REARING SHEEP.

management of sheep, to which probably most of our readers have access, that we deem it unnecessary to notice this subject otherwise than to select from the best writers the results of their experience touching a few of the most important items, which will naturally claim the attention of the wool grower.

Essential requisites to a good ram.

His head should be fine and small; his nostrils wide and expanded; his eyes prominent, and rather bold and daring; ears thin; his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the same time join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm, or fore-thigh, must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean, fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin, and coarse hairy wool from the knee and hough downwards; the breast broad and well forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper wideness; his girth, or chest, full and deep, and, instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, that part, by some called the fore-flank, should be quite full; the back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a fine circular arch; his belly straight; the quarters long and full, with the mutton quite down to the hough, which should neither stand in nor out; his twist (i. e. the junction of the inside of the thighs) deep, wide, and full, which with the broad breast, will keep his fore-legs open and upright; the whole body covered with a thin pelt; and that with fine, bright, soft wool.

ཡས་བ པ་

of a healthy sheep, These are a rather wild or lively briskness; a brilliant clearness in the eye; a florid ruddy color on the inside of the eyelids, and what are termed the eyestrings as well as in the gums; a fastness in the teeth; a sweet fragrance in the breath; a dryness of the nose and eyes; breathing easy aud regular; a coolness in the feet: dung properly formed; coat or fleece firmly attached to the skin, and unbroken; the skin exhibiting a florid red appearance, especially upon the brisket. Where there are discharges from the nose and eyes, it indicates their having taken cold and should be attended to by putting them in dry sheltered situations.

Signs of the age of sheep. The age of sheep is determined by the state of their teeth. In their second year they have two broad teeth; in their third year, four broad teeth; in their fourth year, six broad teeth; and in their fifth year, eight broad teeth before. After which none can tell how old a sheep is while their teeth remain, except by their being worn down. About the end of one year, rams, wethers, and all young sheep, lose two fore-teeth of the lower jaw; and they are known to want the incisive teeth in the upper jaw. At eighteen months, the two teeth joining to the former, also fall out; and at three years, being all unplaced, they are even and pretty white. But as these animals advance in age, the teeth become loose, blunt, and afterwards black. The age of the ram, and all horned sheep, may also be known by their horns, which show themselves in their very first year, and often at the birth, and continue to grow a ring annually to the last period of their lives.

Time of purchasing sheep. With respect to the time, or proper age for purchasing sheep intended for breeding, there is a difference of opinion: but the most experienced breeders recommend them to be procured a

MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.

short time previously to shearing, from the farmer, grazier, or owner's house; because they will then be seen in their natural state, and the real depth of the staple may also be easily ascertained without the possibility of any fraud or imposition being practised on the buyer by the vender.

Breeding of Ewes. Ewes generally breed at the age of fifteen or eighteen months, though many experienced breeders never admit the ram till they are two years old. Much, however, depends, in this respect on the goodness of the food, as well as on the forward or backward state of the breed. The choice of ewes, therefore, ought to be made with care and discrimination, not only as to the characteristic marks, which ought to be the same as those of the ram, but also with regard to the breed; for, with sheep, as with other cattle stock, no certain degree of excellence can be attained, unless the female possesses an equal degree of blood with the male. In particular, a purchaser should see that the animals be sound; and, in order to ascertain this point, it will be advisable to examine whether the teeth are white, the gums red, the breath not fetid, the eyes lively, the wool firm, and the feet cool; qualities these which afford a certain criterion of health or disease.

During the period of gestation, ewes require great attention, lest any accident should occasion them to slip their lambs; and, if that should take place, it will be proper to separate them instantly from the rest of the flock. It will, therefore, be necessary to keep them in the same manner as cows, while going with calf, namely, upon a moderate or tolerably good sheltered pasture, where no object can disturb them; though, if this should fail, it will be advisable to give them turnips, or similar green food, under the like precautions, till within the last two or three weeks before their yeaning. In the breeding of cattle, indeed, it is a maxim which ought to be steadily kept in mind, that nothing can be more prejudicial to the females than to fatten them during gestation; and with respect to ewes in particular, this rule should be more carefully observed than with regard to any other animal; for if they be fed too high while they are going with lamb, they will undergo great difficulty and pain in yeaning; whereas, unless they are put into a little heart before that period arrives, they will not only be deficient in strength at the critical moment, but also be destitute of a sufficient supply of milk for the support of the lamb, and consequently both the dam and her progeny must be greatly weakened, if they do not actually perish from such mismanagement.

