinued. Frequently, in fact
generally, after they have: been down three or four days — if
they live so long—the brown discharge which has been
noticed passing from the vagina becomes putrid, showing
that the fetus is dead. In such cases a small quantity of
belladona — applied dry on the end of the finger —is applied
to the mouth of the womb every hour until it is sufficiently
relaxed to allow of the removal of the decaying mass. After
that has been. done, the womb is thoroughly syringed with
warm water, to which milk is sometimes added. The ewes’
position is made as comfortable as possible, and always
changed once or twice a day. Where the ewe brings forth
her young alive she recovers more rapidly. The remedies
and treatment, as you will see, are perfectly simple and
easily tried by any flock owner. The-great secret of success
with it, as with a large majority of diseases, I believe is good
nursing. * * * Since my flock have received a small
quantity of grain, say half a pint per head- daily, before
lambing,* they have been quite free from any signs of that
trouble. As an illustration that a small quantity of feed is a
preventive, a flock belonging to one of my friends was
divided, upon going into winter quarters, into two lots,—one
of sixty old ewes, the other of thirty two-year-olds. The
former received a very small quantity of corn daily — the
latter only hay.. His losses from the former lot was two —
ftom the latter fourteen head; though the younger ones
generally escaped. * *
Yours faithfully, Saw. THorRNE.”

While an over-fleshy, plethoric condition is obviously
improper for breeding ewes, there is not a particle of doubt
that both Mr. Seaman and Mr. Thorne are correct in the
position — not only as respects the attack of parturient fever,
but all other maladies and difficulties connected with parturi-
tion — that ewes should not be suffered to fall off seriously in
flesh during the period of gestation. Even if the ewe enters
that period in too high condition, it is safer to keep her there
than it is to reduce her. It would be better, if we could have

* In a subsequent letter Mr. Thorne says:—‘‘I commence with a small quantity
of grain eight weeks before lambing, which is soon increased to half a pint each.”

336 PARTURIENT FEVER.

things exactly according to our wishes, to have the ewe enter
the term of gestation in moderate order, and then gain a little
—almost imperceptibly—to the time of lambing. But let
me not be mistaken. This is no time to fatten or to stimulate
—no time to over-feed, as many do, on the wholly unfounded
hypothesis that it is necessary for the support of the fetus.
On this last point let me corroborate my opinions by much
more authoritative ones. ‘The well known Dr. Dewees,
speaking of pregnant human females, says:
“ Errors in diet are almost constantly committed during
regnancy, than which few things are more mischievous.

e have already adverted to the tending of the system to
plethora, during this condition of the female: on this account
it can not fail to be injurious to overcharge, or to overstimu-
late the stomach. No one circumstance has contributed so
certainly to fix this error, as the vulgar speculation on this
subject ; namely, the necessity the female is under to prepare
nourishment for two beings, at one and the same time; that
is, for herself and the child within her. It is, therefore,
constantly recommended, to eat and drink heartily; and this
she often does, until the system is goaded to fever; and some-
times to more sudden and greater evils, as convulsions or
apoplexy.” *

‘Mr. Youatt says :—‘‘It has been supposed by some breed-
ers that, because the ewe is with lamb, an additional quantity
of food, of more nutritive food, should be allowed; nothing
can be more erroneous or dangerous both to the mother and
the offspring. There will be too many causes of inflammation
ready to act, and to act powerfully, during the time of going
with lamb, to prevent the least approach to excess of food.” +

According to eminent British medical writers, like Dr.
Hey, Dr. Gordon, Dr. Joseph Clarke, Dr. John Clarke, etc.,
puerperal fever in the human subject often assumes an
epidemic and highly destructive character in Europe, and
particularly in England. According to Dr. Dewees, it is
very rare in the United States.{ ©

The history of the disease thus far seems to run parallel
between human and ovine subjects, in this country and
Europe. It would seem that it assumed an epizootic, or
rather enzootic character in Mr. Thorne’s neighborhood.

* Treatise on the Diseases of Females, by William P. Dewees, M, D., late Profes -
sor of Midwifery in the University of Pennsylvania, &c., &c., 1840.

+ Youatt on Sheep, p. 49%. He repeats these views again and again,
$ Dewees on the Diseases of Females, p. 380, °

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. 337

Those desirous of reading a more elaborate paper on
this subject than that of Mr. Seaman, the important parts
of which I have quoted, will find it in a “Prize Report” by
Mr. W. C. Sibbald, in XII Volume of the Journal of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1851, (page 554.)

Cystiris, o& INFLAMMATION OF THE BuiappER.— Mr.
Spooner says:—‘“Inflammation of the bladder is a rather
rare disease with sheep, and is chiefly confined to such as are
kept on artificial food, such as oil-cake, beans, &c., though
clover that has been mown, it is said, will produce it. There
are more losses from this cause than farmers are aware, it
being generally this disease when a sheep is said to drop with
water. It is mostly confined to the male sex, and principally
to rams, and such as are highly fed. The state of the bladder
appears to be that of fallness, which shows its neck is involved
in inflammation, and thus becomes contracted and loses the
cavity. In horses, cystitis is generally attended with constant
staling, the bladder being so irritable as scarcely to retain a
drop of urine. In sheep there is the same predisposition to
stale, but an incapability of performing the act.” Mr.
Dickens abstracted three pints of blood from the neck of a
“highly fed tup,” laboring under this disease, which produced
fainting. “He soon rallied, and an oleagenous draught,
accompanied by an opiate, was given twice during the day.
Toward. night he appeared much better, ate a little, and was
seen to void some very highly colored urine. His medicine
acted well during the night, but on the next day his straining
came on at times. He again bled him from the other side of
his neck to the amount of two pints, From this time he
continued mending.”

15

CHAPTER XXVII.
DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

THE SCAB—ERYSIPELATOUS SCAB— WILD FIRE AND IGNIS
SACER —— OTHER CUTANEOUS ERUPTIONS — SMALL POX, OR
VARIOLA OVINA.

Tu Scan.— The scab is a cutaneous disease, analogous
to the mange in horses and the itch in men. It is caused and
promesntet by a minute insect, the acarus. M. Walz, a

erman veterinarian, who has thrown great light on the
habits of these parasites, says :

“Tf one or more female acari are placed on the wool of a
sound sheep, they quickly travel to the root of it, and bury
themselves in the skin, the place at which they penetrated
being scarcely visible, or only distinguished by a minute red
point. On the tenth or twelfth day a little swelling may be
detected with the finger, and the skin changes its color, and
has a greenish blue tint. The pustule is now rapidly formed,
and about the sixteenth day breaks, and the mothers again
appear, with their little ones attached to their feet, and
covered by a portion of the shell of the egg from which they
have just escaped. These little ones immediately set to work
and penetrate the neighboring skin, and bury themselves
beneath it, and find their proper nourishment, and grow and
propagate, until the poor animal has myriads of them to prey
on him, and it is not wonderful that he should speedily sink.
Some of the male acari were placed on the sound skin of a
sheep, and they, too, burrowed their way and disappeared for
awhile, and the pustule in due time arose, but the itching
and the scab soon disappeared without the employment of
any remedy.”

The figures on the next page are copied from M. Walz’s
work.

The female acarus brings forth from eight to fifteen young
at a litter.

THE SCAB. 339

THE ACARUS WHICH CAUSES SCAB.

The central figure represents the acari of their natural size on a white ground.
The left hand figure represents the male on its back, magnified to 366 times the
natural size. The right figure represents the female seen by the same magnifying

ower. The heads or suckers of both point upward, between the inner pair of legs.
‘he legs have trumpet-like appendices. Hairs are seen on them to which the young
ones adhere when they first escape from the pustule.

The scab is thought often to be produced spontaneously, in
England, by mismanagement of various kinds, such as “bad
keep, starvation, hasty driving, dogging, and exposure after-
ward to cold and wet ;” and it spreads rapidly by contagion.
It is very prevalent there, and annually causes an immense
loss in the wool and flesh of the British flocks. In the United
States it is comparatively little known, and so far as I am
able to learn, never originates spontaneously. It is a singular
fact that short-wooled sheep, like the Merino, are much less
subject to its attacks, and this is probably one reason for its
little comparative prevalence in the United States. Mr.
Youatt observes :

“The old and unhealthy sheep are first attacked, and
long-wooled sheep in preference to the short; a healthy,
short-wooled sheep will long bid defiance to the contagion,
or probably escape it altogether.”

It spreads from individual to individual, and from flock to
flock, not only by means of direct contact, but by the acari
left on posts, stones, and other substances against which
diseased sheep have rubbed themselves. Hcalthy sheep are
therefore liable to contract the malady if turned on pastures
previously occupied by scabby sheep, though some considera-
ble time may have elapsed since the departure of the latter.

340 THE SCAB.

The sheep laboring under the scab is exceedingly restless.
It rubs itself with violence against trees, stones, fences, &c.
It scratches itself with its feet, and bites its sores and tears
off its wool with its teeth. As the pustules are broken, their
matter escapes, and forms scabs covering red, inflamed sores.
The sores constantly extend, increasing the misery of the
tortured animal. If unrelieved, it pines away and soon
perishes.

I have never had an opportunity to observe the post-
mortem appearances. Mr. Youatt says:

“The post-mortem appearances are very uncertain and
inconclusive. There is generally chronic inflammation of the
intestines, with the presence of a great number of worms.
The liver is occasionally schirrous, and the spleen enlarged;
and there are frequently serous effusions in the belly, and
sometimes in the chest. There has been evident sympathy
between the digestive and the cutaneous systems.”

Twenty-seven years since, I purchased one hundred and fifty
fine-wooled sheep just driven into the county from a consider-
able distance. I placed them on a farm then owned by me,
in another town, and did not see them for about three weeks.
One of my men then reported to me that the sheep were amiss
—that they were shedding off their wool—that sore spots
were beginning to show on them—and that they rubbed them-
selves against the fence-corners, &c. Though I had never
seen the scab, I took it for granted that this was the disease.
No time was to be lost, as I had seven hundred other sheep
on the farm—though fortunately, thus far, the new comers
had been kept entirely separate from them. Barely looking
into Mr. Livingston’s work for a-remedy, I provided myself
with an ample supply of tobacco and set out. The sheep had
been shorn, and their backs were covered with scabs and
sores. They evidently had the scab. I had a large potash
kettle sunk partly in the ground as an extempore vat, and an
unweighed quantity of tobacco put to boiling in several other
kettles. The only care was to have enough of the decoction,
as it was rapidly wasted, and to have it strong enough. A
little spirits of turpentine was occasionally thrown on the
decoction, say to every third or fourth sheep dipped. It was
necessary to use it sparingly, as, not mixing with the fluid
and floating on the surface, too much of it otherwise came in
contact with the sheep. Not attending to this at first, two
or three of the sheep were thrown into great agony, and
appeared to be on the point of dying. I had each sheep

THE SCAB. 841

caught and its scabs scoured off, by two men who rubbed
them with stiff shoe-brushes, dipped in a suds of tobacco-
water and soft soap. The two men then dipped the sheep all
over in the large kettle of tobacco-water, rubbing and knead-
ing the sore spots with their hands while immersed in the
fluid. The decoction was so strong that many of the sheep
appeared to be sickened either by immersion or by its fumes ;
and one of the men who dipped, though a tobacco-chewer,
vomited, and became so sick that his place had to be supplied
by another.

The effect on the sheep was almost magical. The sores
rapidly healed, the sheep gained in condition, the new wool
immediately started, and I never had a more perfectly healthy
flock on my farm. Though administered with little reference
to economy, the remedy was a decisive one. With a vat like
figure on page 187, this would not necessarily be a very
expensive method, with sheep recently sheared. But the
assaults of the scab usually come on in the spring before
shearing time, and it would require an immense quantity of
tobacco decoction to dip sheep with their fleeces on, however
carefully it might be pressed out.

The following is the remedy recommended by Chancellor
Livingston :— “First, I separate the sheep (for it is very
infectious ;) I then cut off the wool as far as the skin feels
hard to the finger; the scab is then washed with soap-suds,
and rubbed hard with a shoe-brush, so as to cleanse and break
the scab. I always keep for this use a decoction of tobacco,
to which I add one-third by measure of the lye of wood ashes,
as much hog’s lard as will be dissolved by the lye, a small
quantity of tar from the tar-bucket, which contains grease,
and about one-eighth of the whole by measure of spirits of
turpentine. This liquor is rubbed upon the part infected, and
spread to a little distance round it, in three washings, with an
interval of three days each. I have never failed in this way
to effect a cure when the disorder was only partial. * * *
I can not say whether it would cure a sheep infected so as to
lose half its fleece.” *

The follewing remedies are much used in Great Britain:

No. 1.—Dip the sheep in an infusion of arsenic, in the
proportion of half a pound of arsenic to twelve gallons of
water. The sheep should previously be washed in soap and
water. The infusion must not be permitted to enter the
mouth or nostrils.

* Livingston’s Essay. Appendix, p. 177.

342 THE SCAB.

No. 2.—Take common mercurial ointment, for bad cases,
rub it down with three times its weight of lard—for ordinary
cases, five times its weight of lard. Rub a little of this oint-
ment into the head of the sheep. Part the wool so as to
expose the skin in a line from the head to the tail, and then
apply a little of the ointment with the finger the whole way.
Make a similar furrow and application, on each side, four
inches from the first, and so on over the whole body. The
quantity of ointment (after being compounded with the lard
should not exceed two ounces; and considerably less will
generally suffice. A lamb requires but one-third as much as
a grown sheep. This will generally cure, but if the sheep
should continue to rub itself, a lighter application of the same
should be made in ten days.

No. 3.—Take of lard or palm oil 2 Ibs., oil of tar 4 Jb.,
sulphur 1 lb. Gradually mix the last two, then rub down the
compound with the first. Apply in the same way as No. 2.

No. 4.—Take of corrosive sublimate $ lb., white hellebore,
powered, # lb., whale or other oil 6 gallons, rosin 2 lbs.,
tallow 2 lbs. “The first two to be mixed with a little of the
oil, and the rest being melted together, the whole to be
gradually mixed.” This is a powerful preparation and must
not be applied too freely.

Mr. Spooner gives the preference to No. 1, as least
troublesome; Mr. Youatt to No. 2; and the author of the
Mountain Shepherd’s Manual to No. 4. I should certainly
prefer No. 3, if it is, as it is asserted to be, equally effectual,
for the reason that it contains no poisonous or dangerous
ingredients. But its perfect efficacy may be doubted.

Mr. Robert Smith, in his Prize Essay, several times cited,
declares that scab “is never observed or known to arise
spontaneously in a flock,” in England. It is clearly and
concededly not spontaneous in the United States. Mr. Smith
adds :—‘“* When first discovered, the whole flock should be
carefully inspected and the diseased subjects removed to a
separate field; it is best to give the whole flock a light
dressing, as a preventive; no fear need to be entertained of
dressing the inlambed ewes, as I have had occasion to
practice it at different periods and have experienced no ill
effects, observing not to dress the belly or points. The
mercurial ointment in common use, prepared by all druggists,
is found to be sufficiently good,* without resorting to other

* Mr. Smith undoubtedly means mercurial pints Piepetee by druggists for

this especial object — not mercurial ointment having the full strength of that prepared
according to the London and New York pharmacopeia, which are the same, viz.,

THE SCAB, 843

recipes; when ordered the party should take care to name that
it is required for the specific purpose of curing the disease,
that attention may be specially paid to the grinding of the
quicksilver. In mild cases one dressing by an experienced
shepherd, at the rate of 3 Ibs. to the score for full-grown
sheep, and 24 lbs. for younger ones, will prove sufficient,*
plenty of shreds being the principal feature, and also observing
to dress the points pretty freely; care should be taken to
shut them up one or more nights, according to the case, and
afterwards kept in a warmer situation, if possible, for a time,
and given a good supply of food. In bad cases, it is proper
to inspect them weekly, until the disease be entirely
removed, and give opening medicines pretty freely. Should
any die under the operation, the remainder should be washed
immediately ; if the disease do not then stop, they should be
shorn, which is a certain remedy.”

Tobacco has always been the favorite American remedy,
but at the present time would be very expensive. If every
farmer would, in a bed of his garden, raise a sufficient
quantity of tobacco plants for this purpose and for dipping
his lambs, it would cost him but a trifle.

Prof. Simonds, one of the most recent writers on the
subject, recommends a liquid prepared as follows:

“Take two ounces arsenic and two ounces carbonate of
potash, and boil in a quart of water till dissolved, and then
add water enough to make a gallon of the solution. To this
add a gallon of vegetable infusion, made by pouring a gallon
of water over four ounces of fox-glove leaves, (digitalis,) and
allowing the infusion to remain till cold, when it is poured
off. ‘These two gallons of liquid,’ he says, ‘constitute a safe
agent, and one of the most potent remedies for scab. Half a
pint of it (from a bottle with a quill in the cork,) on the skin
at the back and sides of the sheep. Two or three dressings
will be found sufficient to cure the most inveterate cases of
scab in sheep.’ The digitalis leaves can be obtained at any
drug store.” +

compounded of mercury 2 Ibs., lard 28 oz., suet 1 oz. There isa mild mercurial oint-
ment, prepared in London and sold under that name, which is compounded of one
mercurial ointment 1 Ib., lard 2lbs. The proper reduction of the strong mercurial
ointment of the shops is given in No. 2 of the remedies mentioned in text.

* Mr. Smith writes of large English sheep. I should consider 1 oz. of the reduced
ne per head, quite enough for Merino sheep, and half that amount for lambs —
in winter.

+ I think I cut this from the American Stock Journal—but accidentally failed to
mark it with its proper credit at the time.

344 OTHER CUTANEOUS ERUPTIONS.

ErysipeLatous Scas.— This is described by Mr.
Stevenson (quoted by Mr. Youatt) as consisting of an
“inflammation of the skin that raises it into blisters contain-
ing a thin, reddish and watery fluid. These continue for a
short time, break and discharge their matter, and are followed
by a blackish scab.” Mr. Youatt says this disease is rare —
that a little blood should be abstracted —and a purge of
Epsom salts administered. External applications are not
usually necessary, but if there -are much burning and itching,
sweet oil or camphorated oil will afford relief. I have never
seen this disease.

Wu Firs anp Jens Sacer. — Mr. Youatt says:— “The
wild fire, or more extensive vesication and torture, (than
erysipelatous scab) and to a certain degree infectious, has
occasionally existed as an epidemic [epizootic.] The Jgnis
sacer or violent cutaneous inflammation of the skin of
the sheep, is occasionally mentioned in every history of
the epidemics of sheep. As, however, a disease to be
traced to any definite cause, and attacking solitary indi-
viduals of the flock, and thence communicated to others, it is
unknown.” I think these forms of cutaneous eruption are
unknown in the United States.

OrurrR Curanrous Eruptions.—I received numerous
letters from Texas for a few months preceding the close of
mail communication, by the present war, describing a
cutaneous eruption of very general prevalence among the
sheep of that State — and inquiring whether it was scab, and
what was its proper remedy. The disease described by the
different writers — twenty or thirty in all—appeared to be
substantially the same. The sheep was uneasy and rubbed
itself as if it itched more or less violently. Pustules did not
appear on the skin, break and form sores as in scab — but the
cuticle was thickened, rough, and sometimes rather red as if
covered with a rash. I think the sheep did not usually tear
off much of their wool. It seems to have spread rapidly
from flock to flock as if contagious or epizootic.

I recommended dipping the sheep in tobacco-water strong
enough to kill ticks. J had heard from several of these flocks
before the mails were closed: and in every instance the
remedy proved effectual.

Some forms of cutaneous disease, differing essentially from
scab, have appeared occasionally, though very rarely, among

SMALL POX. 345

sheep in New York, and, I think, in all the Northern States.
Sometimes a flock in winter exhibit considerable itching about
their under parts, and scratch them with their feet, pulling
out the wool. This yields to an application of tobacco-water.
I would suggest that sulphur ointment be tested as a remedy
in these minor eruptive diseases. Number 3, among the scab
remedies given above, would also seem to be a promising
remedy for them. But if farmers will raise their own tobacco,
it would probably leave nothing to desire, either on the score
of efficacy or economy., Certain eruptions of the face, lips,
&c., have been mentioned at pages 269, 271.

Smaxtt Pox, orn Variota Ovina.— When Messrs. Youatt
and Spooner wrote their works on the sheep, this fearful
malady had been long known on the Continent, but had never
visited Great Britain. It however appeared in England, in
1847 I think, and committed deésolating ravages. It has not
been introduced into the United States, but as no one knows
how soon it may be—by the same means by which that
malady might be introduced among human subjects — its
history and treatment deserve special attention.

La Clavelee, as it is termed in France, attacks sheep at
all seasons of the year, and in all conditions—but lambs
sooner than grown sheep. Half, and not unfrequently two-
thirds of a flock used to perish by it. The sheep which
recovers does not contract it the second time. It is communi-
cated by contagion, and in every possible indirect way. in
which contagion is communicated among human beings, by
substances which had been in contact with the subjects of
the disease. A flock take it by being turned on a pasture
which was occupied two or three months before by diseased
animals—or by being driven over a road recently traveled
by them. Mr. Youatt thus condenses and translates the
statements of various French writers on the subject:

“In the regular clavelee there were four distinct periods;
first, the symptoms which preceded the eruption, as dullness,
loss of appetite and strength, and debility, marked by a
peculiar staggering gait, the suspension of animation, and
slight symptoms of fever. This continued during about four
days, when commenced the second period, or that of eruption.
Little spots of a violet color appeared in various parts, and
from their center there sprung pustules accompanied by more
or less inflammation, isolated or confluent, and with a white
head; their base was well marked and distinct, they were

15

346, SMALL-POX.

surrounded by a red areola and their center was flattened.
They were larger than an ordinary lentil. In some animals
they were confined to a few spots, in others they spread over
the whole body. They were scattered here and there, or
disposed in the form of beads, or congregated together in a
mass.

“When the disease was not of an acute character, and the
eruption was not considerable, and the febrile symptoms were
mitigated as soon as the pustule was developed, there was
not much to fear. The eruption ran through its several
stages, and no serious disorganization remained; but in too
many cases the whole of the integument became reddened and
inflamed, the flanks heaved, the pulse, whether strong or
obscure, increased in frequency, the mouth was hot, the
conjunctiva red, the breath fetid, the head swelled, the eye-
lids almost closed; rumination had ceased, the muscular
power was exhausted, the pustules died away with little
apparent fluid secretion, a fetid diarrhea ensued, and death
speedily took place.

“The progress of the eruptive stage of the disease was
frequently, however, a very unsatisfactory one. When the
pustule had risen, and the suppuration had commenced, a new
state of febrile excitement ensued, accompanied by more than
usual debility. It lasted from three to four days, and during
its continuance the pustules became whiter at their summit,
and the fluid which they contained was of a serous character,
yellow or red, transparent or viscid, and by degrees it
thickened and became opaque, and then puriform; and at this
period, when danger was to be apprehended, a defluxion from
the nose ensued, and swellings about the head as already
described.

“This was the contagious stage of the disease, and when
it was too easily and fatally transmissible by accidental
contact or by inoculation.

“Then came the last stage, that of desiccation, and about
the twelfth day from the commencement of the disease. The
pustules subsided, or the integument.gave way, and the fluid
which they contained escaped, and a scab was formed of
greater or less size and density, yellow or black, and which
detached itself bodily, or crumbled away in minute particles
or powder. The contagion was now at an end, and the
animal recovered his appetite and spirits and strength. This
stage of desquamation frequently lasted three weeks or a
month.

SMALL-POX. 347

“A secondary eruption occasionally followed, of an erysip-
elatous character. .There were no distinct suppurating
pustules; but there was a more serous or watery secretion
which soon died. j

“This was the regular and the fortunate course of the
disease ; but too frequently there was a fatal irregularity
about it. Almost at the commencement there was excessive
fever, and prostration of strength and fetid breath, and
detachment of large patches of the wool, and more rapid and
bounding or inappreciable pulse, and strange swellings about
the throat and head, and difficult deglutition. There was also
a discharge of adhesive, spumy fluid from the mouth, and of
ichorous or thick, and yellow, or bloody, and fetid discharge
from the nostrils, often completely occupying and_ obstructing
them. The respiration became not only laborious, but every
act of it could be heard at a considerable distance — there
was a distressing cough —the lips, the nostrils, the eyelids,
the head, and every limb became swelled, the pustules ran
together, and formed large masses over the face, and the
articulations: diarrhea, that bade defiance to every medicine
ensued, and the end was not far off.”

The symptoms of the disease, after it appeared in England,
are thus described by Mr. Thomas Wells, of Norwich, in the
Norwich Mercury* :—“ The leading symptoms of small pox
are, a separation of the infected animal from the flock, a
peculiar arching of the back, a drooping of the ears, a closing
of the eyelids, amounting in some cases almost to blindness,
and a pustular eruption, extending more or less over all parts
of the body, but particularly those destitute of wool or
covered with hair only; such for instance, as the cheeks,
the skin inside the arms and thighs, the under surface of
the tail, udder, etc.”

The treatment of the malady, given by Messrs. Youatt
and Spooner, (taken doubtless from Continental works on the
subject,) is to separate out the diseased sheep from the flock,
give them good food, protect them from wet and cold, open
their bowels with Epsom salts during the febrile state, and
afterward administer small doses of the salts with mild
tonics, such as ginger and gentian. “Common salt was a
favorite and very useful medicine, on account of its anti-
septic and tonic properties.”

The disease raged in Flanders, and I give the treatment

* I find it républished in the London Farmer's Magazine.

348 SMALIL- POX.

adopted in that country as more full, in some important
particulars, than the preceding, and as describing, in detail,
some of the minor manipulations and precautions necessary in
treating the malady. In this light, it is a useful addition to
the preceding prescriptions. not adopted fully in this
country — should the unfortunate occasion arise for our
combating this malady —it at least furnishes useful hints.
Professor A. Numann, of the Veterinary College of Utrecht,
in his work on the diseases of animals, writes as follows:

“When the sheep eat freely and appear playful, while
the pox comes out regularly, breaks, and dries up, no medicine
is requisite; but should they lose their appetite, show an
inclination to lie down, the heart beating quick and strong,
and the pox not make its appearance on the third day, then
nature requires assistance to drive the diseases outward; to
this effect the following remedy is necessary:

“Take 2 oz. of juniper berries pulverized; a root of parsely
cut, and split peas reduced to a powder, two handfuls each:
boil all this in 4 lbs. of water; clear it off, mix in it 4 oz.
camphor, which has been previously dissolved in the yolk of
an egg, and 1 oz. of good wine vinegar: this mixture to be
divided in eight parts, one part to be administered night and
morning till the pox is forced out. To obtain this point the
following remedy will also be found efficacious :—Take flour
of brimstone % oz., the juniper berries, to be pulverized, the
camphor mixed with the yolk of an egg, and the whole mixed
with 4 oz. honey: to be divided in eight parts, one part to be

iven at night and morning.

“The stable in which the sheep are kept should be dry
and airy, and not too warm; they ought to have fine, sweet
hay, with barley straw cut very fine, which may be mixed
with wheat bran moistened, bruised barley or flour of rice; a
little salt to be mixed daily with it. When the pox is thrown
out without containing any matter, the first given remedy is to
be applied, and a seton to be set in the chest and each loin,
which is to be effected in the following manner. Shear off
the wool, to the size of a hand’s breadth, from the part where
you wish to place the seton; cut two small holes, the one
above the other, through the hide, at a distance of three
fingers; loosen the communication between one incision and
the other by means of a flat stick; then draw through the
opening a piece of linen half a finger’s breadth, of which that
part that goes under the hide must be besmeared on both
sides with butter; the next day draw the band a little and

SMALL-POX. 349

besmear it afresh; take care that the band be long enough to
enable you to tie it, to prevent its slipping out. On the fifth
or sixth day, when the pock is charged with matter, the linen
or band may be drawn, and the above remedy dispensed with.

“When the blood is not freed from pock matter, it often
produces (when the pox is already cured) a swelling in one or
other part of the body; as soon as. such swelling is come to
maturity, it ought to be opened, and the matter washed away
quickly. If the eyes should be closed with a swelling, they
must be often bathed with water, and when opened the matter
carefully washed away. The following remedies may be
applied in cases of malignant small pox. The pustules seldom
burst without assistance, but the matter they contain spread-
ing continually, they ought to be opened with a sharp-pointed
knife as soon as they are in a state of maturity; and after
squeezing out the matter, to be washed with a solution of salt
and water until a cure is performed.

“ As the small pox is very contagious, it is necessary to
guard against it as much as possible, and when discovered
to separate the sheep affected from the rest of the flock, and
place them in another stable, which ought to be fumigated
with juniper berries twice a day at least; the manure taken
out, and fresh straw put in daily; besides, the stable must
(after the complaint has subsided) be scoured with a solution
of wood ashes, and then fumigated with chlorine, before it is
made use of to receive sound sheep.

“In summer, sheep affected with the small pox may be
driven in fine weather for a few hours, morning and evening,
in the field, but care must be taken they do not go near the
sound ones; the latter must not go into the field where the
former have grazed: in general, all communication, of what-
ever nature it may be, between the sick and sound sheep must
be avoided, and the shepherd who conducts and has care of
the sick sheep should take care not to approach the sound
sheep, lest he should communicate the contagion.”

In 1760, healthy sheep were inoculated with the virus of
the diseased ones, and the effects were found analogous to
those of inoculation for small pox among human subjects. A
disease having the same character was produced, but it was
mild and rarely mortal. In a paper in the London Farmer’s
Magazine, September, 1848, Mr. O. Delafond states that to
sum up the recorded cases of inoculations made in France,
by Huard, Valois, Langlois, Guillaume, Buignot, D’Arboval,
Gragnier, Girard, etc., between 1805 and 1848, the number of

350 SMALL-POX.

subjects which recovered was 28,248, and the number which
died was 285 — or about one per cent. M. Gayot inoculated
10,000 in the departments of La Marne and La Haute Marne
during the prevalence of the disease, when the mortality was
twenty per cent. among those having it in the natural way ;
and he lost only one and one half per cent. of his patients.
Messrs. Miquel and Thomieres inoculated between December,
1820, and January, 1822, 17,044 sheep, comprising eighty-four
flocks, and forty-two of them infected ones. In some of the
flocks ngt previously infected they did not lose a patient. In
one, in which two-thirds of the sheep were already attacked
by the disease, they lost about eight per cent. of the remaining
number, many of which were doubtless in the incubatory
state of the disease when inoculated. Out of 66,716 inocu-
lated in Prussia, 65,042 recovered. Out of 8,000 sheep and
2,000 lambs inoculated in Austria, not one was lost. These
examples might be indefinitely multiplied.

D’Arboval states that 7,697 sheep which had received the
disease by inoculation and recovered, had been re-inoculated,
made to cohabit with sheep laboring under the natural
disease, &c., &c., and that in no instance did they again
contract the malady.

Mr. Youatt declares that variola ovina is not identica:
with small-pox in the human being. He says there is an
evident difference in the pustule— that of small-pox being
“developed in the texture of the skin, and surrounded by a
rose-colored areola, that of the clavellee evidently more deep-
seated — reaching to the sub-cutaneous cellular tissue and
surrounded by an areola of a far deeper color. The virus of
small-pox was usually contained in a simple capsule which
elevated the scarf skin—the virus of the sheep-pox seemed.
to be more diffused through the cutaneous and sub-cutaneous
tissue, and there was abundantly more swelling and inflamma-
tion.” He describes other differences in the appearance of
the matter, scabs, &c.*

Vaccination followed the introduction of inoculation. To
test their respective usefulness, 1,523 sheep were vaccinated
in France, and the disease became fully developed in them.
They were all subsequently inoculated with the virus of sheep-
pox, and 308 took the disease, though in the mitigated form
usual after inoculation. Other smaller experiments had a
corresponding result; and, therefore, says Mr. Youatt —at

* I suppose that Mr. Youatt in expressing these opinions, expresses the opinions
of the learned veterinarians of the Continent.

SMALL-POX. 351

the period of writing his work on the sheep — “vaccine
inoculation is now abandoned on the Continent, although it
gives immunity to four-fifths of those that have been subjected
to it, for inoculation with Ze claveau, or the virus of sheep-
pox, will give immunity to all.”

When this malady made its advent in England, it was by
imported sheep — and the weight of testimony would seem to
show that the disease was not apparent in them at the time,
put was in its incubatorystate. There can be no doubt that
the period of incubation is long enough to allow infected
sheep to be brought from Europe to America, in the swift-
sailing steamers of the present day, before the disease would
produce any appearances which those not practically familiar
with sheep-pox would recognize as characteristic of the
malady;* and the malady might progress much further
without its nature being understood or suspected, in any
region where it had not been previously known, and where
‘ts advent was totally unlooked for. And there is just as
little doubt that it might be brought here at any time by
wool, or pelts of diseased sheep, or any other substances
infected by them, and under some disastrous combination of
circumstances introduced, like fire to a train of powder, among
the flocks of the American Continent. In England the flocks
exposed to its ravages were larger than those of our Eastern
States, and much nearer together than those in any part of
our country —circumstances favorable to its more rapid
propagation there: but there it was encountered with profes-
sional veterinary skill — cheap labor for attendance — and the
determined efforts of a government and people which had
vast interests at stake, and but a comparatively small home
territory to watch over. Here, unless mitigated by climatic
circumstances—-a thing not to be anticipated from any
analogy derivable from our experience with small-pox in human
beings—it would advance more slowly, perhaps, but I
apprehend with more destructive results. Our breeders, and
the very intelligent and public-spirited breeders of Canada,
who are constantly introducing sheep from Europe, are called
upon, then, by every consideration of interest and propriety,

* Prof. J. B, Simonds’ Lecturer on Cattle Medicine, etc., at the Royal Veternary
College, England, and who was eppclnted government inspector of diseased sheep,
‘when the sheep-pox appeared in England, states that it is about ten days from the

_ time of the contact of a sound animal with a diseased one before the first symptoms
appear. This is to be understood, doubtless, as the average period of incubation,
anit % might under various circumstances, or in different sheep, be extended several

ays longer.

352 SMALL-POX.

to exercise a constant and watchful care on this subject — not
only where sheep-pox is raging and is the subject of public
attention in the foreign countries where they purchase sheep,
but at all times, if it is known that the malady has ever visited
those countries. The man who even carelessly brought this
scourge to our shores, would deserve and receive the reproba-
tion of a Continent.

I am not aware that any important discoveries have been
made in the actual treatment of the disease in England; and
owing to my failure to obtain certain expected English
publications on the subject, before the completion of this
volume, I cannot give any particular history of the disease in
that country obtained from authoritative sources. The
general tenor of my information on the subject is, that the
Variola Ovina, in its natural form, is as destructive and
contagious there as on the Continent; that the means relied
on to counteract it are principally preventive ; that the main
modes of preventing it are by inoculation and vaccination.
It seems that there are those who prefer the latter mode. I
saw it stated in an article in the American Agriculturist, that
an association of sheep breeders in Wiltshire, England, on
trial, much preferred vaccination. *

The disease, after a lull of a few years, has recently, it
would seem, re-appeared in England. I cut the followmg

aragraphs on the, subject from ‘“ Moore’s Rural New-
Neovtone?

“From Bell’s Messenger we learn that the medicines
employed in Mr. Parry’s flock, where the disease was first
apparent, are very simple, consisting chiefly of nitrate of
potassa, mingled with the water which is placed in the
troughs, until a subsidence of the fever takes place, after
which sulphate of iron has been substituted. Where diarrhea
has come on — as it not unfrequently does in the latter stage
of the malady, more particularly if the pox becomes conflu-
ent— opium is recommended as a valuable agent to arrest the
attack, which, if not quickly stopped, very soon cagries off the
sheep.

+ Spealcing of inoculation, the Messenger remarks :—

* It was stated in this article that the inoculated sheep ‘‘ died off rapidly, and
thus the proposed prevention only spread the infection.” If this is a correct statement
of the facts, it only shows, I imagine, that the flocks of Wiltshire were inoculated
with improper virus, or that they were affected by exceptional and inauspicious cir-
cumstances. The alleged result is too much opposed to the well settled facts which
attend inoculation, developed under upwards of a century and a half of observa-
fone and to the combined experience of the Continental veterinarians —to be enti-
tled to credit.

SMALL-POX. 353

‘Nearly three weeks have now elapsed since Mr. Parry’s
flock were inoculated ; and it is worthy of remark that out of
446 ewes in which the disease was thus artificially, as it were,
produced, he has lost only four; while of those which took the
disease naturally, the losses have already been siaty per cent.,
and there are numbers of other sheep of whose recovery there
is little hope,—indeed, the total loss of those which have taken
the disease in a natural way, Mr. Parry estimates will not be
much short of 65 per cent. Putting this, therefore, in contrast
with the results after inoculation — which, under the most
favorable circumstances, are not expected to average a mor-
tality of more than five per cent.—the desirableness of
inoculation immediately upon the appearance of the disease
in a flock is placed beyond doubt.’”

CHAPTER XXVIII.
DISEASES OF THE LOCOMOTIVE ORGANS.

FRACTURES —RHEUMATISM — DISEASE OF THE BIFLEX CANAL
—GRAVEL—TRAVEL-SORE—LAMENESS FROM FROZEN MUD
—FOULS—HOOF-ROT.

