230 



THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



Phott b } J. T. Ntwman] 



LONK RAM 



This is a photograph of the largest sheep on record 



[Birihamsttd 



sheep. Later a large heavy 

 sheep, with long wool and a 

 massive body, was bred in 

 the Midlands, and called 

 the LEICESTER LONG-WOOL. 

 This sheep gives a great cut 

 of wool, and much coarse 

 mutton. The CHEVIOT SHEEP, 

 originally bred on the hills of 

 that name, is now one of the 

 mainstays of the Scotch moun- 

 tain farmer. The Cheviots 

 eat the grass on the high 

 hillsides, while the BLACK- 

 FACED HIGHLAND SHEEP 

 live on the heather higher 

 up. The SUFFOLK, OXFORD, 

 HAMPSHIRE, and other 

 " Down " sheep are larger 

 breeds than the South Down. 

 The ROMNEY MARSH SHEEP 

 are a heavy long-woolled 

 breed. The ExMOORS are 



small heather-sheep like those of Wales, and the SOA and ST. KILDA SHEEP, which are often 



four-horned, the smallest of all. 



The maintenance of flocks is now almost an essential part of English agriculture on all 



chalk lands, which comprise a very large percentage of the southern counties. On the chalk 



downs the flocks are the great fertilisers of the soil. Every night the sheep are folded on 



the fields which are destined to produce corn in the following year. The manure so left on 



the soil ensures a good crop, with no expense for carting the fertiliser from the farmyard, as 



is the case with manure made by oxen kept in straw-yards. 



On the South Downs, Oxfordshire Downs or Chiltern Hills, Salisbury Plain, and the 



Berkshire Downs the farms have been mainly carried on by the aid of the flocks. Where 



these are no longer kept the land reverts to grass, and the growing of corn ceases. On the 



coarse, new-sown grasses cattle take the place of sheep, and an inferior style of farming, like 



the ranches of South America, replaces the 



careful and highly skilled agriculture of Old 



England. In the far north of Scotland cross- 

 bred sheep are now reared and fed in winter 



on turnips, which will grow luxuriantly where 



the climate is too bleak and wet for wheat. 

 Formerly cattle were the main source 



of wealth to the owners of Highland estates. 



The sheep was only introduced after the 



Highlands were subdued subsequently to 



the rebellion in 1745. It was found that 



the rough-coated heather-sheep throve on the 



wet and elevated hills. This led to their 



substitution for cattle, as wool was then dear. 



Sheep are now in their turn giving way to 



grouse and deer over much of the Central WELSH EWES 



Highlands, as the price of wool has fallen. Ismail breed of bill-sheep 



[Btrihamitid 