Owning of Lambs. It often happens, says Mr. Grove, that ewes will. not own their lambs, particularly the first they bear; and in this case I would advise to the sprinkling a little salt on the lamb; which induces the ewe to lick it after which she will generally allow it to suck. If not, the ewe with her lamb should be placed in a separate enclosure (of which several should be previously prepared) and fed with the most nutritious fodder, particularly with nourishing liquids, that the udder may be uncomfortably distended; and if this be not sufficient she must be tied by the legs, till the lamb has been once suckled; after which there will be no farther difficulty.

Weaning Lambs. This depends upon various circumstances. If the parent ewe is broken mouthed, or so faulty in wool, or in shape, as to render it desirable to get rid of her, the lamb must be weaned early, so as to admit of her being fattened in season; if she is admitted to the ram as soon as she is disposed to take him, the earlier she will fat. If the object is to render the lambs as large as possible, and they are

of such a

MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.

stock, as to make the ewes of comparatively less value, it will be best to let the lambs run with them, till they wean themselves; because they undoubtedly grow the more rapidly for it. This mode, therefore, I would recommend, when a merino flock is to be engrafted upon a common one. But if the ewes are valuable, it certainly will be best to wean the lambs so early, as to give the ewes some respite, before they take the ram again; and indeed, if early lambs are preferred, early weaning is absolutely necessary, as the ewe will seldom take the ram when exhausted by nursing. In Spain, they leave the lambs with the ewe till they wean themselves. In France, and generally in England, they are weaned at three and four months old. In order to prevent the lambs from falling off, when they are weaned, they should be put into a piece of young tender grass, with an old quiet ewe or wether to direct their movements; they should also be out of sight and hearing of their mothers, that they may the sooner forget each other. If the keeping them apart be inconvenient, they may be brought together at the end of a fortnight. Some attention should be paid to the ewes for the first week, in order to prevent their suffering by a too great flow of milk, which should be taken from them every day or two; and perhaps it would be best, till their milk is dried up, to keep them in scanty pastures.

Winter management. It is recommended to give ewes with lamb, a somewhat more than ordinary quantity of food, for a month or six weeks before they are expected to yean. Not enough, however to make them fat, as dangerous consequences might attend their being in very high condition at that period. Turnips are said to be injurious to ewes with lamb, but may be well given them after they have yeaned. If your sheep, whether store sheep or ewes with lamb, have good hay, about a quart of potatoes a day to each will, it is said, be very beneficial, and an ample allowance. Potatoes, besides their use as food for sheep, are said to be very serviceable as an article of diet, which usually supersedes the necessity of medicine. They have, when given raw, an opening or purgative quality, which is thought to be of use, and answer a similar purpose with sheep, which is effected with swine by brimstone and antimony. Potatoes, baked, steamed or boiled, will furnish more nutriment than those which are raw.

Care should be taken to place in the stable small tubs or troughs of water for the sheep to drink in. They will do very well in the summer without water, as they feed when the dew is on; but they need water in winter, especially if fed mostly on dry food. When sheep have colds, and discharge mucus from the nose, good feeding, together with pine boughs, given occasionally, will cure them; or tar, spread over a board, over which a little fine salt is strewed, will induce sheep to lick up the tar, and this will cure a cold. Half a gill of Indian corn a day, given to each sheep during winter, is recommended as keeping them in good heart, preventing the wool from falling off, and enabling the ewes to rear their young better, than they would if fed altogether on food of a less substantial nature.

Quantity of food. Writers do not agree on the quantity of food, which a given number of sheep will consume to advantage in a given time. According to Mr. Lawrence, a sheep will eat twenty pounds of turnips in twenty four hours; but that one gallon of potatoes will generally suffice. The size of the sheep he does not give. The same writer also states that the quantity of food required by a sheep, compared with an ox, is as one to eight or nine. Daubenton, a celebrated French agriculturalist, gives the

MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP.

following as the result of an experiment which he made on this subject. "I confined," says he "in a small space, two sheep, about twenty inches high, (the height of most woolled animals in France.) By way of experiment, I caused the sheep to be fed during eight days, solely on grass newly cut, and weighed before placed in their rack. Care was taken to pick up, and place back again, all that the sheep let fall, and to weigh that which they would not eat, in consequence of its being too tough, or because it possessed some bad quality. From this trial, frequently repeated, it appeared that a sheep of the middle stature eats about eight pounds of grass in a day. The same experiments, conducted with the same preciseness. in regard to the fodders of hay or straw, have proved that a sheep of middling height likewise eats daily two pounds of hay, or two pounds and a half of straw.