Fracrurgrs.— The most common fractures which occur in
the brittle bones of the sheep are in the legs below the knees
and hocks; and there is no difficulty in treating such cases.
Any intelligent man is a sufficient surgeon for the occasion.
The bones should be brought to their natural position and
confined there with splints — or thin pieces of wood shaped
to the leg and wound with strips of muslin, which confine a
layer of cotton batting on the side next the leg. The splints
are confined to the leg by winding twine around the whole
when they are arranged in their places. I never had occasion
to ease the limb on account of its swelling — or to administer
purgatives in consequence of any ensuing fever in the sheep ;
though both might be called for. The limb is usually sound
enough to remove the splints in the course of three or four
weeks — though there is no occasion for haste in this particu-
lar. In default of other convenient materials, I have applied
the bare splints over a wrapping of thick paper with cotton
or wool laid evenly under it. Thick leather, shaped to the
leg when wet, will support it without splints. If the fracture
is of the arm or thigh and far above the knee or hock, it is
not generally worth while to attempt any cure. Mr. Youatt
says if the shoulder is fractured it can generally be success-
fully treated by removing the wool and applying a pitch
plaster on the whole of the shoulder bone.

Rurvmatism.— This has been sufficiently mentioned at
page 155.

DisEasE or THE Birtex Canat.— We have owners of
sheep who believe with Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, who flour-
ished almost three centuries and a half ago, that, “There be

GRAVEL — TRAVEL-SORE. 355

some shepe that hath a worme in his foote that maketh hym
halte.” The biflex canal, or “issue” as it is sometimes called,
‘(in the front and upper part of the cleft between the toes,)
gets some substance introduced into it which causes an irrita-
tion and swelling of the surrounding parts; and to cure this,
believers in the “worme” actually, with a pocket knife,
dissect out—or rather mangle out—the skin which surrounds
the biflex canal! Such egregious ignorance and brutality,
however, are now extremely rare. Two or three incisions in
the swollen parts usually relieve them of the inflammation.
The biflex canal-and the other parts of the foot should be
examined, of course, to see that no irritating foreign substances
have become imbedded in them.

GRAVEL.— Gravel or dirt occasionally penetrates the
foot of the sheep between its horny covering and the fleshy
structures underneath. It ultimately produces an inflamma-
tion and swelling at the coronet, which at length breaks and
expels the offending substances. As this process produces
considerable pain and inconvenience to the animal, it is better,
as soon as the lameness is observed, to remove enough of the
horny covering of the foot to allow the escape of the gravel.
It is well enough, then, to cover the parts with tar; but
whether this is done or not, no injury will result from the
removal of the necessary portion of the horn; and it will be
very rapidly reproduced.

Travet-Sorz.— Sheep driven several hundred miles
through mud and sand—say from Western Illinois to the
banks of the Hudson — not only frequently become graveled,
but the heels are sometimes worn so thin, and they and the
skin between them become so tender, that the sheep proceed
on their journey with pain, and fall off a good deal more than
they otherwise would, in condition. The English sheep is
much more subject to this than the Merino, both on account of
its greater weight, and because the horny coverings of its feet
are much thinner. The drover carries a phial of oil of vitriol
in his pocket. The bottom of the heels are touched by a feather
dipped in this, when the drove stops at night — and a little
tar from the inn-keeper’s bucket is smeared on the cauterized
parts, on the backs of the heels, and between the toes. This
gives great relief under any circumstances: and the sheep
rapidly recovers if allowed a little rest. Butyr of antimony,
acting much more as a purely superficial caustic, would be a
better application than oil of vitriol.

356 FOULS — HOOF - ROT.

Lamenrss From Frozen Mup.—I have elsewhere men-
tioned that when sheep are kept in unlittered yards in winter,
and especially when they are allowed to run over plowed
ground, little pellets of mud often adhere to the hairs which
hang down in the clefts of the feet, and a sudden and severe
freeze converts these into pellets of the consistency of stone.
Nay, the kneading operation of the toes on this lump of earth
frequently gives it such consistency that, on becoming dry
merely, it acts as a highly irritating body in the foot. I have
seen half the sheep of a flock made lame enough in this way
to give a strong suspicion of hoof-rot. On looking into the
feet, the skin on each side of the little mud ball is found
chafed and inflamed — sometimes worn through and matter
formed in the wounds. I saw a purchase of a valuable flock
of sheep broken off by this cause. The parties had agreed on
the price, and both were anxious to complete the bargain.
But there were a small number of lame sheep, and the
purchaser demanded a guaranty against hoof-rot, which the
seller refused to give, and consequently lost the sale of his
sheep by his carelessness. The remedy, or rather the pre-
ventive, is too obvious to require mention.

Fouts.— Sheep are much less subject to this disease than
cattle, but contract it if kept in wet, filthy yards, or on moist,
poachy pastures. A wet season and tall grass sometimes
produce it, even on dry uplands. The skin in the cleft of the
foot first has a macerated or water-soaked appearance, which
is followed by a degree of inflammation and lameness. It
disappears when the sheep is removed to a dry yard or
pasture — but more promptly if the parts have a solution of
blue vitriol or turpentine applied to them, or are daubed
with tar.

Hoor-Ror.—I mentioned in “Sheep Husbandry in the
South,” that the description of the early stages of this disease
given in Mr. Youatt’s justly popular work on Sheep, is almost
wholly inapplicable to the malady in the United States, and
among Merino sheep. I never have seen it among English
sheep; and, in this country, they, like all our other coarse-
wooled varieties, are notoriously less subject to it than
Merinos, and far more readily cured when they contract it.
Some of the reasons for this fact may probably be found in
the different structure of their hoofs mentioned at page 168.
As Mr. Youatt’s works are received—and, as a general thing,

HOOF-ROT. 357

justly received — as standard authority among the great mass
of the reading farmers of our country, I feel called upon again
to point out his errors on this subject. I may be allowed to
speak with a degree of confidence in regard to a malady
which has at four different periods attacked my flocks —
embracing as many as five thousand sheep in its different
visitations: and which has been, in every instance, fully and
completely extirpated.

The. following is .Mr. Youatt’s description of its first
symptoms :— “The foot will be found hot and tender, the
horn softer than usual, and there will be enlargement about
the coronet, and a slight separation of the hoof from it, with
portions of the horn worn away, and ulcers formed below and
a discharge of thin, fetid matter. The ulcers, if neglected,
continue to increase; they throw out fungous granulations,
they separate the hoof more and more from the parts beneath
until at length it drops off. All this is the consequence of
soft and marshy pasture.” Mr. Youatt attributes the disease
not only to “infection by means of the virus,” but to particles
of earth or sand having forced their way through breaks in the
hoof, and through “new pores,” occasioned by the over-lapping
portions of the horn breaking off. These particles “reaching
the quick, an inflammation is set up, which, in its progress, alters
or destroys the whole foot.” He also attributes it to another
cause. “The length to which the crust grows,” he remarks,
“changes completely the proper bearing of the foot, for, being
extended forward, it takes the whole weight of the superin-
cumbent parts. By the continual pressure on this lengthened
part inflammation cannot fail to be set up.” In describing
the progress of the disease, he mentions the following circum-
stance :— “ The whole of the inner surface of the pasterns is
sore and raw.” * * * “Jn some cases, as has appeared -
when the diseased state of this [the biflex] canal was exam-
ined, the malady commences here.”

The hoof is not softened but rather hardened by the
presence of hoof-rot, until its structure becomes to some
extent disorganized. In not one case in a hundred is there
any visible enlargement about the coronet in the early stages
of the disease. The horn, so far from first separating from
the coronet, generally adheres there to the last, even when
the whole bottom of the hoof'is gone, and nothing but a
portion of its side shell remains. The hoof never “drops off,”
in the sense in which I here understand Mr. Youatt to mean
=that is, entire; though it sometimes gradually becomes

358 HOOF- ROT.

totally disorganized and thus disappears. The disease never
commences between the quick of the foot and its horny shell,
as it would do if caused by sand or other substances having
penetrated through the hoof to those parts. The improper
bearing of the foot occasioned by the extension of the fore
part of the hoof forward, and of its side walls downward,
frequently produces some degree of lameness; but it is
that lameness of the ligaments, tendons and other tissues
in and connected with the feet, which a man would incur
by wearing a boot elevated three inches higher at the toe
than at the heel, and then additionally tipped to one side
or the other: but it bears not the slightest affinity to hoof-
rot. And when the hoof is thus extended and thickened
and elevated in front, Mr. Youatt is entirely mistaken in
supposing that the “whole weight of the superincumbent
parts” presses on this “lengthened part,” or toe: it unques-
tionably presses mainly on the heel—as would a man’s
weight with his boot elevated in front, as already mentioned.
I never saw a dozen sheep suffering under hoof-rot which had
“the inner surface of their pasterns sore and raw.” And,
finally, genuine hoof-rot never “commences” at the biflex
canal, any more than it does at the knee or nose of the animal.
I could point out additional minor errors in Mr. Youatt’s
descriptions; but it is unnecessary. He must have written
them without much personal observation of the disease, or he
describes a different one—or hoof-rot presents essentially
different early symptoms in Europe from what it does in the
United States. *

The horny covering of the sheep’s foot extends up,
gradually thinning out, some way between the toes, or
divisions of the hoof — and above these horny walls the cleft
is lined with skin. Where the points of the toes are spread
apart, this skin is shown in front covered with soft, short
hair. The heels can be separated only to a little distance,
and the skin that is in the cleft above them is naked. Ina

* Ican not, however, accept either of the latter explanations. Mr. Youatt too
vividly and clearly describes the later characteristic lesions of hoof-rot—and which
appertain to no other disease — to leave any chance for the supposition that he was
describing a different malady: and I have no idea, after examining Continental, and
other British accounts of it, that there is any material difference in its diagnostics as
between any part of Europe and America,— except that among certain breeds of sheep
it is less virulent than among others. Mr. Youatt seems to me evidently to include
among the initial symptoms of hoof-rot, those of gravel, inflammation of the biflex
canal, and other scarcely named abnormal conditions of the foot, which come and go
without any connection with hoof-rot— which never produced it— and which do not
in one instance in a hundred, or five hundred, accompany it. Mr. Youatt, in tracing
the origin and progress of this malady, seems to me to have leaned quite too
heavily on the statements, or rather the speculations of Professor Dick, of Edinburgh—
a writer of ability, but evidently a very unpractical one on the subject of hoof-rot,

HOOF - ROT. 359

healthy foot it is as firm, sound, smooth and dry as the skin
between a man’s fingers, which, indeed, it not a little
resembles, on a mere superficial, inspection. It is equally
destitute of any appearance of redness, or of feverish heat.
The first symptom of hoof-rot, uniformly, in my experi-
ence, is a disappearance of this smooth, dry, colorless
condition of the naked skin at the top of the cleft over the
heels, and of its coolness. It is a little moist, a little red,
and the skin has a slightly chafed or eroded appearance —
sometimes being a very little corrugated, as if the parts had
been subjected to the action-of moisture. And on placing the
fingers over the heels it will be found that the natural coolness
‘of the parts has given place to a degree of heat. The
inflammation thenceforth increases pretty rapidly. The part
first attacked becomes sore. The moisture—the ichorous
discharge — is increased. A raw ulcer of some extent is
soon established. It is extended down to the upper portion
of the inner walls of the hoof, giving them a whitened and
ulcerous appearance. Those thin walls become disorganized,
and the ulceration penetrates between the fleshy sole and the
bottom of the hoof. On applying some force, or on shaving
away the horn, it will be found that the connection between
the horny and fleshy sole is severed, perhaps half way from
the heel to the toe, and half way from the inner to the outer
wall of the hoof. The hoof is thickened with great rapidity
at the heel by an unnatural deposition of horn. The crack or
cavity between it and the fleshy sole very soon exudes a
highly fetid matter, which begins to have a purulent appear-
ance. The extent of the separation increases by the
disorganization of the surrounding structures ; the ulceration
penetrates throughout the entire extent of the sole; it begins
to form sinuses in the body of the fleshy sole; the purulent
discharge becomes more profuse; the horny sole is gradually
disorganized, and finally the outer walls and points of the toes
alone remain. The fleshy sole is now a black, swollen mass
of corruption, of the texture of a sponge saturated with
bloody pus, and every cavity is filled with crawling, squirming
maggots. The horny toe disappearsy the thin, shortened
side walls merely adhere at the -coronet; they yield to the
disorganization; and nothing is left but a shapeless mass of
spongy ulcer and maggots. Attempts to cure the disease, the
state of the weather, and other incidental circumstances, cause
some variations from the above line of symptoms. When the
first attack occurs in hot weather, the progress of the malady
is much more rapid and violent. The fly sometimes deposits

360 HOOF - ROT.

its eggs in the ulcer, and maggots appear almost before —
sometimes actually before—there are any cavities formed,
into which they can penetrate. The early appearance of
maggots greatly accelerates the progress of disorganization
in the structures.

The fore-feet are usually first attacked — sometimes both
of them simultaneously, but more generally only one of them.
The animal at first manifests but little constitutional dis-
turbance. It eats as is its wont. When the disease has
partly run its course in one foot, the other fore-foot is likely
to be attacked, and presently the hind ones. When a foot
becomes considerably disorganized, it is held up by the
animal. When another one reaches the same state, the
miserable sufferer seeks its food on its knees; and if forced to
rise and walk, its strange, hobbling gait betrays the intense
agony it endures on bringing its ulcerated feet in contact
with the ground. There is a bare spot on the under side of
the brisket of the size of the palm of a man’s hand — but
perhaps a little longer—which looks red and inflamed.
There is a degree of general fever— and the appetite is dull.
The animal rapidly loses condition, but retains considerable
strength. No where else do sheep seem to me to exhibit such
tenacity of life. After the disappearance of the bottom of
the hoof, the maggot speedily closes the scene. Where the
rotten foot is brought in contact with the side in lying down,
the filthy, ulcerous matter adheres to and saturates the short
wool of the shorn sheep: and maggots also are either carried
there by the foot, or they are speedily generated by the fly.
A black crust soon forms, and raises a little higher round the
spot. It is the decomposition of the surrounding structures —
wool, skin and muscle—and innumerable maggots are at
work below, burrowing into the living tissues, and eating up
the miserable animal alive. The black, festering mass rapidly
extends, and the cavities of the body will soon be penetrated,
if the poor sufferer is not sooner relieved of its tortures by
death.

The offensive odor of the ulcerated feet, almost from the
beginning of the disease, is so peculiar that it is strictly
pathognomonic. I have always believed that I could by the
sense of smell alone, in the most absolute darkness, decide on
the presence of hoof-rot with unerring certainty. And I had
about as lief trust my fingers as my eyes to establish the same
point, from the hour of the first attack, if no other disease of
the foot is present. But the heat, which invariably marks the
earliest presence of hoof-rot, might arise from any other

HOOF - ROT. 361

cause which produced a local inflammation of the same
arts.

: When the malady has been well kept under during the
first summer of its attack, but not entirely eradicated, it will
almost or entirely disappear as cold weather approaches, and
not manifest itself again until the warm weather of the succeed-
ing summer. It then assumes a mitigated form; the sheep are
not rapidly and simultaneously attacked; there seems to be less
inflammatory action in the diseased parts, and less constitu-
tional disturbance; and the course of the disease is less malig-
nant, more tardy, and it more readily yields to treatment.
If well kept under the second summer, it 1s still milder the third.
A sheep will occasionally be seen to limp, but its condition
will scarcely be affected, and dangerous symptoms will rarely
supervene. One or two applications of remedies made during
the summer, will now suflice to keep the disease under, and
a little vigor in the treatment will entirely extinguish it.

With all its fearful array of symptoms, can the hoof-rot be
cured in its first attack on a flock? The worst case can be
promptly cured, as I know by repeated experiments. Take a
single sheep, put it by itself, and administer the remedies
daily, after the English fashion, or as I shall presently prescribe,
and there is not an ovine disease which more surely yields to
treatment. But, as already remarked, in this country where
sheep are so cheap and labor in the summer months so dear,
it would be out of the question for an extensive flock-master
to attempt to keep each sheep by itself, or to make a daily
application of remedies. There is not a flock-master within
my knowledge who has ever pretended to apply his remedies
oftener than once a week, or regularly as often as that;
and not one in ten makes any separation between the
diseased and healthy sheep of a flock into which the malady
has been once introduced. The consequence necessarily is
that though a cure is effected of the sheep then diseased, it
has infected or inoculated others— and these in turn scatter
the contagion, before they are cured. There is not a particle
of doubt —nay, I know, by repeated observation, that a sheep
once entirely cured may again contract the disease, and thus
the malady performs a perpetual circuit in the flock. Fortu-
nately, however, the susceptibility to contract the disease
diminishes, according to my observation, with every succeeding
attack; and fortunately also, as already stated, succeeding
attacks, other things being equal, become less and less
virulent.

16

362 HOOF-ROT.

What course, then, shall be pursued? Shall the flock-
master sacrifice his sheep—shall he take the ordinary half-
way course — or shall he expend more on the sheep than they
are worth in attempting to cure them? Neither. The course
I would advise him to pursue, will appear as I detail the
experiments I have made. ‘

Treatment.— The preparation of the foot is a subject of
no dispute, but the labor can be prodigiously economized by
attention to a few not very commonly observed particulars.
Sheep should be yarded for the operation immediately after
a rain, if practicable, as then the hoofs can be readily cut.
In a dry time, and after a night which has left no dew on the
grass, their hoofs are almost as tough as horn. They must
be driven through no mud, or soft dung, on their way to the
yard, which doubles the labor of cleaning their feet. The
yard must be small, so they can be easily caught, and it must
be kept well littered down, so they shall not fill their feet
with their own manure. If the straw is wetted, their hoofs
will not of course dry and harden as rapidly as in dry straw.
Could the yard be built over a shallow, gravelly-bottomed
brook,* it would be an admirable arrangement. The hoofs
would be kept so soft that the greatest and most unpleasant
part of the labor, as ordinarily performed, would in a great
measure be saved; and they would be kept free from that
dung which, by any other arrangement, will more or less get
into their feet.

The principal operator or foreman seats himself in a chair—
a couple of good sharp knives, (one at least a thin and narrow
one,) a whetstone, the powerful toe-nippers (figured on page
169,) a bucket of water with a couple of linen rags in it, and
such medicines as he chooses to employ, within his reach.
The assistant catches a sheep and lays it partly on its back
and rump, between the legs of the foreman, the head coming
up about to his middle. The assistant then kneels on some
straw, or seats himself on a low stool at the hinder extremity
of the sheep. If the hoofs are long, and especially if they
are dry and tough, the assistant presents each foot to the
foreman, who shortens the hoof with the toe-nippers. If
there is any filth between the toes, each man, after first using
a stick, takes his rag from the bucket of water, draws it
between the toes and rinses it, until the filth is removed.
Each then seizes his knife, and the process of paring away

* A place might be prepared in any little brook b eling or by 1a; a floor
of hoards on the bottom. > : i a ae

HOOF-ROT. 363

the horn commences. And on the effectual performance of
this, all else depends.

If the disease is in the first stage —i. ¢., if there is merely
an erosion and ulceration of the cuticle and flesh in the cleft
above the walls of the hoof, no paring is necessary. But
if ulceration has established itself between the hoof and the
fleshy sole, the ulcerated parts, be they more or less extensive,
must be entirely denuded of their horny covering, cost what it
may of time and care. It is better not to wound the sole so
as to cause it to bleed freely, as the running blood will wash
off the subsequent applications; but no fear of wounding the
sole must prevent a full compliance with the rule above laid.
down. At worst, the blood can soon be staunched, however
freely it flows, by a few touches of a caustic —say butyr of
antimony.

If the foot is in the third stage—a mass of rottenness and
filled with maggots — the maggots should first be killed by
spirits of turpentine, or a solution of corrosive sublimate (see
page 190) or other equally efficient application. It can be
most conveniently used from a bottle having a quill through
the cork. By continuing to remove the dead maggots with
a stick, and to expose and kill the deeper lodged ones, all can
be extirpated. Every particle of loose horn should then be
removed, though it take the entire hoof, — and it frequently
does take the entire hoof at an advanced stage of the disease.
The foot should be cleansed if necessary with a solution of
chloride of lime, in the proportion of a pound of the chloride
toa gallon of water.* If this is not at hand, plunging the
foot repeatedly in water, just short of scalding hot, will
answer the purpose. And now comes the important question,
what constitutes the best remedy?

The recipes for its cure are innumerable. One much used
in New England at an early day, under the recommendation
of “Consul Jarvis,” + was compounded as follows:

1. Roman or blue vitriol, pulverized very fine, three parts,
with one part of white lead, mixed into a thin paste with
linseed oil.

2. Another recipe, also much used in New England, is

* Mr, Youatt recommends this, and says it “will remove the fetor and tendency
to sloughing and mortification which are the too frequent attendants on foot-rot.” I
never yet saw mortification (gangrene) of the foot result from this disease. Mr.
Youatt's directions as to treatment are far more satisfactory than are his statements of
the causes and symptoms of this malady.

ih te The Hon, William Jarvis is universally known under this appellation in New
gland.

864 HOOF - ROT.

as follows :—4 ounces blue vitriol, 2 oz. verdigris to a junk
bottle of urine.

3. Spirits of turpentine, tar and verdigris, in equal parts.

4, The following recipe used to be hawked about the
country at the price of $5, the purchaser having promised
inviolable secrecy :—8 quarts alcohol, 1 pint spirits of turpen-
tine, 1 pint of strong vinegar, 1 lb. of blue vitriol, 1 lb. of
copperas, 14 lbs. verdigris, 1 Ib. alum, 1 Ib. of saltpetre,
pounded fine; mix in a close bottle, shake every day, and let
it stand six or eight days before using: also mix 2 Ibs. of
honey and 2 quarts tar and apply it after the previous
compound. ‘Two applications to entirely remove disease.”

5. A saturated solution of blue vitriol applied through a
quill in a cork—and finely pulverized vitriol dusted over
the parts when wet. This was the favorite remedy of the
farmers in the region where I reside, twenty-five years ago.

6. The most common and popular remedy now used in
Central New York is:—1 |b. blue vitriol; 4 lb. (with some
+ lb.) verdigris; 1 pint of linseed oil; 1 quart of tar. The
vitriol and verdigris are pulverized very fine, and many per-
sons before adding the tar, grind the mixture through a
paint mill. Some use a decoction of tobacco boiled until
thick, in the place of oil.

7. The remedy recommended by Mr. James Hogg, of
Scotland, is turpentine 2 ounces, sulphuric acid 2 drachms —
to be well mixed before it is used and applied freely to the
diseased part.

8. Mr. Spconer thinks 1 oz. of olive oil and double the
quantity of sulphuric acid, an improvement on the above.
He says “the acid must be mixed carefully with turpentine,
as considerable inflammation immediately takes place.” He
remarks that he has used all the powerful acids with success,
and that he imagines it of but little consequence which
caustic is employed, provided it be of sufficient strength.

9. Mr. Youatt recommends washing the foot in a strong
solution of chloride of lime, and then resorting to “ muriate
or butyr of antimony.” The foot to be dressed every day,
and each new separation of horn removed, and every portion
of fungus submitted to the action of the caustic, and a little
clean tow to be wrapped round the foot and bound tightly
down with tape, if the foot is principally stripped of its horn.

10. The following is the English “ Halt Receipi” It is
given in the prize essay of Mr. Robert Smith, already on
numerous occasions cited; and Mr. Smith says he has found

HOOF - ROT. 365

this remedy “invaluable both in staying its progress, and
curing the disease :”—1 oz. corrosive sublimate; 1 oz. blue
vitriol; 1 oz. spirits of salts; 1 oz. verdigris; 1 oz. horse
turpentine; 1 oz. oil of vitriol; 2 oz. spirits of turpentine -
and 4 ozs. sheep ointment. (The last I presume means
mercurial ointment.) “To be well mized when prepared,
and kept tied down {in a bottle] when not in use.”

Mr. Smith also says:—‘*When the foot has become much
diseased from neglect, it should be placed in an oil-cake
poultice for twelve hours; then washed clean with warm
water, and the poultice renewed again in twelve hours more;
then to be again washed, arid the diseased parts probed to
the bottom and dressed; then to be tied up in common tar
for twenty-four hours, and renewed when necessary, again
applying the ointment. Opening medicine will materially
assist in the cure of obstinate cases.”

Any of these remedies, and fifty more that might be com-
pounded, simply by combining caustics, stimulants, etc., in
different forms and proportions, will prove sufficient for the
extirpation of hoof-rot, with proper preparatory and subse-
quent treatment. On these last, beyond all question, principally
depends the comparative success of the applications.

First. No external remedy can succeed in this malady
unless it comes in contact with all the diseased parts of the
foot—for if such part, however small, is unreached, the
unhealthy and ulcerous action is perpetuated in it, and it grad-
ually spreads over and again involves the surrounding tissues.
Therefore every portion of the diseased flesh must be
denuded of horn, filth, dead tissue, pus, and every other
substance which can prevent the application from actually
touching it, and producing its characteristic effects on it.

Second. The application must be kept in contact with the
diseased surfaces long enough to exert its proper remedial
influence. If removed, by any means, before this is accom-
plished, it must necessarily proportionably fail in its effects.

The preparation of the foot, then, requires no mean skill.
The tools must be sharp, the movements of the operator
careful and deliberate. As he shaves down near the quick, he
must cut thinner and thinner, and with more and more care,
or else he will either fail to remove the horn exactly far enough,
or he will cut into the fleshy sole and cause a rapid flow
of blood. I have already remarked that the blood can be
staunched by caustics — but they coagulate it on the surface
in a mass which requires removal before the application of

366 HOOF - ROT.

remedies, and in the process of its removal the blood is very
frequently set flowing again, and this sometimes several
times follows the application of the caustic.* Cutting down
to the crack between the horny and fleshy sole, is not enough.
The operator must ascertain whether there is any ulceration
between the outside horny walls and the fleshy part of the foot
—or at the toe — or whether there is even a rudiment of an
unreached sinus or cavity in any part of the foot where the
ulceration has penetrated or is beginning to penetrate. The
practiced eye decides these questions rapidly from the
characteristic appearances, without the removal of unneces-
sary horn: but the new beginner must feel his way along
cautiously, removing more horn where there is doubt,
but so removing it that he will not unnecessarily cause an
effusion of blood, or uncover the healthy quick, or dis-
arrange the proper bearing of the foot. If the foot is in
the third state, the removal of the maggots, the cleaning of
the ulcers, the proper excision of the dead tissues, etc.,
require much time —sometimes more than half an hour to
each foot. The most experienced operator cannot perform
such processes in a hurry—the inexperienced one must
perform them slowly, or all the time saved will be lost, twenty
times over, in having to repeat them for an indefinite number
of times.

English and Continental modes of treatment—the constant
separation of the infected—daily dressings—poultices changed
every twelve hours, with intermediate washings, probings,
etc., as recommended by Mr. Smith—bandages—cloth boots
—cloth boots with leather soles,t &c., &c., would cost more
than the sheep would be worth after they were cured, in
this country of high and scarce labor; and, in point of fact,
in most regions, in the busy period of haying and harvesting
when hoof-rot is at its height, the necessary labor could not
be commanded at any cost. And yet if that labor could be
obtained, the cost of it would not much exceed, in the long
run, the aggregate cost of the labor actually devoted
to the same end. The foreign practitioner promptly cures
the malady. The American farmer, who has from one to two
hundred infected sheep, during the first year when the disease
is violent, drives them into a stable—a small one so they ean
be caught easily—once in ten days or afortnight. An unoccu-

.* I remember to have seen these recommended by some Continental Veteri-
narian whose name I can not now recall.

The toe vein bleeds very freely, and it often requires some time and trouble
to staunch it.

HOOF - ROT. 867

died afternoon— generally arainy one, when nothing else
can be done—is selected. Possibly a little straw is put on the
floor of the stable at first—but in half an hour every foot is
full of soft dung. The farmer, his hired man, and perhaps a
boy or two, sit down to the task. Each is armed with a
thick, broad-bladed, dull “jack-knife.” The whole party
then proceed literally to “cut and sear!” Some of the feet
are cut down deeply into the quick, so that blood gushes
from them in streams—others, which have too tough hoofs,
have them left half an inch thick at the sole—covering up,
very likely, rapidly developing ulcers. Blood and dung and
“ medicine” are left applied in about equal proportions to each
foot. To crown the whole proceeding, the sheep are turned
out as fast as “‘ doctored” into the rain, or into wet grass, so
that in ten minutes’ time not a trace of the remedy applied
remains on the foot. In such flocks the disease is barely
kept at bay: it is never cured. The second and third year
the “doctorings” become less and less ftequent—but they
must be resorted to occasionally, perpetually, or some of the
sheep will get down on their knees. The farmer always finds
bitter fault with the “medicine.” He gets a new kind—with
more ingredients*—and tries again. But he never finds the
right one! ~
The above picture is, doubtless, an extreme one—but do
we not all constantly witness more or less near practical
approximations to it? The separation of the sheep, poultic-
ing, inclosing of the foot, &c., I believe to be unnecessary—
but the feet must be well prepared, and the sheep must be kept
out of the rain, or grass wetted by rain or dew, for twenty-
four or thirty-six hours afterward— the longer the better.
Without this the most careful preparation. of the foot and
. the best remedies cannot be made effectual. It is true that
out-door moisture will not prevent the escharotic effects of
powerful caustics, which do that portion of their work almost
at oncet—but these are not beneficially applied in ordinary
cases; and when properly applied I am not prepared to say
what would be the effects of the immediate and long continued

* In this particular Mr. Robert Smith’s English “ halt receipt,” is a pattern! If
such a jumble of ingredients, fortunately, do not chance to counteract each other, no
well informed man ought for a moment to suppose there can be any utility in com-
pounding so many articles together. This remedy I doubt not is a good one, asa
whole,— but it does, in my opinion, contain some substances which neutralize each
other’s medicinal properties!

t I should consider that moisture highly beneficial in diluting those powerfal and
deeply corroding caustics which are sometimes profusely applied to the bottom and
sides of the toes and in the cleft between them —such as aqua-fortis and oil of vitriol.

368 HOOF - ROT.

exposure of the unhealthy and cauterized surfaces to water.
I venture to say that effect would not be auspicious. In
the case of milder applications, which do not immediately cau-
terize—and from which different and less instantaneous effects
are expected, as, for instance, from blue vitriol—the immediate
and continued contact of water washes them off almost before
they begin to exert their remedial effects. It is to prevent
this that oil and tar are made portions of some of the
preceding prescriptions. They will do some good in this
way after they dry on the surface of the flesh; but they are
wholly inadequate to the end, if the sheep is turned on wet
grass immediately after their application. The best place to
put sheep after applying the remedies to their feet, is on the
naked floors of stables — scattering them over as much surface
as practicable, so that there shall be as little accumulation of
manure as possible under foot. Straw, especially if fresh
littered down, absorbs or rubs off the moist substances
which have been applied to their feet. The dottoms of the
feet are soon thus cleaned off. A boy should go round
with a shovel, until night, taking up the dung as fast as
dropped. The sheep should be kept in the stables over the
first night, and not let out the next day until the dew is off
the grass: then they should be turned on the most closely
cropped grass on the farm. It well pays for the trouble to
put them in the stables the second night before the dew falls,
and to keep them, as before, until it is dried off the next day.

I have never found that for moderate cases of hoof-rot —
the worst ones which are allowed to occur in well managed
flocs —that there is, in reality, any possible beneficial
addition to mere blue vitriol, as a remedy, if it is applied in
the most effective way. Twice I have cured a diseased flock
by one application of it—and I never heard of it being done
in any other way, or, indeed, on any other occasions. The
following paragraph is from my “Sheep Husbandry in the
South,” published in 1848:

“J had a flock of sheep a few years since that were in the
second season of the disease. They had been but little
looked to during the summer, and as cold weather was setting
in many of them were considerably lame—some of them
quite so. The snow fell and they were brought into the
yards, limping, and hobbling about deplorably. This sight,
so digraceful to me as a farmer, roused me into activity.
I bought a quantity of blue vitriol— made the necessary
arrangements —and once more took the chair as principal

HOOF - ROT. 369

operator. Never were the feet of a flock more thoroughly
pared. Into a large washing tub, in which two sheep could
stand conveniently, I poured a saturated solution of blue
vitriol and water, as hot as could be endured by the hand
even for a moment. The liquid was about four inches deep
on the bottom of the tub, and was kept at about that depth
by frequent additions of the hoé solution. Assoon as a sheep’s
feet were pared, it was placed in the tub and held there by the
neck, by an assistant. A second one was prepared and placed
beside it. When the third one was ready, the first was taken
out, and so on. Two sheep were thus constantly in the tub,
and each remained in it about ten* minutes. The cure was
perfect. There was not a lame sheep in the flock during the
winter or the next summer. The hot liquid penetrated to
every cavity of the foot, and doubtless had: a far more decisive
effect even on the uncovered ulcers, than would have been
produced by merely wetting them. Perhaps the lateness of
the season was also favorable, as in cold weather the ulcers of
ordinary virulence discharge no matter to innoculate the
healthy feet; and thus at the time of applying the remedy
there are no cases where there has been innoculation not yet
followed by the actual disease. I think that the vitriol
required for the above one hundred sheep was about twelve
pounds, and that it cost me fifteen cents per pound. The
account then would stand thus:—12 lbs. of vitriol at 15 cents,
$1.80; labor of 3 men one day each, $2.25; total $4.05—or
about four cents per sheep.”

Many years after the above took place, I treated a flock of
diseased lambs in the same way,— except that they were put
into a larger tub which would. hold five of them, so that each
stood in the hot fluid from twenty to twenty-five minutes:
and again the cure was perfect. They too were handled just
as winter was ‘setting in; were wintered alone; and were
turned early in the spring.into a flock of about one hundred
and fifty which had never had hoof- rot.

I believe the same remedy administered in the same way
would be the cheapestt and most effectual one known for
large flocks; and if I had to go through another war with
the hoof-rot, I would construct a vat which would hold eight
or ten sheep — perhaps with a grate over the fluid to prevent
accidents{ —and I would contrive some mode to keep the

* This, by a misprint, was published five, in Sheep Husbandry in the South.
+ Blue vitriol costs more than formerly — but it is still a very cheap remedy when

bought by the quantity. < :
If ten sheep were put ina Had together, the attendant might have some difficulty
16

370 HOOF - ROT.

water hot, after it was poured into the vat. And if the
disease was in its new and malignant stage, I might keep
every sheep half an hour or upwards in the hot liquor. I do
not aver that one application would cure all cases in that
stage, but I judge from my experience that it would be more
likely to do it than any other application I ever heard of.

When the disease is in what I have termed the third
stage — when a decomposition of the tissues has taken place
sale powerful escharotic is requisite to remove the dead
structures and their ulcerous accompaniments — there is, as
Mr. Youatt observes, no application comparable with chloride
or buytr of antimony. I have used nitric, sulphuric and
muriatic acid; and instead of finding, with Mr. Spooner, that
it “is of little consequence which caustic is employed, pro-
vided it is of sufficient strength,”* I have found all the
latter to possess too much “ strength” — or, at least, to be too
deeply corrosive when applied to flesh; while the butyr of
antimony combines so readily with the fluids in the parts, that
it very soon loses its caustic effects. It therefore, to a very
considerable degree, possesses the admirable property of
nitrate of silver (too expensive a material to be used in hoof-
rot) of acting purely as a superficial caustic, so that an eschar
is formed protecting the parts beneath, and promoting a new
and healthy action. I much prefer muriatic acid to either
nitric or sulphuric acid, when butyr of antimony is not to be
obtained.

I have no space to discuss the questions whether hoof-rot
is contagious—and whether it also originates without
contagion. On the first point I will only say that I should
esteem that man out of his senses who, after having very
extended opportunities for observing its origin and for tracing
its history in any particular region, should doubt its direct,
decided and (after sufficient exposure of healthy animals to its
virus,+) uniform contagiousness. Whether it is generated by

occasionally, in keeping them all on their feet. Lying down or falling down in the
water would produce no catastrophe: it would not harm the sheep a particle — but it
would dye it a light d/we, and the liquor would be unnecessarily wasted.

* Spooner on Sheep, . 441,

+ Lam inclined to believe that it is not communicated by effluvium—by infection—
or even necessarily by contact between diseased and undiseased animals. I think it
is chiefly, if not entirely communicated by a species of inoculation, if I may so term
it—by the virus of a diseased foot being brought in contact with the inner portion of
an undiseased foot. If this is a correct hypothesis, it would seem to follow that the
malady would not be very likely to be communicated in all its stages; and that the
rapidity of its transmission at all periods would depend somewhat upon chance,
Sheep take it far most rapidly by being turned into pastures where diseased sheep
have been some time running, and where « thousand blades of grass and other sub-

stances liable to come in contact with the inner portion of the foot, are charged with
a quantity of the virus.

HOOF-ROT. 871

dirt, moisture, etc., without.contagion, may perhaps be more
doubtful. Some intelligent farmers take the affirmative of
this question. In a letter I have just received from Mr.
W. FI. Greer, of Painesville, Ohio, he says:—“When in
Lorain county (Ohio) in April last, I was told by many of
the sheep men there that hoof-rot appears wherever sheep
are kept in tall, rank feed—in the form of fouls at first.
They were all of the opinion that it does appear sponta-
neously, and cited numerous instances to prove their theory.”

