satisfied were the Kentish men
with the superiority of their sheep, that they long resisted any
crossing in the breed. At length, however, this was effected, and from
the Old Romney and New Leicester a stock was produced that proved, in an
eminent degree, the advantage of the cross; and though the breed was
actually smaller than the original, it was found that the new stock did
not consume so much food, the stocking was increased, they were ready
for the market a _year_ sooner; that the fat formed more on the exterior
of the carcase, where it was of most advantage to the grazier, rather
than as formerly in the interior, where it went to the butcher as offal;
and though the wool was shorter and lighter, it was of a better colour,
finer, and possessed of superior felting properties.

692. THE ROMNEY MARSH BREED is a large animal, deep, close, and compact,
with white face and legs, and yields a heavy fleece of a good staple
quality. The general structure is, however, considered defective, the
chest being narrow and the extremities coarse; nevertheless its tendency
to fatten, and its early maturity, are universally admitted. The Romney
Marsh, therefore, though not ranking as a first class in respect of
perfection and symmetry of breed, is a highly useful, profitable, and
generally advantageous variety of the English domestic sheep.

693. DIFFERENT NAMES HAVE BEEN GIVEN to sheep by their breeders,
according to their age and sex. The male is called a ram, or tup; after
weaning, he is said to be a hog, or hogget, or a lamb-hog, tup-hog, or
teg; later he is a wether, or wether-hog; after the first shearing, a
shearing, or dinmont; and after each succeeding shearing, a two, three,
or four-shear ram, tup, or wether, according to circumstances. The
female is called a ewe, or gimmer-lamb, till weaned, when she becomes,
according to the shepherd's nomenclature, a gimmer-ewe, hog, or teg;
after shearing, a gimmer or shearing-ewe, or theave; and in future a
two, three, or four-shear ewe, or theave.

694. THE MODE OF SLAUGHTERING SHEEP is perhaps as humane and expeditious
a process as could be adopted to attain the objects sought: the animal
being laid on its side in a sort of concave stool, the butcher, while
pressing the body with his knee, transfixes the throat near the angle of
the jaw, passing his knife between the windpipe and bones of the neck;
thus dividing the jugulars, carotids, and large vessels, the death being
very rapi