Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-05-10
SHEEP THE MAINsTAY OF AGRICULTURE.

1t is useless tor farmers to attempt TO lg-
more the necessity of sheep hll>bandry III
conjunction with5any good system OF farm
inc. Although in modern days IDEAS differ
essentially from those held i'll olden times,
at least in many respects, yet III regard 10
the value of sheep there never was Il filral
people in any age Who proSpered III the
long run without Il flock OF sheep ana Il
shepherd to take care of them. Jacob served
Laban for his wives by attending to sheep,
and became possessed himself OF immense
tlocks. and all through the historical part OF
the Bible sheep are repeatedly alluded TO;
Abraham and Lot had many, and sheep
sl,earings were commonly ended with COLI
siderable ieasting.
In the New Testament, too, the shepAerus
were the first to be appraised of the good II
dings, and the good shepherd and his flock
is so represented us to show that sheep were
! valued and cared for and thought a deal
more of than by the present Inhabitants OF
this country.
Abouta century ago Mr- Coke, of Nor
folk, England, owned Il large tract of land
and made up his mind to improve it by
bringing sheep permanently into notice.
Annually he had a great time at his sheep
shcaring, and induced his tenants to III
crease the number Of their sheep, thereby
cnriching his estate and himself till, at the
a ,e of 70, he was created Earl OF Leicester.
1t is probable tllat many WHO read this will
have heard of his being Il widower, with
three daughters of middle age, but no son
to inherit tie title, and how he married a
young lady OF 2G who had three daughters
by the time the Earl was 50 years old, and
then had one son who succeeded to his IA
theirs wealth and honors.
The Norfolk domain is one of the finest
cultivated estates in England, and has the
character of being the best managed. This
may be. attributed, i'll u great measure, to
the excellent system Of sheep husbandry es-
tablished there. Again to show the effects
of sheep on poor soil, 81 years ago the writer
"a boy With his father, mother, etc.
moved from Northampton shire into the
Cotswold Hills, at that time only partially
in cultivation, and where comparatively few
sheep were kept. Year by year, however,
their numbers were increased, and roots
were grown upon the improved system OF
ridging in rows. called, then, the Scotch
way, because a Scotch bailiff first introduced
it. AS this system progressed crops be-
came heavier till, at the present day, the
sheep have become a renowned breed, and
from having been made up by clashes of
other blood, not only have they been used
to Improve other breeds-as the Leicester
and Lincolns-but they have also been the
means of establishing entirely new breeds,
by crossing as, for instance, the Oxford
Downs.
At the time mentioned, half a century on
ly ago, the Cotswold sheep was a great,
coarse, bigheaded, clumsy animal, very diff
icult to tatten to nice ripe mutton. Know
ing this, and seeing the Cotswolds and Ok
ford Downs Of the present moment, what
an encouragement to go vigorously into the
breeding and improvement of the sheep in
the United States.
The Leicester sheep We're improved and
brought prominently into notice long be-
fore the Cotswold was thought much of,
and the good. old-fashioned South Down
was an established breed, the origin of
which is as remote as the black Welsh cat
tie and Welch mountain sheep. AS every
body knows Gilman Webb, etc. improved
upon the native stock the same as Bake
well did on the Leicesters, and will be histo-
rical in agriculture in England, as the great
improvers OF finc-wooled sheep in the United
States, will be here.