Different countries and climates may probably be subject
to the appearance of the disease under different circumstances.
It is the prevailing view among English veterinary writers
that hoof-rot frequently originates without contagion in Great
Britain, though this opinion is not without its able dissentients.
Ihave repeatedly known it to commence in that portion of
the United States where I reside, without the owner of the
sheep being able to trace it to any contagion. I have at
page 165 mentioned two cases where my own sheep contracted
it from flocks brought into contact with them accidentally,
and for but a short period; and any one who reads the facts |
in those cases will readily see that the removal of the diseased.
sheep which communicated the malady, might readily have
taken place without my ever being informed of the circum-
stances; and then I might have imagined that it was eaused
by “tall feed.’ But I never yet have heard of a case of
fouls becoming hoof-rot, or of the latter disease occurring
“spontaneously” in any new region where hoofrot had
never been previously introduced by diseased sheep, or where
it was not at the time prevailing in a greater or less degree
in some flock in the vicinity, or within a few miles. And we
all know that there are very many regions where it has
never been heard of among the sheep, though the grass is
as tall, and all the other supposed exciting causes, except
contagion, are fully equal.

CHAPTER XXIX.
OTHER DISEASES, WOUNDS, ETO.

THE ROT—SCROFULA — HEREDITARY DISEASES — CUTS —
LACERATED AND CONTUSED WOUNDS—-PUNCTURED WOUNDS
— DOG BITES— POISONED WOUNDS — SPRAINS— BRUISES —
ABSCESS.

Tar Ror.— As already remarked, I have never witnessed
an instance of the rot in the United States; although I have
repeatedly seen sheep laboring under diseases called by that
name. My opinion is that it has never appeared, at least, in
our Northern States. Persons of much intelligence, residing
in some of the Western and South-western States believe
they have recognized it; but I do not remember to have seen
any of their expressions to that effect properly supported by
the published results of post-mortem examinations.

The symptoms of the disease are thus given by Mr.
Spooner: — “ The first symptoms attending this disease are
by no means strongly marked; there is no loss of condition, but
rather apparently the contrary; indeed, sheep intended for the
butcher have been purposely cothed or rotted in order to
increase their fattening properties for a few weeks, a practice
which was adopted by the celebrated Bakewell. A want of
liveliness and paleness of the membranes generally may be
considered as the first symptoms of the disease, to which may
be added a yellowness of the caruncle at the corner of the
eye. Dr. Harrison observes, ‘when in warm, sultry or rainy
weather, sheep that are grazing on low and moist lands feed
rapidly, and some of them die suddenly, there is fear that they
have contracted the rot.’ This suspicion will be further
increased if, a few weeks afterward, the sheep begin to shrink
and become flaccid about the loins. By pressure about the
hips at this time a crackling is perceptible now or soon after-
ward, the countenance looks pale, and upon parting the fleece
the skin is found to have changed its vermillion tint for a pale

THE ROT. 373

red, and the wool is easily separated from the pelt; and as
the disorder advances the skin becomes dappled with yellow
or black spots. To these symptoms succebd increased dull-
ness, loss of. condition, greater paleness of the mucous
membranes, the eyelids becoming almost white and afterward
yellow. This yellowness extends to other parts of the body,
and a watery fluid appears under the skin, which becomes
loose and flabby, the wool coming off readily. The symptoms
of dropsy often extend over the body, and sometimes the
sheep becomes chockered, as it is termed —a large swelling
forms under the jaw, which, from the appearances of the
fluid it contains, is in some places called the watery poke.
The duration of the disease is uncertain; the animal occasion-
ally dies shortly after becoming affected, but more frequently
it extends to from three to six months, the sheep gradually
losing flesh and pining away, particularly if, as is frequently
the case, an obstinate purging supervenes.”

Mr. Youatt thus describes the post-mortem appearances :
‘When a rotted sheep is examined after death, the whole
cellular tissue is found to be infiltrated, and a yellow serous
fluid everywhere follows the knife. The muscles are soft and
flabby: they have the appearance of being macerated. The
kidneys are pale, flaccid. and infiltrated. The mesenteric
glands enlarged, and engorged with yellow serous fluid. The
belly is frequently filled with water or purulent matter; the
peritoneum is everywhere thickened, and the’ bowels adhere
together by means of an unnatural growth. The heart is
enlarged and softened, and the lungs are filled with tubercles.
The principal alterations of structure are in the liver. It is
pale, livid, and broken down with the slightest pressure ; and
on being boiled it will almost dissolve away. When the liver
is not pale, it is often curiously spotted. In some cases it is
speckled like the back of a toad. Nevertheless, some parts of
it are hard and schirrous; others are ulcerated, and the
biliary ducts are filled with flukes. Here is the decided seat
of disease, and it is here that the nature of the malady is to be
learned. Itis inflammation of the liver. * * * The liver
attracts the principal attention of the examiner ; it displays
the evident effects of acute and destructive inflammation; and
still more plainly the ravages of the parasite with which its
ducts are crowded. Here is plainly the original seat of the
disease—the center whence a destructive influence spreads on
every side. * * * The Fluke—the Fasciola of Linneus
—the Distoma hepaticum of Rhodolphi—the Planaria ot

374 THE ROT.

Goese—is found in the biliary ducts of the sheep, the goat, the
deer, the ox, the horse, the ass, the hog, the dog, the rabbit, the
guinea-pig, and various other animals, and even in the human
being. It is from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a
quarter in length, and from one-third to half an inch in
greatest breadth. :

“Figs. 1 and 8 represent this parasite of its usual size and
appearance, and its resemblance to a minute sole, divested of
its fins, is very striking. The head is of a pointed form, round
above and flat beneath ; and the mouth opens laterally instead

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3.

of vertically. There are no barbs or tentaculx, as described
by some authors. The eyes are placed on the most prominent
part of the head, and are very singularly constructed (fig. 2).
They have the bony ring of the bird. * * * The anasta-
moses of the blood vessels which ramify over the head are
plainly seen through a tolerable microscope. ‘The circulating
and digestive organs are also evident, and are seated almost
immediately below the head. The situation of the: heart is
seen in fig. 1, and the two main vessels evidently springing
from it, and extending through almost the whole length of
the fluke. Smaller blood-vessels, if so they may be called,
ramify from them on either side. - s

“Tn the belly, if so it may be called, are almost invariably
a very great number of oval particles, hundreds of which,
taken together, are not equal in bulk to a grain of sand.
They are of a pale red color, and are supposed to be the
spawn or eggs of the parasite. % * *

“There can be no doubt that the eggs are frequently
received in the food. Having been discharged with the dung,
they remain on the grass or damp spot on which they may
fall, retaining their vital principle for an indefinite period of
time. * * * They find not always, or they find not at all,
a proper nidus in the places in which they are deposited ; but
taken up with the food, escaping the perils of rumination, and
threading every vessel and duct until they arrive at the biliary
canal, they burst from their shells, and grow, and probably
multiply. i. = i =

‘“‘Leeuwenhoeck says that he has taken 870 flukes out of one

THE ROT. 875

liver, exclusive of those that were cut to pieces or destroyed
in opening the various ducts. In other cases, and where the
sheep have died of the rot, there were not found more than
ten or twelve. * * * Then, is the fluke worm the cause
or the effect of rot? To a certain degree both. They
aggravate the disease; they perpetuate a state of irritability
and disorganization which must necessarily undermine the
strength of any animal. * * * Notwithstanding all this,
however, if the fluke follow the analogy of other entoza and
parasites, it is the effect and not the cause of rot. * * *

“The rot in sheep is evidently connected with the soil or
state of the pasture. It is confined to wet seasons, or to the
feeding on ground moist and marshy at all seasons. It has
reference to the evaporation of water, and to the presence
and decomposition of moist vegetable matter. It is rarely or
almost never seen on dry or sandy soils and in dry seasons ;
it is rarely wanting on boggy or poachy ground, except when
that ground is dried by the heat of the summer’s sun, or
completely covered by the winter’s rain. On the same farm
there are certain fields on which no sheep can be turned with
-mpunity. There are others that seldom or never give the
rot. The soil of the second is found to be of a pervious nature,
on which wet cannot long remain — the first takes a long
time to dry, or is rarely or never so. * * s

“Some seasons are far more favorable to the development
of the rot than others, and there is no manner of doubt as to
the character of those seasons. After a rainy summer or a
moist autumn, or during a wet winter, the rot destroys like a
pestilence. A return and a continuance of dry weather mate-
rially arrests its murderous progress. Most of the sheep that
had been already infected die; but the number of those that
are lost soon begins to be materially diminished. It is, there-
fore sufficiently plain that the rot depends upon, or is caused
by, the existence of moisture. A rainy season and a tenacious
soil are fruitful or inevitable sources of it. * * * The
mischief is effected with almost incredible rapidity.”

Mr. Youatt here gives various instances to prove that rot
is engendered in a few hours and even minutes.* He further
says :—‘It is an old observation that on all pasture that is sus-
pected to be unsound, the sheep should be folded early in the
evening, before the first dews begin to fall, and should not be
released from the fold until the dew is partly evaporated.

* * * Then the mode of prevention—that with which:

* Youatt, p. 453.

876 THE ROT.

the farmer will have most to do, for the sheep having become
once decidedly rotten, neither medicine nor management will
have much power in arresting the evil—consists in altering
the character of as much of the dangerous ground as he can,
and keeping his sheep from those pastures which defy all his
attempts to improve them. * * * If all unnecessary
moisture is removed from the soil, or if the access of air is
cut off by the flooding of the pasture, no poisonous gas has
existence, and the sheep continue sound. * * * The
account of the treatment of rot must, to a considerable extent,
be very unsatisfactory.”

Mr. Youatt recommends the sale of sheep to the butcher
after they are found to be rotted! To give what may be
styled the butcher’s autopsy, I copy his remarks :—‘‘It is
one of the characters of the rot to hasten, and that to a
strange degree, the accumulation of flesh and fat. Let not
the farmer, however, push this experiment too far. Let him
carefully overlook every sheep daily, and dispose of those
which cease to make progress, or which seem beginning to
retrograde. It has already been stated that the meat of the
rotted sheep, in the early stage of the disease, is not like that
of the sound one; it is pale and not so firm; but it is not
unwholesome, and it is coveted by certain epicures, who,
perhaps, are not altogether aware of the real state of the
animal. All this is a matter of calculation, and must be left
to the owner of the sheep; except that, if the breed is not of
very considerable value, and the disease has not proceeded to
emaciation or other fearful symptoms, the first loss will
probably be the least; and if the owners can get any thing
like a tolerable price for them, the sooner they are sent to
the butchers, or consumed at home, the better. Supposing,
however, that their appearance is beginning to tell tales
about them, and they are too far gone to be disposed of in
the market or consumed at home, are they to be abandoned
to their fate? No: far from it.”

The above is a paragraph which I could most sincerely
wish stricken from the writings of its accomplished author.
It will astonish even those who are acquainted with the astute
and calculating selfishness of Mr. Bakewell’s character to learn
that he purposely rotted sheep which were to be sold to the
butcher, to avail himself of the superior fattening properties
which the diseased animals temporarily possess! ‘This remark-
able fact is stated by both Mr. Youatt and Mr. Spooner.*

* The sale of the meat of diseased animals is regarded as infamous in all parts of

THE ROT. 377

Of the treatment of rot Mr. Youatt continues :—“ If it is
suited to the convenience of the farmer, and such ground
were at all within his reach, the sheep should be sent to a
salt-marsh in preference to the best pasture on the best farm.
There it will feed on the salt incrusted on the herbage, and
pervading the pores of every blade of grass. A healthy salt-
marsh permits not the sheep to become rotten which graze
upon it; and if the disease is not considerably advanced, it
cures those which are sent upon it with the rot. * * * Are
there any indications of fever, heated mouth, heaving flanks,
or failing appetite. Is the general inflammation beginning to
have a determination to that part on which the disease
usually expends its chiefest virulence? Is there yellowness of
of the lips and of the mouth, of the eyes and of the skin ?
At the same time are there no indications of weakness
and decay ? Nothing to show that the constitution is
fatally undermined? Bleed—abstract, aecording to the cir-
cumstances of the case, eight, ten, or twelve ounces of blood.
There is no disease of an inflammatory character at its com-
mencement, which is not benefited by early bleeding. To
this let a dose of physic succeed—two or three ounces of
Epsom salts, administered in the cautious manner so fre-

the United States and in almost the only case where I ever knew it to occur in my
vicinity, the seller —a very low man —was punished in exemplary damages by a jury

and received the soubriquet of ‘‘ Stinking Meat,’ which followed him through life.

The meat sold by him had no offensive odor; its condition was not discovered until it
was partly consumed; nor was it then discovered by the taste or appearance of the meat
—but by the information of a person privy to the facts. But it was proved that the
animal was affected by adisease usually mortal, and expected to prove mortal in the
present case. I have forgotten what the disease was. There might have been semo

color of proof that the meat proved unwholesome. Selling ‘‘unwholesome provi-
sions’ is a misdemeanor at common law, and therefore indictable. And every
contract for provisions implies that they shall be wholesome. (See 3 Blackstone’s
Com., 165.) The vendor is bound to know they are sound and wholesome at his peril.
American courts and juries have given an extensive construction to the term whole-
some, in this connection. In fact, if it can be proved that a person has sold meat knowing
that the animal, when killed, was laboring under any constitutional or serious malady,
or even that it was killed to anticipate death from unnatural and accidental causes —
if there is any good reason to suppose those causes placed the meat in the situation of
that of a diseased animal—I say courts and juries under these circumstances demand

only colorable proof that the meat is unwholesome to assess damages on the vendor,

Thus in Fonda vs. Van Bracklin, the plaintiff recovered five dollars damages of the

defendant, for selling him a quarter of beef from a cow that ‘had eaten shortly before
she was killed, a very large quantity of peas and oats, and that was slaughtered
for fear she would die in consequence of her having eaten them.’* It was proved that
those who ate the beef ‘‘ were puicrally made very sick and that one of Fonda’s
servants was sick two weeks from eating it.” The case was carried up to the
Supreme Court, &c., of the State of New York, and the judgment affirmed. I know
nothing about the parties, but infer from the amount of the verdict that they were
persons of low character, and that the proof of the subsequent illness of the persons

who eat the meat, was not much credited. In other words, I infer that the verdict was,
more than anything else, an expression that no man has a right to sell the meat’
of a diseased animal. The jury could not have believed that the meat produced
the alleged effects. Such a verdict could not have been founded on that

hypothesis. :

878 THE ROT.

quently recommended; and to these means Jet a change of
diet be immediately added—good hay in the field, and hay,
straw, or chaff, in the straw-yard.

“The physic having operated, or an additional dose,
perchance, having been administered in order to quicken the
action of the first, the farmer will look out for further means
and appliances. ‘3 ie “ Two or three grains of
calomel may be given daily, but mixed with half the
quantity of opium, in order to secure its beneficial and ward
off its injurious effects on the ruminant. To this should be
added—a simple and cheap medicine, but that which is the
sheet anchor of the practitioner here—common salt. * *
In the first place, it is a purgative inferior to few, when given
in a full dose; and it is a tonic as well as a purgative. * *
A mild tonic, as well as an aperient, is plainly indicated soon
after the commencement of rot. The dose should be from
two to three drachms, repeated morning and night. When
the inflammatory stage is clearly passed, stronger tonics may
be added to the salt, and there are none superior to the
gentian and ginger roots; from one to two drachms of each,
finely powdered, may be added to each dose of the salt. =

* a The sheep having a little recovered from the
disease, should still continue on the best and driest pasture
on the farm, and should always have salt within their reach.
. The rot is not infectious.”

Scroruta.—I have never witnessed an instance of this
malady in our country. Mr. Spooner says of it :—‘‘ Sheep are
liable to a scrofalous disease which is almost uniformly fatal.
It is called the evid in some places, and elsewhere receives
other denominations. A hard swelling of the glands under the
jaws is first observed; after a time small pustules appear about
the head and neck, which break, discharging a white matter,
then heal, and are followed by others more numerous. This
gradually robs the animal of flesh, and slowly pining away,
it becomes at length quite useless, and in this state is
destroyed. It seldom attacks great numbers at a time, but
selects generally a few individuals from a flock.

“The writer, though he cannot say that he has pertectly
succeeded in effecting a cure, has done so to a certain extent,
so that the tumors disappeared and the animals improved in
flesh and health, but afterwards relapsed. This he has
accomplished by administering four or five grains of hydrio-
date of potash daily in gruel, and rubbing the parts likewise

HEREDITARY DISEASES. 879

with ointment of iodide of mercury. As soon as the animal
is considerably better, it should be sent to the butcher.”

Herepirary Diseases. — Mr. Finlay Dun, Lecturer on
Materia Medica and Dietetics at the Edinburgh Veterinary
College, after giving much attention to the subject of hered-
itary diseases in domestic animals, summed up his conclusions
as follows:

1. “They are transmitted by the male as well as by the
female parent, and are doubly severe in the offspring of
parents, both of which are affected by them.

2. They develop themselves not only in the immediate
progeny of one affected by them, but also in many subsequent
generations.

3. They do not, however, always appear in each genera-
tion in the same form; one disease is sometimes substituted
for another, analogous to it, and this again, after some
generations, becomes changed into that to which the breed
was originally liable, as phthisis (consumption) and dysentery.
Thus, a stock of cattle previously subject to phthisis, some-
times become affected for several generations with dysentery,
to the exclusion of phthisis, but by and by, dysentery disap-
pears to give place to phthisis.

4. Hereditary diseases occur: to a certain extent independ-
ently of external circumstances, appearing under all sorts of
management, and being little affected by changes of locality,
separation from diseased stock, or such causes as modify the
production of non-hereditary diseases.

5. They are, however, most certainly and speedily devel-
oped in circumstances inimical to general good health, and
often occur at certain, so called, critical periods of life, when
unusual demands on the vital powers take place.

6. They show a striking tendency to modify and absorb
into themselves all extraneous diseases; for example, in an
animal of consumptive constitution, pneumonia seldom runs
its ordinary course, and when arrested, often passes into
consumption.

7. Hereditary diseases are less effectually treated by
ordinary remedies than other diseases. Thus, although an
attack of phthisis, rheumatism, or opthalmia may be subdued,
and the patient put out of pain and danger, the tendency to
the disease will still remain and be greatly aggravated by
each attack.

“Tn horses and neat cattle, hereditary diseases do not

380 HEREDITARY DISEASES — CUTS.

usually show themselves at birth, and sometimes the tendency
remains latent for many years, perhaps through one or two
generations, and afterwards breaks out with all its former
severity.”

Mr. Dun’s omission of sheep from the list of animals
above named, as subjects of hereditary disease, is merely
accidental, for in a paper on the “Hereditary Diseases of
Sheep and Pigs,” published in the Journal of the Royal
Agricultural Society, 1856, he mentions, as among the hered-
itary diseases of the former, epilepsy or fits, hydatids in the
brain (or turnsick or sturdy), chronic cough, chronic diseases
of the respiratory organs generally, diseases of the digestive
organs, which produce diarrhea and dysentery, rheumatism,
scrofula, tabes mesenterica (a variety of scrofulous disease,)
and consumption. Mr. Dun says:—‘‘ When a scrofulous
constitution presents itself prominently in an adult sheep,
it is generally in the form of pulmonary consumption, or, as
it is technically termed, phthisis pulmonalis.” He subse-
quently adds:

“ But these are not the only evils which assail sheep of a
scrofulous constitution. They are occasionally affected by
chronic swellings about the neck and throat, at first hard, but
afterwards softening, bursting externally, and discharging an
unhealthy pus. These swellings are analogous to clyers in
cattle, and like them are most apt to occur in scrofulous
subjects living in localities exposed to east winds. Scrofulous
sheep are likewise subject to intractable swellings of the
joints, to foot-rot in its most tedious and aggravated form ;
and to rickets, a disease of the bones, occurring in early
youth, from perverted nutrition, and consisting in a softening
of the osseous tissue. They are further of such a weak and
depraved constitution as to fall easy and early victims to any
ordinary or prevailing diseases which, moreover, are in them
developed with unusual severity.”

Cuts.— When a sheep has received a simple, clean cut,
the edges of the wound should be brought accurately together
and the skin confined by stitches. A bandage, if the situation
of the wound admits of its use, will keep the separate parts
better in place, and prevent the stitches in the skin from
tearing out, as they are apt to do when the cut is across the
muscular fibers, so that their retraction has a tendency to pull.
the wound open. A little turpentine applied to the wool near
the parts, or to the bandage, will prevent the attack of the fly.

WOUNDS—DOG BITES—POISONED WOUNDS. 381

LacERATED anpD ContusEp Wovunps.—If the wound is
torn, and contused, the parts if not too much injured should
be placed as near as practicable in their natural position; if
too much lacerated or crushed, the loose and disorganized
parts should be carefully cut away. If the situation of the
wound admits of it, a warm poultice may be applied, and
changed twice a day, until healthy suppuration ensues.
Afterward it will only require to be kept covered with an
oiled or greased cloth, sufficiently touched with turpentine to
repel the fly. If the situation of the wound does not admit
of poulticing, it should be fomented until clean, and some
mild stimulant applied. Mr. Spooner recommends tincture of
myrrh, and an astringent powder compounded as follows:
powdered chalk 4 oz., Armenian bole 1 0z., powdered charcoal
1 oz., powdered alum } oz., sulphate of zinc 4 oz.

Pouncrurep Wounps.— These are made by pointed
instruments, splinters of wood, etc. Fomentations are
generally made use of, and the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual
states that if these are made with a decoction of chamomile
flowers, their good effects will be increased. ‘The method
of applying [fomentations] is to dip a piece of woolen cloth
into the decoction when hot, then to wring it, and apply it to
the parts, dipping the cloth again when the heat has abated.”
If the wound heals on the outside before it does within, and
matter forms in it, it must again be opened.

Doe Brrrs.—From their torn and lacerated character, dog
bites are generally very fatal,—and the more so, from the fact
that the skin is generally stripped from large surfaces. When
the latter has occurred in hot weather, and particularly
when the skin is removed from the body, gangrene generally

ensues speedily. I have attempted to procure the re-adhesion

of the skin by carefully cleansing it, restoring the remaining
portions to their natural position, and stitching the edges
together: but in hot weather, and when the flies are abundant:
I have never succeeded when the denuded surfaces were at all
extensive. In the latter cases, fatal gangrene has usually even
anticipated the attacks of the fly. Wounds from bites are to
be treated like other wounds exhibiting the same kind of
injuries.

PorsoneD Wounps.—In the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual
it is stated that sheep in Europe are not unfrequently bitten

382 SPRAINS — BRUISES — ABSCESS.

by venomous snakes, and that when this occurs, “a spoonful
of rape or olive oil should be given several times a day, or
the same quantity of the solution of an ounce of volatile salt
in two quarts of water.” In France snakes have been
thought to suck the milk of ewes, inflicting wounds in the
teat which cause them to dry up permanently.* I have never
seen or heard of a case of either kind in the United States ;
and I attach no credit to the supposed snake-sucking in any
part of the world.

Sprarins.—The mode of treating sprains recommended in
the Mountain Shepherd’s Manual is the only one I have ever
heard of which was attended with any observable success.
The limb is immediately immersed in hot water for half an
hour, and this repeated several times a day. The cure is
often rapid.

BrvIsES AND StTRaIns,— Are treated on the sheep, if at
all, with hot fomentations, and the application of camphor.

Axsscrss.—I have never seen a case of this. Mr. Spooner
says :—‘‘Abscess, which is a collection of pus or matter under
the skin, may be produced by a bruise, or by some constitutional
cause. Whilst collecting, the surface of the skin is usually
very tender, and sometimes there is also much constitutional
irritation present. A collection of matter may be known by
the heat, swelling and pain of the part. On pressing it the
contained fluid is felt to fluctuate; and the pressure being
removed, the part immediately assumes its former shape,
whilst a watery or dropsical swelling, on being pressed,
leaves for some time the marks of the fingers. After some
time the abscess points; that is, the matter can be more
distinctly felt at one particular part, at which, if permitted,
the abscess would soon burst. This, however, should not be
permitted ; but at this stage the abscess should be opened at
the lowest part, or that which would admit most readily of
its discharging itself. The opening should be large, and no
dressing will be required except the continuance of the
fomentation, which should previously be used. It should be
observed that, if the abscess is languid and slow in forming,

a stimulant, such as hartshorn and oil, rubbed in occasionally,
will be useful.”

* Mountain Shepherd’s Manual, p. 8

CHAPTER XXX.

MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT OF THE DIS-
EASES OF SHEEP.

Tue list of medicines below, comprises the principal ones
employed in the treatment of the diseases of sheep.

EXPLANATION OF MEDICAL TERMS USED IN THIS CHAPTER.

Absorbent.— A medicine used for absorbing acidity in the
stomach and bowels. ;

Anodyne.— A medicine which relieves pain.

Antacid.— A remedy which removes sourness in the
stomach.

Anthelmintic.— A remedy which destroys or expels
worms.

Antiseptic.— A preventive of putrefaction.

Antispasmodic.— A preventive of spasms.

Ayperient.— A medicine which opens the bowels.

Astringent.— A medicine externally that has the property
of contracting organic textures, and internally of diminishing
evacuation or dunging.

Carminative— A remedy which allays pain and causes
the expulsion of flatus, or wind, from the body.

Cathartic— A medicine which causes an increase of
‘evacuation or dunging.

Caustic—A body which has the power of burning or
consuming flesh and other animal substances.

Cordial.— A tonic medicine which excites the system and
increases the rapidity of the circulation of the blood.

Diaphoretic— A medicine which promotes perspiration
or sweating, and a carrying off of the humors of the body
through the pores of the skin.

Disinfectant.— An agent which removes the causes of
infection.

884 MEDICAL TERMS — MEDICINES.

Diuretic— A medicine which increases the discharge of
urine.

Emetic.— A substance capable of producing vomiting or
puking.

Emollient.—A substance which allays irritation and softens
and relaxes parts that are inflamed, and swollen hard.

Febrifuge.— A medicine which abates or drives away
fever.

Febrile.— Feverish.

Laxative— A medicine which loosens or opens the
bowels.

Inubricant.— A substance which makes the body to which
it is applied soft and slippery.

Narcotic— A medicine which, by acting on the brain,
relieves pain, allays morbid susceptibility, and produces sleep.
In too large doses narcotics produce stupor and death.

Purgative— A medicine which operates more powerfully
in opening the bowels than a laxative.

Rubefacient.— An application which produces redness or
irritation of the skin.

Sedative.— A medicine employed to depress unnaturally
increased action of the vital forces, and thus quiet the system.

Stimulant.— A medicine which has the power of exciting
the action of the organs and the discharge of the functions of
the animal system. Y

Stomachic.— A medicine which.strengthens the stomach
and gives more activity to its functions.

Sudorific— A medicine that causes sweating.

Tonic— A medicine that gives increased strength and
vigor to the action of the system.

LIST OF MEDICINES.

AxconoL, (Spirit of Wine).—Added in small quantities as
a stimulant to purgatives, in low forms of disease.

Atr.— Administered to sinking ewes before and after
parturition, usually in doses of about a gill; after long and
exhausting parturition, it is mixed with two to four drachms
of laudanum ; the dose repeated at intervals of three or four
hours. Ale is sometimes given to chilled lambs.

Ators.— Occasionally used as a purgative; administered
by some good shepherds in combination with oil for colic or
stretches. But there are better cathartics for sheep, The

LIST OF MEDICINES. 385

tincture of aloes, says Mr. Youatt, “is a very useful, stimula-
ting and healing external application to wounds. Two ounces
of powdered aloes and a quarter of an ounce of powdered
myrrh, should be macerated [soaked] in a pint of rectified
spirit and diluted with an equal quantity of water.”

ALTERATIVES.— Ethiop’s mineral, (black sulphuret of
mercury,) nitre and sulphur, compounded in the proportions
of one, two and four, is useful in the cutaneous diseases of
sheep. Average dose two drachms, administered daily.

Atum —Is used in some astringent medicines, but is
inferior to various other articles for this purpose. It is some-
times employed in ‘solution to bathe an inverted womb or a
prolapsed rectum. (See page 145.) Burnt alum is used as a
stimulant and caustic on wounds, but there are better ones.

Ammonra —In the form of hartshorn, enters into various
liniments, and some other medicines. It is an excellent
external stimulant, and rubefacient. Internally it is an
antacid and sudorific, but is not often thus used in sheep
diseases.

AnopyNnEs.— Opium is chiefly employed for this purpose.
The modes and times of its exhibition have been pointed out
throughout this volume.

Antimony, (the Chloride of Butyr of:)—By far the best
caustic in advanced stages of hoof-rot. For the causes of
its superiority, and for its mode of application, see page 370.

Aqua-Forris.— See Nitric Acid.

Arsrnic.— Used in solution to kill ticks and cure scab.
See pages 188, 341-343.

ANTISPASMODICS.— Opium is employed in the case of
tetanus or locked-jaw, colic, etc.

ASTRINGENTS.— Opium (acting as an anodyne,) is chiefly
relied on internally. Catechu frequently forms a part of
medicines intended to have a slightly astringent effect. Alum
is used in the form of alum whey— 2 drachms of pulverized
alum dissolved in a pint of hot milk. The external astringents
most used in sheep diseases are a solution of alum, or a
decoction of white oak bark, burnt alum, bole Arminian, etc.

Barus.— Medicine should never be administered in the
form of balls to sheep. For the reasons see page 299.
Butsters.— Not often resorted to in sheep practice.

When used the hair or wool must be closely shaved, and the
17

386 LIST OF MEDICINES.

parts well rubbed with an ointment composed of one part of
powdered cantharides, four of lard, and one of resin.

Bortz Arminian.— An argillaceous earth used occasion-
ally as a mild external astringent on wounds. Internally an
astringent and absorbent.

Bonsset or THorovcuworr.—(Hupatorium perfoliatum.
A good tonic and diaphoretic; in large doses emetic an
aperient. A tea made of this is administered with excellent
effect to lambs, under the circumstances stated at page 150.

CaLaminE.— See Zinc.
Catomet.— See Mercury.

Campuor.— Used internally as a narcotic, diaphoretic and
sedative. It is used externally, dissolved in alcohol, to reduce
the swelling of the thyroid glands in the necks of lambs, (see
page 153.) Dissolved in the same way, or in oil, it is applied
to the udders of sheep having garget, (see page 331.) It is
also used with good effect as an external stimulant in rheuma-
tism, strains, bruises, swellings, swelling of the joints, &c.

CaNnTHARIDES.— The principal ingredient in blistering
ointments.

Carraway SrEp.— Given in doses of two or three
drachms as a_stomachic, with other medicines.

Casror Om.— A safe and excellent purgative, but not
used as much as saline purgatives.

Catrecuu.— A valuable astringent, in doses of half a
drachm. It is one of the ingredients of the celebrated
“sheep’s cordial.”

Caustics.— Butyr of antimony, muriatic acid, sulphuric
acid, nitric acid, blue vitriol, burnt alum, &c., &c. Blue
vitriol is immeasurably the best application and mild caustic
in the early stages of hoof-rot, as butyr of antimony is in
later ones. (See Hoof-Rot.)

Cuax, (Prepared)—By its alkaline properties, neutralizes
the acidity of the stomach, and thus checks diarrhea. It is a
very valuable remedy in doses from half an ounce to an
ounce, given as directed under the head of “diarrhea.”
Mr. Spooner also recommends it as a useful external applica-
tion to wounds and sores.

_ Cuxamomire.—A mild tonic and febrifuge. Used externally
in fomentations for wounds, ulcers, &c.

Cuances.— Thick adhesive plasters spread over parts that

a7

LIST OF MEDICINES. 387

require support, and the application of a constant and moderate
stimulus. They are placed on the shoulder of the sheep when
the bones underneath are fractured.

Crysrrrs.—See Injections.

Copprr.—See Verdigris and Vitriol.

Correras.— See Sulphate of Iron.

CorpiaL.—Sheep’s cordial. An excellent remedy for
Diarrhea. For mode of preparing it see page 307.

Corrosive SuprimatTe (Bi-chloride of Mercury)— The
most convenient form in which mercury can be administered
internally. The proto-chloride, or calomel, from its great
gravity, could not, with any certainty, be made to reach the
fourth stomach. It would seem that mercury should be a
useful remedy in several of the diseases of sheep. Corrosive
sublimate dissolved in alcohol is an excellent application
to old and ill-conditioned wounds or ulcers. It is very
effectual in destroying maggots in wounds and in repelling
the attacks of the fly.

Croton SEEDS orn Om—A very powerful and rapid
purgative rarely resorted to in the diseases of sheep. Dose,
says Mr. Spooner, from 5 to 15 drops of the oil. It is some-
times applied externally, sufficiently reduced, in glandular and
and other indolent swellings. -

Dierratis (Fox-glove)—A sedative, and it lowers the
frequency of the pulse. It enters into most of the fever
medicines of the English veterinarians. Dose, 1 scruple.

Exprr— The ointment of, has been once or twice
mentioned in this volume. It is made by boiling elder leaves
in lard, and forms one of the most softening and soothing
applications known for inflamed and irritated surfaces.

Epsom Satts (Sulphate of Magnesia)— In doses from half
an ounce to one, and in some few cases two ounces, the best
purgative which can, in almost every disease, be administered
to sheep.

Fomentations— To reduce swellings, lessen inflammation
and relieve pain in inflamed udder, garget, and various
other cases, these are invaluable. They are applied by
dipping a woolen cloth constantly in hot water—as hot as
can possibly be endured by the hand — and laying or gently

ressing it on the parts. To be effectual, fomentations must
be continued a long time; and the part should be left covered

388 LIST OF MEDICINES.

if practicable, particularly in cold weather, or cold may be
taken in it, and the original difficulty only aggravated.

Grnt1an— The best vegetable tonic in use. Dose from 1
to 2 drachms.

Gin — Given in doses of half a teaspoonful to a teaspoonful
in warm milk to chilled lambs, with admirable effect. I
omitted to mention, when speaking of the mode of procuring
the adoption of a foster lamb, that gin rubbed on the nose of
the ewe and sprinkled over the lamb, promotes that object.

Gincrr.— A highly useful cordial and stomachic, given
with most aperient medicines to prevent griping. Dose from
half a drachm to two drachms.

Harrsnorn.— See Ammonia.

Insections.— These are of the utmost importance to
relieve constipation in lambs. For their composition, and the
mode of administering them, see page 150.

Topinr.— The hydriodate of potash in the proportion of
one part to seven or eight parts, by weight, of lard, consti-
tutes an ointment which is a powerful stimulant to the
absorbing vessels, and therefore is an excellent application to
glandular swellings, or to indurated tumors. It is a good
application to swelled udder, (garget,) or to enlarged thyroid
glands. (See Goitre and Garget.

Larp — A gentle purgative in doses of two ounces. The
basis of most ointments, and applied externally in almost
every case as an emollient and lubricant in the place of oils.

Lavpanum.— See Opium.

Lzap (Acetate or Sugar of Lead) — Mixed with other
ingredients to form caustic applications in hoof -rot.

Leap (White) —Is used in cooling and drying ointment.
Liz (Carbonate of)— See Chalk.

Lure (Chloride of) —Is a powerful disinfectant and
antiseptic. It is used to disinfect and purify stables, &c., in
which contagious diseases have occurred, and to clean the
foot and remove stench in the worst stages of hoof-rot. It
is administered internally for hoove. (See Hoove.)

LinsEED —Or flax-seed, is invaluable as an emollient
poultice. It forms an excellent gruel for animals during
illness.

LIST OF MEDICINES. 389

Linsrep Orr— In doses of two ounces is a safe purgative
where the intestines are irritated. Ordinarily it is not so
efficient as Epsom salts.

Maewzsia (Sulphate of) —See Epsom salts.

Mercury. — Mercurial ointment is used as an application
for scab, and also to kill ticks. For the mode of compound-
ing, see pages 189, 342.

Mercury (Proto-Chloride of, or Calomel)-~It is not much
used in diseases of sheep. (See pages 322, 323, 378.)

Mercury (Bi-Chloride of.) — See Corrosive Sublimate.

Mouriatic Actp (Spirit of Salt)— Next to chloride of
antimony, the best caustic in the worst stages of hoof-rot.

Myrru.— A stimulant tonic, used in applications to
wounds. (See under Aloes.)

NirratTe or Su.ver, (Lunar Caustic) —Is the best super-
ficial caustic, but is far too expensive to be used on ordinary
occasions. In one place, however, it is indispensable—in the
bites of rabid animals, or where their saliva is brought in
contact with surfaces denuded of skin. It has not yet been
shown that the saliva of the rabid sheep will communicate
that dreadful disease, but the opposite fact is not positively
established. Some of the sheep, an account of which is given
at pages 283-290, had been handled by laborers, after becoming
rabid, and the saliva might have come in contact with their
hands; and one of the Messrs. Freer, whose sheep were bitten
at the same time, not suspecting the nature of the malady,
sponged out the mouth of an.animal in the last stages of
rabies! On examining his hands the.skin was found slightly
fractured in several places. Whatever might have been the
result, it relieved some painful anxieties to see his hands, and
those of my son’s laborers, well and thoroughly cauterized
with lunar caustic, so as to form a thick black eschar or scab
wherever there was the least break in the skin. Mr. Youatt,
who probably had more experience with rabies than any man
who ever lived, considered immediate and thorough cauteri-
zation, by nitrate of silver, of the wounded or exposed parts
—to the very bottom of the the tooth holes in case of bites—
a perfect protection against the virus of rabies.

