336 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



worsted yarns, and goes into serges and carpets. They are 

 remarkable for their quiet habits, and seem to enjoy life in eat 

 ing and growing fat. They are not highly valued in Smithfield 

 market, from their excessive fatness, giving a very small proportion 

 of muscle or lean meat, and a large portion of the carcass being 

 absolutely uneatable, except by the most gross and truly Es 

 quimaux appetites.* The Lincolnshire sheep are larger and 

 coarser ; but .in tendency to keep, and increase in fatness, the 

 Leicesters are beyond all rivalry ; indeed, in respect to almost all 

 the other long-wooled sheep, they have been so crossed and in 

 termixed with the Leicester, that it would be difficult to find a 

 pure animal of any one of the original breeds. 



(4.) South Down Sheep. The South Downs are an admi 

 rable race of sheep. The picture in the front of the Sixth Re 

 port gives an imperfect idea of their extraordinary beauty ; and 

 their value corresponds with their beauty. Their average yield 

 of wool is about four to five pounds, of a short staple, and of a 

 tolerably fine, and extremely useful quality. Though they have 

 a great disposition to fatten easily, and come to a good weight, 

 such as twenty pounds per quarter, and often exceeding that, yet 

 their fat and lean are well mixed, and the proportion of one to 

 the other in the same animal such as is desired. They have 

 dark faces, short legs, and stand extremely well upon their legs : 

 are broad in the chest, round in the barrel, most compactly and 



* That I may not be charged with prejudice, I shall quote here a letter re 

 ceived from an eminent Smithfield salesman, through whose hands, probably, more 

 sheep pass, in the course of the year, than those of any other man. &quot; It is neces 

 sary that I should qualify my observations by saying that no doubt Leicester 

 sheep have been of immense service ; and some of the best of them are now ex 

 ceedingly good, having the tendency to fatten more quickly than any others. 

 But you will find my dislike of them is shared by almost all practical men. 

 They certainly have degenerated exceedingly, becoming small and light of flesh, 

 and unsalable from these causes making but little meat per pound, and weigh 

 ing but very little. The average weight of those which come to our market is 

 about eight and a half stone, (eight pounds to a stone,) or seventeen pounds per 

 quarter. The truth is, that some persons have paid such close attention to neat 

 ness, symmetry, and comeliness of form, that they have lost size, flesh, and worth. 

 They have, however, their advantages, for such is their aptitude to fatten, that it 

 is only fair to admit that more can be grazed to an acre than of other sheep. 

 The cross of a good Leicester ram with a large-framed Down, makes an cxco:- 

 lont sheep.&quot; 



