. The breeds, management. olumeda, whowrote an excellent treatise on husbandry,) a rich colonistwho lived at Cadiz during the reign of the Emperor Clau-dius, and made Agriculture his pleasure and pursuit, wasstruck with the beauty of the wild rams that were broughtfrom Africa, to be*exhibited at the Roman games. Hecoupled those with Taventian ewes, which were celebratedfor the softness of their wool, and procured, by this means,a race whose fleeces resembled that of their dam in soft-ness, and that of their sire in the color and fineness of thowool. This circumstance shows that north-western A
. The breeds, management. olumeda, whowrote an excellent treatise on husbandry,) a rich colonistwho lived at Cadiz during the reign of the Emperor Clau-dius, and made Agriculture his pleasure and pursuit, wasstruck with the beauty of the wild rams that were broughtfrom Africa, to be*exhibited at the Roman games. Hecoupled those with Taventian ewes, which were celebratedfor the softness of their wool, and procured, by this means,a race whose fleeces resembled that of their dam in soft-ness, and that of their sire in the color and fineness of thowool. This circumstance shows that north-western Afri-ca, in those clays, possessed a breed of very fine wooledsheep; and that country, at this time, possesses a superiorbreed of sheep, which are indigenous to it, and whose woolis glossy and nearly as soft and line as that of the Merino; ASIATIC AND AFRICAN SHEEP. n but it is straight, that is, it wants the spiral curve ; andthis deficiency renders its wool less valuable than that ofthe Merino. SECTION ICELAND SHEEP. The sheep of Iceland are of two kinds: The first termedthe native, or original breed, is much like the Argaii. Theyare of small size, and their color is from dun to almostblack. The second kind is larger, the fleece white, and issupposed to have originated from more, southern fleece of these breeds consists of two coats ; one ofextremely coarse hair, which hardly merits the nameof wool, and another beneath it of a softer and finer quality,but so mixed as to make it difficult to separate them. This 28 EUROPEAN SHEEP. fleece is very thick and impervious to cold and wet; but isof inferior value for manufacturing, and is used for horsecollars, and some wool is exported to other countries forthis use. These sheep have four and some of them fivehorns, of considerable size, and are always spiral. Theyare very hardy, and are never stabled, but seek their foodby following the horses, and eating the grass and mosswhich they uncover—their own
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectsheep, bookyear1848