Nirre, or Satr-Pezrre, (Nitrate of Potash)—In doses of
a drachm or two, enters into every fever medicine. It is
cooling, diuretic, and diaphoretic. Externally it is a powerful
antiseptic.

390 LIST OF MEDICINES.

Nirric Aci (Aqua-fortis)— Sometimes used as a substi-
tute for chloride of antimony, or muriatic acid, as a caustic in
hoof-rot. Used by drovers also to harden the soles of sheep’s
feet which have become thin and tender by traveling. It is
touched over the soles with a feather.

Oxivse Om (Sweet Oil)—Is used in many external applica-
tions, and sometimes internally as a laxative; but for the last
purpose is inferior to the other oils given as cathartics, and to
Epsom salts.

Orium — As an antispasmodic, sedative and astringent it
stands unrivaled. Mr. Fouate remarks :—“ A colic drink
would have little effect without it; and if opium were omitted
in the medicines for diarrhea and dysentery, every other drug
would be given in vain.” In the form of gum the dose is
about 10 grains; in the form of laudanum, from 1 to 2
drachms. :

Perprrr (Black)— Given pulverized, in doses of half a
teaspoonful in warm milk, to chilled lambs. It is a warm
carminative stimulant, and is capable of producing general
arterial excitement.

Pruento (Allspice)—A substitute for ginger in the same
doses, but not as valuable.

Pumprxin Srrps—A tea of, is an excellent diuretic for
very young lambs, when their urine does not pass with
sufficient freedom.

Ruvears— Unites the properties of a cathartic and
subsequent astringent. In small doses, it is a tonic and
stomachic, invigorating the digestion. When the bowels are
relaxed and torpid, and the stomach in a feeble state, it would
seem the most appropriate purgative, when a purgative is
required.

Ryg, (Ergot of) —A powerful stimulant to the womb —
resorted to in England in very protracted lambing. Mr.
Spooner says the dose is one scruple infused in hot water, and
repeated if required in the course of one or two hours.

Sprrits.— Brandy, rum, whisky, etc., may be made a
substitute for gin for chilled lambs. See Gin.

Saut, (Muriate of Soda.)— An ounce constitutes a light
purgative ; in small quantities a tonic and stomachic. The

LIST OF MEDICINES. 391

necessity of keeping sheep freely supplied with salt has been
referred to under Summer and Winter Management. For
its great efficacy in Rot, see page 378.

Satt-PretTre.— See Nitre.

Srrons.— The mode of inserting these is pointed out at
page 348,

Serrir or Nirrovs Eruur, (Sweet Spirit of Nitre.) — In
doses of two drachms; a valuable diaphorectic, diuretic and
anti-spasmodic. It is much used in fibrile affections.

SuLpHate or Copper.—See Blue Vitriol.

Surpuur.— Internally an aperient in doses from one to
two ounces. Externally it forms the basis of ointments used
in various cutaneous diseases.

Sutpuuric Eraer.—A powerful stimulant and anti-spas-
modic. Dose one drachm.

Sutpuuric Acip.— A powerful caustic, used alone, or in
combination with other ingredients, in advanced stages of
hoof- rot.

SutpHate oF Inon, (Copperas or Green Vitriol.)—Used
in hoof-rot remedies, but much less valuable for that purpose
than blue vitriol. Internally a tonic.

Spirit or Tar — Destroys maggots, and prevents the fly
from depositing its eggs in ulcers or wounds. ©

Tar—Is an impure turpentine, but it contains several
distinct principles, of which creosote is one. Internally it is
stimulant, diuretic, anthelmintic, and in large doses is laxative.
Externally it is a stimulant, produces a good effect on foul or
indolent ulcers, and repels attacks of the fly. It is also
resorted to as a mechanical coating for the feet, &c., when
denuded of their natural coverings, in order to retain other
applications underneath, keep out water, &c

Tosacco.— A decoction of it kills the acarus of scab, and
thus cures that disorder. It also kills ticks, lice, &c. An
injection of it, or the smoke of it blown into the nostrils, causes
the larvee of the the Gad-fly to be dislodged from the cavities
of the head. Altogether it is a most valuable sheep medicine,
and every sheep farmer should cultivate it in his garden for
that purpose. Tobacco ointment, made by boiling an ounce

392 - LIST OF MEDICINES.

of fresh tobacco leaves cut fine, in a pound of lard over a
gentle fire until it becomes friable, would be an admirable
application on irritable ulcers of the foot or other parts.

TURPENTINE (Spirits of) — Has about the same internal
and external effect with tar; but it lacks the creosote, which
may render it a little less effective on old ulcers. (See Tar.)

VERDIGRIS (Acetate of Copper) — Often used in hoof-rot
in combination with blue vitriol. Its medicinal properties are
very similar, and I doubt whether it forms any useful addition
to the former in such cases.

Zinc (Carbonate of) — Mixed with lard, constitutes a
valuable emollient and healing ointment. It is mixed in the

proportion of one part of the carbonate, by weight, to eight
of lead.

CHAPTER XXXI.
THE DOG IN ITS CONNECTION WITH SHEEP.

THE INJURIES INFLICTED BY DOGS ON SHEEP—-THE SHEEP
DOG—THE SPANISH SHEEP DOG—THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP
DOG—THE FRENCH SHEEP DOG-——THE MEXICAN SHEEP
DOG— THE SOUTH AMERICAN SHEEP DOG — OTHER LARGE
RACES OF SHEEP DOGS— THE ENGLISH SHEEP DOG — THE
SCOTCH SHEEP DOG, OR COLLEY — ACCUSTOMING SHEEP TO
DOGS.

Tur Doe is justly a favorite animal with man, and I
cannot deny that I have written some prose heroics in his
praise.* But on the whole, on summing up the advantages
and disadvantages which he produces to mankind — and
especially to sheep growers —there can be no doubt that the
balance-is enormously against him.

Tux Insuris Inrricrep By Does on Suuzr.=-I had
purposed to collect some statistics of the annual injuries
inflicted on sheep by dogs in the State of my residence,
(New York,) but I found them already prepared to my hand
in reference to the State of Ohio— which will answer equally
well for the purposes of illustration —over the signature of
the able and efficient Corresponding Secretary of the Ohio
State Board of Agriculture, John H. Klippart, Esq. I need
not say that his name is an ample guaranty of the accuracy of
his statements. I cut the paper from a recent number of the
Ohio Farmer. Mr. Klippart says:

“In 1858, the Legislature of Ohio enacted a law making
it the duty of the Township Assessors to return a list of the
sheep killed and wounded by dogs, in every township in the
State. From the annual returns we are now obtaining data
from which to estimate the amount of damage done by dogs

* In Sheep Husbandry in the South.
17*

394 INJURIES INFLICTED BY DOGS.

to the wool-growing interest. Last winter the Legislature
enacted a law requiring the Assessors to return a list of all
the dogs in their respective townships or wards. Up to the
present time I have returns from eighty counties — eight
counties having failed to make returns; but the returns from
the eighty counties furnish sufficient data ‘to do some
figuring.’

“Kighty counties return 162,933 dogs, or nearly 2,037
dogs per county; if the remaining eight counties, viz.: Allen,
Ashland, Fulton, Licking, Mahoning, Montgomery, Noble
and Putnam, maintain the same average, the complete returns
will then show 179,256 dogs in Ohio! This will give 44
dogs to every square mile in the State, 1 dog to every 13
inhabitants in the State. We have a population of 58 inhab-
itants to the square mile.

“Tn 1860 the Legislature of Rhode Island appropriated the
requisite sum of money to enable the United States Marshal
to collect some special statistics of that State, among which
was dogs; the number returned by the Marshal was 6,854
dogs. Rhode Island has 1,306 square miles of territory,
173,869 inhabitants. This gives 54 dogs to every square
mile, or more than 1 dog to every 25 inhabitants, whilst there
are 133 inhabitants to the square mile.

“The probabilities are that not more than half the dogs
in Ohio have been returned to the Assessors. Many instances
have come to my knowledge, where parties preferred killing
the dogs to paying taxes on them, and the dogs were
accordingly destroyed. In the city of Columbus, one ward
returns three dogs only; but private information assures me
of more than forty in the same ward. Franklin county
returns 2,167 dogs, whilst well informed parties assert that
there are more than that number in the city of Columbus.
It is safe to assume that there are at least 200,000 dogs in the
State.

“What does it cost to keep (feed) these dogs? In towns
and cities it will be no exaggeration to value the food consumed.
by dogs at fifty cents each per week, or twenty-six dollars
per annum; it is worth just as much in the country or on the
farm to keep a dog, but their food can be procured cheaper
there, and is worth at the lowest estimate ten dollars per
annum. If we estimate the cost of keeping the dogs in the
State at the town rate, the figures show that the cost of
keeping them is five millions of dollars, but if we take the
country rate it will amount to two millions of dollars—these

INJURIES INFLICTED BY DOGS. 895

are the two extremes, the truth lies in the middle, because
there are fully as many dogs in cities, towns and villages, as
there are in the country. Therefore the amount expended
for food for dogs in Ohio, is worth annually the sum of three
and a half millions of dollars, or more than three-fourths the
total amount of State taxes for the years 1861 or 1862, and
just the amount of State taxes for 1860! Reflect for a
moment ou this fact, that if the amount of food consumed by
the dogs in the State in a single year were properly disposed
of, the sum obtained for it would pay the State taxes!
How desperately some people complain at the amount of
taxes, yet none complain of the cost of keeping a dog.
Aside from the expense of keeping dogs, they have killed
and injured sheep in

1858, to the amount of ~--$146, 758

1859, ea 2 102,398

1860, ‘“ ee ' 86,795

1861, oe “

1862, es : 000
Total in five years, 508,043,
Annual average, .....----------------------+-- 101,608

“There are then $100,000 worth of sheep killed and
injured every year by dogs; and this has been going on ever
since sheep were in the State. In 1846, sheep were first
enumerated and valued for taxation; in that year the number
in the State was 3,141,946. In 1862, the number was
4,448,227, an increase of 1,306,281, or 414 per cent. in 16
years. In this same period of time, the number of swine has
more than doubled, cattle have just doubled, and horses not
quite doubled. Were it not for the destruction of sheep by
dogs, Ohio would to-day: have ten million head of sheep; but
when sheep growers are compelled to pay an annual tax of
$100,000 to $150,000, according to the caprice of worthless
dogs, aside from the regular township and county tax, it is
no wonder that they become discouraged, invest their surplus
capital in Western lands, and thus let the productive interests
_of the State suffer. There is no kind of doubt that the dogs
have annually destroyed $100,000 worth of sheep from 1846
to the present time, or an aggregate of $1,700,000, and to
‘what purpose? Who has been benefited by this destruction
of sheep? Nosopv! When the lightning strikes down one
of the ‘monarchs of the forest,’ or destroys a house and kills
some of.the inmates, the benefits in health and continuation
of life to those remaining is still of greater benefit, than the
loss incurred isa damage. The explosion of the electric fluid

396 THE SHEEP DOG.

purifies the atmosphere, and is a guarantee for the continu-
ance of health; whereas if we had no electrical phenomenon,
the air would become very impure, and epidemics or other
diseases engendered by the impurity, would destroy vastly
more lives than the lightning does. But, in the destruction
of sheep by dogs, there is no benefit or advantage of any
kind arising to anybody.

“Finally, are dogs of as much benefit to the State in the
aggregate as they cost? What this cost is I have endeavored
to show, and if any person will show me that they are worth
what they cost, I will be much obliged to him for his pains.

“Tt is no argument to say that the food would have been
lost at all events—and that it costs nothing to keep a dog;
a hog will eat all the refuse from the kitchen, and drink the
swill besides, and pays for its keeping in good fat pork and
lard, or if taken to market commands cash. In fact I know
several instances where poor men grow rich by keeping hogs,
and other instances where men, comparatively well off, grew
poorer by keeping dogs.”

And now per contra!

Tue Ssarer Doc.—Buffon thus eloquently describes the
sheep-dog, and compares his sagacity and value to man, with
other races :—“‘This animal, faithful to man, will always
preserve a portion of his empire and a degree of superiority
over other beings. He reigns at the head of his flock, and
makes himself better understood than the voice of the shepherd.
Safety, order and discipline are the fruits of his vigilance
and instinct. They are a people submitted to his management,
whom he conducts and protects, and against whom he never
applies force but for the preservation of good order. * i
If we consider that this animal, notwithstanding his ugliness,
and his wild and melancholy look, is superior in instinct to all
others; that he has a decided character in which education
has comparatively little share; that he is the only animal
born perfectly trained for the service of others; that, guided
by natural powers alone, he applies himself to the care of our
flocks, a duty which he executes with singular assiduity,
vigilance, and fidelity; that he conducts them with am
admirable intelligence, which is a part and portion of himself;
that his sagacity astonishes at the same time that it gives
repose to his master, while it requires great time and trouble
to instruct other dogs for the purposes to which they are
destined ; if we reflect on these facts, we shall be confirmed

THE SPANISH SHEEP DOG. 397

in the opinion that the shepherd’s dog is the true dog of”
Nature, the stock and model of the whole species.”

I shall call attention to but a few of the most distinguished
varieties of the sheep dog.

ARROGANTE—A SPANISH SHEEP DOG.

Tuer Spanisu SHrEp Doc.—The cut above affords a faithful
representation of a thorough-bred Spanish Sheep Dog imported
with a flock of Merino sheep a number of years since into
England.

Soon after Arrogante’s arrival in England, a ewe under
his charge chanced to get cast in a ditch, during the tempo-
rary absence of the Spanish shepherd, who had accompanied
the flock and dog at their importation. An English shepherd,
in a spirit of vaunting, insisted on relieving the fallen sheep,
in preference to having the absent shepherd called, though
warned by his companions to desist. The stern stranger dog
met him at the gate and also warned him with sullen growls,
growing more menacing as he approached the sheep. The
shepherd was a powerful and bold man, and felt that it was

398 THE SPANISH SHEEP DOG.

too late now to retract with credit. On reaching the sheep,
he bent carefully forward, with his eyes on the dog, which
instantly made a spring at his throat. A quick forward
movement of his arm saved his throat, but the arm was so
dreadfully lacerated that immediate amputation became
necessary. ‘T'o save the dog, which had but done his duty,
as he had been taught it, from the popular excitement, he was
shipped in a vessel which-sailed that very afternoon, from
Bristol for America. He was sent to Francis Rotch, Esq.,
then a resident of New-Bedford, Massachusetts.

Fifteen or sixteen years ago, when I was writing “ Sheep
Husbandry in the South,” Mr. Rotch wrote to me as follows:

“T have, as you desired, made you a sketch of the Spanish
sheep dog Arrogante, and a villainous looking rascal he is.
A worse countenance I hardly ever saw on a dog. His small,
blood-shot eyes, set close together, give him that sinister,
wolfish look, which is most unattractive ; but his countenance
is indicative of his character. There was nothing affectionate
or joyous about him. He never forgave an injury or an
insult; offend him, and it was for life. I have often been
struck with his resemblance to his nation. He was proud
and reserved in the extreme, but not quarrelsome. Every
little cur would fly out at him, as at some strange animal;
and I have seen them fasten for a moment on his heavy,
bushy tail, and yet he would stride on, never breaking his
long, ‘loping,’ shambling trot. Once I saw him turn, and
the retribution was awful! It was upon a large, powerful
mastiff we kept as a night-guard in the Bank. He then put
forth his strength, which proved tremendous! His coat hung
about him in thick, loose, matted folds, dirty and uncared-for
—so that I presume a dog never got hold of anything about
him deeper than his thick, tough skin, which was twice too
large to fit him anywhere, and especially around the neck and
shoulders. The only other evidence of his uncommon
strength which I had observed, was the perfect ease with
which he threw himself over a high wall or paling, which
often drew my attention, because he seemed to me wanting
in that particular physical development which we are accus-
tomed to consider as necessary to muscular power. He was
flat-chested, and flat-sided, with a somewhat long back and
narrow loin. (My drawing foreshortens his length.) Tis
neck, forearm and thigh certainly indicated strength. If the
Spanish wolf and the dog ever cohabit, he most assuredly
had in him such a cross; the very effluvia of the animal

THE SPANISH SHEEP DOG. 399

betrayed it. In all in which he differed from the beautiful
Spanish shepherd dog, he was wolfish, both in form and habits.
But, though no parlor beauty, Arrogante was unquestionably
a dog of immense value to the mountain shepherd. Several
times he had met the large wolf of the Appenines, and
without aid slain his antagonist. The shepherds who bred
him said it was an aff’ir of no doubtful issue, when he
encountered a wolf single-handed. His history, after reach-
ing England, you know.” :

I have been unable to procure any new portrait, known to
be authentic, of a dog of this breed. The American editor
of Mr. Youatt’s work on the Dog, (Dr. Lewis,) states the
Spanish sheep dog “is of the same breed” as the great
Alpine Spaniel or “ Bernardine dog” which is employed. by
the monks of St. Bernard in rescuing travelers among the
storms and avalanches of the Alps. I have seen several of
these, and Arrogante resembles them as nearly as can a spare,
attenuated, ugly man resemble one of massive proportions
and noble countenance—the height, length, contour, loose
hide, etc., are the same.* But while I strongly incline to
credit Dr. Lewis’ assertion of the identity of the breeds, I
have not felt authorized to give a portrait of a Swiss dog as
characteristic of a race of Spanish dogs.

Arrogante proved himself an animal of immense value.
Dull, almost stupid, and apparently sleeping much of the day,
nothing, however, escaped his observation, or was subse-
quently erased from his memory. If led round a building, or
inclosure, or even an open space, at night-fall, in a manner
to evince particular design, during the entire night like a
sentinel he traversed some part of the guarded ring, permit-
ting neither man nor beast to pass in or out from it. When
miserable curs intruded on his charge, they were slain in
an instant. He possessed almost human intelligence in
protecting property of every kind belonging to his master.
But, though never the aggressor, the terrible vindictiveness
of his temper, when injured, finally cost him his life.

Mr. Trimmer, in his work on the Merinos, thus describes
the mode of employing the Spanish Sheep Dog :— “ There is
no driving of the flocks; that is a practice entirely unknown ;
but the shepherd, when he wishes to remove his sheep, calls
to him a tame wether accustomed to feed from his hands.

* The cut of the Bernardine dog, in Mr. Youatt’s work, represents a magnificent
animal—but the kind of resemblance I have named between it and Arrogante
plainly exists.

400 THE HUNGARIAN SHEEP DOG.

The favorite, however distant, obeys his calls and the rest
follow. One or more of the dogs, with large collars armed
with spikes, in order to protect them from the wolves, precede
the flock, others skirt it on each side, and some bring up the
rear. If a sheep be ill or lame, or lag behind unobserved by
the shepherds, they stay with it and defend it until some one
returns in search of it. With us, dogs are often used for
other and worse purposes. In open, uninclosed districts they
are indispensable, but in others, I wish them, I confess, either
managed or encouraged less. If a sheep commits a fault in
the sight of an intemperate’ shepherd, or accidentally offends
him, it is dogged into obedience, the signal is given, the dog
obeys the mandate, and the poor sheep flies round the field to
escape from the fangs of him who should be his protector,
until it becomes half dead with fright and exhaustion, while
the trembling flock crowd together dreading the same fate,
and the churl exults in this cowardly victory over a weak
and defenceless animal.”

Mr. John Hare Powell, in the Memoirs of the Pennsylvania
Agricultural Society, describes some Spanish dogs, imported
with the early Merinos into this country, and then owned by
himself, as possessing “all the valuable characteristics of the
English shepherd’s dog, with sagacity, fidelity and strength
peculiar to themselves.” He adds :— Their ferocity when
aroused by any intruder, their attachment to their own flock,
and devotion to their master, would, in the uncultivated parts
‘ of America, make them an acquisition of infinite value, by
affording a defence against wolves, which they ready kill, and
vagrant cur dogs, by which our flocks are often destroyed.
The force of their instinctive attachment to sheep, and their
resolution in attacking every dog which passes near to their
charge, have been forcibly evinced upon my farm.’’*

Tue Hungarian SHEEP Doc.—The following description
of the Hungarian Sheep Dog, occurs in Paget’s “ Hungary
and Transylvania.”+{—“ It would be unjust to quit the subject
of the Puszta Shepherd without making due and honorable
mention of his constant companion and friend, the juhasz-
hutya—the Hungarian shepherd dog. The shepherd dog is

* Mr, Powell’s paper is copied into Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture of the
State of New York, Vol. 3, 1826. With it is an illustration of a Spanish Sheep Dog,
which looks like a cross between a cur and a bull-dog. But it is so completely out of
drawing that I am led to infer that it was drawn by a wholly incompetent artist and
that it bears no resemblance to the original.

+ Hungary and Transylvania, by John Paget, Eisq., Vol. 2, p. 12, et. seg.

FRENCH AND MEXICAN SHEEP DOGS. 401

commonly white, sometimes inclined to a reddish brown, and
about the size of our Newfoundland dog. His sharp nose,
short erect ears, shaggy coat, and bushy tail give him much
the appearance of a wolf; indeed, so great is the resemblance,
that'I have known a Hungarian gentleman mistake a wolf for
one of his own dogs. Except to their masters, they are so
savage that it is unsafe for a stranger to enter the court - yard
of a Hungarian cottage without arms. I speak from experi-
ence; for as I was walking through the yard of a post-house,
where some of. these dogs were lying about, apparently
asleep, one of them crept after me, and inflicted a severe
wound on my leg, of which I still bear the marks. Before
I could turn round, the dog was already far off; for, like the
wolf, they bite by snapping, but never hang to the object like
the bull-dog or mastiff. Their sagacity in driving and
guarding the sheep and cattle, and their courage in protecting
them from wolves and robbers, are highly praised; and the
shepherd is so well aware of the value of a good one, that
it is difficult to induce him to part with it.”

I have little doubt that the Hungarian dogs above de-
scribed are the descendants of the Spanish ones, introduced
into Hungary with the Merino sheep, though possibly they
may be somewhat crossed by inter-breeding with the dogs
of the country.

Frenca Sxrrer Doc.— Professor Grognier gives the
following account of this breed :—‘‘ The Shepherd’s Dog, the
least removed from the natural type of the dog, is of a middle
size; his ears short and straight ; the hair long, principally on
the tail, and of a dark color; the tail is carried horizontally
or a little elevated. He is very indifferent to caresses,
possessed of much intelligence and activity to discharge the
duties was designed. In one or other of its varieties it is
found in every part of France. Sometimes there is but a
single breed, in others there are several varieties. It lives
and maintains its proper characteristics, while other races
often degenerate. Everywhere it preserves its proper dis-
tinguishing type. It is the servant of man, while other breeds
vary with a thousand circumstances. It has one appropriate
mission, and that it discharges in the most admirable way:
there is evidently a kind and wise design in this.”

Tur Mexican Suezp Doc.— The following account of
these noble dogs appears as a communication from Mr. J. H.

402 THE MEXICAN SHEEP DOG.

Lyman, in the third volume of the American Agriculturist :
“Although Mr. Kendall and some other writers have
described this wonderful animal as a cross of the Newfound-
land dog, such, I think, cannot be the fact: on the contrary,
I have no doubt he isa genuine descendant of the Alpine
mastiff, or more properly Spanish shepherd dog, introduced
by them at the time of the Conquest. He is only to be found
in the sheep-raising districts of New Mexico. The other
Mexican dogs, which number more than a thousand to one of
these noble animals, are the results of a cross of everything
under the sun having any affinity to the canine race, and even
of a still nobler class of animals if Mexican stories are to
be credited. It is believed in Mexico, that the countless
-mongrels of that country owe their origin to the assistance
of the various kinds of wolves, mountain cats, lynxes, and to
almost if not every class of four-footed carnivorous animals.
Be this as it may, those who have not seen them can believe
as much as they like; but eye-witnesses can assert, that there
never was a country blessed with a greater and more abundant
variety of miserable, snarling, cowardly packs, than the
mongrel dogs of Mexico. That country of a surety would
be the plague-spot of this beautiful world, were it not for
the redeeming character of the truly noble shepherd dog,
endowed as it is with almost human intellect. I have often
thought, when observing the sagacity of this animal, that if
very many of the human race possessed one-half of the power
of inductive reasoning which seems to be the gift of this
animal, that it would be far better for themselves and for
their fellow creatures. :

“The peculiar education of these dogs is one of the most
important and interesting steps pursued by the shepherd.
His method is to select from a multitude of pups a few of the
healthiest and finest-looking, and to put them to a sucking
ewe, first depriving her of her own lamb. By force, as well
as from natural desire she has to be relived of the contents
of her udder, she soon learns to look upon the little interlopers
with all the affection she would manifest for her own natural
offspring. For the first few days the pups are kept in the
hut, the ewe suckling them morning and evening only; but
gradually, as she becomes accustomed to their sight, she is
allowed to run in a small inclosure with them until she
becomes so perfectly familiar with their appearance as to
take the entire charge of them. After this they are folded
with the whole flock for a fortnight or so, they then run about

THE MEXICAN SHEEP DOG. 403

during the day with the flock, which after a while becomes
so accustomed to them as to be able to distinguish them from
other dogs—even from those of the same litter which have
not been nursed among them. The shepherds usually allow
the slut to keep one of a litter for her own particular benefit ;
the balance are generally destroyed.

“ After the pups are weaned, they never leave the
particular drove among which they have been reared. Not
even the voice of their master can entice them beyond sight
of the flock ; neither hunger nor thirst can doit. I have been
credibly informed of an instance where a single dog having
charge of a small flock of sheep was allowed to wander with
them about the mountains, while the shepherd returned to his
village for a few days, having perfect confidence in the ability
of his dog to look after the flock during his absence, but with
a strange want of foresight as to the provision of the dog for
his food. Upon his return to the flock, he found it several
miles from where left, but but on the road leading to the vil-
lage, and the poor, faithful animal in the agonies of death,
dying of starvation, even in the midst of plenty ; yet the
flock had not been harmed by him. A reciprocal affection
exists between them which may put to blush many of the
human family. The poor dog recognized them only as
brothers and dearly loved friends; he was ready at all times
to lay down. his life for them; to attack not only wolves and
mountain cats, with the confidence of victory, but even the
bear, when there could be no hope. Of late years, when the
shepherds of New Mexico have suffered so much from Indian
marauders, instances have frequently occurred where the dog
has not hesitated to attack his human foes, and although
transfixed with arrows, his indomitable courage and faithful-
ness have been such as to compel his assailants to pin him to
the earth with spears, and hold him there until dispatched
with stones.

“Jn the above instance the starving dog could have
helped himself to one of his Uttle brother lambs, or could.
have deserted the sheep, and very soon have reached the
settlements where there was food for him. But faithful even
unto death, he would neither leave nor molest them, but
followed the promptings of his instinct to lead into the settle-
ment; their unconsciousness of his wants and slow motions
in traveling were too much for his exhausting strength.

“These shepherds are very nomadic in character. They
are constantly moving about, their camp equipage consisting

404 THE MEXICAN SHEEP DOG.

merely of a kettle and a bag of meal; their lodges are made
in a few minutes, of branches, &c., thrown against cross-sticks.
They very seldom go out in the day-time with their flocks,
intrusting them entirely with their dogs, which faithfully
return them at night, never permitting any stragglers behind
or lost. Sometimes different flocks are brought into the same
neighborhood owing to scarcity of grass, when the wonderful
instincts of the shepherds’ dogs are most beautifully displayed;
and to my astonishment, who have been an eye-witness of such
scenes, if two flocks approach within a few yards of each
other, their respective proprietors will place themselves in the
space between them, and as is very naturally the case, if any
adventurous sheep should endeavor to cross over to visit her
neighbors, her dog protector kindly but firmly leads her back,
and it sometimes happens, if many make a rush and succeed
in joining the other flock, the dogs under whose charge they
are, go over and bring them all out, but, strange to say, under
such circumstances they are never opposed by the other dogs.
They approach the strange sheep only to prevent their own
from leaving the flock, though they offer no assistance in
expelling the other sheep. But they never permit sheep not
under canine protection, nor dogs not in charge of sheep, to
approach them. Even the same dogs which are so freely
permitted to enter their flocks in search of their own, are
driven away with ignominy if they presume to approach
them without that laudable object in view.

“Many anecdotes could be related of the wonderful
instinct of these dogs. I very much doubt if there are
shepherd dogs in any other part of the world except Spain,
equal to those of New Mexico in value. The famed Scotch
and English dogs sink into insignificance by the side of them.
Their superiority may be owing to the peculiar mode of
rearing them, but they are certainly very noble animals,
naturally of large size, and highly deserving to be introduced
into the United States. A pair of them will easily kill a
wolf, and flocks under their care need not fear any common
enemy to be found in our country.”

Mr. Kendall speaks of “ meeting, on the Grand Prairie,
a flock numbering seventeen thousand, which immense herd
was guarded by a very few men, assisted by a large number
of noble dogs, which appeared gifted with the faculty of
keeping them together. There was no running about, no
barking or biting in their system of tactics ; on the contrary,
they were continually walking up and down, like faithful

SOUTH AMERICAN SHEEP DOG. 405

sentinels, on the other side of the flock, and should any sheep
chance to stray from its fellows, the dog on duty at that
particular post, would walk gently up, take him carefully by
the ear anfl lead him back to the flock. Not the least fear
did the sheep manifest at the approach of these dogs, and
there was no occasion for it.”

Capt. Allison Nelson, of Bosque county, Texas, visited
me in 1860. He had started to bring me a pair of these
Mexican dogs, but unfortunately permitted himself “to be
laughed out of it” —his friends being under the impression
that it would be carrying coals to New Castle to take sheep
dogs to a region where the Scotch colley was to be found in
abundance. Capt. Nelson confirmed Mr. Lyman’s statement
in regard to their sagacity and courage. His sheep were
herded in the Mexican way, around fires and not in folds.
He said that after night-fall the dogs separated themselves
from the sheep and formed a cordon of sentries and pickets
around them,—and woe to the wolf that approached too near
the guarded circle! The dogs crouched silently until he was
within striking distance, and then sprang forward like arrows
from so many bows. Some made straight for the wolf and
some took a direction to cut off his retreat to forest or
chaparral. When overtaken his shrift was a short one.

Such dogs would be invaluable on the broad prairies of
the North-western States, to save the labor, trouble, and
sometimes injury of folding flocks each night in a stationary
and distant fold. —

Soura American Surrp Doc.— Similar to the preceding
in character and habits, are the sheep dogs to be found in
various parts of South America. They, too, are undoubtedly
an offshoot from the Spanish stem. The following interesting
account of them is from Darwin’s Journal:

“‘ While staying at this estancia (in Banda Oriental,) I was
amused with what I saw and heard of the shepherd dogs of
the country. When riding it isa common thing to meet a
large flock of sheep guarded by one or two dogs, at the
distance of some miles from any house or man. I often
wondered how so firm a friendship had been established.
The method of education consists in separating the puppy,
when very young, from the bitch, and in accustoming it to
its future companions. A ewe is held three or four times
a day for. the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made
for it in the sheep-pen. At no time is it allowed to associate

406 SOUTH AMERICAN AND OTHER SHEEP DOGS.

with other dogs, or with the children of the family. The
puppy, moreover, is generally castrated: so that when grown
up, it can scarcely have any feelings in common with the rest
of its kind. From this education it has no wish to leave
the flock, and just as another dog will defend its master,
man, so will these the sheep. It is amusing to observe,
when approaching a flock, how the dog immediately advances
barking—and the sheep all close in his rear as if around the
oldest ram. These dogs are also easily taught to bring home
the fiock at a certain time in the evening. Their most
troublesome fanlt when young is their desire of playing with
the sheep, for in their play, they sometimes gallop their poor
subjects most unmercifally. The shepherd dog comes to
the house every day for some meat, and immediately it is
given to him he skulks away as if ashamed of himself. On
these occasions the house dogs are very tyrannical, and the
least of them will attack and pursue the stranger. The minute,
however, the latter has reached the flock, he turns round and
begins to bark, and then all the house dogs take very quickly
to their heels. Ina similar manner a whole pack of hungry
wild dogs will scarcely ever (and I was told by some, never,)
venture to attack a flock guarded even by one of these faithful
shepherds. The whole account appears to me a curious
instance of the pliability of the affections of the dog race ;
and yet, whether wild, or however educated, with a mutual
feeling of respect and fear for those that are fulfilling their
instinct of association. For we can understand on no
principle the wild dogs being driven away by the single one
with its flock, except that they consider, from some confused
notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in
company with its ownkind. F. Cuvier has observed that all
animals which enter into domestication consider man as a
member of their society, and thus they fulfill their instinct of
association. In the above case the shepherd dogs rank the
sheep as their brethren; and the wild dogs, though know-
ing that the individual sheep are not dogs, but are good to
eat, yet partly consent to this view, when seeing them ina
flock, with a shepherd dog at their head.”

Oruer Larcr Races or SurEep Docs.—There are one
or two fine species in France, as those of Brie and Auvergne.
In a letter from G. W. Lafayette, to John 8. Skinner, Esq.,
the latter are pronounced equal to Spanish dogs.* Large,

* See Farmers’ Library, Vol. I, p. 465.

THE ENGLISH SHEEP DOG. - 407

powerful races, possessing the same general characteristics,
are to be found in almost every country excepting our own,
where the fine-wooled breeds of sheep have been extensively
introduced. With a commerce extending to all the mari-
time nations of the world, it is singular ‘that so little pains
have been taken to introduce them.

Tue Enetisn Sarxp Doc.— The ates cut presents
an accurate portrait of an animal of this breed, imported by
Mr. B. Gates, of Gap Grove, Lee county, Illinois. It is taken
from The Farmer’s Library:

DROVER’S DOG.

The Drover’s Dog, or English Sheep Dog, or Butcher’s
Dog— for by all these different names is he known — is thus
described by Mr. Theodore C. Peters, of Darien, New York,
in third volume of the American Agriculturist, 1844 :

“T purchased a bitch of the tailless species, known as the
English drover dog, in Smithfield market, some two years
ago. That species is much used upon the downs, and is a
larger and fleeter dog than the Colley. We raised two litters
from her, got by Jack, [a Colley,] and I think the cross will

408 THE SCOTCH SHEEP DOG.

make a very valuable dog for all the purposes of the farmer.
They learn easily, are very active, and so far they fully answer
our expectations.

“A neighbor to whom we gave a bitch of the first litter,
would tell her to go into such a lot and see if there were any
stray cattle there; and if there were any there, detect them
and drive them down to the house. He kept his cattle in the
lot, and it was full eighty rods from the house. The dog was
not then a year old. We had one of the same litter, which
we learned to go after cows so well, that we had only to tell
him it was time to bring the cows, and he would set off for
them from any part of the farm, and bring them into the
yard as well as a boy. I think they would be invaluable to a
farmer on the prairies. After raising two litters, we sent the
bitch to Illinois. I hope farmers will take more pains in
getting the shepherd dog. There is no difficulty in training.
Our old one we obtained when a pup, and trained him without
any trouble, and without the help of another dog. Any
man who has patience, and any dog knowledge at all, can
train one of this breed to do all that he can desire of a dog.”

Tur Scorcu SHere Doc or Cottzey.— The light, active,
sagacious Colley admits of no superior — scarcely an equal —
where it is his business merely to manage his flock, and not
to defend them from beasts larger than himself. Mr. Hoge
says that a “single shepherd and his dog will accomplish
more in gathering a flock of sheep from a Highland farm than
twenty'shepherds could do without dogs. Neither hunger,
fatigue, nor the worst treatment will drive him from his
master’s side, and he will follow him through every hardship
withcut murmur or repining.”

The same well known writer, in a letter in Blackwood’s
Magazine, gives a most glowing description of the qualities
of his Colley, “Sirrah.” One night a flock of lambs, under
his care, frightened at something, made what we call in
America a regular stampede, scattering over the hills in
several different bodies. ‘“Sirrah,” exclaimed Hogg in
despair, “they’re a’ awa!” The dog dashed off through
the darkness. After spending with his assistants the whole
night in a fruitless search after the fugitives, Mr. Hogg
commenced his return to his master’s house. Coming to a
deep ravine, they found Sirrah in charge, as they first
supposed, of one of the scattered divisions, but what was

THE COLLEY. 409 .

their joyful surprise to find that not a lamb of the whole
flock was missing!

THE COLLEY.

Mr. Peters, in the same paper from which we have just
quoted, thus speaks of the Colley:—“I think the shepherd
dog the most valuable of his species, certainly for the farmer.
Our dog Jack, a thorough-bred Scotch Colley, has been worth
$100 a year in managing our small flock of sheep, usually
about seven hundred in number. He has saved us more than
that in time in running after them. After sheep have been
once broken in by, and become used to the dog, it is but
little trouble to manage them; one man and the dog will
do more than five men in driving, yarding, &c. Let any
man once possess a good dog, he will never do without one
again. °

“The sagacity of the shepherd’s dog is wonderful; and if
I had not seen so much myself, I could hardly credit all we
read about them. It is but a few days since I was reading
in a Scotch paper a wonderful performance of one of these

18

410 THE COLLEY —:A DRAWBACK.

Colley dogs. It seems the master of the bitch purchased at
a fair some eighty sheep, and having occasion to stay a day
longer, sent them forward and directed his faithful Colley to
drive them home, a distance of about seventeen miles. The
poor bitch when a few miles on the road dropped two whelps;
but faithful to her charge, she drove the sheep a mile or two
farther —then allowing them to stop, she returned for her
pups, which she carried some two miles in advance of the
sheep, and thus she continued to do, alternately carrying her
own young ones, and taking charge of the flock, till she
reached home. The manner of her acting on this occasion
was gathered by the shepherd from various persons who had
observed her on the road. On reaching and delivering her
charge, it was found the two pups were dead. In this
extremity the instinct of the poor brute was yet more remark-
able; for, going immediately to a rabbit brae in the vicinity,
she dug out of the earth two young rabbits, which she deposited
on some straw in a barn, and continued to suckle them for
some time, until they were unluckily killed by one of the farm
tenants. It should be mentioned that the next day she set off
to the place where she left her master, whom she met
returning when about thirteen miles from home.”

