138 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the Cotswold, but in moneyed value there is little difference. 

 The half-bred tegs may average 9 stone, and clip 7 or 8 pounds of 

 wool ; they will bear harder folding, and fattcMi with less food than 

 the Cotswold. If a farmer kept 11)0 Cotswolds, he could maintain 

 115 Down Cotswolds, the same number of Hampshires, and 120 

 South Downs on the same food. The farmers on the stone brash 

 seldom keep more than 75 sheep to 100 acres, while the occupiers 

 of the light loams about Oxford generally have double that number, 

 and sometimes as man}?- as two sheep to an acre. 



As compared with Short-wools, on the other hand, one gentle- 

 man, who had formerly kept Downs, assigned the folloAving reason 

 for exchanging them for Down Cotswolds. Eight j'ears ago he 

 had 100 lambs of each sort ; the lots cost exactly the same price, 

 were folded side by side, on turnips through the winter, and both 

 were fed exactly alike. In the spring the cross-breds sold for 12s. 

 per head more than the Downs. In feeding these two sorts of 

 sheep on dirty land, the Downs with short close coats do not keep 

 themselves so clean as the half-brcds. The Down is constantly 

 moving about, and will amble round a turnip, and walk about 

 his fold, while his less active neighbor will cat his fill and quietly 

 lie down. The Downs may have a better quality of mutton, but 

 the excellence of Down mutton is not appreciated when j^oung. 

 A Down Cotswold sheep at fifteen months old will produce as good 

 a quality of meat as a Down of the same age, to say nothing of 

 extra weight. Certainly, if Downs are kept till two years old they 

 make splendid sheep and are much in request, but there are not 

 many farmers who can afford to keep Down sheep 24 months, when 

 they can fatten others in almost half the time. Whore there are 

 extensive Downs, and sheep are valued for their manure more than 

 for their mutton, and can be kept at a small cost till they are a year 

 old or more, there Downs are best ; but for consuming crops on 

 arable land in hurdles, and for producing a great and rapid supply 

 of the best meat and wool, (and this is not oidy an agricultural but 

 a national advantage,) the half-bred sheep stand unrivalled. 



Some will contend that the Leicesters and South Downs are a 

 better cross, but both breeds are too fine, and will not produce the 

 size of the Oxfordshire half-breds. Although the farmers of this 

 county possess the advantage of having tlieir two fivoritc pure 

 breeds of sheep within easy distances, yet many prefer breeding 

 from half-bred sheep to producing the first cross themselves. They 

 may well prefer breeding their own ewes, which is incompatible 

 with keeping to the first cross ; and as few farmers sell their best 

 ewes, it is almost impossible to keep up a good brecMling Hock by 

 purchasing. The old ewes are fatted or sold to the Jiuckingham- 

 sliire men, who take one lanil> and then graze them. AVhether fed 

 ofl' or sold lean, the half'-ljrcds make the most money. 



The produce of good ami well selected cross-bred ewes and rams 

 are now more uniform in color and si/cethan sheep bred from Down 

 mothers and Cotswold sires. There f )rnierly existed much diffi- 

 culty in keeping a newly-formed half-bred Hock to one character. 

 The first cross and their produce will be dissimilar; some will par- 



