THE DORSET HORN 593 



the best class of wool of New Zealand growth, in respect of 

 quality, density of staple, and growth. There is also a 

 decided prejudice against Merino mutton imported from 

 the Argentine Republic, and from Australia and New 

 Zealand, owing to its dark colour, especially after it has 

 been frozen, and its thinness as compared with that of the 

 carcases of home-fed British sheep. Merinos are un- 

 doubtedly chiefly famous for wool production, and they are 

 slow in coming to maturity for the butcher, the mutton being 

 prime at three years old, but at its best, when produced on 

 natural food, the mutton is not inferior to that of our moun- 

 tain breeds. Crossing with most of our early-maturity breeds 

 has proved successful in hastening maturity in the produce. 



The weak point of the Merino breed, as a general-purpose 

 sheep, is its slowness in maturing its mutton, but this is a 

 defect for the remedy of which strong inducements are 

 offered in connection with the Colonial and South American 

 mutton trade with this country. 



The Dorset Horn is a sheep with white face and legs, 

 and a pink or flesh-coloured nose like that of the old Somerset 

 breed, which seems to have been a superior variety of the 

 white-faced but black-nosed Dorset, which, according to 

 Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture, was "one of the oldest 

 and best of the Upland short-woolled horned races a breed 

 prevailing in Dorset, Somerset, and Devon." Spooner says 

 of it : " The Somerset sheep is a variety of Dorset possessing 

 the same peculiarities, and differing from it in being larger 

 and taller but lankier, and in having more arched profiles, 

 and pink noses and lips instead of black or white. The 

 wool, too, is somewhat longer, and the lambs are larger." 

 The Somersets were said to have greater fecundity, though 

 not such good mothers. The former distinctions, including 

 the black noses, have disappeared with in-breeding and 

 selection. The lamb arrives at maturity more quickly than 

 the Downs, and in certain districts Down flocks have been 

 superseded by the breed. " The chief home of the leading 

 Horn flocks is now in the southern and western parts of 

 the county, with Dorchester as the centre, and in the Isle 

 of Wight, where very old-established and extensive flocks 

 are kept." The general features are pleasing. The head 



2 P 



