THE KENT, OR RODNEY MARSH 585 



of bone. The backs of fat sheep of this breed are hard 

 to the touch, and the shoulder and backbone are liable 

 to stand up too prominently, yet the mutton ranks next to 

 Down mutton in quality, possessing, in comparison with 

 Lincoln mutton, a much greater proportion of flesh to fat. 

 The breed has been in high favour for over twenty years in 

 the North Island of New Zealand, where much of the pasture- 

 land is steep, and where a lighter and more active sheep is 

 wanted than the Lincoln or the Leicester. 



In recent years its merits have become appreciated in 

 Argentina and several of the other sheep-breeding South 

 American republics. The numbers of rams, and latterly 

 ewes, exported to these and other foreign parts, including 

 Canada and South Africa, have steadily increased since the 

 foundation of the Kent or Romney Marsh Sheep Breeders' 

 Association in 1895, and the compilation of the Flock Book, of 

 which the twelfth volume appeared in 1906, containing a 

 list of eighty members of the Association. This combined 

 movement has led to the extension of the area occupied by 

 the breed in this country. Very successful registered flocks 

 are now established in Herts and Rutlandshire, which supply 

 home evidence of the well-known adaptability of the breed 

 abroad to different conditions of soil and of management. 

 So stringent are the regulations for entry in the Flock Book 

 laid down by bye-laws, that " no flock shall be eligible for 

 acceptance for entry unless its owner is a member of the 

 Association, and that all rams used therein during the three 

 seasons preceding the application for registration shall have 

 been registered rams " ; also, " that no ram or ewe or ram 

 lamb or ewe lamb bred by a non-member shall be eligible 

 for registration unless it be proved to the satisfaction of the 

 Council that its sire was a registered sheep and its dam by 

 a registered sire." A detailed annual list of winning sheep 

 at shows, and their owners, is likewise included. During the 

 thirties and early forties of last century much interest was 

 taken in grazing 1 contests, which were held in different 

 districts of the Romney Marsh, under the direct manage- 

 ment of local committees. The sheep entered for com- 

 petition were removed from the control of the owners 

 to selected grazing lands, and no artificial food or fodder 

 was supplied. Judgment was given at the expiry of the 



