340 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 



headquarters at Hamilton, Ohio. Thirteen volumes of 

 the record have been issued, and over 70,000 animals re- 

 corded. In England, the interests of the breed are in the 

 hands of the Oxford Down Sheep Breeders' Association. 

 It has issued a flock-book each year since its inception in 

 1888. 



HAMPSHIRE DOWN SHEEP. Plate XIII. 

 By H. P. Miller 



396. The Hampshire breed derives its name from the 

 county of that name in the south of England, one of the 

 counties in which it was developed. It is a mutton breed. 



397. History in England. The Hampshire Down 

 sheep was produced by the use of the Southdown 

 on the Wiltshire-horned and the Berkshire-knot sheep. 

 The former was a white-faced race, and the latter 

 black-faced. The Wiltshire was considered the largest 

 of the native breeds. William Humphrey, of Newbury, 

 Hampshire, who is accredited as being the first and great- 

 est improver of the breed, assembled, about 1834, a flock 

 of carefully selected ewes of what were then referred to in 

 a general way as West-Country Downs, including the two 

 above-mentioned local strains. He began his work of 

 improvement by selection, but later became imbued with 

 the idea that crossing would be advantageous, and in 

 successive years purchased three Southdown rams from 

 Jonas Webb. A little later, James Rawlence began im- 

 provement of what was known as the Sussex sheep. He 

 used some Hampshire and West-Country Down blood. 

 Later, the two flocks were coalesced to form the Hampshire 

 Down breed. Hampshires were first accorded a class at 

 the Royal Agricultural Society Show in 1857. 