I have to make a sad draw-back on these statements. It is
well known in the region of New York where I reside, and
where the Colley dog is quite common, that it is sometimes —
under the instruction of vicious associates perhaps — taught
in its youth to kill sheep: and when this occurs, it is pro-
verbial that the sheep has no other so fell and destructive
canine enemy. Its extreme activity, and the keenness of its
bite, causes a wholesale slaughter. Two dogs of this kind
killed eight Merino ewes for me this year, and had they not
fortunately been detected at the outset of their attack, they
would soon probably have added fifty to the number of their
victims. When first seen they were darting about, biting
one sheep after another —a single touch of their teeth being
apparently sufficient to strip off half the skin —as if they
were committing the havoc solely for their amusement, and
were prompted neither by hunger nor thirst. Indeed, I
ascertained from their owners that they had both been well
fed within an hour of the time-of their entering the flock.
They were moreover habitually well fed dogs, and were in
excellent case. I think the mongrel Colley learns to kill
sheep as readily as a cur; but whether this is true of the pure
blood dog, I am not prepared to say.

ACCUSTOMING THE SHEEP TO THE DOG. 411

AccusToMING THE SHEEP TO THE Dog.—It is a mistake
to suppose that a trained sheep dog will manage any strange
flock, however wild and unaccustomed to such company.
The sheep must be gradually made acquainted with, and
accustomed to, the dog. They must know—and they will
readily learn it — that he is their friend, their guardian and
protector, instead of that hereditary enemy which their
instinct teaches them to fly from. A want of knowledge of
this fact has frequently led to disappointment and disgust, to
a giving up of the valuable dog which it has cost pains and
money to procure. My friend, the late Col. John 8. Skinner,
related to me a ludicrous accident which befel President
Jefferson, or rather his sheep dogs, when he undertook to
show off some newly imported ones, a la philosopher,
without being apprized of the above-mentioned fact.
The tale is told in my Sheep Husbandry in the South. The
comedy turns on the fact that the great political sage took
out some admiring visitors to witness the wonderful exploits
of his dogs: “let” them “slip” on some raw ovine subjects,
whereupon the latter dashed themselves over precipices, &c. :
and the “valuable dog which it had cost pains and money to
procure,” was so mortified at the proceeding that he ran the
other way, was never again heard of, and is supposed by
some to be running to this day!

As in the case of so many “good stories,” there was not
a word of-truth in it! Some years after my publication of it,
I chanced to be in conversation with Mr. Jefferson’s family
on this very subject and learned that the dogs were sent to
him from France—that they were admirably broken and
possessed almost human intelligence — that neither of them
ever brought man or beast to grief, except that the bitch,
who took it upon herself to herd the hens every night, insisted
on doing it about half an hour before the latter wished to
retire for the night—and they sometimes made loud com-
plaints on the subject!

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A — (page 122.)
ORIGIN OF THE IMPROVED INFANTADOS.

To gratify the curiosity of some thorough-paced Merino sheep
breeders, as well as to illustrate the rapid ‘march of improvement,”
when the right animals are bred together, I will present a few facts
culled from a large body of notes in my possession, giving full
descriptions of the leading animals named in the pedigrees on page
121, and in the remainder of Mr. Hammond’s flock. ‘

“Old Black,” was bought of §. Atwood, by Mr. Sanford, of Orwell,
and was owned and used by him and Mr. Hammond together. He
weighed about 135 lbs., and yielded about 14 Ibs. of wool. (Unless other-
wise stated, all fleeces named here will be understood tobe unwashed.) He
was long, tall, flat-ribbed, rather long in the neck and head, strong-boned,
a little roach - backed, deep -chested, moderately wrinkled: his wool
was about 14 inches long, of medium thickness, extremely yolky, and
dark colored externally : face a little bare, and not much wool on shanks.
He did not possess a very strong constitution. He proved an admirable
sire of ewes, but was not so good for rams.

“Old Matchless” run well into the blood of Mr. Atwood’s lighter
colored sub-family, though he himself was darkish colored. (Mr. Atwood
had either found two such sub-families in the Humphreys’ sheep, or he
had gradually created and established them in his flock to attain certain
breeding objects: I think the latter was the case.) He weighed about
150 lbs., was a sheep of excellent form, commanding appearance, and
strong constitution. He yielded 102 lbs. of wool when a lamb, but his
usual tleece afterwards was only 12 or 13 lbs. His fleece was about two
inches long, coarsish, of medium thickness, pretty yolky — but thin and
short on the ae He was not well covered on the head, and was bare
on the shanks. He got large, strong, but not very well covered lambs.
He was not as good a stock ram as Old Black. e died early.

“Wooster” weighed about 100 Ibs. He was well shaped and
compact, with short legs, a short, thick head, and neck of medium
length and thickness. He was very heavily wrinkled under the neck,
and also at the elbow and tail. His wool was nearly two inches long, quite
thick, very dark and yolky. He was well covered on belly and foretop,
and middling well on the face. He yielded 194 lbs. of wool at two years
old. He was an excellent stock getter, and bred extremely well with

APPENDIX A. 413

the light colored ewes. He sold a lamb for $300, but Mr. H. continued
to use him. (See page 113.) ;

“Old Greasy” weighed about 110Ibs. He was light boned and rather
long and thin in every part, though the rib was tolerably full. He was
but little wrinkled, having simply the cross on the brisket, the convolu-
tion of skin under the chops called by many “the double,” and a narrow
dewlap between them. He was exceedingly yolky, and his wool very
long and thick for so yolky a sheep. The wool was about 2} inches long,
was fine and even, covered belly and foretop fairly, but not the shanks,
and the fleece weighed 22 lbs. His constitution was medium, and he was
an excellent stock getter, so far as fleece was concerned. He was used
to darken the produce of the light colored ewes.

“Old Wrinkly” weighed from 125 to 130 Ibs., and was a strong-
boned, low, compact sheep, with round carcass and short legs, short
thick head and neck, but was a little too light in the hips. He was very
heavily wrinkled over and under neck, and also about elbow, tail, thigh
and flank. His flank was deep and tail broad. His fleece was thick,
about two inches long, of medium quality, not entirely even, and
showed a little jar on the neck wrinkles. He was well covered on head
and belly, and wooled to the foot. His fleece weighed 23 lbs. It was
rather light colored, though very yolky. Hisyolk wasyellow. The wool
opened well. He had a strong constitution, and was a good sire ram.
He was sold for $300. °

“Little Wrinkly” weighed about 110 lbs. He had bones of good
size, was about medium in respect to compactness, and was round in
the rib. He was much less wrinkly than Old Wrinkly, and was inferior

-to him in general appearance. His fleece was very fine and even, and
possessed a good deal of style. It was of medium length, (two inches
long,) thick, and coated with dark external gum. He was as yolky as
Old Greasy, and his yolk white. His fleece weighed about 194 lbs., a
good deal of weight considering its quality. He would not have been
used had Long Wool or Old Greasy been alive; yet he proved a good
stock ram, in some cases, getting Sweepstakes and two large, very
heavy fleeced ewes. He got them when a lamb. He died at three.

“Sweepstakes” weighs about 140 lbs. Taken all in all he is about as
perfect a formed Merino ram as was ever seen, and defective in no
essential particular. His wool is 24 inches long, fine, extremely even, and
does not contain a particle of jar. His belly, head, etc., are admirably
covered, and he is wooled profusely to the feet all round. He has no
external gum, is medium in point of color, but possesses abundance of
thin, yellowish yolk. His wool opens brilliantly and with a beautiful
style. He has produced a single year’s fleece of 27 lbs. His constitution
is powerful. He impresses his own characteristics unusually strongly
on his get. He took the first premium of the Vermont State Agricultu-
ral Society as a lamb, asa yearling, andasa grownram. In 186i he met
several of the best rams of the State (the best of his competitors were
got by himself) in a sweepstakes, and was victorious. Mr. Hammond
has been several times offered $2,500 for him. ;

“California,” the next named ram in the pedigree published at page
121, was the property of Henry Hammond, as is his dam Beauty ist.
(His stock is the same with that of his uncle, Edwin Hammond,

being half of the same common flock.) California was sold for $1,000,

and think was less than a year old when sold. I have no descrip-

414 ‘APPENDIX A.

tion of him. His dam ae to him and to Gold Drop the blood
(individual blood) of several very celebrated animals which do not
appear in the pedigree of Sweepstakes, viz., Young Matchless, the
Lawrence Ewe, Long Wool and Old Queen.

“Young Matchless” was in the light colored line. He weighed
about 150 lbs. He was a model of strength, compactness, symmetry
and showiness. He had immense constitution. He was well wrinkled
under the neck, at the elbow, thigh and tail. His fleece was about 2}
inches long, extremely thick, of medium quality, of good style, even and
had no jar. It covered him well on belly, head, legs, etc. He was
particularly well wooled over the eye. He was rather light colored. He
was less yolky than any ram heretofore described, and his yolk was white.
His fleece weighed 23 Ibs., and is believed to have contained more pure
wool than that of any other ram Mr. Hammond ever owned except
Sweepstakes. He gave his get great length and thickness of wool, and
the great round carcass so conspicuous in the flock. He took the first
State premium, &c. A half interest in him and Greasy was sold to
Wm. R. Sanford for $500.

“The Lawrence Ewe” combined the size, beauty, constitutional
vigor and wooliness of both her sire and dam. She weighed about 110
lbs., and did not lack a single property of excellence or showiness.
She was dark externally, yolk yellowish, and had some external gum.
Her fleece was of good quality, and weighed 14 lbs. She was sold for
$600, which was esteemed a remarkable price at that day. She was the
dam of two very famous rams, viz., Long Wool and the Lawrence Ram.

“Long Wool” took something of his form from his sire, and accord-
ingly was not as low, compact and round as his immediate maternal
ancestors, but he was considerably better formed than Old Greasy. He
weighed from 125 to 130 lbs. His wrinkles, &c., resembled his sire’s,
but he had more of them, and some small ones about elbow and tail.
His fleece was about 24 inches long, very thick, yolk white and brilliant,
style excellent. He was wooled to the feet all round, well wooled on
the belly and head. He was not quite as well wooled over eye as
Young Matchless or the Queen family—pbut did more to improve this
point among the Queens than any other ram. His fleece was dark
colored. No memorandum is preserved of its weight: it was over 20
Ibs. He was an admirable sire for ewe lambs—the best, perhaps, Mr.
H. ever had. They were tone ees thick wooled, dark externally, and
particularly well covered. e improved the flock, especially in
wool over the eye. His lambs were also low, round, thick and of
strong constitution. Mr. H. declined $500 for him when two years old.
He was killed early, in fighting.

“The Lawrence Ram” is not named in the pedigrees, published on
page 121, bat has been one of the most celebrated rams of the flock. He
was got by Old Wrinkly, dam, the Lawrence ewe. He weighed about 180
lbs. He was a short, stout, heavy-boned, low sheep, with a remarkably
short and heavy neck, and a broad loin and rump. He had a powerful
constitution. He was heavily wrinkled in front, with folds at elbow,
tail, thigh and flank. He was dark colored and yolky. His wool was of
medium length, (two inches,) very thick, of medium quality, even, and
the yolk yellowish. He was well covered on face, belly, &c. His fleece
weighed 24 lbs. He wasa capital sire for both ram and ewe lambs.
The heaviest fleeced ewes now in Mr. H.’s flock were got by him. He
was sold in his old age for $200.

APPENDIX A. 415

“Old Queen” is but two removes from the “First Choice of Old
Ewes,” and is considered by her owner the mother of more valuable
sheep than any other ewe ever owned by him.

“First Choice of Old Ewes” was of the medium size of Atwood
ewes of that day, weighing about 80 lbs. She was fine in the bone, of
about medium length, with a short, wide head. Her general form was
compact, and good, with the exception of a slight flatness in the ribs.
She was but little wrinkled, having only the cross and double with a
dewlap between. Her wool was hardly two inches long, but was fine,
even, thick, dark, and well filled with white yolk. It covered her well on
belly, but she was bare on the forehead compared with the sheep of the
present flock, and had not much below the kxiees. Her washed fleece
weighed about five pounds. She proved an extraordinary breeder,
and her line—the “dark or Queen line” —has always been carefully
preserved. ~

The “Light Colored Ewe” weighed 85 or 90 Ibs. She was shortish,
very square built, with a short, thick head and neck, medium length of
leg, and rounder ribs than most of the Atwood sheep. She was high
headed, had the cross and double with dewlap between and under the
chops. Her wool was about 24 inches long, very thick, and covered her
well on the face and belly. She was wooled to the foot. Her fleece was
even but not very fine. It was light colored and rather destitute of yolk.
Her fleece weighed about six Ibs. washed. She was an excellent breeder,
but not regarded as equal to the First Choice of Old Ewes, in this
particular. She was the origin of the “light colored line,” always pre-
served in the flock to interbreed with the “ dark or Queen line.”

“First Choice of Ewe Lambs,” at maturity, weighed from 90 lbs.
-to 95 Ibs. She was strong boned, low, short, and thick in every part
except the neck, which was slightly too long and thin. Her ribs were
well arched. She had the cross on the brisket, but no double or dewlap,
and was smooth under the chops. She was regarded, however, as the
best formed sheep, on the whole, bought of Mr. Atwood, and also the
best covered one. She was well wooled on the belly, head and shanks.
Her fleece was about two inches long, dark externally, and well filled
with white yolk. Crossed in the Queen line, she produced Wooster:
crossed in the light colored line, she produced the Lawrence ewe. She
died early. Her blood was lost to the flock by the sale of Wooster and
the Lawrence ewe — but brought back by Mr. Hammond’s putting ewes
to the Wooster ram, and by his subsequently re-purchasing the Law-
rence ram.

I have not space here to follow out the course of breeding between
the three lines which has led to such extraordinary improvement. The
best sheep of the flock have always been produced by interbreeding
between them. The mode in which Sweepstakes unites the three strains
will be seen from his pedigree at page 121. “21 per Cent.,” so often
named in this work, unites them through some of the most celebrated
animals of each line. He was got by the Lawrence ram; dam, Old
Tulip, an own sister of Old Queen. The “Thousand Dollar Ram” now
owned by Mr. Asahel F. Wilcox, of Fayetteville, New York, was got by
Sweepstakes out of Old Queen’s dam. “ Wrinkly 3d,” now owned by
Capt. Davis Cossit, Onondaga, New York, was got by Sweepstakes,
dam, Countess, by Little Wrinkly—Countess’ dam in the light colored
line, &c., &e. , :

The first great change in Mr. Hammond’s weight, of fleeces was made

416 APPENDIX B.

by Young Matchless; and he equally improved the form, size and
constitution. His only deficiency was in yolk, and consequently in dark
color, and his get resembled him in that particular.

“Old Greasy” and “ Long Wool,” and particularly the latter, made a
marked improvement in the fleece. They added materially to its
yolkiness, and consequently to its dark, external color, without either
shortening it or rendering it thinner; and they also added to its fineness
and style. They both gave better forms to their progeny than their own,
but Old Greasy’s get were sometimes deficient in this particular. Lon
Wool did not deteriorate the form, particularly in his female get. Ol
Greasy gave a good, and Long Wool an excellent, constitution to his
descendants. ;

“Old Wrinkly” rendered the flock more stocky, and wrinkly, and
shorter in the legs, head, &c.

The “ Lawrence ram” got large, strong, round carcassed, and well-
formed offspring — possessing a remarkable constitution. His get on
ewes by Greasy and Long Wool were as dark colored as their dams, and
had heavier fleeces.

“ Sweepstakes” has done much to harmonize the different strains of
blood and give uniformity to the flock — improving defects where they
existed. In the external color of their wool, he, 21 per Cent., and _ the
Thousand Dollar Ram, are about midway between the light and dark
colored lines— the point where weight of fleece and bodily development
are best combined.

APPENDIX B — (page 128.)
ORIGIN OF THE IMPROVED PAULARS,

Tue following is a full, and it is believed, accurate account of
the crosses of blood contained in some of the principal improved
Paular stocks of the present day, with such notices as I could obtain of
the leading animals in the establishment of the crossed family:

In 1844, Judge M. W. C. Wright, of Shoreham, Vermont, bought a
ram bred by Mr. Stephen Atwood, and brought by him to ne her
York State Fair, held that year at Poughkeepsie. Mr. Hammond, of
Vermont, and myself, were present at the purchase. My recollections
of him entirely coincide with those of Judge Wright, and his subsequent
owners, Messrs. Elithorp and Remelee. He did not weigh, with his
fleece off, to exceed 100 lbs. ‘‘ He was,” Mr. Elithorp writes me, “a low,
short-legged, square-built sheep, short-bodied, short and rather heavy-
necked, with a few moderate-sized folds about the neck, and a brace or
fold [of pendulous skin] extending from his hind-leg to his flank. He
was flat on the back, had a deep chest, and possessed a good constitu-
tion.” His fleece was fine, glossy, even, highly crimped, thick and “long
for an Atwood sheep in those days.” It covered his head and belly
unusually well, and extended to his hoofs, ‘making his legs look short
and heavy.” His yolk was abundant, entirely fluid, and white in color;
and his external color was very dark for a sheep unhoused in summer.

APPENDIX B. 417

His fleece in 1845, of two years’ growth, weighed 22 lbs. unwashed ; his
Hei ta fleeces ranged from 18 Ibs. to 15 Ibs., and averaged about 14
Ibs. He was an admirable sire ram with ewes of all descriptions, stamp-
ing his individual characteristics strongly on his progeny.

On his return with this sheep to Vermont, Judge Wright sold him
to Prosper Elithorp, of Bridport, and Loyal C. Remelee, of Shoreham,
after reserving to himself the use of him for a certain period that fall;
and he also used him in part for two succeeding years. He was thence-
forth called the “ Atwood ram.” He got the “Elithorp ram” out of a
ewe bred by Mr. Remelee, and sold by him to Mr. Elithorp. This ewe
was got by Judge Wright’s “ Black Hawk,” out of a pure Jarvis ewe
purchased by Mr. Remelee of Mr. Jarvis. The dam and grand-dam of
the Elithorp ram, writes Mr. Elithorp, “were essentially Jarvis sheep
in their appearance, except that they carried darker coats on the outside,
and their wool was thicker set. It was long, fine, splendid wool. They
were good shaped and hardy for Jarvis stock.” The Elithorp ram
“weighed from 180 to 140 lbs, in good condition: was formed consider-
ably like his sire except that he was more leggy; his wool was long and
fine, resembling the Jarvis wool, except in its mode of opening, which
was not in ringlets, but in flakes up and down.” It “covered him well,
was not yolky to excess, was heavy for those days, but its precise weight
is not remembered.” He was also an excellent stock ram. Judge
Wright's Black Hawk was got by “Fortune” out of a pure Jarvis ewe
purchased by Judge W. of itr. Jarvis. “Fortune” was bred by Tyler
Stickney, of Shoreham, and got by “Consul” out of a pure Paular
(Rich) ewe.. Consul was a pure Jarvis ram purchased by Mr. ae)
of Mr. Jarvis. Black Hawk, Fortune, (for a long time owned by S. W.
Jewett,) and Consul, were all highly celebrated animals in their day,
the two first especially. Fortune was sold for a higher price than any
ram of his day. His dam was an exceedingly choice animal.

Mr. Elithorp sold the Elithorp ram, then a lamb, in the fall of 1845,
to Erastus Robinson, of Shoreham, Vermont. While owned by Mr.
Robinson, he got the “Old Robinson ram” out of a ewe bred by Mr.
Elithorp, and sold by him with 29 others to Mr. Robinson in the spring
of 1848. This ewe was got by the Atwood ram, above mentioned, out of
a pure Paular (Rich,) ewe bred by Mr. Robinson and sold by him to Mr.
Elithorp in the fall of 1848. She was the second choice of Mr. R.’s flock.
“She (the grand dam of the Old Robinson ram,) was a model in every
particular that constitutes a good sheep, except size, which was below
medium, and she -had quite short legs.” Her daughter (the dam of the
Old Robinson ram) was a counterpart of her, except that she was a good
size larger.” Both “were heavy shearers, yielding from 8 lbs. to 9 Ibs.
each of white, glossy wool. They were peculiar for heavy caps on their
foreheads, short, bullae noses,.thick ears, and very short necks. They
had no short wool on their noses or ears, but were coated on these parts
with white glossy hair.” The Old Robinson ram “partook of the strong
characteristic points of his dam” in carcass, “ while his fleece was more
ofthe Atwoodstamp. His legs, like those of his dam and grand dam, were
very short.” Judge Wright describes him as “a small ram, (weighing
about 100 Ibs.,) low in the leg, with a heavy neck and a large and
deep chest, covered with large folds or corrugations from his head to his
tail. His wool was of medium length, compact, almost too fine, and
covered him to the hoofs. oo partook of many of the qualities of his

18°

418 APPENDIX C.

grand-sire, the Atwood ram: he had a large amonnt of yolk; it was
creamy, and of course his fleece partook of that color in the inside. On
the outside it was quite dark.” When five years old, says David
Cutting, who sheared him that year, he yielded 11‘Ibs. 11 0z. of wool.
Mr. Stickney, who purchased him of his brother-in-law, Mr. Robinson, in
about 1855, and who was familiar with him all his life, informed Ju ge
Wright “that he was very uniform in his weight of fleece, and that its
average weight was about 14 lbs.” (unwashed.)

This ram, in the hands of Mr. Robinson and Mr. Stickney, got an
immense number of lambs, which were very strongly marked with his
own characteristics. They were generally small, short, and exceedingly
compact, with fine, yolky, and fer those times, heavy fleeces. They
became great favorites, and sold far and near under the name of the
“Robinson stock.” This was an obvious misnomer, as Mr. Robinson,
(a valuable man and intelligent: breeder,) was not the founder of either
of the three American families which constituted the new family, or the
originator of the cross that produced it. Messrs. Robinson and Stickney
commenced their original flocks with prime Rich sheep, purchased from a
member of that family. In 1845, Mr. Robinson bred 20, and in 1846, 23
of his ewes to the Atwood ram, owned by Mr. Elithorp. In the spring
of 1848 he bought 30 ewes of Mr. Elithorp, “‘a majority of which were
Atwood and a cross of Atwood and Rich— with some varvis blood in a
small number of them.” These are believed to be nearly as many as
the other ewes then owned by him; and he thenceforth bred the flocks
together, using first the Elithorp ram, and the Old Robinson ram when
he became old enough, with them. The flock at Mr. Robinson’s death
contained about an equal amount of Paular (Rich) and Infantado
(Atwood) blood, and it was very celebrated for its excellence. The
Stickney branch of the family contained a larger proportion of the
Paular blood. The old Rich flock proper was crossed somewhat with
the Atwood blood, as I have mentioned while describing them.

Mr. Elithorp, from whom I have derived most of the above account
of his own and Mr. Robinson’s flocks, is, by the common voice of his
fellow-citizens, a judicious breeder and excellent judge of sheep. And
his candor and integrity are wholly above suspicion.

APPENDIX C— (page 242.)
ENGLISH EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING SHEEP.

Tue following accounts of further experiments in feeding sheep are
selected from Mr. T. E. Pawlett’s already cited Essay on the Manage-
ment of Sheep, which received the commendation of the Royal
Agricultural Society of England. Mr. Pawlett says:

“The following experiments were all made with sheep of the
Leicester breed; and before I proceed further (that I may not be
misunderstood, as some of my statements may appear surprising to
those unaccustomed to make experiments and weigh sheep,) I shall

APPENDIX C. 419

state the weight of Swedes, &., &c., sheep and lambs will daily
consume ; also the live weight they will generally gain in four weeks,
according to their age and season of the year. I am enabled to do this
without much fear of contradiction, as I have been in the habit of
regularly. weighing my sheep and lambs nearly every month for more
than twenty years. Ss

An ewe lamb-hog in the month of February will eat of cut

Swedes in twenty-four hours, about...............0.00- 18 Ibs.
A wether lamb-hog. ..... ViselW EWN sine sacle qeee eGRenwn es 20
A. Pam, lambs hg as so:s:0iaisie iw aieinaieginiee 6iai0o 984 6 @iaete sive ¢ aes ace 22
A shearling wether-..........ccee cece ee eceeeees Sights seeie's 22
A feeding or breeding CWe........cce ccs e eset ence er eeeeeee 24
AL SUCKS CW Case sasd o veretatarec 4g reunite vas wio in fag late tl si tag] Stesuce giqand alge 96 28
A ram above two years O1d........ ccccee esse uses eneeeneas 30

— no other food but cut Swedes being given tothem: but if the weather
is mild or warm they will not eat so much as I have stated by about
one-fourth. If corn or oil-cake, or any other dry food is used, they will
consume.less turnips in proportion to the quantity given. I have
found that by giving sheep one pint of beans each per day, they will
not require so many Swedes by about five Ibs, or six Ibs. each.

“Lambs and sheep managed and fed well, if in small lots, will gain
in live weight each on the average per month:

Young lambs in the month Lambs in the month of

of April............0. . 9 Ibs. October.........eeeere 12 Ibs.
May..... *ladare gieve Beslee's alseree: LO November............06- 8
PUM G ore dnote ofa is ejeietoaaicrate 6 18 December .........-..60- 6
July..... F atouala wieisiels wodhnie- diets 15} January... ... eee eee eee 5
AULUSE . ieceeiee é signs 046 0 sis 12 February............000. 7
September...........0005- 12 Marehice isc icus-aivier tire osee de 10

— being about 180 Ibs., in twelve months, of live weight, or about 84 Ibs.
of mutton. Some lambs will, however, greatly exceed in gain the
weights that I have stated. = - * * *

' “Tn carrying out these experiments, I was obliged, for the most part,
to keep them in small yards, a system which I am generally opposed
to (for any length of time;) believing that sheep and all other animals
ought, as far as regards situation, to be kept in a state as near approach-
ing to that which nature assigned for them as possible, provided always
that their lair be kept clean and dry, and shelter allowed them from
the cold winds. When yards must be used for sheep, they ought always
to be kept tolerably free from manure, well littered, and to have plenty
of fresh air.

“ Experiment No. 1—In the month of March, 1845, I selected twelve
couples from the flock; the lambs being then about a fortnight old.
These were divided into two lots, as equally as well could be with
respect to the condition of the young lambs, and put into two separate
‘small yards. Six of them were fed on cloyer-hay chaff entirely; the
other six couples had 140 Ibs. of cut Swedes, and half a peck of beans
daily; both lots having water. At the end of the trial of about a month,
the lambs of each were carefully compared; and those certainly looked
the best and most thriving whose dams had been fed only on clover-hay
ehaff. :

420 APPENDIX C.

The six ewes fed on cut Swedes, ate 140 lbs., or 1} cwt. everyday, d.
at 6d. per cwt., cost per week cach..........eeeee eee ee BHA.
Also, half a peck of beans daily for the six ewes, at 4s. per

bushel, cost each per week, 7d; making the cost of keepmg
each ewe per WEEK ....... cece cece eee e eres cesses eeerecs
The six ewes fed on clover-hay chaff only, ate daily 21 Ibs., or 34
Ibs. each, at Gd. per stone, or £4 per tun, cost per head per

week.....secee0e ee ee ee oo ee ee - 104
* * * * * * * * *

“ Experiment No. 2.— Being desirous to prove further the value of
clover-hay chaff for ewes and lambs, I again selected twelve couples
from the flock, and divided them equally into two lots; they were also
put into separate small yards. On the 8d of April, 1845, the lambs
being weighed alive :

Six couples were fed on 9 lbs. of bran daily, which cost per head d.
for each ewe per weck, 54d.; they had also 15 lbs. of clover-
hay chaff daily at 6d. per stone, cost each ewe per week 73d.,

making the total cost of keeping each couple per week...... 18
The other six couples were fed on clover-hay chaff only, and ate
34 lbs. each ewe per day, at 6d. per stone, Cost............. 104

All the lambs were weighed again on the 17th of April, and
the result was as follows :

Six lambs, whose dams were fed on clover-hay chaff and bran, Ibs.

gained each on the average in 14 days............. seeeees 6
Six lambs, whose dams were fed on clover-hay chaff only, gained
in the same time....... pie Osleaue's nia! suk calaecuare phaibielatn eeeee 4G

A difference is here shown of 1} Ib. of live weight per lamb in favor of
the use of bran, but when the cost of it is taken into consideration there
does not appear to be much advantage in the use of it.

“ Haperiment No. 3.— Mangel Wureel against Swedes.— March 11th,
1846, I drew 12 couples from the flock, the lambs being about a month
old; these were divided fairly into two lots, and put into separate yards;
six of them were fed on mangel wurzel cut and put into troughs, with a
little hay-chaff; the other six couples were fed on cut Swedes, with a
little hay-chaff also; they were all weighed alive when put in on the
ano arch, and again on the 2d of April, when I found the following
result:

Lambs gained each Ewes lost in

on the average in the same
twenty-two days. time.
Couples fed on yellow globe mangel Tbs. Ibs.
wurzel and chaff.......... diate. 84 8
Couples fed on cut Swedes and chaff 94 3h

“This experiment does not speak much in favor of mangel wurzel
for couples early in the spring, but my ewes did not appear to like them,
and would not take to them well only as they were fresh cut. I found,
upon weighing the food of both sorts, that the ewes ate of mangel about
14 lbs. each per day, and those that had Swedes 22 lbs. each, which was
a great difference in the consumption of food; mangel being of a softer
nature than Swedes, they ought to have eaten the most of them, but as
the contrary was the fact, I suppose made the great difference stated in

APPENDIX C. 421

the loss in weight of those ewes fed on the mangel over those that had
Swedes, whilst the gain in weight of their lambs was much about the
same. Hence, I conclude that if ewes are fed with mangel wurzel, they
should have them thrown whole to them, either on grass land or in the
yard, with plenty of good clover-hay chaff, or they will not do well;
but this more particularly applies to their use in the early spring months,
when they are in a yey succulent state; they, however, lose much of
this by keeping toward the summer, when their value becomes apparent,
as I shall endeavor to show hereafter. * s * *

- “When young lambs are about three weeks old they will begin to
eat, and should have some food given them apart from the ewes, or run
upon some green food, such as clover, tares, or grass. I generally make
a yard or fold with common hurdles (kept very airy and well littered) on
my land intended the following summer for turnips, into which I put my
ewes when their Jambs begin to eat, and let the lambs run through a
hurdle set up endwise upon a piece of tares or vetches sown for the pur-
pose the preceding autumn. The couples are kept in this way until the
pastures intended for them have grown sufficiently high to carry the
number required until the lambs are weaned. Although some extra
expense is incurred by this system in the use of dry food, a good return
is obtained by the outlay, as the clovers and grass, by not being stocked
early, carry a much greater number of couples during the summer.
The usual method is to turn the ewes and lambs upon the clovers and
grass as soon as the turnip season is over, allowing them to range indis-
criminately over the whole field, which is decidedly a bad practice. I
would strongly recommend that part of the field should be fenced off
for the lambs to feed upon apart from their dams, which may be done
by setting upright some common hurdles.

“ Method of Keeping Couples during the Early Summer Months.—In the
year 1845 I had a field of land, one side of which was sown with white
clover and trefoil, the other side with tares, and a pjece of red or broad
clover was sown between each. The white clover and the tares were
fed off with ewes and lambs in the usual way, the ewes on either part
being kept asunder, but the lambs from each lot ran together through
the hurdles upon the red clover, which was a good pasture; they had
also a few split beans every day. To ascertain the value of tares against
clover and trefoil, for this purpose, I made

“ Hepertment No. 4.— From each of the above lots I took a few lambs
and weighed them alive twice during the month of May, and found their
increase in live weight per month to be as follows:

Average gain, in weight, of seven lambs, whose dams were fed lbs.

. on clover and trefoil......... siuel@isioteie- AGING SiN Viere's ale Bate eG 20
The like, whose dams were fed duing the same period on tares.. 164
—being a difference of 34 lbs. each lamb in favor of the clover and
trefoil. * * * * * * x *

“In the spring of 1846, having a considerable quantity of the yellow
globe mangel wurzel left on hand, I determined on making a further
trial of them as a summer food for sucking ewes, conceiving that they
would, when bereft of much of their succulent qualities through keeping,
feed sheep better than I found to be the case, as related in experiment
No. 3. I, therefore, selected from the flock a few couples in the middle
of May; one part of them were folded in the clover field, and fed with

422 APPENDIX C.

pleaty of cut mangel wurzel and _a little hay-chaff; their lambs ran
through the hurdles on a good pasture of red clover. The other lot of
ewes were left at ine in the common way on white clover and trefoil ;
their lambs, also, had a good piece of red clover to feed upon: both lots
of lambs had a small quantity of peas.

“ Experiment No. 6.—On the 25th of May the lambs from each of the
lots above described were weighed alive, and again on the 22d of June,
when the result was as follows:

Those lambs belonging to the ewes fed on mangel wurzel, gained Tbe

each, on the average, in 28 days.............006- eee oe Seets's
Lambs from ewes fed in the usual way on clover and trefoil,

gained each, in the same timé...........eeeeeeeeees aries
Difference each lamb in favor of mangel wurzel..........000055 8

“This statement, as well as others preceding, of lambs gaining in
live weight of about 20 lbs. each in 28 days, may appear startling to
those unaccustomed to weigh them alive, but this is no uncommon
weight for lambs to gain, if well fed and attended to in the early sum-
mer months. Those ewes fed on mangel ate about 224 Ibs. each per day,
care being taken that their lambs had none of it on those days that the
food was weighed, and, unlike those ewes fed on it in March, (see
Experiment No. 3,) I found them to thrive and do well with it. It
should, however, be remembered that the summer of 1846 was ver
favorable for the use of mangel, the weather being very dry the whole
of the period the above trial was carried on, and, consequently, more
unfavorable for those ewes fed on the clovers, which, toward the end of
the time, were nearly dried up. From this trial it appears that mangel
wurzel is of great use as a summer food for sheep, and as it will keep a
long time, if properly stored the preceding autumn, must be very useful
in a dry season for any kind of stock. * * * *

“Having proved by many experiments the advantage of putting
young lambs, after weaning, upon old keeping—namely, pastures that
have been stocked from the commencement of the spring —over
eddishes or pastures that have been previously mown the same season,
I will state one experiment as a sample of the rest. In the year
1834, I put a lot of lambs on some old sainfoin, having a few tares
carried to them, and another lot of lambs were put on young sainfoin,
or an eddish which had grown to a pasture; these, also, had some
tares. Each lot was weighed at the commencement, and again at
the end of the trial:

“ Experiment No. 7—Gain in weight of a lot of lambs fed on Ibs.
old sainfoin, from July 10-to August 10, each on the —

ays 1
Lambs fed on sainfoin eddish, gained each in the same time,. 8}

Difference,...... a eis wae 5 Siete saree sie senate ae wae aration 6
* * * * * * * * *

“ Hxperiment No. 8,— June 10, 1844, ten lambs were weaned, and
weighed alive, and put on red clover, with some tares and beans
given; on the same day, ten lambs were weighed alive, remaining
with their dams on white clover and trefoil, but allowed to- run
through hurdles upon good red clover. Each lot was weighed again

APPENDIX (©. 423

on July 5th, when it was found that they had increased in weight as
follows, each lamb on the average:

Lambs not weaned gained each, in thirty-three days,....... 17 Ibs.
Lambs, weaned, gained in the same time,..........e00eeee08 164 “

“ Experiment No. 9—June 4, 1845,.twelve lambs were weaned and
put upon red clover, tares, and a few beans, twelve other lambs lyin
with their dams on white clover, but run through hurdles upon goo
red clover. Both lots were weighed when put to trial, and again at
the end of a month.

Gain in weight of lambs not weaned,...........ecseeeeeeeee 21° Ibs.
Gain in weight of lambs that were weaned during the same

time, «

“These experiments are nearly equal; but I must remark, that
many of those lambs: that were weaned early wintered the best.”
* * * *

“ Haperiment No. 10.—In the month of October, I selected two
lots of lambs, and weighed them alive: To one lot was given, in
troughs, cut Swedes; and to the other was given, in troughs, the
common white turnip, also sliced. At the expiration of a month they
were weighed again, and gained each, on the average, as follows:

’ The lambs fed on common white turnips cut gained each,.... 10 Ibs.
Those fed on cut Swedes, gained in the same time each,..... 43“

In favor of the white turnip,...........c. cece eve wees 54

To show that the white turnip loses much of its value as the winter
approaches, agreeably to what I have stated, I will just show the
result of another experiment.

