New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1866-01-25
THE FORM OF sheep.

While the leading breeders of sheep are well
aware Of the great importance Of welformed animal
few Of tie raak and file pay any attention 70 this
important point. They appear to rest satisfied with
the idea that sheep sheep all the world over. and
this seems to be about oil they care for Yet upon the
form Of tho animal depends ts propensity to early
maturity or s!owness to fattep. as well as upon the
| amount of foodsthat the animal may consume In the
production Of mutton; and early maturity and the
com parative amount Of food consumed In bringing the
animal to maturity. are the conditions Of profitable
returns to the farmer and oil making sheep busbandry
one Of the best investments connected with agriculture
Then, as upon the form Of the animal depends the
wealth Of farmer and the chespness OF our food and
clothing. ought to look upon all these persons who
have labored to improve the form Of the sheep as
among the btDefac!ors Of their race-for before sci
ence opened the eyes Of the farmer be failed to
that without Q well.formed animal all his efforts at
success were but failures and considered that certain
forms and peculiar constitutions the absolute
result Of TIE nature and climate Of the locality 10 which
they were produced and that 1t impossible TO make
any Improvement rpon what Nature had done, she
presenting barrier which art aud science could
overcome.
For an illustration Of this point would refer
readers small tract Of land the southern coast Of
England at tue Westeru entrance OF Tue Otrduo OF
Dover, on small cape the extreme point Of which IL
called Durgenessi ito greatest length being about IA
miles, and its breadth being about 10 miles, This 10
plain Of alluys end nearly on level with the sea
protected from ito tides b akes in the manner Of the
marshy fats Of Holland These nKes save existed from
time mmemoraI; for being protected bT local laws.
they were designated ancient and honorable customs
az long ago rs the reign Of Henry I'LL This sract of
land is called the Romney Marsh. and upon II grew
one Of the hardest and best Of the ongwooed breeds
and one which has contributed much any breed to
the wealth Of the English nation. 1t produces wool
well adapted for the manufacture Of imitation Alpacas,
and Is one the largest and ct one time one Of the
worst formed breeds In England. The old type Of this
breed Of sheep described having long thick head
broad forehead with large tut Of wool upon It, along
thick neck and heavy carcass sides fat chine sharp
lon quite wide breast narrow and Deep the foequarter
light and thin the thigh full and broad the belly large
and hanging down. tail long. thick and coarse. bones
large, bearing cold and poor keeping well. slow Of
maturity; wethers weighing only from 80 to 90 ID at
four years old. Fleece weighed about TO- the Of
good length and Tor long wool toIcraby fine Nature
had formed them for bearing the exposed maritime
situation upon which they were produced and they
the habit Of avoiding the dangerous dohes to
which they were exposed and with which the country
Is intersected Their powerful frames also enabled
them to Withstand those violent winds which sometimes
sweep scross the marsh and would harl less powerful
sheep into those bitches.
The bresders Of this class Of sheep were about the
last to avail themselves Of the improved Leicester
BREED for all the ongwool sheep in England has been
greatly improved by an sdmixture oftba velformed
breed But tho prejudices ofthe breeders OF the Rom
ney Marsh had to be overcome, they. confined upon
little narrow neck Of land knew land but little Of
the outer world; agricultural papers not then
published and the common newspaper, which sold at
high price, having TO pay heavy duty contained little
information which tended to benefit the farmer aud
but few Of these found their way to this marsh Not
withstanding all this many reasoned very correctly
when they saw the beautiful form Of the Leicester RAM
cslIty; yet induced to try GROSS with the
Leicester and their fsvorite breed This improved
their form but the greatest improvement came from
the fact that they had now obtained ideaI they
had seen new breed Of wellformed sheepi they had
seen their early maturity their aptitude TO fatsn and
the small amount Of food II required 10
produce this result They OF what small cost they
cosld be fst,ened compared with the gaunt forms Of
that breed which they had long Looked upon -
the perfection Of sheep. And although they did not
introduce the cross with the Leicester to any great
tsut bet bred from the indigenous sheep yet BY select
us thu best formed animals for breeders they succeeded
in greatly improving tho forms. increasing their early
maturity and also their aptitude to fatten And they
scatered TO the winds the idea that nature eraes bar
riers which science cannot overcome.
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