Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-07-18
SHEEP.ISH.

''--Oi j
at all conscious of timidity will read
nothing further of this paper, in the
misrepresentation of finding therein
most unkind cuts at their pitiable nat
ural infrmity-that is if can so sue,
cessfully pull wool over editorial eyes
as to win for it ''the perpetuity of
print"
In the beginning, it may not be out !
of place to say something of the tech
meal difference in coarse and fine woods.
Close examination shows the fibres of |
that substance to be formed into mi |
mute turns or curls, of which thirty to |
an inch length is the minimum stand
ard of fine wool. The Merino, the |
source of all fne-wooled breeds, orig !
mated in Spain, where the stock is d. |
vided into several caba1sas or families, |
as the Escurial, said to excel in fine
ness of fleece; the Guadaloupe, in ex-
cellence of form; the Paulars, giving
much excellent, if not finest, wool the
Infantadoes, distinguished by the hairy
covering of their lambs. Large focks
of them were among the most valued
of royal possessions, and they were
held sufficiently precious for gifts to
other sovere;gns, flock of three hun
dred having been sent by a Spanish
monarch to the Elector of Saxony
whence has been developed the little
Saxony sheep, yielding per fleece about
one and half pounds of exquisitely
fine wool, and the full formed Silesian,
whose average coat is six or seven
pounds in weight. George ~. under
took to introduce the Merino in Eng
land, but the rank, woolly-smelling
carcass was an insuperable objection to
his leal subjects who are quite as de-
voted to mutton as to royalty, conse-
quently to-day the descendants of the
royal flock range, free and fetterless,
Australian sheep-walks, finding, let us
hope, in the scope and excitement of
that wild, new life, compensation for
the lost greatness of their ancestors.
The Merino's opposite in all points
is his congener the South Down, the
mutton sheep, par excellence, of the
world. Large of form and scant and
why of coat, through summers of ten
derest grasses, and winters of unlimited
meal and turnips, he runs riot, to the
time when in juicy, favorous seven
year old mutton, he makes return for
the good things of his life.
The Cotswold, another English breed
of large size, yields immense feeces of
long, curling wool, and as mutton.
though better than the merino, is far
below the South Down
1t is claimed for the Leicesters that
they are the nearest approach yet made
to the ideal sheep of the future, whose
coat and carcass shall be equally and
superlatively excellent.
1t is beyond cavil that as an employ
ment the keeping of sheep ranks with
the highest in point of antiquity and
classical and historical associations.
Abel's offering was ''of the frstlings
of his flock Paris kept sheep upon
Mount Ida when, in awarding the fatal
apple, he gave to later jurists that ex-
ample of noble Partially which has
evidently borne fruit even in our own
day. 1t was thought worth the while
of those royal freebooters, Hercules
and Theseus, to carry off the fiocks Of
} Gorgon, king of Gedes in Spain-pos-
| sibly remote ancestors of the merino
/ family-and watching shepherd-eye
first hailed the star whose beams fore
told a Savior's coming Politically, the
t Shepherds life is full of charms. a
: mild mixture of lambs, sunshine, in
nocence and contemplative alteration
: of nature in her loveliest aspects. Prac.
2 tically, the cOteur de rose exists in but
5 few and faint tinges in picture whose
\ main features are hard work, solitude
4 and exposure to suns that grill anC
}. winds that cut like steel, to say nothing
e of occasional snow and rain storms
S On the biIlowy Russian Steppes feeC
V huge hocks whose guardians sometime
e see 10 human face throughout sum
$ mer. In the desolate Landes of south
f ern France numbers of sheep feed il
summer on the marsh grasses and tn,
shepherds wade after them on silt
/, across the miry levels. Perched OIL
r three supports, like animate stools
y they spend the summers gazing owe
: the cherries flats, solitary save for tn
n trained dogs who keep the flock i
d sight, knitting the while coarse woole
It stocking for next winters wearing
J. widely different figures to Strephol
n and Procris of Bucolics and Geor& hes
e Sheep and Scotland seem to have
Il natural correlation and interdepend
p ence. The industry is there largely o
u the increase. 1t is said that most pit
iful scenes have been witnessed on tn
occasion of eviction and forcible emf
" grafton Of the homely peasantry, con
S. sequent on the turning OF many larg
= estates into sheepwalks. What reade
re of Burns can forget poor Mailie's e
n egy2 and who that ever read it under
5. standingly, can fail TO appreciate tn
n delicate distinction drawn by Sir Wa
j. ter in his picture of Ripple Milnwood
IN dinner table, where the servants an
70 the eve milk cheese were placed belo
= the salt. In most parts of AmerlC
in sheep-milking would be decided
\ novel business. 1t is certainly an III
quiet one, if any credence be due tn
nursery rhyme, which possible Scotc
es ancestor has left afoat ia our tamil,
et, "Hush-a-by, baby. Don't weep and cry $
70 I'll tell We how many must milk an
~ yOwe,
he Two at the head and two at the horns,
And two little Scotch boys 10 keep OF Il
IS lambs"
cs The ewe-milk cheese of RoquefO
IS has a worldwide reputation, aud
to sold at Che appetizing price of one do
he lar a pound, a cost which is mainly DIT