_ “ Experiment No. 11—On the 8th of November two lots of lambs
were weighed alive. One lot was fed on cut Swedes only, and the
other lot had only cut white turnips. They were weighed again
December 6, and gained each as follows, on the average:

Lambs fed on white turnips gained each, in a month,....... 64 Ibs,
The lambs fed on Swedes gained, in same time,............. 5 “

“The same lambs were continued to be fed as before for three
weeks longer, when I found, upon weighing them again, that the white
turmips quite gave place to the Swedes.

“ Experiment No. 12, (dry food, with Swedes, against Swedes only.—
In 1833 I weighed two lots of lambs on the 19th of November. To
one was given cut Swedes, with clover-hay chaff and maltcoom mixed ;
the other lot had only cut Swedes. They were all weighed again on
the 16th of January, and gained in weight as follows:

Lot of lambs fed on cut Swedes, with clover-chaff and maltcoom, lbs.
gained each, in two months,...........2+.sseeeeceeee sees D
Lot of lambs fed on Swedes only, gained each, in the same time, 8

In favor of dry food,........... SeA ahs Bana eRe 63

424 APPENDIX ©.

“ Beperiment No. 18.—Being again desirous of testing the use of
dry food for lambs at turnips, I tobk sixteen lambs from my flock on
February the 18th, 1846, and weighed them ; eight of them were penned
and fed with cut Swedes only. The other eight lambs had cut Swedes,
with 2 lbs. of clover-hay chaff and 2lbs. of bran mixed together for the
eight per day, or half-a-pound each. They were weighed again on the
17th of March, when the result was as follows:

Gain in weight of lambs, on the average, fed on Swedes, bran, iy

and clover-chaff,in a month,.......... cee pee eens ees tee
Gain in weight of lambs fed only on Swedes, during same time, 3f
Difference in favor of dry food,....... die Midnalataieaeerteletes 3t

The cost of dry food was
2 lbs. of bran per day amongst eight lambs for 28 days, or 4 a a

2 Ibs. of clover per day for eight lambs, during 28 days, gives 4 P

stone at 4s, per CWE... . ee cece ee eee aah eae sale ah
8)4 6
Cost of dry food for each lamb, per month,........... 6%
* * * * * * * * *

“ Heperiment No. 14—Having used linseed for some years with
success in the feeding of cattle, I determined to try whether it would
answer equally as well for sheep. I therefore gave a lot of eight lambs,
feeding on cabbages with white turnips, half a pint of linseed each per
day. ‘To another lot of eight lambs, also upon cabbages with white
turnips, clover- chaff was given, as much as they would eat. They
were = weighed on the 27th of October, and again at the end of
the trial.

Lambs fed on cabbage and linseed pues each per month,... 16 lbs.
Lambs fed on cabbage and clover-hay chaff gained each, in
SAME TUME) 6: ccie coe aisle weisiendisis woes a ikahaa marnuatyeee ape risers 16 “

“ Heperiment No. 15.—Having determined some years ago to have
nothing more to do with feeding sheep in yards, I was, however, last
season induced, through the favorable representations of some persons,
to give it a further trial. I took some of my best lambs, that I intended
to show for premiums, and put them into a warm, well-sheltered yard,
with a lofty hovel to feed under, being kept well littered with dry, fresh
straw; and their quarters appeared so comfortable, that I thought they
must go on well. They were fed with Swedes and corn in the usual
way. I weighed them alive when put into the yard, December 4th,
1845, against some other lambs fed on the same food, but in the field,
ae an the ordinary way. Both lots were weighed again on February

: :
Those fed in the turnip-field gained each, on the average, in lbs,
CIDE weeks. 22... ccs Giecvertvans ayalunvecasniie ay acd: GURcae avaueha Seva eraenishershcis 13
Those lambs fed in the yard gained each, on the average, in the
BAILS), CUI C ois ss tipey ate avays carse’s fececaicvacersive sisigyayena dat are ay erelasarseaueigie

Against the yard-feeding system,........ ee re 10

APPENDIX D. 425

“These lambs did not appear to like the confinement of being in
a yard, and would take every opportunity of getting out if they could.
This system is not natural for sheep, and cannot answer for long-wools,
or be depended on. * * * = oe -

“ Hzperiment No. 16.— Ibs.
On grass land, lambs fed with Swedes and chaff gained each,
on the average, from December 10 to March 5,........... 18
On turnip land, lambs fed in the same way gained each, in the
RAMS HME, 4 x.ais serve cone semernien Valente aensaerne sire aete es 17

“ Experiment No. 17.—

On grass land, lot of lambs fed with cut Swedes and chaff, in
ec., Jan., and Feb., 1835, gained each, on the average, in

Tres IM OMEDS so scsev assis scares as. oeccatces: scstnee beni sunisnarelousias sraeneavire 21
On turnip land, lot of lambs, fed in the same manner, gained
each, in the same time,.........cccsencoccnceneserevccees 19

Being only a gain of 2 Ibs. each during three months.
“ Haperiment No. 18.—
On grass land, lambs fed on carrots, Swedes, and chaff, gained
each, on the average, from Jan. 27, 1836, to March 2,.......

On turnip land, lambs fed in the same manner gained each, in
RITE SARIS: LUNE, 65s svacsvsraraenaisiersie elappin acces: siesa syareue ayalacarsesaiane ce 24

“The difference here is greatly in favor of feeding on grass Jand,
but not for carrots, (see other experiments.)

“ Haperiment No. 19.—
On grass land, lambs fed on Swedes, carrots, and chaff gained
each, on the average, from Nov. 16, 1837, to Feb. 10,.......

On turnip land, lot of lambs, fed in the same manner, gained
each, in the same time,........cceccecececcrcecsccececees

“This experiment differs much from the last; but it is the result of
three or four experiments that must be looked to, for I well know
that no single experiment can be depended on. A

APPENDIX D — (page 248.)
SHEEP AND PRODUCT OF WOOL IN UNITED STATES.

Tue following statistics are from the United States Census of 1860,
Under the extraordinary demand for wool which has existed for the last
two years, the number of sheep has probably increased far more since
1860 than it did for the ten preceding years.

426 APPENDIX D.

Woot. SHEEP.
STATES.
180. 1860.
Pounds. Number.
681,404 12.404
410,285 6,181
2,681,922 23,414
335,986 2,700
50,201 9
58,594 1,675
229 120,596
x 2,477,563 33,822
Indiana <~| 2,610,287 | 2,466,264 32,012
Towa, . 373,898 653.036 22,267
1,145
67,161
21,643
61,926
1,135
8,616
47,916
2,473
1,062
96,005
6,191
12,093
3,065
North Carolina,. = 738 A473 77,296
Ohio, ~-----| 10,196,37 10,648,161 132.653
Oregon, = 29,686 943 10,788
Pennsylvania, ... -| 4,481,570 4,752,523 53,225
Rhode Island, - = 692 90,699 5,455
South Carolina, ......---- .--.-------- - 487,233 427,102) ewcvecce es.
Tennessee, _.... -| 1,364,378 1,400,508
TOXAS) ccavnawavbeeseosessescacdestese -| 131,917 | 1,497,748 320,926
Vermont, .. -| 3,400,717 2,975,544 18,015
Virginia, .. -| 2,860,765 | 2:509,443 112;591
i governess - 253,963 1,011,915 11,885
Total States; 2.020020 siya cones es ceeteoaess 52,474,311 _| 59,932,328

TERRITORIES. a

Total Territories, ....-..---------------------- 42,648 579,015

Aggregate, .-......------------------ eee eee: 52,516,959 | 60,511,343 1,505,810

I give these figures for what they are worth. It will be seen that the
number of sheep reported in 1860 bears no correspondence whatever
with the product of wool the same year. It assuredly required qver
twelve millions of sheep, taken as they average, to produce sixty
million pounds of wool; and then the lambs of the year, not sheared,
would at least equal six millions more. I have no doubt there were
twenty millions of sheep in the United States in 1860, and probably the
present number equals twenty-five millions.

APPENDIX E. 427

APPENDIX E— (Page 250.)

STARTING A SHEEP ESTABLISHMENT IN THE NEW
WESTERN STATES.

Tue following letter is from an intelligent gentleman residing in
Essex County, New York, whom I knew a few years since as a highly
respectable member of the New York Legislature:

Curcaeo, Intxuvors, May 1, 1863.

Hon. H. 8. Ranpatu—Dear Sir: Yours dated April 20th came duly
to hand. I should have replied at once, but have not had a spare
moment for the last four weeks, as my sheep have required my undivided
attention. I am here on business for a day, and will take time to give
you a few facts as far as my experience is concerned.

About the 20th of last July I started from Calhoun County, Michigan,
with two droves of sheep, about 1,700 in each drove. My destination
was Southern Minnesota. In consequence of the Indian outbreak in
that section of country, I changed my plan and stopped in Northern
Iowa, about twenty miles west of McGregor, on the old military road
to Forts Crawford and Atkinson. My sheep stood driving remarkably
well, and arrived at that point about the 10th of September. I found
good feed, and by the time winter set in my sheep were in fine order.
I sold about 300 in the autumn, thinking I would winter the remainder.
I then set about preparing winter quarters for 3,000 sheep. I did not
erect my sheds at one place, (on account of the inconvenience of hauling
the feed I had purchased to one place,) but about two miles apart, where
water was convenient. I succeeded in, getting a grove, at each place,
and built my sheds fronting the grove and parallel with each other,
about 500 feet long. I built them of poles and posts from the groves,
and covered them with straw. The front posts were about six feet
above ground and the back ones about four. I employed Irishmen
that were in the habit of using the spade and covered the back side
with dirt, and then covered this smoothly with sod, which made them
very warm — being left open in front, this was important. I then cut
the sheds up with board fences about 22 feet apart, commencing under
the shed and running out about 50 feet in front, making yard and shelter
for about 50 sheep. I forgot to mention the width of the sheds, which was
18 feet. I then sorted my sheep, putting heavy wethers by themselves,
heavy ewes by themselves, &c.; in short, I went through the flock
grading them according to strength and sex. I started with prepared
winter quarters for 3,000, but continued to sell some through the early
part of winter. By the 1st of January I had reduced my flock to 2,200.
After that I declined selling more.

I will now give you a brief account of my feeding, its quantity,
quality, &c. I procured what hay I conveniently could, about half of
which was nice timothy. I expected to buy from time to time during
the winter, which I have been able to do at fair rates, say from $3 to
$4 per ton. I would quite as soon have good upland prairie hay as
timothy, provided it is cut early. The sheep will eat it better. I also
bought what corn I could in the field, paying from $4 to $7 per acre.

428 APPENDIX F.

This I cut while the fodder was green, before frost, shocking it in the
field and drawing in after the ground froze. This I found excellent
feed. I fed it once a day, usually at noon. After that was used up I
fed corn in the ear to all except my yearling lambs. The latter I feda
mixture of shelled corn, oats and shorts from the mill, mixing it as
follows :—+ corn, } oats, 4 shorts. I gave a pen of 50 lambs one-half
bushel once a day (at 11 o’clock.) This, with what hay they could eat,
made them prosper finely. I fed hay to all my sheep twice a day; but
the lambs generally got it three times.

My sheep have been remarkably healthy. Of course one dies
occasionally, but I have got them well through the winter. I have just
finished tagging. On coming to handle them, we find them very et
A large number are good mutton. Since putting up my sheep last fall,
T have lost less than one per cent. of 630 lambs that I went into winter
with. Only one has died. I think the feed I have used for lambs can’t
be bettered. My sheep are about two-thirds ewes. I can’t give any
definite idea of how many lambs I shall have, as I did not put my bucks
in with my ewes until the first of December. I was unfortunate enough
in the autumn to have a native buck get in with my flock once ina
while, and the result has been that I have had about ninety lambs
during the winter, scattered along. I had from the ninety ewes eighty-
four good healthy lambs. I should, however, have had but very few of
the lambs living, coming as they did, had it not been for the care of my
yard-master. A lamb will chill in one hour in cold weather if not
taken to the fire to dry, which is found necessary in most cases.

I am satisfied that Iowa and Southern Minnesota are especially
adapted to wool growing. The country where I am keeping my sheep
is somewhat uneven and rolling, and a good farming country. The
country seems prosperous. Improved farms are selling from $15 to $20
per_acre, and unimproved lands from $3 to $10 per acre.

I am sorry that I am obliged to give you such a hurried statement
of my experience with sheep in the West. Any farther inquiries you
may be pleased to make, I shall be happy to answer.

Yours truly, R. A. Lovetanp.

APPENDIX F — (page 257.)
OLIMATE OF TEXAS.

Tue following account of some of the peculiarities of the climate of
Texas, of the seasons and crops and their vicissitudes, I extract from
articles on the Climatology of that State, contributed to the Texas
Almanacs of 1860 and 1861, by Professor Caleb G. Forshey, Superinten-
dent of the Military Institute, in Fayette County:

APPENDIX F. 429
TEXAS NORTHERS.

Number and Duration—1. During seven or eight months of every
year, Texas is liable to a class of storms, or winds, styled “ northers,”
from the direction from which they come.

2. In the year 1857, there were twenty-six northers experienced at
the Texas Military Institute, in Fayette county. Of these some two or
three were gentle or baffled northers. They occupied fifty-seven days,
having an average of two and one-fifth days in length. The latest in
spring, was May 16, and earliest in autumn, was Nov. 7.

3. In the year 1858, there were thirty-seven northers, about thirty-

three of which might be classed as well marked, the others being either

entle or baffled northers. These occupied seventy-eight days. The
atest in spring, was May 9, and the earliest in autumn, was Oct. 7.

4. In the first half of 1859, there have been twenty-four northers, of
which four may be described as gentle or baffled northers. They have
occupied forty-seven days in their transit, and the latest was May 24.

5. It is proper to remark that nearly all the northers of May and
October are mild, and rarely do much damage, or produce so low a
temperature as to be severely felt. All the other months, November to
April inclusive, are liable to northers of considerable severity.

6. It appears then, that in thirty months last past, of which eighteen
months are liable to distinct northers, we have experienced eighty
northers, not including the feeble ones of May and October. The same
period has seventy-seven weeks, very nearly affirming the hypothesis of
weekly returns of the norther. An inspection of the table shows a large
number of punctual weekly recurrences of this meteor.

%. At this place of observation their duration varies from one to four
days.

Area and Boundaries of Norther.—8. The region over which this
peculiar storm has its sweep, is not very great, though its precise limits
can not be defined. By diligent inquiry from persons of great experi-
ence, we submit the following limits:

9. On the north, by the valley of Red river, in the Indian Territory;
on the east, by the second tier of counties from the east boundary of
Texas, near meridian 95°, south to the Trinity and thence south-east to
the mouth of the Sabine. On the south they are felt across the Gulf, to
the coast of South-Mexico and Yucatan. On the west they are bounded
by the Sierra Madre, up to the mouth of the Pecos, and thence by about
the 101st meridian to the sources of Red river.

10. Within this area, there are various degrees of violence, having
their axis of intensity between meridians 97 and 98, and increasing in
force and duration, the further south. At Red river, on this line, they
are usually limited to a day or two; whereas at Corpus Christi and
‘Matamoras, one norther often continues till the next supersedes it; and
at Vera Cruz, a twenty-days norther is not remarkable.

West of Fort Belknap, to the Pecos, the northers grow feebler and
rarer. North of Red river, on the route from Fort Washita to Fort
Smith, they are rarely felt.

On the east margin they are much modified by the forests of the
timbered region. At all points, an open prairie increases their vigor.

430 APPENDIX F.

Forces and other Phenomena,—11. The norther usually commences
with a violence nearly equal to its greatest force, if its initial point be
near the observer. If it has traveled some distance, it will be warmed
up, and moderated in its violence, at first attack. Its greatest force
might be marked five, in a scale between a gentle breeze, at one, and a
hurricane, at ten. The writer has measured one traveling at about
thirty-two miles per hour—but many others at twelve to eighteen miles.
The mean progress seems to be about fifteen miles per hour.

12. Just before a norther, two to six hours, the south wind lulls, and
the still air becomes very oppressive. A low black cloud rolls up from
the north, and when it comes near the zenith, the wind strikes with
vigor. Sometimes we have a sudden dash of rain; but generally
northers are intensely dry, and soon drink up all the moisture of the
surface earth, and of the objects upon it, capable of yielding their
humidity.

Great thirst of man, and all other animals, is experienced; an itching
sensation over the skin; a highly electric condition of the skin of horses
and cats; a wilting and withering of vegetation, even when the tempe-
rature would not account for it ; a reduction of temperature, usually very
sudden, sometimes, though rarely, a degree per minute, for twenty
minutes; and in winter commonly a reduction from 70° or 75°, to 30°
or 40°.

This fall of temperature is the more severely felt from the drying
power of the north wind— evaporation from the surface of the skin
increasing the severity of the temperature.

18. Nervous, rheumatic, and gouty persons suffer more severely than
others. To invalids suffering from other maladies, it has not been found
unhealthy ; and for persons of weak lungs, if not too much exposed to
its direct fury, it is found. to be more salubrious than the humid south
winds. Consumptions do not oriyinate over the area of the norther.
On the contrary, many persons afflicted with weak or diseased lungs,
resort to this region, and find relief. The western and northern portions
of this area are most salubrious, and best adapted to weak lungs.

*

Phenomena not readily explicable—When a dry norther commences,
the whole air, in an hour or two, curdles, and becomes smoky, or rather
whitish, and has a distinct smell. Its odor sometimes resembles that
which is developed by a flash of lightning, though, at other times, it
reminds one of fine straw smoke, in its odor.

It is highly probable that this turbidness and odor, are de to the
ozone set free, by the high electrical excitation, ina dry r .sther. Ex-
periments instituted to test the matter, last April, were wo late in the
season.

Sirocco. — When the norther has a little westing, it is observed to
be more intensely dry, and to be destructive tu vegetation, even before
the frost which usually follows it. Corn, beans, young foliage, and the
grass and weeds of the prairie, bow and wither before it.* A few of
these I have called Stroccos. They occur as well in summer as in spring
or autumn, and differ, in several respects, from the true norther.

* The citizens of Galveston, and the southern portions of Texas, will remember
the violent north-wester in 1856, which preceded and attended the storm which
wrecked the Nautilus. It was, in my judgment, a true Sirocco, In like manner the
north-west wind, that withered the corn-fields in Lamar, Fannin, and Grayson, and
the counties south of these, on the 17th day of August, 1858, deserves a like name.

APPENDIX F.

431

SEASONS AND CROPS: THEIR VICISSITUDES.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

January.—No rain.

February 6.—Prai-
ries getting green.—
10th. Corn, peas, let-|
tuce, and radishes|
coming up.
inch,

March %.—Corn six]

inches high; prairies
one month forward.
12th. Terrible frost ;]
kills every thing—
fruit and crops. Rain
1 inch.

April 5.—All green!

again; new crops up

and vigorous. 6th.
Norther, hail, and
freeze; all crops, fruit,
and mast, killed. 11-
12th. Sleet, snow, and
freeze, again. _ 24th.
Frost in valleys. —
Rain, }2 inch.

May 30.—Rain two
inches—not 12 inches
in a year.

June 11, — Wheat
reaped; good crop;
man and beast suffer-
ing for water. 20th.
Grass all dead.

July. —No rain!
August, no rain!

in if

January. — No _ se-
vere cold; abundant
rain,

February 8.—Vio-
lent storm. 1st, Bra-
zos overflows, 22d.
‘Peaches ‘killed by
rost, 25 deg. 27th.
Growing weather.

March 2.— Freeze,
24 deg. 20th. Woods
greenish; grasshop-
Ipers hatching, west.
27th: Make havoc and
migrate, 17th, Corn)

Jplanted. 25th. Squir-

rels migrate on Trin-
ity.

~ April 1—Grasshop-
pers bad in Guada-
loupe; May 20, coun-
try eaten up by them
west of 97° 10.

May 1 to 9.—Rain
534 inches; wheat,
loats, rye and millet
die of rust. 10-15th.
Rivers overflow. 25-|
30th. Corn tasseling ;
beans, peas and pota-
toes in use from 10th.

June. — Showery}
weather, 11th. Great
rain, Rain in June,
632 inches. 6th. Roast-
ling ears.

_ July.—Rain 1 inch.
Good corn crops over
most of the State.—
Rust kills all small
grain.

January—Some se-
vere weather. Rain
234 inches.

February 15--Grass
covers woods and
prairies ; corn-plant-

ing begins, 24th.—
Woods gray. Rain 1
inch.

March 6.— Woods
half-green ; rye head-

January. — Moder-
ately cold. Rain, 1.5
inch.

Febrnary 1, 2, 8, 24,
25, 26.—Frost. 1%th.
Rain copious, Enst-
Texas. Whole rain of
month, 5 inches.

March 5.— Prairies
green; corn-planting ;

ing; dogwoods bloom;
corn coming up gen-
erally. 20th. ‘00d
stand; post oaks
naked, blackjacks
green, 23d. Wild
geese leave,and doves|
coo, Rain—%.87.

April 1.— Radishes
land lettuce. 23d.—|
Frost kills corn and
cotton in low grounds
Rain, 0.69 in.

May %.—Fair rains)
start the re-planted|
crops ; not one grass-
hopper in the land.
22d. Crops look well;
wheat harvest begins.
28th. Wheat harvest’
closes; early corn tas-
sels. Total rain, 6.76
inches.

June 3.— Roasting
ears. 11th. Rain saves
corn; total, 0.50 in.

duly.—Very dry.—
Total rain, 0.90. 30th.
Cattle suffer for water

woods gray. Frost,
28-9 cuts off cotton
and some corn, and
igardens. 14th. Rad-
ishes and_ lettuce.—
Whole rain, 1.5 in.
28th. Geese migrate ;
good prospects of
crop.

April 1. — Whip -
oor-wills. 5th.—
oods quite green.
14th. Ground crack-
ing from drouth. —
21st. Dewberries ripe.
19th-27th, good rains;
total, 3.8 inches. -

May 1.—Crops very
promising ; no grass-
ngppers. 15th. Crops
‘wilt for want of rain.
25th. Corn tasseling ;
very dry. 2ist. Rye
ripe. 26th. Oats cut.
30th, Wheat ripe and
cutting. Rain, 0.35 in,

June.—No rain this
month. Corn per-
lishes, gardens die,
creeks and springs
dry up. Much corn cut
up west of Colorado,
‘Fayette and Wash-
ington make half
lerops corn; wheat,
outs, rye, and barley

ood. Greatest

routh over United
States ever remem-
bered.

July 1.—Cattle suf
fer for water; ponds
and creeks all dry;
continues to July
18th, when this report
closes,

432 APPENDIX F.

1857. 1858. 1859. 1860.

August and Sep-| August—Rain, 0.50;
tember.—Dry ; only 1|west of 97° no rain 3}
inch rain. all summer corn an
cotton dead. Augnst|

ve showers in

uadaloupe, etc.

September 7.—Oaks|

drying from drouth, Sept,—Good rains ;
except live oak. First 5.85 inches,

good rain this year, 2

Inches,

October,—Rain, 3) October. — Good] . October. — Good
inches, The prairies|rains, 3.7 inches. rains, 6.60 inches,
green.

November.—Grass-| November.—Some| November.—Warm|
hoppers, west. Rea-jrain—2X inches, and pleasant month ;
sonable rains; good no rain.

fall gardens. 26-27th.
Hard storms very
extensive; Nebraska|
wrecked at Galves-|
ton. Rain, 24 inches.

December—Lowest| December.—Rains| December 1 to &.—|
temperature, 30°. copious, 4.4 inches.—|Terrible winter
[No severe cold. ‘weather; snow, sleet,
rain and freeze; kills
cattle, horses and
sheep in vast num-|
bers. Hardest Decem-
ber ever known.

NORTHERS, WINTER OF 1859-60.

First genuine norther,.-.-....----- Sept. 30/Number of days occupied,
Last genuine norther, . .. April 23)/Average duration, hours,
Number of weeks’ time, --28/Lowest day’s temperature, Dec. 6th,
Number of northers, ...-..-.------------ 28|Lowest 3 days’ norther, Dec. 6th,

TEMPERATURE AND HYGROMETRY OF 1859 AND PART OF 1860.

1859. 1860.
WET WET
‘TEMPERATURE, BULB |RAIN: TEMPERATURE. BULB |RAIN:
SUNR.|2 P.M.|9 P.M.||MEAN|| MEAN| IN.
January, -.| 41.00] 63.58] 47.19|| 50.571) 48.00] 4.75] |__-_.
February, -| 55.19] 73.32| 58.82|| 62.44|| 50.50| 0.80||_
83.71] 71.50] 59.00|| 61.50| 54.56] 1.56| |”
72.60| 63.60|| 65.31|| 59.33] 0.75| |.
84.22] 71.15|| 75.61] 69.33) 1.75||.
88.38| 80.07|| 81.56|| 76.45| 2.50) |”
89.77] 82.10]| $4.76|| 77.40] 2.30) |-
‘August, ~--|79.01| 93.02] 82.04|| 84.90|| 79.36] 0.40] |
September, | 75.30| 85.00] 78,00|| 79.42|| 75.40] 5.85] |-
October, . . "| 59.80] 75.20] 63.86|| 66.29|| 64.53) 6.60] |-
November, | 55.16) 74.43] 61.16|| 63.92|| 61.80] 0.10| |-
December, .| 35.00} 54,00|-40.00|| 43.00|| 42.25] 3.00) i
Annual, . 68.04|| 63.62] 30.361 114 yr.|} 60.42] 76.51| 63.03|| 66.67|| 60.44] 11.75

APPENDIX G. 433

APPENDIX @.

PROPORTION OF WOOL TO MEAT IN SHEEP OF DIFFERENT
AGES, SEXES AND SIZES.

Tue following was not received until this work was nearly through
the press, and too late to refer to it except in this place:
Pomptry, Onon. Co., N. Y., Aug. 22, 1863.
Hon. Henry 8. Ranpatit— Dear Sir; Agreeable to your request, I
herewith send you my investigations and observations upon the compar-
ative weight of wool and bodies of sheep. I hope they will be of benefit
to the sheep breeder, as well as the wool grower; and that I shall have
the satisfaction of knowing that I have in part repaid to the world much
that I owe for the investigations of those who have gone before me.
With high hopes, but no higher ambition than to be called a “good
farmer,” I remain your obedient servant,
Homer D. L. SwEer.

COMPARATIVE WEIGHT OF WOOL AND BODIES OF SHEEP.
BY H. D. L. SWEET.

The Hon. Robert R. Livingston, the first President of the first Agri-
cultural Society of the State of New York, in his justly celebrated essay
on Fine-Wooled Sheep, uses the following language:

“The inferiority in the size of the Merino to some other breeds,
which some make as an objection, is, in my opinion, an important
advantage, not only in sheep but in every other stock not designed for
the draft; because they will fatten in pastures in which larger cattle
would suffer from the fatigue they must undergo, in order to procure
the food that is necessary for their support.

“This meaning applies more strongly to sheep than to any other
stock. They are genealy kept upon high and dry pastures, that are
frequently parched in summer, when fatigue is most irksome to them.
To which we may add that the fleece is not proportioned, as the food is
to the bulk of the animal, but to his surface, and a small sheep having
more surface in proportion to his bulk, must also have wool in the same
proportion. That is, a sheep whose live weight shall be 60 lbs., and
who, of course, will require but one-quarter of the food of a sheep that
weighs 240 lbs. will, notwithstanding, have halfas much wool (if the
fleeces are equally thick,) as his gigantic brother.” *

* Transactions of the Society for the Promotion of Useful Arta, Vol. IT, p. 86.
19

434 APPENDIX G.

In proof of the first proposition, that sheep do consume in proportion
to their bulk, Mr. Livingston submits, in an appendix to his essay, the
record of many experiments which show conclusively that such is the
fact; but of his second proposition, that they shear in proportion to their
surface, he gives no facts, and I suppose it to be mere theory. The
attention of the writer was called to this subject by the Hon. George
Geddes, some four years since, and at his request the trial was made,
and the result has been given to the world by yourself. Experiments
of the same character on the same flock have been conducted for three
successive years, and their results are recorded in the following tables.

In one or two points they are not as perfect.as I could wish, but they
are the best that could be done with so small a flock. Had there been
from forty to fifty in each class and every year, the natural law in rela-
tion to them might be nearer in accordance with the facts noted; for as
there are exceptions to all rules, I may be giving the exception and not
the rule. This can be true only in regard to five and six year old ewes,
and five year old wethers. In all other cases, taking the thiee years
collectively, I am confident that facts of value have been obtained.

The base of the flock a few. years since was Saxon; they are now
classed from one-half to seven-eighths Spanish Merino—a portion of the
largest, in 1861, was one-quarter French Merino. In 1861 the ewes
raised 35 lambs; in 1862, 30, and in 1863, 70. In the fall of ’61 the
oldest and largest were sold and replaced by 60 lambs purchased. In
the fall of ’62,'70 wether lambs were purchased, part of the smallest of
them were sold, some three-year old ewes purchased ; and some older
ones sold. Other discrepancies that may be noted are attributable to
death. They were all brook-washed about two weeks before shearing.
The flocks at the time of shearing were in good condition —some of the
ewes thin, of course. The four rams in the flock are included with the
wethers, to save space, figures and calculation. The first table is the
same as published in 1862, in Mr. Randall’s Essay, in the Transactions
of the N. Y. 8. Agricultural Society, except that I have subdivided the

- sexes. The fifth table is the same as the second one then published,
except that I have added the last three classes, and called them one.
They were sheared the 26th and 27th of June, 1861; 27th, 28th and 30th
of June, 1862, and 25th, 26th and 27th of June, 1863. Every sheep and
fleece were weighed separately and recorded on the spot.

[ The tables referred to in the preceding paragraphs are given on
the two following pages.]

APPENDIX G.

435

SWEET BROTHER’S FLOCK, POMPEY, N. Y.
TABLE 1. 1861.—-CLassirigp BY AGE AND Sex.

Las. oF | Per Cr.
No. 1n SEXES. Gross |W’. oF| Wt.oFr |AVER. OF|AVER. OF|

Crase| ASS pwes, Weta’s.|Weient.| Boptes. | Woot. | Bovres, |FLEECES. Fi Cae: env 70
19 1/8 1,193.72] 1,097] 96.72] 52.47). 5.09 | 1044] 8.10
13 i Ww 965.23} 804] 71.23] 68.77| | 5.48 12.55| 7.37
15 218 1,124.37| 1048] 76.37] 69.86] 5.09 13.72| 6.88
15 2 w | 1383.92] 1,299] 84.92) 86.66] 5.66 15.29| 16.53
9 3 | E 759.14| 710} 49.14] 78.88] 5.45 14.45| "6.46
42 3 w | 4,155.11} 3,891] 264.11) 9264! 6.28 14.73] 6.83
41 4| 2 3,738. 3,557| 181. 86.75| 4.41 19.65| 4.84
26 4 w. | 2021.13] 2:736| 185.13] 105.11) 7.12 14.76| 6.33
iso |tto4| sa ! 96 |iea41. | 15,331| 1.010] 85.17| 5.38 15.17| 6.18

TABLE 2. 1862.—C.assIFIED BY AGE AND SEX.
42 1[£ 2,378.57 2,189| 189.57| 52.11) 4.51 11.60| 7.96
52 1 W | 3,224.51| 2'985| 289.51) 57.40] . 4.60 42.46] 7.42
19 2/58 1,387.16] 1,292] 95.16) 68. | 5. 13.57| 6.86
13 2 w | 1225.16 1147/7816} 88.23 6 14.66] 6.46
14 3 | £E 1,026.31 960 66.31| 68.57} 4:70 14.47| 6.46
13 3 WwW | 1,207.36] 1,215]. 82.36) 93.40! 6.33 14.75| 6.35
9 4| 8 726.59) 79, 47.591 77.44] 5.28 14.26] 6.54
27 4 W | 2.693.06| 2,505] 188.06] 92.77| 6.96 13.32| 6.98
15 5 | E 1,178.15] 1,111} 67.15] 74. | 4.47 16.54] 5.77
ao 5 Ww | 1,153.40 15075] 78.40] 97.72| 7.12 13.71| 7.00
ai5-l1to5! 99 | 116 |16,290.27! 15,158/1,132.27! 70.50! 5.26 13.30! 6.95
TABLE 3. 1863.—CLAssIFIED BY AGE AND SEx.

14 1 {5B 955.78 877) 78.78] 62.64] 5.62 11.00] 8.24
78 1 W | 5,623.84 5,201] 422.84] 66.67| 5.42 12.30] 7.71
42 2165 2)861.64 2662| 199.64| 63.38] 4.75 13.33] 6.97
48 2 w | 3,994.79] 3,735] 259.79] 77.81 5.41 14.37| 6.50
33 3 | E 2837.24) 2.658| 179.24 80.54] 5.40 14.821 631
13 3 W ‘| 1,338.89] 1,251] 87.89] 96.23| 6.76 14.23] 6.56
13 4/28 1,154.68] 1,083, 71.68} 83.30 5.51 15.10] 6.26
9 5 | E 735.93 680| 45.93) 75.35} 5.10 14.821 6.24
10 6 | E 837.84 790] 47.84) 79.00] 4.78 16.49] 5.70
260 litoé6!121 | 139 20,850.63! 18,957|1,393.631 72.91! 5.32 13.58] 6.84

; TABLE 4, AVERAGE OF THE THREE YEARS.
Classified by Age and Sex, the Footing being the three Flocks collectively.

“POUNDS OF

No. In AWAGE W7.| AVERAGE WT. AVERAGE
Cass. AGE. . Sex. or Bopy. oF FLEECE. 1 Bor 70 Per CENT.
75 1 E 55.74 5.07 11.01 8.10
76 2 E 67.08 4.94 13.54 6.90
56 3 E 75.99 5.18 14.58 6.41
63 4 E 82.49 5.06 16.33 5.88
24 5 E T4.67 4.75 15.68 6.00
10 6 E 79.00 4.78 16.49 5.70
143 1 Ww 64.28 5.16 12.43 7.50
76 2 WwW 84,23 5.69 14.77 6.49
68 3 Ww 88.86 6.45 14.57 6.58
53 4 Ww 103.94 7,04 14.04 6.65
ll 5 Ww 97.72 7.12 13.71 7.00
Ewes. Weta.
655 304 351 79.52 5.32 14.01 6.65

436 APPENDIX 6.

TABLE 5, 1861.—CLAssIFIED BY WEIGHT,

In divisions of 10 Pounds each, except those weighing less than 50 lbs., and
those more than 100 lbs.

|W EIGHT Laps. oF | Per Cr.
No. IN] SEXES. Gross |W’r. oF| W7. oF |AVER. OF|AVER. OF

Cass triad Ewes. |Were.|Weiaut,| Bopres, | Woot. | Bopres. |FLEECES. Lieeaat relia
5 {42 to bl) 56 256. 284) 22. 46.80) 4.40 10.63) 8.59
14 [50 to 61] 10 4 871, 803} 68. 57.35) 4.85 11.80] 7.80
20 {60 to 71; 14 6 | 1,427. 1,820] 107. 66. 5.35 12.33] 7.49
34 |70 to 81) 2L 13 | 2,742. 2,567) 175. 75.50) 5.14 14.66) 6.38
39 |80 to 91} 19 20 | 3,566. 3,355) 211. 86. 5.41 15.87} 5.90
34 |90to101}) 11 23 «| 3,453. 3,252] 201. 95.64) 5.91 165.42) 5.82
34 |100tol34| 4 30 | 4,026. 3,800) 6. 111.76] 6.67 16.80} 5.61
180 |42to 134] 84 96 |16,341. 15,331]1,010. 85.17| 5.38 15.17] 6.18

TABLE 6. 1862.—CLASSIFIED BY WEIGHT, AS BEFORE.

87 (34 to 61| 23 | 14 | 1,875. 1,725| 150. 46.60| 4.05 11.50] 8.00
41 [50 to 61| 19 | 22 | 2/480. 2/270| 190. 55.87, 4.63 1194] 7.72
42 |e0 to 71] 25 | 17 | 2/940. 2740] 200. 65.23, 4.75 13.70| 6.80
30 |70 to 81| 24 | 6 | 2,432. 2/272! 160. 75.73} 5.33 14.20] 6.57
25 |80 to 91} 6 | 19 | 2266. 2110| 156. 84.40] 6.24 13.52] 6.88
25 |90 to101] 2 568. 23408] 160. 96.32| 6.40 15.05] 5.84
15 |100t0127 16 | 1743.27] 1,633] 110.27} 108.86] 7.35 34.80] 6.32
215 |34to127! 99 1116 {16,290.271 15,158!1,182.271 70.50! 5.26 13.301 6.95

TABLE 7, 1863.—CLASSIFIED BY WEIGHT, AS BEFORE.

