SECRETARY'S REPORT. 137 



had long bred them. It is only within two years that they were 

 formally recognized at a meeting, I believe, of the Smithfield club, 

 and they then received the name which I gave them years ago, of 

 Oxford Downs. By this name they are now known in England. I 

 can only add that an experience of six years confirms all that is 

 claimed for them. Fifty-two ewes produced seventy-three healthy 

 lambs from February 13th to March 15th, this year. The same ewes 

 sheared an average of more than seven pounds to the fleece, unwashed 

 wool, which sold for 34 cents per pound. A good ram should 

 weigh as a shearling from 180 to 250 pounds ; a good ewe from 125 

 to 160 pounds. They fatten rapidly, and thrive on rough pasture. 

 My flock, now the older and poorest ones have been disposed 

 of, will average, I have no doubt, eight pounds wool to the 

 fleece. The mutton is exceedingly fine and can be turned into 

 cash in 18 months from birth,." 



In a Prize Report on the Farming of Oxfordshire by Clare Sewell 

 Read, published in the Journal of the Ro^^al Agricultural Society, 

 in 1855, is a detailed account of these sheep under the name of 

 Down Cotswold. As so little is yet known of them among us even 

 by name, and as the account is an interesting one, it is here quoted. 

 The writer after giving an account of the various breeds of sheep 

 kept in that county, goes on to say : 



"But the present 'glory of the county' — the most profitable 

 sheep to the producer, the butcher, and the consumer, are the 

 half-breds. Yet this is not a well defined appellation, as the names 

 of animals ought to convej'' a description of their properties. Now, 

 a cross between the Ryland and the Welsh, or Cheviot and High- 

 land sheep, are half-breds, but they are not the half-breds of Oxford- 

 shire. A more intelligible name for this class of sheep, and one 

 which might be generally used, would be the Down Cotswold. 

 The Down Cotswold sheep of tliis county were originally a cross 

 between the Cotwsold ram and Hampshire Down ewe ; but the 

 cross having been bred from for nearly twenty years without the 

 infusion of any fresh blood, has become a distinct breed of sheep : 

 quite as distinct and. quite as pure as the sort called Shropshire 

 Bourns. In fact these two varieties resemble each other so much 

 that, when classed together at Gloucester, many considered them 

 one kind of sheep. The Shropshires are very useful, and a credit 

 to any county, yet there is little doubt that they were originally 

 formed by a mixture of long and short wooled blood. The superi- 

 ority of the Down Cotswold sheep consists in their retaining the 

 excellencies of those celebrated breeds without their defects. Thus 

 they combine the early maturity, heavy carcass, and ample fleece 

 of the Cotswold, with the fine wool and mutton of the Downs. 

 They do not indeed, in meat or fleece, come up to the full weight 



