New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-08-11
Nfw4lork Daily Wibnme
IMPORTANT TO FARMERS.
ON THE VARIOUS BREEDS OF SHEEP, AND
TILE ART OF SHEEP RAISING.

THE ART OF SHEEP-hAlSiN1'
We have at different times during the last SIX months
presented our country subscribers with series Of pa
regs on the improvement Of the breed OF horses, ana
Oh the various distinct races, native and imported, f"
nea. cattle accompanied with remarks on the different
sys:eus Of breeding, bybrdzaton and creation OF new
families on he peculiar advantages and qualities pos
sessed by the various families, breeds, Of both these
usefu and valuable animals on their adaptation to par
cultr climates districts, Of the United States; on
the degree Of benefit to be expected romthe intermx-
ure of various foreign families, ore with another or
with the different established American breeds; and
generally, Oh the treatment, management ana uses oi
the animals.
These pspers have beer so iavorsby received by
chr subscbers as we learn by the letters addressed to
ourselves on the subject, that we have determined to
allow them up by similar series on two animals, less
noble perhaps and certainly less interesting to general
leaders than the horse and the OK but OF scarcely n-
f,,or Importance to the agricultural and breeder or
FEEDER of the United States in which, moreover, there
s YES: amount OF capital Invested and IN which most
important American interests are nyolved-tbe DIMES
bic sheep ard the hog.
OF the domestic sheep as of the horse, the OK the
dog the camel and the barndoor fowl the origin can
rot be with distinct convincing certainty referred TO
any now existing wild type nor CAN'T be with precision
stated hat is their native land. 1T is sufficient how
ever for our purpose TO know that is one oil the very
FIST animals which was dOmesicsted and brought into
srbecton to man. OF the sons of the first created
oouple the one Abel was keeper Of sheep. la the
twelfth chapter Of Genesis also and at tne sixteenth
verse we subsequently find that the first Pharaoh into
whose house Sas the wife of Abram, was conducted,
When on the first visit of the Patriarch TO the land OF
Egypt be cenied that she his wife and endeavored
10 pass her off his sister because she was lar wo-
man to look upon, had among the riches OF his realm
sheep and oxen and he asses, and men-serVans aud
maid.seIvants and she asses and csmels horses
not being as yet, it would appear, known or domss'-
Gated either Egypt, in any of the adjacent coun-
tries. That animal which was never much in use
amorg the Iraeltes, owing probably TO the rocky and
precpt Gus nature of the sol and face Of the country in
Idumea is first mentioned in the story of Joseph, the
great grandson of Abraham who related to have re-
ceiyed them in exchange for corn during the great
famine from The consequences OF which he preserved
not only Pharaoh and his people, but the children OF
Israel ao by the precautions he was enabled TO take
by the Knowledge he acquired from direct, Divine IN
spirson But log before the use OF the horse had be-
come general even for the purposes Of war to which
II appears to have been first made adapted the posses
sion of sheep as well az of oxen, and perhaps OF the
former more StntId4N, was ConmVu ouVHS tHo Pot-
rsrchs as it is yet among the Arabs OF the desert,
who in the greater part of their usages, as we'll as in
their migratory pastoral lives and their sjourning in
tents. have continued to this day, in almost every re-
spec. identical with the earliest recorded of civil
lied men, as depicted in the earliest existing history.
That their maj agemen. and habits were thoroughly and
even physioogcsy understood by the early lsraeltes
is certain from the story Of Jacob and Laban, and the
IL. IL Ix,t fha in
causing the females of the sheep and goats to cast
specked and spotted, or black and brown young, by
means of device operating the imagination of the
parents at the moment of conception. For purposes of
hospitality, also among the modern Arabs, the kill
ing Of lamb to be served up roasted whole, as is stall
the case On the arrival of guests at the black tents in
the desert is of constant mention in the Scriptures 1t
NAV therefore be easonaby doubted whether the do
mertic sheep is not of itself from the beginning sepa-
rate and self existent family, and neither one of any
wild race reclaimed and subjected by man. nor yet
creature the result Of domestcatOn and OF breeding
from an animal Of different type. 1t has, however,
been for the most part assumed by nsurasts and con-
csded as an unquestioned fact that the Arga or wild
mountain sheep of Europe, which is nearly akin to the
American Ahsahta, or big horn of the Rocky Noun
tains the origin Of the domestic sheep. This idea
seens however, to lack confirmation, both from the
physical conformation of the animals and the character
of their pet, the wild sheep being remarkable for its
enormous horns, and characterized by being hairy
rather than wooly animal and by the fact that the
Argah is rather, or at least more remarkably, Eu-
ropean than al isatic creature. The question, how
ever is of the less signhcaon aud Importance since
the domestic sheep evidently as shown by its own
helpless and dependent habits, and its inability a.
mos, 10 subsis itself without the care OF man, Of
the most anceny domesticated of all the snimal race;
nd that OF which the characteristics have been the
longest and the most indelbly fixed without any at
tempt on the part Of the breeders to improve or ren
yigorae the race as has been attempted with more or
ss success in most other species OF animals nos sub
ject TO man, by recurrence 10 the original types. ln
TACT, the circumstance that the wild animals, most
nearly allied TO the sheep are hairy rather than woody,
has operated sgaitst such attempt the great, the
eaYes; and the most constant efforts Of breeders hay
ng been directed to the improvement Ct the tex ure
the fneness decacy ana softness of the wool, for
which, even than FOR its ssh the sheep has been
cultivated for Thousands of years. For the t.st im-
lrosenent Of sheep Tor the ors gin OF than is
generally supposed OF the boosted practices Of the pres
En-: day, we have to refer TO the ancient Romans by
whom appears, at about the period OF the reigns Of
he Emperors Iberius and Csudius sheep raising and
sheep-ereedrg with view to the quality and fne-
reese Of the wool was an art practced with as much as
Gduiy and neally on the same principles AMI with the
results il is at present. 1t is evident that the
arcen. sheep, Of which the most early famed were
those OF Isrentum and Csabris in Europe still great
"oo-growng districts, and those OF Mletus in Asia.
were @ al extremely delicate habit tender in cons;itu.
non' Is vel as delicate in the quality Of their costs. To
give strength ani hardhood TO these sheep as well ss