10 {86 to 51) 5 5 493. 455) 38. 40.50] 3.80 11.97) 7.91
84 (50 to 61) 15 19 | 2,009. 1,850} 159. 54.44, 4.67 [14.15] 7.90
67 (60 to 71) 33 34 | 4,828. 4,480) 348. 66.88) 6.19 12.87) 7.20
96 |70 to 81) 44 52 | 7,755. 7,230) 625. 75.30} 5.46 13.77) 6.76
28 |80 to 91) 14 14 | 2,550. 2,390] 160. 85.35] 5.71 14.93) 6.23
16 |90to101) 7 9 | 1,628. 1,532] 96. 95.75] 6.00 16.85) 5.89
9 |100t0140) 3 6 | 1,087.63) 1,020) 67.63) 113.33) 7.51 16.09} 6.21
260 |!36 to 140! 121 | 189 120,350.63! 18,957/1,303.631 72.91 5.82 13.681 6.84
r 7
TABLE 8. Tue AVERAGE OF TABLES 5, 6 AND 7.
AVERAGE AVERAGE | PouUNDS OF ‘
No. In | WEIGHT OF SEXES. Per Cent.
Weiaut oF | Wziaut oF} Bopy ro
Cuass. | Drvistons.| Ewezs. | WETH’s. Bovres. Fureces. |1 or Woor,| °F Woot.
62 34 to 51 33 19 44.63 4.08 11.36 8.16
89 50 to 61 44 45 65.78 4.71 11.90 7.80
129 60 to 71 72 57 66.03 5.09 12,96 * 7.18
160 70 to 81 89 vel 75.52 6.81 14,21 6.53
92 80 to 91 39 63 85.25 5.78 14,77 6.383
75 90 to 101 20 55 95.90 6.10 15.44 5.85
58 100 to 140 7 51 111.31 TT 15,56 6.04
655 34 to 140| 304 351 79.52 6.32 14.01 6.65

The value of these tables can only be known by careful comparison
and thorough study of them. What may be learned I have not now
the time to determine; but from a very cursory glance at them, I learn
that Mr. Lingsion 8 proposition is true. sheep do shear more in
proportion to their bulk than large ones, without regard to age or

APPENDIX G. 437

sex. I learn, also, that yearling ewes shear the largest per centage they
ever will shear, and that they shear less and less per centage as they
grow older, till they are four years old. They gain until five, when they
are in their prime, and raising a lamb at that age does not decrease the
product of wool as it has done; but at six they have passed the meri-
dian, and for the product of wool commence going “down hill.”

It can be seen at a glance that wethers shear their largest per
cent. when yearlings. At two, they have lost 1 per cent., after which
they commence gaining, and continue to gain till they are five years old,
after which I know nothing of the facts.

The facts are just as obvious in the classification by weight. The
smallest sheep shear the largest per centage, and as their weight
increases the fleece decreases in proportion, till they weigh more than 100
lbs., when it increases the fifth of 1 per cent.—a smaller increase than any
decrease in either of the tables. This being the exception to what
before seemed to be the rule, leads me to believe that the number in the
class is too small, and that I ought to have had 100 sheep at least in this
class to arrive at the truth. If it could be ascertained what per cent. of
Jambs 100 or 1,000 ewes would raise, and the average market price of
average lambs on the ist of October, it could be very easily calculated
which would be the most profitable to keep, a flock of ewes or wethers.
But as there is no likelihood of this being done, and as ewes are
absolutely necessary to increase the flock, perhaps no farmer will be bold
enough to have a flock exclusively of wethers, though I am confident
that these tables will prove that the wethers have brought to the farm
the most money at the average price of wool and lambs.

If I had the time I might pursue these deductions further, with
profit to myself if not to those who read; but I think enough has
already been disclosed to give any inquiring mind a stimulus to pursue
the investigation. Every wool raiser ought to know which of his sheep
he is keeping at a profit and which at a loss. By weighing the fleeces as
they are shorn, he thinks he knows all about it, when in reality he
knows nothing, or at the best only half. At sheep shearing the careful
breeder ought to know what any sheep ought to shear when it comes
on the floor. For instance, next year we shall have a dozen four
year old wethers, any one of which ought to weigh somewhere near
ninety pounds and shear seven pounds. If any one weighs up to the
average of the last three years, and shears above the average, keep him
— if below, sell him. hen a ewe is brought on the floor, other things
have to be taken into consideration, as she is to breed, viz., the quality
of the wool, the form of the body, beside the weight of the fleece and
weight of the body. If she has raised a lamb, it must be examined; if
a ewe lamb, particularly. In our flock we have now made a standard
to which we can refer; our efforts of course will be to excel it. Those
who keep flocks expressly for their increase, will make a standard of
their own, and those who keep sheep exclusively for wool, will make
their standard accordingly. Every breeder cught to know every fact
certainly, and have his record to refer to.

438 APPENDIX 8.

APPENDIX H— (page 75.)

THE AMERICAN MERINOS AT THE INTERNATIONAL
EXHIBITION OF 1863.

Tr was noticed at page 75 that Mr. George Campbell, of West West-
minster, Vermont, took American Merino sheep to exhibit at the
International Exhibition at Hamburg, in July, 1863. The result was
not ascertained in time to be alluded to in the body of this work.

Mr. Campbell found 1,761 sheep competing in the same class with
his own. They were from the Austrian, Prussian and other States of
Germany, and from France. Among the French sheep competing were
about sixty belonging to the Emperor Napoleon. Mr. Campbell was
awarded the first prize of fifty thalers for the best ram, the second prize
of twenty-five thalers for the second best ram, and the first prize of fifty
thalers for the best ewes. :

The Committee of Award consisted of eighteen noblemen and
gentlemen. The examinations were made by sub-committees, whose

reliminary reports were subject to the revision of the general committee.

he American sheep had encountered a certain degree of prejudice
from their first arrival. The breeders of the old world, and particularly
of Germany, seemed to think it audacious that Americans, who had so
often imported sheep from Germany, should now enter the lists as
competitors against them. And when a rumor began to gain ground
that the sub-committee were disposed to award one and then two first
prizes to the American Merinos, it caused loud expressions of dissatis-
faction, which were promptly re-echoed in the German newspapers.
Notwithstanding, and in defiance of all of this, the general committee
with manly independence ratified the action of the sub-committee by a
unanimous vote. On the official promulgation of the decision, the
previous censures took the form of accusations. It was asserted that
the committee had been unduly influenced. Thereupon Col. Danie.
Needham, Corresponding Secretary of the Vermont State Agricultural
Society, who was present at the Exhibition as the Commissioner of the
State of Vermont, after conferring with the U. 8. Commissioner, Gov.
Wright, and Mr. Campbell, published a card in the German tongue,
proposing a sweepstakes open to all the previous competitors — the
award to be made by a new committee, to be selected by the German
asgociation under whose auspices and direction the International
Exhibition took place. Col. Needham’s proposal was that each com-
petitor pay an entrance fee of $10; and if there were less than ten entries
he offered himself to make up the prize to $100. This offer, (substantially
a challenge to a new trial,) was posted and circulated among all the
competitors. Mr. Campbell immediately entered his sheep, dut his was
the only entry! This rendered the triumph of the American Merinos
absolute and undeniable; and the press and public, with that hearty
honesty which always marks the German national character, did ample
justice to the Americans and to the American sheep. Mr. Campbell
sold his prize sheep, twelve in number, to a Prussian nobleman for $5,000.

APPENDIX H. _ 439

The highest priced foreign Merino sold at the Exhibition fetched but £40,
or $200. The preceding facts are stated on the personal authority of
Mr. Campbell and Col. Needham.

I cannot here withhold a pleasing fact which strikingly evidences
the fairness and the modesty of the victorious exhibitor at Hamburg.
Col. Needham informs me that Mr. Campbell on all occasions, signified
to the breeders of Germany and France, and requested him, (Col.
Needham,) to signify that he was not the founder or leading breeder of
the improved family of American Merinos, which his (Mr. Campbell's)
sheep chiefly represented—but that this honor belonged to Mr. Hammond.
Mr. C.’s show sheep were, if I remember aright, all from his celebrated
ram “Old Grimes,” bred -by- Mr. Hammond and got ‘by his “ Sweep-
stakes.” “Old Grimes” competed: against his sire in the great
sweepstakes at the Vermont State Fair of 1861, and stood second. He
is remarkable for individual excellence and as a stock getter.

I was one of those consulted by Mr: Campbell in reference to taking
American Merinos to the International Exhibition, and I strongly
encouraged him to doso. I had just as little doubt of their success then
as now, provided they could receive fair play; and I never for an instant
doubted that among the many Germans they would ‘receive the same
fair play which our stock and products have recerved at all these World’s
Fairs. In. Germany as in England, we encountered some prejudice—
but when the time for official action arrived, it always gave way like a:
morning mist before the broad, bright sun of personal and official
honor. ORIG: NE ~* >

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

__Page.
Merino Ram “ Errol sels b bee's oe same weeae .....drontispiece
Spanish Wool,......-s+eeeee Biss bsesin ipl ik tva ote ororeistneetctoeie errr 16
Baxon Ram,.......ccecceccnceteccnccsvecererseeneseeesscesces 26
Merino Ewe, (Imported Paular,).. dsb’aipin, giovela.wievnd sist wloceistaidtelewinielwtare wie 31
Merino Ewe, (Old Fashioned, i ioraveie wid binsats aiereces EIS dis 5 889 34
Bilesian Merino Ram,.........cccccccesceeeececnceetereestseees 38
Group of Silesian Ewes,........se+esseeeesseeeeeee es beets a'8%8 41
Leicester Ram,..........s008 sograteietale eREN GC. Ueceeee Oe RES BEET E 45
Leicester Ewe,.......-..-+ saber trates alee aly iates fase cele Siete SMM EF RSH S 47
Cotswold Ram,..........ccccseecereceeecece neste rceeesenecrees 48
Cotswold Ewe,.......ccccscencccce cesses wansercscserescceceees 50
South Down Ram,..........ccceecece cence cvcceereesenscesecs 56
South Down Ewes,......--scccececcctcerccneseneeeccceeseerass 57
Shropshire Down Ram,..........ceseeeesceeeeeneees Ese a Sees 62
Shropshire Down Hwe,..........eceeecee cee ec een ereceneeeeens 64
Shepherd’s Crook,...... 0c. cece eee cece eee e ee ce et ee ne ee ee nnen es 139
Tagging, illustrated, SLOke Re aCe eeeeoReeweee Tae STE ae GN 141
Toe-Nippers,... 2... cece eee eee c cen ee cone cee teetnne eee ee eneees 169
Folding Tables,..........-ccceeeeecnecceee cece rene eres eer ccees 178
Fleece Ready for PYess,..... ese e cece eee ee cee tawenseeeeees 173
Fleece in Press, : 174
Wool Press,.........

Tattooing Instruments, (three figures,).........+eeeeeeeeeereeces 184
Ears, Tattooed, ..i..vssssersenen cease eevs ew ne ce see ee ee seis cei 184

Metal Bar - Mark ainiteiale ide lo sree ad weet 185
Tippaig Box,. . Sacayt aera ecdiajarae-siareueia arore bie ais etecere were 187
Shed Poles,.. airs latte Weis fete PSone a lbNG va) wvaia Seip da Mala tala Sud Teele iain, Sioa; ginses: § 211
Sheep Barn, with Open Sheds, aiaiereapaaie . 218
Ground Plan of Sheep Barn and Yard te . 217
Ground Plan of a Sheep Establishment,. -. 218
Slatted Box Rack,..........ccceseeeceees és +» 230
Wall Rack and Trough, eet eer ee ee sees 281
End View of Wall Rack and Trough,...........ceesesecceeeee 232
Skull of a Sheep,........cccccccccccccccccccsccssvsessssressees 265
Teeth of the Sheep,.......... Suga whee ose ages oles aels Sg aoeRras 266
Section of Sheep’s Head,........... cece cece ee ee cece cece neeees 273
Gad-Fly of the Sheep,........... sce e cece ce cece cence eee eeenese 274
The “Grub” or Larva of the Gad- Fly, (three figures,).......... 274
Phe: Stomachs; ciss0 ce. osiapnacccuaew sega cigs lersvswlawae Coaide wv esmeleimareys 294
Internal Appearance of Stomachs,............eeeece cere eceeeees 295
The Intestines and Mesentary,............ Caius awionsisiaiete lnsieie tied. 303
Sparse phesp DOB ss: sawierceoewiadawkenweesieis aeisueisig menses ses on 897

he Scotch Sheep Dog, or Colley,.......sscecscececeseeccececs 409

The English Sheep, or Drover’s Dog,........ oataaaiasaralarnsi sh aleeeis 407

INDEX.

A
Abortion, 329.
Abscess, 382.’
Adams, ‘Seth imports Merinos into United
States, 22.

Allen, A. B. ‘describes first French Merinos
imported into United States, 35.
recommends tar, sulphur and alum for
diseased sheep, 194.
Anatomy of the sheep, a, et seq.
cut of skeleton,
cut of skull, 265.
cut of teeth, 266.
cut of section of sheep’s head, 273.
the omentums described, 293.
cut oe external appearance of stomachs,

294. :

cut of internal appearance of stomachs,
295.

ae al and their functions described,

mode of introducing medicines into
the stomach, 299.
cut of the intestines, 3803.
Apoplexy, 280. :
Annee long-wooled sheep, origin of 44,

Aewoat! Stephen, his family of Merinos
described, 28.
his family of Merinos compared with
Mr. Jarvis’ 28.
their improvement in other hands, 29.
30.

a strict in-and-in breeder, 120.
the improved Paulars receive a cross
from his flock, 417-419.

B

Baker, the Messrs., their experiments in
crossing French and American Me-
rinos, 129 note.

Bak Emel Robert, ‘the great improver of} -

Leicester sheep, 45.
“in in-and-in breeder, 46, 119.
in-and-i in breeding formed an element
RA of his success, 122.
“origin of his flock not Pequepyy drawn
from different breeds.

Bakewell, Robert, he purposely rotted
sheep, 376.
Barns for sheep, construction of, 212-219.
cuts of 213, 217, 218.
should be cleaned out in winter, 219.
Beanes, Capt., imports a oeretee and
South Down sheep, 44 note.
Bedford, Dr., on the necessity of exercise,
k ete., to pregnant females, 222,
Beets as sheep feed,
Bement, Caleb N., his account of C. Dunn’s
flock, 44 note.
Biflex Canal, disease of, 354, 855.

. Bigelow, Dr., account of St. Johns -wort,

Black-faced Scotch sheep described, 51.
"introduced into the United States by
Samuel Campbell, 52.
weight of their fleeces, 52.
imported by Sanford Howard, 52.
Blacklock, Mr., cited in regard to diseases
of sheep, 277, 316.
Blain, 291, 292.
Blanchard, H., gia eanteS the Wool Depot
system.
Bleedin; 3 Place for, 814, 315.
mo erforming, 314, 315.
Became ., States cost of getting
wool and Tihiee products: to market
from Itinois, 251 note.
ae hme on prairie sheep husbandry,

29,|Brain, hydatid on, 277-279.

water on, 279, 280.

' inflammation of the,. 282.

Braxy, 311.

Breeding, in-and-in, extent of among im-
proved. Infantados} 30,

definition of the term,.101.

like produces like, 101.

breeding back, 101,
causes of hereditary transmission
partly controllable, 101, 102.

likeness inherited with uniformity
“among full bloods, 102.

mongrels, etc., do hot transmit like-
ness with uniformity, 102.

counteracting the defects of one parent
by the excellencies of the other, 103,

hereditary predispositions to be re
garded, 103.

accidental characteristics, how aq

his sheep improved’ ‘by Ootewvold blood,
4%, 133.
19*

* counted for, 108, 104.

442

Breeding, accidental characteristics are
sometimes vigorously reproduced
and become established, 103-106.
are peculiarities acquired after birth
transmissable? 103 note.
accidental characteristics less trans-
missable when oppasee to the special
ones of the breed, 105.
Is

preeding between animal
the same defect to be avoided, 106.

relative influence of sire and dam on
progeny, 106. : ; 3

the theory that the animal organiza:
tion is transmitted by halves, 107.

Mr. Walker's modification of this
theory, 107, et seg.

Mr. Spooner’s views on the same sub-
ject, 107, ef ee ;

the foregoing theories examined, 107-

properties transmitted by degrees, not
by halves, 109.

mode of their transmission, 109.

the ram oftenest transmits his external
structure to progeny, 109, 110.

the ram oftenest gives size and a part
of the qualities of the fleece, 110.

jnfuence of the ewe on the progeny,

causes of the ram’s superiority in this
particular, 110, e¢ eg

influence of higher breeding among
full bloods, 111, 112.

influence of pure over grade, etc.,
blood, 111.

why rams of same blood differ in
transmitting their qualities, 111.

influence of physical and sexual vigor,

112.

indications of these in the ram, 112
note, 113. ‘

ability of rams to procreate at differ-
ent ages, 113.
eriod of procreation in Merino, 113.

longevity of different breeds, 113, 114,

does the male which first impregnates
a female influence her subsequent
offs; ring ? 114.

Mr. Cline’s theory that small males
and large females should be coupled,
114, 116.

in-and-in breeding, how the term is
used in this work, 116.

Sir John Sebright’s views, and his
use of this term, 116-118.

prejudice against breeding in-and-in
in the United States, 116.

its effect where hereditary diseases
prevail, 117.

it results from Divine ordination in
many instances, 117, 118.

difference between men and brutes in
this particular, 118.

difference between wild and domesti-
cated brutes in this particular, 118,

under what circumstances in-and-in
breeding is fatal, 118. -

under what circumstances it is innoc-
nous, 118.
eminent foreign in-and-in breeders, 119.

INDEX.

Breeding, great extent of their in-and-in
breeding, 119 note.

it formed an important element of
their success, 122.

it is almost necessary In some cases,

jt is not safe ror ordinary breeders, 122.

more have failed than have succeeded
in it, 123.

is it more dangerous among grade ani-
mals ? 123.

crossing breeds and families —( For
everything connected with crossing
see Cross - Breeding).

expedient to adhere to one breed and
amily if it possesses proper ele-
ments of improvement, 131.

the most splendid successes have been
won in this way, 131, and note.

great skill of English breeders in
breeding mutton sheep, 132 note.

breeding lambs for butcher, 183, 134.

breeding mutton sheep on the prairies,

35.
when cross-breeding is expedient, and
when inexpedient generally, 136-138.
Breeds of sheep best adapted to different
situations .
val for determining that adaptation,

2-90.
influence of markets, 82-85.
influence of climate, 85, 86.
influence of vegetation, 86-88.
influence of soils, 88, 89.
influence of herding, 89.
influence of associated branches of
husbandry, 89, 90.
comparative hardiness of English, 87.
working qualities of different breeds,87.
crossing between different—(see Cross-
Bree ing.) :

longevity of different, 113.
Broad-Tailed sheep introduced into the

United States, 53. F

bred pure in South Carolina, 53.

Bronchitis, 326,
Brugnone cited in regard to diseases of

sheep, 277-302.
Bruises and strains, 382.
Buignot inoculates for small pox, 349.
Burs should be eradicated from pastures,

142.
the different kinds of, injurious to
wool, 142.

C

Campbell, George, takes -Merinos to
World’s Fair at Hamburg, %5.
length of wool on sheep taken to
orld’s Fair, 75.
pa of the sheep, %6.
is mode of tattooing sheep, 184.
his sheep victorious at the World’s
Fair, 438, 439.
his honorable conduct, 439.
pedigree of his stock ram, 439.
Campbell, Samuel, and James Brodie,
import Leicester sheep, 47.

INDEX.

Campbell, Samuel, and James Brodie, cuts
of a ram and ewe belonging to them,

45, 47,
import Cheviot sheep, 52.
Canada Breeders of, 351. ;
Carcass the first point to be regarded in
sheep, 69.
proper form and size of the Merino,

Carrots as sheep feed, 243.
Castration, 161.
Catarrh, 268, 318, 319.
alignant epizootic, 319-324.
Catsning and handling sheep, proper mode
of, 131-141.

: :
Chamberlain, William, his account of the
present Merinos in Spain, 17, 18.
introduces Silesian Merinos into the
United States, 39.
his description of his sheep, 39-42.
cut'of a group of his ewes, 41,
a close in-and-in breeder, 120,
time he has his lambs yeaned, 143 note.
Chevoit sheép introduced into the United
States, 52.
character of the unimproved family, 52.
the improved family-described, 52, 53.
Chilled Lambs, how treated, 148, 149.
Chinese, or Nankin sheep in the United
States, 54.
Choking, 292, 293. 5 2
Clapp, the Mesers., their experiments in
crossing French and American Meri-|
nos, 129 note. .
Clark, Bracy, cited in regard to diseases of
sheep, 274, 275.
Clift, Leonard D., imports Lincoln sheep
in 1835, 50.
character of his sheep, 50,
Climate to be regarded in selecting a breed
‘of sheep, 85, 86. and es
Cline, Mr., his views on disparity in size
of sire and dam in breeding, 114.
Closed Teats, 157.
Clover, as sheep feed, 235, 237, 246. |
Clumps of trees in pastures, utility of, 212.
Colic, 310.
Colley, (See Dog.) 2
Collins, D. C., introduces French Merinos
in the United States, 34,
description of his sheep, 35.
Coloring Sheep artificially, a fraud, 81.
Confinement, effect of on pregnant ewes,

Congenital Goitre, or swelled neck, 152-
154.

Constipation of sheep, 221, 228, 310.
of young lambs, 149. -
Consumption, 327, 328, 379.
Corning, Erastus, with Wm. H. Sotham,|
imports Cotswold sheep, 48.
Cornstalks as sheep feed, 245, 258,
Cossit, Capt. Davis, his remarkable suc-
cess in crossing Infantado and Saxon
Merinos, 130 and note,
pedigree of his ram, ‘“* Wrinkly 3d,”
415. :

Costiveness - (See Constipation.) 4
Cotswold Sheep introduced into the Uni-

ted States about 35 years since, 48.

443

Cotswold Sheep, imported by Mr. Dunn in
1832, 48.

, 48.
imported by Messrs, Corning & Sotham
in 1840, 48,
imported by Henry G. White, 49.
described by Mr. Spooner, 49. -
Crook, shepherd's, manner of using, 139.
cut of, 189,
Cross - breeding, meaning of term as used
in this book, 124.
effects of between the Merinos and
coarse breeds, 124.
the Merino unimprovable by such a-
cross, 124,
the Merino cross improves coarse
sheep for certain purposes, 125.
the cross between Merino and mutton
sheep results in failure, 124, 125
the cross between the Merino and jong
wools, 125. if
the cross between the Merino and
Downs, 125. : 8
permanent intermediate varieties un-
attainable, 125.
peculiar tenacity of hereditary trans-
mission in the Merino, 125,
due probably to its great purity and
antiquity of blood, 125 note.
coarse breeds can be merged in jt, 126.
grade flocks started in Texas, 1:
successful cross between Merino and
Mexican sheep, 126.
experience of Mr. Kendall in this par-
ticular, 126, note.
chpies rams desirable in such a cross,

grades never equal to pure Merinos,
2

French ideas on this subject, 127.

German ideas on same subject, 127.

degrees of blood in ascending crosses
reckoned, 127 note.

ee different families of Merinos,
127-130.

effect of in the French Merino, 128.

effect of, in Mr. Jarvis’ flock, 128.

effect of, in the Rich or improved Pau-
lars, 128 and note.

effect of~in the Silesian Merinos of
‘the United States, 128, 129.

pbetween the erican and French
Merino, 129 and note.

between the American and Saxon Me-
rino, 129.

remarkable result of an improved In-
ue and Saxon cross, 130 and
note.

inexpediency of crossing for the sake
of crossing, 120, 181.

‘ordinary reasons for crossing unfound-

ed, 131.

bad effects of frequent and unmeaning
crosses, 131.

always better to adhere to one breed
and family if it contains the elements
of improvement, 131.

the most splendid successes have been
secured in this way, 181, and note,

crossing between English breeds and

ilies, 182.

444

Cross-breeding, the Hampshire, Shropshire
and Oxfordshire Downs produced in
this way, 182,

but the nilures in blending breeds
have been far more numerous, 132

skill of the Hinglich breeders, 132 note.

successful to obtain larger and earlier
lambs for the butcher, 133,

expediency of thus crossing with local
families, 134.

Mr. Thorne's expenience in this par-
ticular, 134, 135 note.

an analogous cross for mutton raising
expedient in Western States, 1.

the English family which’ eed be
selected for this purpose, 135,136.

the cross should stop with the first
one, 134.

recapitulation, showing when crossing
te cape and when inexpedient,

Crossing, (See Cross-breeding.
Cutaneous Diseases, unname
345.

Cuts, 380.
Cutting teeth, 150.
Cystitis, 337.

‘ D

D’Arboval Hurtel cited in regard to dis-
eases of Sheep, 314, 349, 350.

Darlington, Dr, his account of St. John’s-
wort, 269.

Darwin, M., his account of South Ameri-
can sheep-do 3, 405.

ssi directions for bleeding sheep,

ones, 844,

Delafond, Mr., on history of small pox, 349.
Delessert, M., imports Merinos into United
States, 22
Dewees, Dr., on proper treatment of preg-
nant females, 22 336.
Diarrhea, 306-308, 380
in young lambs, 151.
Dickens, Mr., cited in regard to diseases of,
sheep, 337,
Dick, eh iaor, on hoof-rot, 358 note.
Diseases and wounds of Sheep, 261, et seq.
comparatively small number ofi in Uni-
ted States, 261, 262.
iene type of “American sheep diseases,

Abortion, 329.

Abscess, ’382.

‘Apoplexy, 280.

Biflex Canal, disease of 354.

Blain, 291, 292.

Bray or inflammation of the bowels,

Bronchitis, 326.

Bruises and Strains, 382.

Catarrh, 268, 318, 319.

Catarrh, malignant epizootic, 319-324.
Choking, 292, 293.

Cold (see Catarrh.)

Colic, 310.

Constipation, 221, 228, 310.
Constipation in young lambs, 149, 150.
Consumption, 327, 328, 379.

INDEX.

Diseases and wounds of Sheep, Costive-
ness, (see Constipation.)

Cutaneous diseases, unnamed ones,
Sean

Cuts,

Sveti (see Inflammation of the
bladder.)

Diarrhea, 306-308, 380.

Diarrhea in young lambs, 151.

Distemper, the,

Dog Bites, 381.

Dropsy, acute, or Red Water, 304.

Dysentery, 308-310, 379, 380.

Epil ee, 589, 283, 880. .
pilepsy,

Epizootic of 1846-47, 319 et seq.

Eye, inflammation of, 272.

Fever, 316.

Fever, inflammatory, 316, 317.

Fever, malignant inflammatory, 317,

Fever, parturient, 331-337.
Fever, puerperal, 331-387.
Fever, typhus, 318.
Foot-rot—(see Hoof-Rot. )
Fouls, 856.
Fractures, 354.
Garget, 157, 330.
Gravel, 355.
Grub in the head, 278, 277.
Goitre, congenital, 153, 154.
Head, Grub in, 23-271.
Hereditary plemneea ae, 380.
_Hoof- Rot, 356-371,
Hoove, 29! 1.
Hydatid on the sti 2QTt-279, 380.
Ignis Sacer, a
Inflammation of cellular tissue under
the tongue—(see Blain.
Inflammation of the bladder, 337.
Inflammation of the brain, 281.
Inflammation of the coats of the in-
testines, 306.
Inflammation of the Eye 272.
ae of the Tae, (see Pneu-
mon
Inflammation of the udder, (see Gar-

F4 i.
Inversion of the womb, 145 , 330.
La Clavelee, (see Smallpox.)
Lameness, 355, 356.
Madness, (see Rabies +)
Obstructions of the gullet, 292, 293.
Opthalmia, 272, 279.
Palsy, 283.
Purtrtient fever, 331-337.
Phthisis, (see Consumption.)
Pining, 312.
Pinning, 151.
Pleurisy, (seo Pleuritis.)
Pleuritis, 326, 327.
Pneumonia, 325, 379.
Poisons, 301, 302.
Puerperal fever, 831-837.
Rabies, 283-290.
Rheumatism, 155, 156, 379.
Rot, the 372-378.
Rot, cut of the Fluke, 374.
Scab, erysipelatous 344.

Scab, the 338, 343.

INDEX.

TSE in
Scrofula, .
Small-pox, 345-353.
Sore Face, 269-271.
Sprains, 382.
Stretches, 310.
Swelled Head, 268.
Swelled Lips, 271. ;
Swelled Neck, 152, 154, 380.
‘Teeth, cutting of the 150.
Tetanus, or Locked-Jaw, 281, 282.
Variola Ovina—(see Small-pox,)
Water on the brain, 279, 280,
Wild Fire, 344.
Worms, 32.
Wounds, 380-382
Wounds, lacerated and contused, 881.
Wounds, poisoned, 381, 382.
. Wounds, punctured, 381.
Disowning Lambs, 158, 159.
Distemper, the, 324.
Docking Lambs, 160, 161.
Dog, bites of. the, 381.
Mie ADE, in connection with sheep, 393,
et seq.
injuries inflicted by, on sheep, 393-396.
sheep dog described by Buffon, 396.
Spanish, 397.
ungarian, 400.
French, 401.
Mexican, 401-405.
South American, 405, 406.
other large races, 406.
English, or drover’s, 407.
Scotch, or Colley, 408-410.
mongrel Colley, a sheep killer, 410.
aceustoming the sheep to the dog, 411.
Down Sheep, (see South Downs, Hamp-
shire Downs, Shropshire Downs and
Oxfordshire Downs. 7
Drafting and selection, in flocks, 179.
Dropsy, acute, 304.
Drying of ewes, 158.
Dun, euler on hereditary diseases, 379,
Dunn, Christopher, origin of his Leicester'|
flock, 44.
character of his flock, 44 note.
crosses it with Cotswold rams, 48.
Dunglison’s Medical Dictionary, cited pas-

Diseases an wounds of Sheep, Scours (see

sim.
Dupont de Nemours, imports Merinos into
United States, 22.
Dysentery, 308-310, 379, 380.

E
Elithorp, Prosper, length of his Merino
wool, '%6.

crosses the Paular and Infantado sheep,|

28 note.
his remedy. for stretches, 310. |
his connection with the origin of the
improved Paular family, 417-419.
furnishes an account of origin of, 419.
Ellman, Mr., his success in breeding South
Down sheep, 55 et seg.
followed in-and-in breeding, 119.
it was an element of his success, 122. .

445

Ely, David, his “ little- eared’ sheep, 104.

[English Breeders, their great skill in
breeding mutton sheep, 132 nage.

Enteritis, 306.

Epilepsy, 282, 283, 380.

Epizootic among sheep in 1846-47, 319, e¢

8eq. :
the a epizootic of 1862, 154, 226.
the term defined, 226 note.
Escurial Merino, 14.
Ewe, influence of on progeny, 110.
fall feed and shelter necessary for, 202-
1D.
we of neglect in this particular, 203,

“hunger rot” described, 203, 204.
subject to other diseases when in low

condition, 204.
does not take the ram uniformly when -
oor, 205.

selection of for the ram, 205, 206.
coupling with the ram, modes of, 206,

period of gestation in, 207.

want of sagacity in protecting its
young, 213. 7

injurious effects of close confinement
on, 222, et seq. ‘

should not be confined to dry feed in
winter, 222, et seg.

its prolificacy affected thereby, 222 e¢
8

eg.

‘Exercise important for pregnant ewes, 223,
Experiments in fattening sheep, 418-
Eye, inflammation of, 272.

F

Face, sore, 269-271.

Fall management of sheep, (see manage-
ment of sheep in fall).

Fat-Rumped sheep introduced into the
United States, 53.

Fattening Sheep, 418-425. :

Fay, Richard S., imports Shropshire sheep
into United States, 66.

character of his sheep, 66, 67.
Feed, > aang values of, for fattening, 420-

experiments in mixing, 419 ef seg.
Feeds for sheep—(see Fodder.) 5
Feeding sheep, Mr. Pawlett’s experiments
in, 418-425. ,
Felting property of wool, how produced,
Fences for sheep, value of different, 233,
ever, 316.
inflammatory, 316, 317.
malignant inflammatory, 31%, 318.
typhus, 318.
parturient, 831-337. 7
puerperal, (see fever parturient).
Fischer, Trerdinand, established the family
of Merinos, now termed Silesian in
the United States, 39. _ a
Fischer Louis, son of preceding, continues
the flock, 39.

446

Fischer, Louis, effect of his cross between
the Negretti and Infantado, 128, 129.
Flee@, proper characteristics of in a Me-
rino, 71, 72.
Fleischmann, Charles L., his drawing of a
Saxon ram, 26.
his statements about German cross-
bred sheep, 127%.
his drawings of marking instruments,

184.
Ronee for sheep, value of different, 233 -
5.

Folds, or wrinkles, proper amount in the
skin of the Merino, 7

Forshey, Caleb G., on ge climatology of
Texas, 428 et seq.

Foster, William, first introduced Merinos
into United States, 22.

Foot -Rot, (see Hoof- Rot.)

Fouls, 356.

Fractures, 254.

G

Gad- fly of the cnperle cut of, 274.
cut of Larve of,

their effect on piles (see Grub in the

Head.)
Garget, 157.
Gayot, inoculates for small - pox, 350.
anit 8 ae in regard to sheep diseases,

Gaudeloupe Merino, 14.
Geddes, James, cut of his Silesian Merino
ram “Carl,”
cut of his improved wool - press, 174.
Geddes, Hon. George, experiments in feed-
ing beets to sheep, 243.
Germany, Breeders of, at World's Fair,

Gestation, period of in the ewe, 207.

Gilbert, his descripty ion of the origin of
the Rambouillet flock, 19.

Girard, inoculates for small - pox, 349.

Goitre, congenital, 152, 154.

Gold OE eb ae r. Hammond's ram, pedigree

Goodale, Ss. L ao work on the principles

of breeding, 114 note, 123.
Gesels, George H. and Brother, import
incoln sheep into the U. States, 50.

Gragnier inoculates for small pox, 349.
Grasses, most valuable ones for sheep, 233,
2 ?

Gravel, 355.

Grease in wool—(see Yolk.)

Greaves, Mr. W., cited in regard to sheep
diseases, 305.

Greer, W. F., in regard to hoof-rot, 371.

Grennel, J: ‘ames 8., his report on sheep
husbandry to the ‘assachusetts
State Board of Seen 51.

ar haaoia of New Oxfordshire sheep,

his statement of comparative waste in
cooking beef and mutton, 83.

his statement of increase of sheep
bought in Boston market between
1839 and 1859, 84.

his account of sheep poisons, 301.

INDEX.

Grinnel, J. B., his statement of cost of get-
ting wool and other products to mar-
ket from Iowa, 251 hote.

a Bedels on prairie sheep husbandry,

Giese, Beary, his eg of importa-
tions of Saxon sheep, 25.
weight of fleeces of his Saxon flock,
25 note.
his account of ori of the ‘little
eared”? sheep,
Grognier, Prof., his account of French
sheep dogs, 401.
Grub in the head, 273-277.
Guillaume inoculates for small- -pox, 349.
Gullet, obstructions of, 292, 293.
Qum on wool— (see Yolk. )

H

Hammond, Edwin, commences his flock
with Infantado or Atwood sheep, 29,

30.
the great improver of the Infantados,
age character of his flock, 29, 30.
s ram Sweepstakes—(the frontis-
Pty of this vol ume,) 29.
ae of Sweepstakes’ wool, '%6.
igree of Sweepstakes, 121.

Fescription of Sweepstakes, 413.
phe points which Mr. H. has bred

» 30.
ae "extent of hisin-and-in breed-
ing, 30, 120.
pedigrees of his leading stock rams
and ewes, 14, 122.
in -and-in breeding a lever of his suc-
cess, 122.
plan of his sheep establishment, 218.
description of his leading animals, and
course of breeding, 413-416.
Hampshire Downs described by Professor
ilson, 59,
Mr. Spooner’s account of their origin
and blood, 60, 61.
Heads Sheep—(Gee Catching and Hand-

Warrdaot” yr.) OD a of rot, 372.
Head, grub in, 273-27
swelled, 268.
Herding, capacity ‘for in different breeds
sh

Hereditary ieee 379, 380.
Hogg, James, cited in regard to diseases of
sheep. ce 278, a 7 812,
Hoof-Rot, 3h6-3
Hoofs, torentig at the, 168, 169.
cut of Hoe AADDSEEs 169.
Hoove, 299-
Horns on ee shortening, etc., 189.
Howard, Charles, dese 8 origin of
Shropshire Downs, 63.
Bowart, Sanford, imports teviot sheep,

Huard inoculates for small-pox,
Humphreys, David, iene
the United States, 23
breeds in-and-in, 120.

Merinos into

INDEX.

Humrickhouse, T. S., foal inaairies as to
present flocks of 8 ain, 16

‘*Hunger-Rot,” how produced, 208, 204.

Hydatid on the brain, 277-279, 380.

Hyde, oe” his dissections of: ‘sheep,

I
Ansan stn breeding — (see breeding in-and-

dente f Sacer, 344.
inois, sheep husbandry in, 248, et seg.
‘Infantado Merinos in Spain, 14.
the improved Infantados of the United
States, 28, ef seg.
closely bred in-and-in in the United
States, 120.
one of the families on which the Amer-
ican Silesian are based, 129.
leading animals of the improved fam-
ily, 412-416.
Inflammation of the eye, 272.
of the brain, 281.
of cellular tissue under the tongue,
(see Blain.)
of coats of intestines, 306.
of the bowels, 311.
of the lungs, 325.
of the bronchial tubes, 326.
of the udder, 157, 330.
of the bladder, 337.
Injections, 150.
Inoculation for small-pox, 349, et seq.
Iowa, starting a sheep establishment in,

International Exhibition at Hamburg, 438.
ivomph of American Merinos at, 438,

Tawarted ‘womb, how treated, 145.

J

Jarvis, William, imports Merinos into the
United States, 23,
crosses them with the Saxons, 24.
breeds back, but crosses his Merino
families,
ie of his fleeces’ and prices of his
woo.
his Merinos established asa family, 27:
his sheep described, 27.
effect of his crossing different fami-
lies, 128.
his remedy for hoof-rot, 363.
his family crossed with the Improved
Paulars, 417, 418.
John’s-wort — (see St. John’s-wort.)

