THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



235 



and many of the sheep at a j-ear old will, with 

 moderate feeding, weigh from twelve to fifteen 

 stone each. 



The distinction between the West Country 

 Down and the Hampshire Down is not very 

 strongly marked ; but Mr. Spooner, in his paper 

 on Cross-breeding, in the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, thus sketches the history of 

 the Wiltshires, or West Country sheep : " Here 

 the same large, flat-sided uncouth horned sheep, 

 whose ancestors were its denizens in the days of 

 the Romans, ranged over the Wiltshire Downs, and 

 indeed, retained possession some years later than 

 in Hampshire, They at length succumbed to the 

 superior qualifications of the Sussex Downs which 

 gradually displaced them, not by crossing them 

 out, so much as by being substituted in their place, 

 and thus the imported Sussex became the West 

 Country Down. At length a larger sheep and 

 particularly a larger lamb was demanded, and then 

 the Wiltshire breeders procured rams from Hamp- 

 shire, and greatly improved their flocks in size, and 

 secured larger lambs. Beginning with Sussex 

 ewes, they have increased the size of the frame 

 without matei'ially enlarging the heads, and thus 

 a very valuable breed of sheep has been formed, 

 the Wiltshire Down, whose more perfect symmetry 

 frequently enables their owners to wrest the prizes 

 from the Hampshire men, and to cause the latter, 

 by the rivalry thus induced, to improve the sym- 

 metry of their sheep by careful selection. The 

 Wiltshire Down breeders, therefore, began with 

 the Sussex ewe, and crossed with the Hampshire 

 ram, whilst the Hampshire breeders used the 

 original horned ewe and the Sussex ram. The 

 latter, therefore, have less of the Southdown than 

 the former, and, though of greater size and pro- 

 ducing somewhat larger lambs, haveless symmetry." 



Mr. Humphreys, to whose flock we have already 

 referred, speaks indiscriminately of the Hampshire 

 or West Country sheep ; but thus testifies to their 

 excellence : " My object has been to produce a 

 Down sheep of large size with good quality of 

 flesh, and possessing suflRcient strength and hardi- 

 ness to retain its condition while exposed in rough 

 and bad weather to consume the root-crops on our 

 cold, dirty hills. Independently of the value of 

 the Hampshire or West Country Down in an agri- 

 cultural point of view for such localities as ours, 

 they produce when slaughtered a valuable carcase 

 of mutton, giving the consumer a good proportion 

 of flesh to the fat, which is a point that may be 

 too much lost sight of. I will, in proof of it, relate 

 an instance which a gentleman told me the other 

 day. When residing in another county he sent to 

 his butcher for 3 lbs. of mutton. The fat seemed 

 so much out of proportion to the lean, that he had 

 the curiosity to weigh the lean. After carefully 

 cutting it out, he found it to weigh | lb., or only 

 one-fourth of the whole. This anecdote indicates 

 to those who are attempting by crosses to establish 

 a new breed, or to improve an old one, the im- 

 portance of producing an animal in which the 

 flesh forms a due and suflficient proportion of the 

 whole." 



Mr. Charles Howard, of Biddenham, in a paper 

 read at the Central Farmers' Club last year, goes far 



to confirm all we have quoted from Messrs. Spooner 

 and Humphreys, although he rather demurs to the 

 appetites of this sort of sheep: "The Hampshire and 

 West Country Down is a very important branch of 

 the Down family ; and as the Sussex Down is the 

 favourite in the eastern counties, so is this breed 

 in the western and south-western counties. Again, 

 as the Sussex Downs are descendants of the sheep 

 which formerly occupied those hills, the latter are 

 descendants of those white-faced horned sheep 

 that had ranged from a very early period the hills 

 and downs of Wiltshire and Hampshire. Their 

 improvement dates from the commencement of the 

 present century, when recourse was had to the 

 Southdown ; from successive crosses this very 

 valuable class of sheep was established, and I 

 think it will be generally admitted that a flock of 

 Hampshire Downs now presents as great a uni- 

 formity in wool, colour, and general appearance, as 

 their smaller but handsomer cousins the South- 

 downs. They have lately rapidly risen in public 

 estimation, and find considerable favour in the 

 London markets. But it is said by some (with 

 what truth I know not) that, like the Londoners, 

 who are fond of them, they have rather large ap- 

 petites. A gentleman who stands high as a suc- 

 cessful exhibitor of this class of sheep at our 

 national shows, in reply to my inquiries, states that 

 'they are the best description of sheep for Wilt- 

 shire, Berkshire, and Hampshire ; in fact, the large 

 sheep fairs, such as Overton, Alresford, Wilton, 

 Ilsley, and Weyhill, are supplied with very little 

 stock of any other sort ; they are very hardy and 

 of good constitutions, good wool bearers (the aver- 

 age weight of a well-kept flock is from 6 to 7 lbs, 

 each fleece), of early maturity, and have plenty of 

 lean as well as fat meat ; they will graze to almost 

 any weight you may think proper to make them.' 

 The same gentleman also states ' that they have been 

 very much improved the last few years by a slight 

 cross with the Southdown.' Another gentleman, not 

 a breeder of Hampshires, but who has had consi- 

 derable experience in the feeding of them, states 

 that ' they are a good useful sheep : the better bred 

 ones will bear comparison with other breeds ; but 

 there are some not to be desired — those that are 

 too large are very slow in feeding, and when fat are 

 of second quality; and in his opinion 'it is very 

 easy to get a Hampshire too big.' The ewes are 

 good breeders and sucklers, and combined with 

 the excellent management they receive in these 

 counties, some most extraordinary lambs are 

 raised, which at barely eight months old command 

 enormous prices at their autumn fairs. Their draft 

 ewes also find a ready sale, and are distributed 

 throughout many parts of England, chiefly with 

 the view to cross with the Cotswold or other long- 

 woolled rams ; but the former is more commonly 

 used, and I have seen some very wonderful lambs 

 the result of this cross." 



Mr. Thomas, of Bletsoe, said at the same meet- 

 ing that " for some years he farmed in Essex, and 

 there he found no sheep do so well as the Hamp- 

 shire Downs." Mr. Canning himself marks no 

 distinctive difference between the Hampshire and 

 West Country Downs, as improved to their present 

 excellence. 



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