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wools at that time was required to cut down with his shears all skirtings longer than that, to the required shortness. Since then Saxony and Merino wools have been combed whose staples were not more than one and a half inches in length, and wool four inches in length is considered good carding wool. It is evident from this that the old classification of breeds has been rendered of little practical value; for, according to that classification Saxony and Merino are both classed as short wool, yet large quantities of both are produced, which are good combing. The Southdown ought to be classed as a middle-wooled sheep, which is its proper place, yet it never ought to be brought into competition with either Cotswolds, Leicesters, or Oxford Downs, or any of the old styled long wooled sheep; neither should Saxony or short-wooled Merino be brought into competition with the longwooled Merino. But probably the time has not arrived for a very close classification of sheep at our cattle shows; if it has, then they ought to be classed according to different breeds, and different varieties of the same breed. But as they are now classed, it would be as proper to class a thoroughbred horse and a Clyesdale horse together as a Southdown sheep and a Cotswold.

The history of the improvement of this breed of sheep teaches us some important lessons. One is that the improvement of land and of stock are inseparable. Another is that whoever would succeed in sheep husbandry, and particularly of Southdowns, must be careful in the selection of their ewes, their rams, and of the age at which they cease breeding; they must avoid breeding from all stock whose form leads towards the old unimproved, but select those which exhibit the best points of the improved breed. Neither must they be sparing in the amount or in the character of their food; if they are heedless about these things, they may expect to see the Southdown, with all its present acquired valuable characteristics, go back, not by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, but by rapid strides, to the place it occupied a hundred years ago, before Mr. Ellman commenced his improvement, and before the valleys of the Downs were rendered sufficiently fertile to afford superior food to the short grass of the sandy hills.

In the county of Gloucester, England, running parallel with the rivers Avon and Severn, are a range of limestone hills about fifty-four miles long, and in some parts eight miles broad, the highest point being about 1134 feet above the sea level. The soil is a clayey loam. Upon these hills from time immemorial, has been raised a class of sheep called Cotswolds, to which the hills owe their name, and from these hills the sheep derive theirs. For in ancient times the sheep were kept during the night in large houses, capable of containing from one to five hundred. These houses were called cots, or cotes, in which the sheep were sheltered to protect them from

wolves. Would or wold signifies a barren hill-the compound word meaning sheep folds on barren hills.

Around sheep bearing this name, tradition and history have endeavored to weave a classic wreath. William Camben, a Latin writer, in his Britannia, published in 1586, says of these hills: "They feed in large numbers flocks of sheep, long-necked and square of bulk and bone, by reason, as is commonly thought, of the weally and hilly situation of their pasturage, whose wool being most fine and soft, is held in passing great account amongst all nations." John Stowe, another writer of the sixteenth century, says in his chronicles, that in the year 1464, "Edward the IV., concluded an amnesty and league with King Henry of Castile, and John, King of Aragon, at the concluding whereof he granted license for certain Cotswold sheep to be transported into the country of Spain, which have there since mightily increased and multiplied to the Spanish profit, as it is said.” Some writers have been so exceedingly vain as to assert that this importation was the origin of the Spanish Merino. Michael Drayton, in his Polyolbion, published in 1613, contrasts the rich fleeces of the Cotswolds with those of the Ryeland flocks, raised in the vicinity of Sarum and Leomin⚫ster, and though for fineness he yields the palm to the Ryeland, he claims for the Cotswold the heavier fleece.

"T' whom Sarum's plaine gives place though famous for its flocks,
Yet hardly doth she tythe our Cotswold's wealthy locks!
Though Lemster him exceed in fineness of her oar,

Yet quite he puts her downe for his abundant store."

Adam Speed, writing in 1628, describes the wool of the Cotswold sheep as similar to that of Ryeland: "In Herefordshire, especially about Lempster, and on those famous hills called Cotswold hills, sheep are fed which produce a singular good wool, which for fineness comes very near to that of Spain, for from it a thread may be drawn as fine as silk."

The comparing the breed of sheep that at that time was raised upon the Cotswold hills with the Ryeland breed, is all we know of it at the present day. The Ryeland was one of the smallest and finest wooled sheep in England. And when we consider that at that period the Cotswold hills were bleak and barren wastes, we are certain that a sheep as large as the present breed could not subsist there. But when or how this small breed became extinct upon these hills we know not, nor do we know from whence came the large breed that now occupies its place and bears its name. Some are of the opinion that the large breed has been produced from the small one by careful breeding and feeding. But the characters of the former and present breed prevent us from arriving at such a conclusion, and a traditionary belief exists among the inhabitants of these hills that

the modern breed is not the original race of the Cotswold hills. For though Camden describes the ancient breed as being square of bulk and bone, this must be taken as compared with the small surrounding breeds. The most reasonable theory is that when they began to enclose and cultivate the hills, a larger breed was introduced, which, in some instances, was crossed with the small breed; in other cases the smaller breed was withdrawn or killed off, and the large one took its place. This change in all probability commenced in the reign of Elizabeth, for although Speed writing about this period, describes a fine wooled breed, similar to the Ryeland. Markham describes a long wooled breed upon these hills. This point is well established that when the hills were barren a small breed of sheep was kept, and increase of size and improvement of breed kept exact step with the improved cultivation of the soil, for the long wooled breed has undergone a great change within a comparatively recent period. Formerly they were described as a very large, coarse, long-legged flat-ribbed variety, light in the forequarters, shearing a long, heavy, coarse fleece of wool. They were hardy, prolific breeders, and capital nurses, yet deficient in early maturity, and not possessing very good fattening qualities. They were not fed upon the hills where they were raised, the herbage being insufficient, but the wethers when two and three years old, were sold into the valleys of the Severn and Thames, where they were fattened at about four years of age.

