Elements of practical agriculture; comprehending the cultivation of plants, the husbandry of the domestic animals, and the economy of the farm / By David Low.

  • Low, David, 1786-1859.
Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Elements of practical agriculture; comprehending the cultivation of plants, the husbandry of the domestic animals, and the economy of the farm / By David Low. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    672/842 (page 648)
    breed presents somewhat different characters, according to the nature of the country where it is reared, and the views of breed¬ ers. In those cases where artificial food can be supplied in con¬ siderable quantity, breeders prefer a larger form of the animal, with shorter legs. On more elevated pastures, and under less favourable circumstances, they are chosen of a lighter form, and with longer limbs. The properties to be desired in a mountain breed are, that it shall be hardy, of good form, of sufficient size, and with good wool; and for a combination of these qualities, the mountain breed of the Cheviots has certainly not been surpassed in these islands. 10. The Old Norfolk Breed, reared in the heathy parts of Nor¬ folk, Suffolk, and Cambridge. These sheep are strong and agile, armed with horns in both sexes, which in the male are very long and twisted. Their legs and faces are entirely black. Their wool is short, and fitted for the making of secondary cloths. They are of wild and restless habits. They afford admirable first crosses for the markets of consumption with the Leicester and South- down sheep, and in an especial manner with the Southdown. But from the effect of this system long continued, the pure old Nor¬ folk is in danger of being lost as a separate variety. 11. The Breeds of the older Forests, Commons, and Chases. These vary in their aspect, size, and properties with the localities in which they have been naturalized. They have often dark or gray faces and limbs, have sometimes horns, and are sometimes destitute of horns, and bear for the most part a short felting wool. They have been continually diminishing in numbers, with the appropriation of commons, and the improvement of the country, so that few now remain without admixture with the more cultivated breeds. Of these forest breeds two may be mentioned, the Dartmoor and the Exmoor, so named from the districts which they respec¬ tively inhabit. The one is found on the high granitic range of the forest of Dartmoor, and the other on a no less steril tract at the source of the river Exe, on the confines of Somersetshire.