THE SHROPSHIRE 605 



fifteen counties, whereas the Southdowns the great rivals 

 of the time that were present came from eleven breeders 

 located in six counties. The irregularity of type which at 

 one time existed in the breed has disappeared. 



The ewes are prolific, as "with ordinary management at 

 least 50 per cent, of doubles may be looked for." They are 

 well adapted as cast ewes for the " lamb and dam " trade, " for 

 not only do they feed their lambs well, but as a rule they are 

 ready for the butcher when their lambs go." The breed is 

 responsible for having supplanted or reduced in numbers 

 many of the original breeds of the country, possessing as it 

 does " all the quality of the Southdown, with considerably more 

 size, and carrying a large proportion of lean meat to fat." For 

 example, it has encroached upon the Roscommon breed in 

 Ireland, where it is in high favour, upon the Southdown, the 

 Ryeland, the Cotswold, and numerous local English breeds, 

 which have entirely disappeared. Although it has estab- 

 lished itself in full perfection as a pure breed with Thos. A. 

 Buttar, at Corston, in Forfarshire, it has been overshadowed 

 by the Oxford Down as a sire of cross lambs in the Scottish 

 Border country. It was extensively tried in Scotland for 

 this purpose about 1884, but, when kept to finish on turnips 

 in spring as hoggs, they proved to be smaller than Border 

 Leicester crosses, and failed to supplant them. Another 

 disadvantage of the Shropshire when used to cross with 

 sheep on hill pasture, is that the lambs for the first few days 

 are too bare to resist the cold in wet and stormy weather. 

 The breed has had unparalleled success as a sire in all 

 countries producing the main imported supplies of mutton for 

 the British market, with the conspicuous exception of 

 Argentina, where every other breed has been bested by the 

 Lincoln the chief consideration of sheep-breeders so far 

 having been the quantity and quality of long wool. In New 

 Zealand, where " there is no sheep equal to the Shropshire for 

 producing lambs for freezing," crosses three or four months 

 old weigh 39 Ibs. each carcase. The success of the Shrop- 

 shire as a general-purpose sheep for the production of 

 mutton and wool is focussed in a brochure issued by Alfred 

 Mansell & Co., secretaries to the Shropshire Sheep Breeders' 

 Association and Flock Book Society, Shrewsbury, England, 

 in 1901. The Association was formed in the autumn of 1882, 