K

Kendall, George eas the wintering of|
his sheep in 1860, 8
his successful cross between Merinos
and Mexican sheep, 126 note.
mean temperature near his residence,
249 note.

his account of Mexican sheep dogs,
404.

447

Klippart, John H., his statement of the
number of sheep killed by dogs in
Ohio, 393-396.

L

La Clavelee — (see small-pox.)
Lambs, management and diseases of in

spring — {see Spring Management.)
management of in fall, after weaning,
198-201.

importance of fall shelter for, 201.
Lambing, proper time for, 142.

proper place for, 143.

-mechanical assistance i in, 144.

edu tietetine: cordials, etc., during,

45.
mae from traveling — (see Travel

ore.
Langlois inoculates for small-pox, 349.
Lasteyrie, his description o. the Merino
families, 14.
his account of the weight of French
Merino fleeces, 19.
Lax, Mr., imports Leicester sheep info the
United States, 44.
Leicester sheep, 43.
probably introduced into United States
- by Gen. Washtneton, 44.
imported by Mr. Lax, 44.
imported by Capt. Beanes, 44.
aut of Messrs. Campbell & Brodie’s

m, 45.

wer of one of their ewes, 4’.

Prof. Wilson’s description of the Lei-
cesters,

their origin, 45.

Mr. Bakewell selected from different
families, 46.

he then bred in-and- -in, 46.

nee so-hardy as the other large breeds,

their early maturity, 46.
now improved by a dip of Cotswold
blood, 47, 133.
Leonesa, the best Spanish ‘families of the
Merino, so called, 14.
Lewis, Dr., statement regarding Spanish
sheep dogs, 399.
Lincolnshire sheep imported into the
United States by Leonard D. Clift, 50.
deportes by Geo. H. Gossip & Brother,

character of' ne imported sheep, 50.
Lips, swelled, 271
Livermore, George, table of wool prices
furnished by him,
Livingston, Robert R., states weight of
Spanish fleeces, 16.
imports Merinos into United States, 22.
character of their descendants, 23.
weight of his Merino fleeces, 23.
cited in reg ard to diseases, 340, 341.
on proportion a wool to surface, 433.
Locked -jaw,
Longevity OY di ditrent breeds, 113.
Loveland, R. A., his account of starting
a sheep eétablishment in the new
‘Western States, 427, 428

448

Lyman, J. H., his account of Mexican

sheep dogs, 401 - 404.
M

Madness—(see Rabies.)
Maggots on sheep, how destroyed, 189, 190.
Management of sheep in spring, 139.

catching and handling, 139-141.
tagging, 141, 142.

burs in pastures to be eradicated, 142.
lambing, 142, 143.

proper place for lambing, 143, 144.
eee assistance in lambing, 144,

inverted womb, how treated, 145, 146.

management of new-born lambs, 146.

artificial feeding of lambs, 146-148.

chilled lambs, 148, 149.

constipation or costiveness of lambs,
how treated, 149, 150.

cutting teeth, 150. ;

pinning, how treated, 151.

diarrhea or purging of lambs, how
treated, 151.

congenital goitre, or swelled neck, 152-

imperfectly developed lambs, 154, 155.
rheumatism in lambs..155, 15

treatment of ewe after lambing, 16505
Ma

57.

closed teats. 157.
inflamed udder, 157.
drying off ewes, 158.
disowning lambs, 158, 159.

ens, 159.

‘oster lambs, 159, 160.
docking lambs, 160, 161.
castration of lambs, 161.

Management of sheep in summer, 163-197.

modes of washing sheep, 163, 164.
- utility of washing sheep, 163, 168.
shortening the hoof, 168, 169.

cut of toe-nippers, 169.

time between washing and shearing,

170.

shearing, 170-172. F

stubble shearing and trimming, 1'72.

shearing lambs and shearing sheep
semi-annually, 172.

doing up wool, 173-175.

cut of folding table, 173.

cut of fleece ready for press, 173.

cut of fieece in press, 174

cut of wool-press, 174.

frauds in doing up wool, 175.

storing wool, 176.

place for selling wool, 177.

7 depots and commission stores,

7.
sacking wool, 177.
drafting and selection of flock, 179.
registration, 180.
marking and numbering, 182-186.
Von Thaer’s mode of, 183.
German mode of tattooing, 183.
a third mode of marking, 184.
a fourth mode of marking, 185.
cut of instruments for tattooing, 184.

INDEX.

Management of sheep in summer, 163-197.

cut of ears tattooed. 184.

cut of copper ear marks, 185.
storms after shearing, 186,
sun-scald, 186.

ticks, how destroyed, 187-189,
cut of dipping box, 187.
shortening horns, etc., 189.
maggots, 189, 190.

confining rams, 190, 191.
training rams, 191.

fences, care of, 192.

salt necessary for sheep, 192.
tar, sulphur, alum, etc., for sheep, 193.
water in pastures, 194.

shade in pastures, 195.

housing sheep in summer, 195.
pampering sheep, 196, 197.

Management of sheep in the fall, 197-210.

weaning and fall feeding lambs, 197-

sheltering lambs in fall, 201.

fall feeding and sheltering breeding
ewes, 202-205.

selecting ewes for the ram, 205, 206.

coupling, 206, 207.

period of gestation, 207.

management of rams during coupling,

207, 209.
dividing flocks for winter, 209, 210.
nagement of sheep in winter, 210-247.
winter shelter, 211. ’
temporary sheds, 211.
cut of shed of poles, 211.
clumps of trees and stalls, 212.
hay barns with open sheds, 212.
sheep barns or stables, 214, 219.
cut of sheep barn and yards, 217.
cut of a sheep establishment, 218.
cleaning out stables in winter, 219.
yards, how arranged, etc., 220.
littering yards, 220.
ene sheep in yards and to dry
feed, 221-228. 4
hay racks, 229.
cut of slatted box rack, 229.
cut of wall rack and trough, 230.
cut of end view of wall rack and
trough, 231. i
water for sheep in winter, 232.
amount of food consumed by sheep in
winter, 233.
value of different fodders, 233, 243.
nutritive equivalents, 234.
table of nutritive equivalents, 285.
proportion in which different nutri-
ment increases live weight, wool
and tallow, 286, 238.
cost and economy of the different
kinds of, 238, et seg.
experiments in feeding, 239-242.
mixed feeds, 243-245.
fattening sheep in winter, 245, 246.
regularity in feeding, 246, 247.
Salt in winter,

247.
Management of Sheep on Prairies—(see

rairie Sheep Husbandry.)

Markets, influence of, in determining the

selection of a breed, 82.

INDEX.

Marking and numbering sheep, different
modes of, 182-186.
Marshall, Gen. O, F., his mode of salting
sheep in winter, 247, ©
Marshes, access to not dangerous to shee;
in
rshes. )
Mauchamp Merinos in France, 104.
Meat and Wool, proportion of, between
sheep of different ages and sexes,
433 et seq.
Medicines, mode of introducing into the
stomach of sheep, 299.
eopiaraion of medical terms used, 348,

list of medicines used in diseases of’

sheep, 383, 392.
Merino, American, introduced into United

States, 22.

little noticed before 1807, 24.

prices of wool from 1807 to 1824, 24.

prices of sheep from 1807 to 1815, 24.

circumstances affecting prices of wool,

24,

established as a variety in United
States, 27.

the mixed Leonese or Jarvis family,

27, 2B.
the Infantado or Atwood family, 28.
Mr. Hammond, founder of the im-
proved Infantados, 29, 30.
the improved Paular or Rich family,
other American Merino families, 83.
prices of, in winter of 1862-68, 69 note.
proper form and size of, 69.
the different families should not be
merged, 69, 70,
proper qualities of skin of, 70.
proper amount of folds or wrinkles, 70.
characteristics to be sought in the
fleece, 71, 72.
spotted and black Merinos, etc., %2

note.

the most profitable quality of wool and
breed of sheep to propagate, 72, 73.

evenness of the fleece, 73.

trueness and soundness of wool, 74.

pliancy and softness of wool, %4.

style of wool, 75.

length of wool, 5, %6..

endures extremes of weather better
than any other valuable breed, 86.

is a better working sheep than the
English, 87.

effect of abundant food on, 88.

will not endure wet soils, 88,

the great capacity of, for herding, 89.

average production of wool per head
in large flocks, 98.

annual value of manure of, 99.

its manure far more valuuble than that
of the horse or cow, 99 note.

annual value of lambs, 99.

comparative profits of, in different
parts of the United States, 99.

full bloods as cheaply raised as grades,

profits of growing on lands worth $50

Northern States, 88,— (see Salt}

449

Merino, American, breeding in-and-in of

the improved Infantados, 120.

pedigrees of celebrated improved In-
fantados, 121, 122.

orig of the improved Paulars, 128
note,

effect of crossing American Merinos
with coarse breeds —(see Cross-
Breeding.)

effect of crossing different families of
Merinos—(see Cross-Breeding.)

one of improved Infantados, 412-

leading early animals of Mr. Ham-
mond’s flock, 412-416.

origin of improved Paulars, 416-418.
lea ing early animals of the family,
416418,

victorious at World’s Fair at Ham-

burg, .
Merino, French, origin of, 18, 19.

stock from which the Rambouillet
flock sprung, 19.

weight of fleece given by Lasteyrie,
etc., 19, 20.

general description of, by Trimmer, in

7, 19.
introduced into the United States by
D, C. Collins, 35.
A. B, Allen, description of them, 35.
imported by John A. Taintor, 36.
weight of fleeces of this family, given
by J. D. Patterson, 36.
character of the variety, 36, 37.
crossed with American Merinos, 129.
Merino, Saxon, origin of, 20.
management of, in Germany, 20.
its characteristics of carcass and fleece,

20.
animes into United States in 1824,

circumstances affecting its success in
United States, 25, 26.

supercedes the Spanish, and in turn
superceded by them, 25.

cut of Von Thaer’s Saxon. ram, 26.

Merino, Silesian, introduced into the
nited States, 39.

description of them by Mr. Chamber-
lain, 39-42.

cut ofa gor of Mr. Chamberlain’s
ewes, 41.

have been closely bred in-and-in, 120.

effect of the original cross from which

_ the family was established, 128, 129.

Merino, Spanish, origin of, 13, 125 note.

provincial varieties of, in Spain, 18.

cabanas, or families of, in Spain, 13, 14.

migrations of, in Spain, 18.

general treatment of, in Spain, and
effects, 13, 14. |

its wool, character and color, 15, 16.

its wool, compared with that of Ameri-
can Merino, 15.

fineness and felting properties of its
wool, 16.

cut illustrating appearance of wool, 16.

best families of, lost to Spain, 16, 17.

the character of the present flocks of

per acre, 100. :

Spain, 17, 18.

450

Merino, Spanish, the earlier families intro-
duced into the United States by dif-
ferent persons, 22, 23.

black ones imported, 23.
the different families bred in-and-i -in,

,
Messenger, Thos. ., imports Hampshire
Downs into the United States, 61.
Miguel inoculates for small pox, 350.
Muller George, imports Shropshires into
Canada West, 65.
Mississippi, sheep husbandry i ins 248 et seq.
Mixed feeds for sheep, 243-24!
Morrell, L. A., author of ene Shep-
herd, 269.
cited in regard to sheep diseases, 269,

Myrtle & ‘Ackerson, length of their Me-
rino wool, 76.

N

Nankin sheep in the United States, 54.
Native sheep of the United States, 43.
Neck, swellings of, 152, 154, 380.
Needham, Col. ‘Daniel, attends World’s Fair
as Commissioner of Vermont, 438.
challenges the breeders of Europe, 438.
Negretti Merinos, 14, 129.
weight of. fleeces of flock of King of
England, 16.
Nelson, Capt. Allison, er “aia of Mex-
ican sheep dogs, 40
New Oxfordshire sheep imported into the
United States, 51.
described by L. Smith, a breeder of
them, 51.
Nomadic shepherds on the prairies, 250.
Numann, Prof. A., on treatment of small
pox, 348, 349.
se ae in sheep feed, 334

table Oo nutritive equivalents, 235.

0
Ohio, A ac of sheep in, by dogs, 393,

Oil in swodl-{e6 Yolk.)
Old Robinson Ram, his history and quali-
ties, 113.
his pedigree, 128 note.
his pedigree and qualities, 416-418,
Opthalmia, 272, 379.
ide Mr., his theory of breeding, 107 e

seg.
Otter sheep, 43.
Oxfordshire at described by Mr.
Howard
introduced into United States, 66.
description of Mr. Fay’s sheep, 66, 67,

P
Paget, Mr., his account of Hungarian
sheep dogs, 400.
Palsy, 288

Pampering sheep, effects of, 196, 197.

INDEX.

Parturient fever, 831-887.
Patterson, John D., describes French Me-
rinos, 36
Paular Merinos, 14.
improved in United States, 32, 33, 119.
Pawlett, T. E., his essay on management
of sheep, 199.
his views on fall feeding of lambs, 199,
his experiments in winter feeding,
418-425.

Pea-haulm as sheep feed, 235, 245.
Pedigree, mode of keeping, 121.
Persian sheep in United States, 54.
Peters, Theodore C., opens a Wool Depot
in_ 1847, 177.
hig letter i in regard to sheep diseases,

his account of sheep dogs, 407, 409.
Petri, his measurements, etc., of Spanish
” sheep, 14.
Pining, 312.
Pinning, 151.
of young lambs, how treated, 151.
Pleurisy, 326, 327.
Pleuritis, 326, 327.
Pneumonia, 325, 879.
Poisons, 301, 302.
Porter, Commodore, i imports Broad-Tailed
sheep into United States, 53.
Powell, John Hare, breeds Tunisian
Mountain sheep, 53.
imports South Downs into United
tates, 57.
his account of Spanish sheep dogs, 400.
Prairie Sheep Husbandry, 248-260.
comparative climate of Prairie States,

248.
aoe advantages for wool growing in,

nomadic shepherds in, 250.

acclimation of sheep i in, 250.

profits of wool growing in, over East-
ern States, 251.

wool the most profitable’ staple in, 251
and note.

management of sheep in summer in, 252

Jambing in prairie ees 252, 253.

folds and dogs, 25

stables, 253.

herding, 254.

washing, 254,

shearing, 254.

storing and selling wool, 254.

ticks on sheep, 250,

praifie dis rary 255, 256.
eding salt,

weaning iahioa. ‘956.

prairie management in winter, 256.

winter feed, 258, 259.

sheds or stables, 259.

water, 260.

location of sheep establishment, 260.

Pregnancy, proper treatment during, 221-

Price, Mr., cited in regard to sheep dis-
eases, 262.
/Puerperal Fever—(see Parturient Fever.)
Pulse, its frequency in healthy sheep, 314.
where it is felt, 314.

Purging—(see Diarrhea, Dysentery.)

INDEX.

R

Rabies, 283, 290.

Racks for feeding sheep, 299-281.
cut of slatted box rack, 229.
cut of wall racks, 230.
cut of end view of same, 231.

Ram, influence of, in breeding, 108-115.
ae gives the form to progeny, 109,

points to be regarded in, 111, 112.
capacity of, to procreate, 118, 209.
proper size of, 114.

horns of, require attention, 189.
confinement of, 190.

training of, 191. |

treatment of, when vicious, 191.
selecting ewes for, 205.
modes of coupling, 206, 207.
eeeeemeak of, during coupling, 207-

causes which sometimes render them
unsure stock-getters, 207 and note.

when they require mechanical assist-|.

ance, 207 note. ‘
preparation of, for coupling season,

208.
feed inclosures, etc., 208.

Reaumur’s experiments, showing how
feeds increase animal products, 236,

238.
Red Water, 304.
Registration of sheep, 180-182.
form of a register, 181.
Bepularty in feeding, importance of, 246,

Bemelee, Loyal C., crosses the Paular|

and Infantado sheep, 128 note.
his connection with the origin of the
improved Paular, 417.
Rheumatism, 155, 156, 379.
in lambs, 155, 156.
Rich, Charles, origin of his Paular flock of;
Merinos, 30-33. Hl
John T. succeeds to the flock of his
father, 31.
Messrs. Jobn T. and Virtulan, succeed
to the flock of John T. Rich, Sen., 31,

32.
the course of breeding and character of
the Rich flock, 32, 33, 119.

he a ewe bred by the Messrs. Rich,
3

effect of a dip of other blood on the
flock, 128 and note.
Rickets, the 380. ,
Rives, William C., imports Shropshire}

sheep into United States, 66.
Robinson, Erastus, breeds the ‘‘ Old Rob-
inson Ram,”’ 128 note.

originates ‘the “Robinson Sheep”? of
ermont, 128 note. a
his connection with the origin of the
improved Paulars, 416, 418.
Robinson Ram, the old, his pedigree, 416-

Roots, value of, for fattening sheep, 418, e¢

451

Rotch, Francis, his flock of early American
Merinos, 33.
cut of one of his ewes, illustrating
those early Merinos, 34.
imports South Downs into the United
tates, 57. :
mie account of aSpanish Sheep Dog,

5

Sacking wool, 177.
Salt marshes healthy for sheep, 88.
Salt necessary to sheep in summer, 192.
necessary in winter, 247.
Sanford, William R., his account of the
present Merinos in Spain, 18,
his remedy for stretches, 310.
his purchases of sheep, 412, 414.
Saxton, Nelson A., his remedy for stretches,

10.
Scab, the, 338-343.
cut of the acarus, 339.
erysipelatous, 344.
Scotch Black- faced sheep — (see Black -
Scotch sheep )
Scours — (see Diarrhea.)
Scrofula, 378, 380.
Seaman, Isaac, his prize essay on parturi-
ent fever, 331, \-
Selection—(see Drafting and Selection.)
Shade in pastures of much utility, 212.
paeariae sheep, mode of performing, 170-

stubble shearing and trimming, 172.

shearing lambs and shearing sheep
semi-annually, 172.

Sheds eo and permanent, for sheep,

Sheep, the most profitable animals to de-

pasture our cheap lands, 96.

necessary to good farming on grain
farms, 96.

more profitable than dairy cows in por-
tions of New York, 97.

the best cleaners of new lands, 97.

best adapted to the pecuniary means
ral a portion of our rural population,

their management simple and easily
learned, 97.

they never die in debt to man, 97.

ee and handling, mode of, 139-

turning out to grass, 141.

tagging, how performed, 141.

cut illustrative of tagging, 141.

ity of eradicati burs from

pastures, 142.

eer ey place for and assistance
in, 149-144,

spring management of, 189-162.

summer management of, 163-197.

administering medicines to when in
health, 193.

housing of in summer, 195.

ampering of, 196. °
fall managemé 198-210.

eq.
Rot, the, 872-378.

‘all management of,
former mode of fall feeding, 202, 203.

452

Sheep, dividing flocks for winter, 209.

its want of providence in protecting
its young, 213 and note.

winter tra ea of, 211-247.

confinement to yards and dry feed, 221-
228,

consumption of food by, in winter, 233.

comparative value of different fodders
for, 233-245, 418-425.

the fattening of in winter, 245, 246.

management of, on the prairies — (see
Prairie Sheep Husbandry.) x

their ready acclimation on the prairies,
250.

their non-deterioration on prairies, 251.

diseases of—(see Diseases of Sheep.)

diseases of, comparatively few in the
United States, 261, 262. 5

diseases of a low type in the United
States, 262,263.

anatomy—(see Anatomy of Sheep.)

rng of, 268.

ac . of administering medicines to,
299.

medicines used in diseases of, 384-892.

destruction by dogs, 393-396.

amount of food consumed by 418 et seq.

Mr. Pawlet’s experiments in fattening,
418-425 .

number of in United States, 426.
Broportion of wool to meat in, 433.
Sheep Husbandry on the Prairies— (see
Prairie Sheep Husbandry.)
Shelters for sheep, 211, 219.
Shropshire Downs, described by Professor
Wilson, 61-63.
a Spooner’s account of their origin,

Mr. Howard describes their origin and
character, 63, 64.
cut of Judge Chaffee’s Shropshire ram

Lion, 62.
cut of Judge Chaffee’s Shropshire ewe
Nancy, 65.
Judge Chaffee’s description of his
peep 65.
Sibbald, W. C., on parturient fever. 337.
Silesian Merinos—(see Merinos Silesian.)
Simonds, Prof., his remedy for scab, 343.
Skin, proper qualities of, in the Merino, 70.
diseases of, unnamed ones, 344, 345.
Small-pox, 345, 353.
its introduction into America to be
guarded against, 351, 352.
Smith, Robert, his prize essay on Manage-
ment of sheep, 198. é
his views in respect to fall feeding
lambs, 198, 199.
his experiments in feeding sheep, 239-

his remedy for diarrhea and-dysentery,
his remedy for scab, 342, 343.
his remedy for hoof- rot, 364, 365.
Smith’s Island sheep, 43.
Soils poea regarded in selecting a breed of
sheep, 88.
the long -wooled sheep preferable on
wet soils, 88.
the Merino cannot endure wet soils, 88.

INDEX.

Soils, effect oflow, flat, moist and very rich
soils on sheep, 88.
effect of light, sandy soils, 89.
kind of, adapted to Merino and Down
sheep, 89.
Sore face, 269-271.
Sotham, William H., his account of Mr.
_ Dunn’s wethers, 44,
imports Cotswold sheep in 1840 with
r. Corning, 48.
South Downs, described by Professor Wil-

son, 55-57.
import. into the United States by
r. Powell, 57.

imported by Rotch, 57.

imported by Mr. Thorne, of New York,
Mr. Alexander, of Kentucky. and
Mr. Taylor, of New J ersey, 58.

Mr. Thorne describes his mode of man-
aging them, 58, 59.

eure . Thorne’s ram Archbishop,

cut of two of his ewes, BT.
annpe value of manure in England,

Spooner, William, describes the Cotswold
sheep, 49.
describes the improved Cheviots, 52,

describes origin and blood of Hamp-
shire Downs, 60, 61.
his account of the origin of the Shrop-
shire sheep, 63.
his estimate of the value of sheep
manure, 98, 99.
ae aoe of hereditary transmission,
cited in pegard to diseases of sheep,
277, 280, 281, 800, 302, 304, 807, 311,
812, 826, 329, 330, 342, 347, 864, 870,
_ 872, 878, 381, 882, 387, 890.
Sprains, 382. -
Spring management of sheep, — (see Man-
agement of sheep in spring.)
Stables for sheep, — (see Barns.)
Stells for sheep, 212.
Stevenson, Mr., cited in regard to diseases
__ of sheep, 344.
Stickney, Tyler, his connection with, the
improved Paulars, 128 note, 417, 418.
St. Johar e- Werk injurious to sheep, 269-

popular opinions respecting, 270.
Stone, Frederick William, of Canada West,
a distinguished breeder of Cotswold
sheep, 48, 49.
Storms after shearing, effect on sheep, 186.
Strains, — (see Bruises and Strains.)
Stretches, 310— (see Colic.)
Straw, as sheep feed, 285, 286, 245.
Summer management of sheep, — (see
Management of sheep in summer.)
Sun-Scald, how produced, 186.
Swamps, effect of on sheep, — (see Marsh-

es.

Sweepstakes, Mr. Hammond’s ram, —~ (sce
Hammond, Edwin.)

Sweet, H. D. L., on comparative weight of

wool and bodies o sheep, 433.
Swelled Head, 368. ”

INDEX.

Swelled Lips, 271.
Swelled Neck, 152, 154, 380.

T

Tagging, how performed, 141.
cut, illustrative of, 441.
Taintor, John A., his account of present’
erinos of Spain, 17.
imports French Merinos into United
tates, 36.
description of his Merinos, 36.
Tariffs of the United States, effects of dif-
ferent ones on production, price, etc.,
of wool, 25, 26.

those in force from 1824 to 1861, 92-94.

Teats, closed ones, how opened, 15%.
Teeth, cutting of the, 150.

described, 266.

the most reliable test of age, 266, 267.

to-be extracted sometimes, 267.
Tessier, cited in regard to sheep diseases,

, 318.
Tetanus, 281, 282.
saiieeas 0 aces of to wool growing, 248,
et seq.
climate of, 248, 249.
ae temperature at New Braunfels,
mean temperature at Austin, 249.
climate of, 428, et seq. *
northers of, 429, 430. .
seasons and crops, and their vicissi-
tudes, 431, 482.
Thomiere, inoculates for small-pox, 350.
Thorne, Samuel, imports South Down
sheep, 58. ;
describes his mode of managing them,
, 59.
his crosses to procure lambs for the}
butcher, 184, 185 note.
er scconnt of parturient fever in his
lock, 334, 335.
Ticks, effects of on sheep, 187.
how exterminated from flocks, 187-189.
cut of dipping box, 187.
Toe-nippers, cut of, 169.
Tony, DP his account of St. John’s-Wort,
Travel-sore, 355.
Treatment of ewe after lambing, 156, 157.
Trees in pastures, 212.
Trimmer, Mr., his description of French
Merinos in 1827, 19.
his description of Spanish sheep dogs,
399, 400.
Tunisian Mountain sheep introduced into
Pennsylvania, 53.
pred and commended by John Hare
Powell, 53.
Turnips as sheep feed, 221, 285, 239-243.
‘691 per cent.,”’ the ram so called, 15.
length of his wool, 6.
his qualities as a sire, 109.
remarkable cross between him and
Saxon ewes, 130, and note,
his pedigree, 415.

453
U

‘Udder, inflamed, 157, 330.

opening closed teats, 157.

Vv

Vaccination for small-pox, 350,

Valois inoculates for small-pox, 349.

Variola Ovina—(see Small Pox.)

Vegetation, kind of, required by different
breeds of sheep, 86, 87.

Vermont, Merino sheep breeders of, 27-30.

Von Thaer, Albert, cut of his Saxon ram,

his mode of numbering sheep, 183.

Ww

Walker, Mr., his theory of hereditary

transmission, 107 e¢ seg.

Walz M., his description of scab, 388,

Washing sheep, 163, 164,
its utility considered, 164-168,

Water for sheep, its utility in summer, 194.
its necessity in winter, 231.
modes of watering in winter, 231-283.

Water in pastures highly beneficial, 194,

indispensable in winter, 232.

Weaning lambs, age and mode, 198,
feeding after weaning, 198-201.
English mode of fall-feeding, 198, 199.

Webb, Jonas, his success in breeding

South Down Sheep, 5% e¢ seg.

Wells, Thomas, describes symptoms of

small-pox, 347.
White, Henry G., imports Cotswold Sheep
into United States, 49.
cut of his Cotswold ram Pilgrim, 48.
cut of his Cotswold ewe Lady Gay, 50.
an account of his sheep, 49.
Wilcox, Asahel F. pedigree of his ‘‘ Thou-
sand Dollar Ram,” 415,
Wild-fire, 344.
Wilson, Professor John, his description of
Leicester sheep, 45-47.
ast description of South Down Sheep,

his description of the Hampshire
Downs, 59, 60, 61, 63.
Womb, inversion of, 145, 330.
Wool, characteristics of Spanish, 15, 16.
a ar and felting property of Span-
ish,
felting property of Saxon, 16.
characteristics of Saxon fleeces, 20.
proper degree of fineness of in the
American Merino, 72, 73.
that cr the Merino sometimes black, 72
note.
evenness of, the term defined, 73.
trueness and soundness of, 74.
pliancy and softness of, 74,
style of, %5.
length of, 75.
yolk in (see Yolk.)
oil, grease, and gum in, (see Yolk.)

prices of in Uniled States from 1800 to

1,

454

24 to 1

prices «medium have never sunk below
cost of production, 94.

prices have been generally remunera-
tive, 94.

annual exports and imports of from
1840 to 1861, 95, 96.

the Hompstie supply has never met the
demand,

cost of tadaetm in New York and
New England, 97.

cost of producing “in the South and
South-west, 98.

cost of producing in the Western and
North-western States, 98.

cost of producing in intermediate situ-
ations, 98.

average production of per head by
Merinos in large flocks, 98.-

som arative profit of Producing in

prereu parts of the United States,

saetis of producing on land worth $50
per acre, 100.

washing of on the back, 163, 164.

shearing, mode of, 1 10-172.

doing up, mode of, 173-175.

frauds in doing up, 176.

storing wool, 176.

place for selling wool, 177.

‘wool depots and commission stores,

Wool, table of average quarterly prices
from 18 861, 92-

sacking wool, 177.
cost of getting to market, 251.
product of, in the United States in
1860, 426.
proportion to meat in sheep of different
ages, sexes and sizes, 433 e¢ seg.
Woolens, exports and imports of, from
1840 to 1861, 95.
Wooster, Abel J., ae the “‘ Wooster
Ram, * 118 note.
Wooster Ram described, 118 and note.
Worms, 312.
Wounds, (see Diseases and Wounds.)
cuts,

INDEX.

Wonndé, lacerated and contused wounds

punctured mennde, 381.
dog bites, 381.
poisoned wounds, 381.
Wright, peu! C., his ram, 113.
Wright, w.c, first crosses the Paular
a aude Sheep in Vermont,
128 note.
originates the Paular, and Infantado
cross, 416.
his statements, 418.
Wright, Gov., of Indiana, at World's Fair,
438.

Wrinkles, (see Folds.)
Y

Yards for sheep (see Barns.)
size, situation of, etc., 220.
littering yards, 220.
confining sheep to them in winter, 221

et seg.
Yolk described, 77.
chemical analysis of, V7.
‘uses of, in wool, 77.
ai aa amount and consistency of,

proper color of, 80, 81.

ey et imitation of its color exter-
nal

ar tificral I prop
of in fleece,

‘Youatt, William, discovers conformation

of wool, 16.

his testimony in favor of pure blood,

~ 181 note.

in regard to sagacity and affection of
sheep,

in regard to defects of the Merino, 223
note.

cited in regard to apeases of sheep,
268, 274, 275, 278, , 280, 282, 283,
291, 300, 301, 306, 509. 314, 315, 317,
318, 326, 327, 329, 230, 336, 239, 340

342, 344, 845,” 347, 350, 854, 356, 357,
363, 364, 373, 385.

agatlon and preservation

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JUST PUBLISHED, A NEW EDITION OF

A MANUAL OF FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE: embracing Full
Directions for Preparing the Ground, Sowing the Seed, Harvesting the Crop,
Ete. Also comprising an Essay, by a Western Man, on Hemp AnD FLax IN
vax West:—Amount Grown, Modes of Culture, Preparation for Market, &c.,
&c. With Botanical Descriptions and Illustrations.

Tus work is composed of Nine Essays from the pens of Practical
and Scientific Men who are well advised on the various branches of
the subject discussed. It comprises, in a neat and compact form, a
large amount of valuable information, and is designed to enable new
beginners to cultivate Flax and Hemp successfully. The leading
Essay is by a gentleman who has had over thirty years experience
in Flax Growing, and thoroughly understands the whole business.

The Manual is published in handsome style, pamphlet form. Price
only 25 cents—for which a copy will be sent to any point reached
by the United States or Canada mails. Liberal discount to Agents
and the Trade. Address

D. D. T. MOORE,

September, 1863. Epitor Runa New-YorKER, Rocuzster, N. Y.

OPINIONS OF TEE PRESS.

Fuax AnD Hemp.—A Manual of Flax Culture and Manufacture, embracing full
directions for preparing the Faber sowing, harvesting, dressing, and manufacturing,
with the process of making flax cotton, and also an essay upon hemp culture, has been
published by D. D. T. Moorg; editor of the Rural New- Yorker, Rochester, in pam-
phlet form at 25 cents, and is well worthy the attention of all who are embarking in
flax culture.—Wew York Daily Tribune.

THE CULTIVATION OF FLax.—A Manual of Flax Culture and Manufacture, has
been published in neat pamphlet form, at the office of Moore's Rural New- Yorker, and
is on sale at the Bookstores generally,—price 25 cents. It is a work pretty exhaustive
on the subject. The production of flax is a matter of increasing importance, and our
agricultural friends should consult the new Manual.— Syracuse Daily Journal.

ManvaL oF Fuax CuLtuRE.— * * * Those who wish to know all about
Flax and Hemp Culture, and to aid in killing “ King Cotton” and suspending traitors
should remit the cost of the Manual—25 cents —to D. D. T. Moorz, Rochester, N.
Y.— Rochester Daily D atand American.

Manuva or FLax CuLruRE.—We have received from the publisher, D. D. T.
Moore, Rochester, N. Y., Rural Manual, No. 1, being a collection of valuable infor-
mation on the culture and manufacture of Flax and Hemp; with illustrations. The
wants of a large number of persons who are experimenting with these crops for the
first time will be filled with this book. It can be had by addressing the publisher,
inclosing 25 cents.—Prairie Farmer.

MANUAL OF FLaAx AND Hemp CULTURE.—We are pleased to learn that this valu-
able little work is selling rapidly and widely. The publisher is daily receiving orders
from various parts of the Loyal States and Canadas. Three editions have been pub-
dished within as many weeks, and the demand is such that a fourth is now in press.
Those desirous of obtaining reliable information on the culture of Flax and Hemp,
and the preparation of their staples for market, should send 25 cents to D. D. T
‘Moorz, Rochester, for his Manual on the subject.—Hochester Daily Union & Adv.

A Manvat or Fiax Cutturr.—* * * Our farmers have had their attention
frequently called this season to the importance of flax-growing, and will probably sow
twice or three times the usual amount of seed. But many, and perhaps most of them,
are ignorant of the best: methods of culture, the improved methods of preparing the
fiber, etc. They will find just the information they need in Mr. Moonrz’s seasonable
Tittle Manual.—Otica Morning Herald and Daily Gazette.

“Excelsior” its Motto—‘Progress and Improvement” its Objects, ~~ ts

MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER,

THE MOST COMPLETE AND POPULAR WEEKLY

AGRICULTURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY JOURNAL.

Tis Standard and Unrivaled AGRICULTURAL, HORT OUEIUBAL LITERARY AND
Famity NewsraPer, is now in its Fottrteenth Year and Volume. The Ruran New-
Yorker is well known as the Best, Cheapest and Largest Circulated Journal of its
Class on the Continent—as the Favorite Homz WEEKLY of America—and the
Volume for 1864 will at least equal either of its predecessors in ConTENTS, STYLE
AND APPEARANCE. Its ample pages comprise various Departments, such as

Agriculturé; Rural“Architecture,

Horticulture, |< Choice Miscellany, '
Domestic Economy, Sabbath Musings, General News,

Ladies Reading, Reading for the Young, Market Reports, &c’

Including Numerous Ilustrations, Tales, Sketches, Music, Poetry, Enigmas and Rebuses, &,, &.
The Rurat New-YorkKER is and will continue to be THE PAPER FoR THE TIMER,

farnishing a weekly variety of appropriate and interesting reading for the various
members of the Family Circle. i

Education,
Arts and Sciences,

tis National, Patriotic and Progressive — earnest in
its support ofthe Union, Constitution and Laws—ardently advocates the Ricat
condemns Wrone, and constantly,endeavors to promote the Best Interests of the
People and Country. , :

FORM, STYLE AND TERMS:

Tae RuraL New-Yorxker is published in Quarto Form, each No. comprising
Eight Double Quarto Pages, [forty columns,] printed in Superior Style. An Index,
Title Page, &c., given at the close of each Volume.

TERMS, IN ADVANOE:— $2 a Year; Three Copies, $5; Six for $10; Ten for $15,
and any greater number at same rate— only $1.50. per copy. Club papers sent to
different Post-offices, if desired. As we pre-pay American postage, $1.'0 is the lowest
Club rate to Canada, and $2.50 to Europe. Subscriptions can begin with the volume,
(Jan. 1st,) or any number. Specimens sent free. Address Ss

September, 1863. D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. ¥.

OPINIONS OF

Moorz’s Rurat is full of variety,
original and select. No paper on our ex-
change list comes so near our ideas of|
perfection, for a secular family paper. It
maintains a high moral standard.—Wew
York Observer,

THe frequency with which we publish
extracts from the RuraL shows our own
appreciation of it.—W. Y¥. Evening Post.

Tue Rvurat is not only a favorite in the
rural districts, but deservedly popular in
the cities. No newspaper in this or any
other country has ever run a more pros-
perous career.— Louisville Journal.

Tue Rourat is a very valuable paper,
eminently practical in its character, and
pure in its tone. Deserves and is achiey-
ing abundant success.—WV. Y. Times.

Mr. Moore ought to make a fortune out
of his journal, and we trust he will, for he
ts helping to make the fortune of the
country.— Ohio Statesman:

THE PRESS.

_ THE RuRAt is the best Farm and Fire-
side Journal in America, and has justly
earned all its devoted editor claims for it.
— Chicago Daily Democrat. :

No one can possibly regret subscribin,
for the Rurat, as it will be read wit!
profit by every family. It has excellent
illustrations.—Ind. State Sentinel.

Wirxovr exception, the best Agricultu-
ral and Family Newspaper. Mr. Moore
lately received a $1,000 draft for one club of
new subscribers !—Minnesota Statesman.

THe Ruraw is a perfect typographical
luxury, teeming with originalit >, pure
morals, and useful reading.— Vt. Citizen.

THE Ruraw is the best Agricultural,
Horticultural and Family paper published
os Continent. — Recorder, Newcastle,

WE wonder not at the Runat’s
success ; it richly merits it.—
ner, Maine,

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