But the improved tillage of the hills, the production of vetches, artificial grasses, among which sainfoin and the clovers form no small part, and the production of roots, and the improvement of the breed has changed to a great extent its character. The forequarters are now much larger, and their ribs more rounded, their back and loins much broader, and altogether they are much better built than the old breed, but are not now remarkable for a very fine form; their hindquarters are large, and when fat they carry a large portion of it upon their rumps.

These hills now fat all the sheep they raise, and that number is greatly increased. Now the wethers are brought fat to market at twelve and fourteen months old, weighing from fifteen to twenty-four pounds per quarter, and at a year and a half and two years old they weigh from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds per quarter. The medium weight of their fleeces is from seven to eight pounds, the length of staple from six to eight inches. This, however, will be regulated by the feed-better the feed the longer the staple, heavier the fleece and mellower the wool.

The rams sometimes reach near four hundred pounds, and shear thirteen or fourteen pounds of washed wool. Good ewes will occasionally weigh

two hundred pounds, and shear twelve pounds of wool. The staple of some yearling bucks will measure from twelve to fifteen inches.

The Cotswolds rank among the first of the long wooled and mutton sheep. Their wool is well adapted for the production of the coarser kinds of worsteds, though in England the wool sheared from well fed sheep is used in the production of a medium class of goods.

Mr. Flint, in his report of the exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society, says: "They excel most other breeds in a combination of weight of carcass, wool, and quality. The prominent points of those at the fair were the broad, straight back, fine neck and shoulders, and great length of quarter. As an instance of the prices which this popular breed brings in England, it may be mentioned that in 1861 thirty-five rams sold at an average of over $172 each."

He further says: "They all had the large foretop on the forehead." There are breeders in this country who say that the foretop is not a distinguishing feature of this breed; but the want of it is a sure sign of the presence of some other breed. The pure breed may be further described as having a long and rather thin head, face and legs white, the ears wide but not thin, and without wool. The wool comes down to the knee and hock, and covers the neck and chops.

This breed affords us another very striking instance of the benefits arising from good feed and good care-the return is a good supply of first class mutton at a very early age, and a good heavy fleece; and if the English farmer can make such improvements in stock, and upon land which he does not own, and make money, what ought the American farmer to do who owns his own land and obtains as good a price for his wool as the English farmer, and to-day receives twenty-five cents per pound more than is paid in England for the same kind?

THE BREEDING OF THE NEGRETTI SHEEP AND THE ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE BREEDING OF SHEEP IN MECHLENBURG.

BY W. SETTEGAST.

TRANSLATED BY JOHN H. KLIPPART.

The breeding of the Merino sheep in Mechlenburg has lately attracted the attention of agriculturists far and near, who are observing the so-called "contention for the golden fleece," in which the Agricultural Advertiser

of the Berlin Banking and Commercial News was the chief participant. Yet many who have read the animated articles published in the above named paper, may have been unable to determine whether the one or the other of the views presented be the correct one, for the simple reason that they had no knowledge of the establishments for the breeding of sheep in Mechlenburg, based upon their own observations. Party contentions, in which, as in the above named discussions, the leaders are justifiable in always keeping an eye upon their own private interest, render it difficult to those not immediately interested, to derive any information from an unprejudiced judgment in regard to the subject of controversy, and to decide on the correctness of the one or the other of the views presented.

It is known that this discussion, which became animated on account of the importance of the subject, and which was at last settled rather than brought to a final decision, by the soothing words of Mr. Mentzel, turned upon vital questions, in which the development and future condition of the breeding of the Merino sheep in Germany were involved, namely: whether, in general, the Escurial (Electoral) race be preferable to the Negretti race, or vice versa; and whether, in particular, the breeding and keeping of the Negretti sheep in Mechlenburg furnish larger net profits than the breeding of sheep in Silesia and those regions where the breeders in this branch have adopted the same or a similar method, as in Silesia.

I have been engaged for many years in the breeding of the Merino sheep, and on the yearly excursions in company with my pupils, had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the condition of breeding in different regions, yet the establishments for the breeding of sheep in Mechlenburg were unknown to me. Of course I had now and then seen bucks and ewes from that country, but I knew that the state of the sheep breeding in any country cannot be determined according to the properties exhibited by such individual specimens.

In the spring of 1860 I made an excursion with several of my pupils, for the purpose of inspecting different establishments for sheep breeding, in order to obtain a general knowledge of the present state of it in Mechlenburg, and, from my own observations, to approximate to a solution of the above question-whether and how far the method of breeding in that country might furnish some material for improvement in other countries. In venturing to state the impressions I received, and to inquire into the merits of the methods adopted by prominent breeders, I fully appreciate the difficulty of my task; but, on the other hand, I am convinced that the agricultural public in general, and in particular, those men who are immediately concerned in these communications, will prove forbearing and unbiased critics. Although I believe to have kept myself aloof

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