In order to ascertain how many pounds of grass go to one pound of hay, I caused the grass to be weighed as soon as cut; it was then spread on cloths exposed to the sun, so that none might be lost, though at the same time well dried. Being thus converted into hay, I found its weight reduced to one fourth; eight pounds of grass had given only two pounds of hay.

Manner of feeding. “One thing, (says Mr. Tessier) cannot be too much recommended, which is to place the hay in the racks while the sheep are out of the house; by this precaution the dust will not fall upon the fleeces." Dr. Draw observes that the rack in which the hay is put should be upright, so that in feeding, the seeds, chaff, &c. should not fall into the wool, about their necks. Under the racks should be a trough for catching the seeds of the hay, and feeding the sheep.

Salt. With regard to giving salt to sheep writers have disagreed. It is believed to be better not to give them any, than to allow them too great a quantity. M. Tessier says, "sheep have been known to be attended with long and troublesome looseness in consequence of having taken too much salt; which has induced the belief that sea-water is poisonous to them; and that his sheep had always been healthy though he had never given them any salt. But he states that it may be indispensably necessary in wet countries." And Dr. Cooper, editor of the last edition of the Domestic Encyclopedia, recommends one fourth of an ounce a day, as a proper quantity for sheep. Mr. Grove likewise says, "salt is required by sheep, at intervals, during the whole year; but it is often given in too great quantities, and almost forced upon the sheep; which is often injurious, and often injures the digestion, so that the best grain will pass through them unaltered. The best mode, where rock salt is to be had, is to attach pieces here and there in the stable or pasture, and let them lick it as they wish. The usual calculation is from one to two pounds yearly, per head: but I have usually found that something less than one pound was quite sufficient, and more than this is not given in Saxony to the best managed flocks."

Folding. Cotting or folding of sheep, is a practice more or less extensively followed with particular breeds, and in particular districts; but now generally on the decline. It was formerly thought to be indispensably necessary to the success of the farmer in different districts; but of late a different opinion has prevailed, except in particular cases, and it is considered as merely enriching one field at the expense of another. The object is to enrich the arable land; but as this is done at the expense of the pasture, it is truly as Bakewell expresses it, "robbing Peter to pay Paul.'

DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SWINE.

Marking. An English writer gives the following:-Mark on either side of the nose of the sheep, the initials of the owner's name, and on the opposite side any number by which he may choose to designate the particular sheep, by means of a small iron letter or figure about an inch long; which being dipped in common oil colors, mixed with turpentine to dry them more readily, is placed on the part described, and will continue until the next shearing season. The process is easy, and will give the animal no pain; the marks cannot be readily obliterated, which is not the case with tattooing or cauterizing.

SECTION V.

ON THE BREEDING, REARING, AND FATTENING OF SWINE.

It is the remark of a writer, that those animals which are most essential to the comfort of man, have been most widely diffused, by a kind providence. Among these animals we must certainly rank swine. They are to be found in all latitudes, between the frozen regions, on the north and south. Of domestic stock, few varieties are more profitable to the breeder, than swine. While the number kept on a farm is proportioned to the quantity of offal on the premises, especially as the attendance they require, is, when compared with that of others, very trifling, and the benefit arising from their manure more than counterbalances the expense

of such attendance.

The characteristic marks of a good hog are, a moderate length, as to the carcass in general; the head and cheek being plump and full; and the neck thick and short; bone fine; quarters full; the carcass thick and full; his bristly hide fine and thin; the symmetry or proportion of the whole well adapted to the respective breeds or varieties; and above all, a kindly disposition to fatten early.

DIFFERENT BREEDS OF SWINE.

Swine differ greatly in different countries, in respect to size, color, &c. &c. In Piedmont they are universally black, and this color obtains so generally throughout Italy, that swine's flesh is often called, in the language of that country, nero, or black. In Normandy their color is white, but in the neighboring country of Bavaria, it is reddish brown. In Hungary and Sweden swine are often found with solid hoofs, although in other countries they are universally cloven footed.

The parent stock of the domestic swine of Europe, is doubtless, the wild boar, which is still found in some of the forests of France, Germany, and other parts of Europe, as well as those of Persian India.

Wild boars usually live in families and are hunted as an amusement in all parts of the world, in which they are found. The flesh of the wild animals, if they are not old, is said to be much superior to that of our domestic swine. That of the young ones is peculiarly delicate. Of an old wild boar the head only is at all eatable..

Considerable attention has been paid to swine in England, where al