CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



4. The Moorland sheep of Devonshire some- 

 times termed the Exmoor and Dartmoor have 

 boms, with legs and faces white, wool long, with a 

 hardy constitution, and are said to be well adapted 

 to the %vet lands which they occupy. Their wool 

 weighs about four pounds the fleece ; but they are 

 rather small, and in some respects ill formed. 



5. Tfte Cheviot breed, deriving their name from 

 the Cheviot Hills, are longer and heavier than the 

 Black-faced. Their wool is fine and close ; a 

 medium fleece weighs about three pounds and a 

 half to four pounds ; a carcase, when fat, weighs 

 from sixteen to eighteen pounds and upwards per 

 quarter. Their faces are white ; their legs are 

 long, clean, and small-boned, and clad with wool 

 to the hough. Their only defect of form is a want 

 of depth in the chest ; yet, with this exception, 

 their size, general shape, hardy constitution, and 

 fine wool, are a combination of qualities in which, 

 as a breed for mountain pasturage, they are yet 

 unrivalled in this country, though they require a 

 larger proportion of grass to heather than the 

 Black-faced breed. 



6. The Horned varieties offine-ivoolled sheep of 

 Norfolk, Wiltshire, and Dorset, The members of 

 this breed have short wool, in which they differ 

 from the Black-faced sheep and the Moorland 

 sheep of Devonshire, and they differ from the 

 Cheviot breed in having large spiral horns. They 

 are not much lighter than the Cheviots, but they are 

 ill formed, thin, flat in the ribs, and slow feeders ; 

 a medium fleece weighs about two pounds. It 

 is believed that the South-down will eventually 

 displace them. The Wiltshire sheep are heavier 

 than those of Norfolk, being the largest of our 

 fine-woolled sheep. The Dorset sheep have horns, 

 white faces and legs ; their three-year-old wethers 

 weigh from sixteen to twenty pounds per quarter ; 

 their wool is less fine, but heavier than that of the 

 Wiltshire, weighing from three to four pounds the 

 fleece. One of the peculiar advantages of this 

 breed is, that the ewes admit the ram at so early 

 a period that they generally have lambs in the 

 months of September and October a stock which 

 finds a ready market in large towns for winter 

 consumption. 



7. The Ryeland breed, deriving their name from 

 a southern district in Hertfordshire, which at one 

 time was regarded as incapable of growing any- 

 thing but rye. The members of this variety are 

 white-faced, and without horns ; their general form 

 is tolerable ; they fall short of the improved breeds, 

 in being more flat in the ribs, and less level in the 

 back ; their wool is fine, weighing from one and 

 a half to two pounds ; their mutton is delicate ; 

 they arrive soon at maturity, fatten easily, and 

 weigh from twelve to sixteen pounds per quarter. 

 This breed has been crossed by the Spanish 

 Merino. The offspring of this cross were at one 

 time in high fame in England, under the name of 

 the Anglo-Merino ; but though their wool is said 

 to have been of a fine quality, the breed has for 

 long declined in popular favour. 



8. The South-down breed. The sheep of this 

 breed have no horns ; their legs and faces are 

 gray. They have fine wool, very closely set, and 

 the fleeces of ordinary breeding ewes weigh from 

 three to three and a half pounds per fleece ; they 

 are slightly Deficient in depth and breadth of the 

 chest, but their mutton is excellent, and highly 

 flavoured ; they are kindly feeders, and when fat, 



642 



their average weight may be stated at from fifteen 

 to eighteen pounds per quarter. They have from 

 time immemorial been reared upon the chalky 

 soils of Sussex, but are now widely extended, and 

 thrive excellently, not only on the chalk-downs and 

 light soils of England, but on sheltered grounds 

 in Scotland. 



9. Oxford, Shropshire, and Hampshire Downs, 

 These breeds attain a much larger size than the 

 original South-downs, and also carry heavier 

 fleeces. It is supposed that this has been attained 

 by a cross of the South-downs with Lincolnshire or 

 Cotswold blood ; be that as it may, they are now 

 acknowledged as separate breeds of great value, 

 combining the finest mutton with a heavy and 

 valuable fleece ; but certainly the Shropshire and 

 Hampshire Downs are deficient in form. The 

 cultivation of the Oxford Downs, in particular, is 

 rapidly spreading, and likely to extend in all low- 

 lying districts where pure flocks are raised simply 

 for the butcher-market 



10. The Merino breed, which is supposed to 

 have been originally from Africa. Marcus Colu- 

 mella saw a variety from that country at some of 

 the games exhibited at Rome. He procured some 

 of them for his own farm, crossed them with the 

 breeds of Tarentum, and sent the offspring of this 

 cross to Spain. In Spain, they soon rose to such 

 perfection and celebrity, that they attracted the 

 attention of breeders of stock in other nations, and 

 this breed may now be found in every part of the 

 globe. They were imported into England for the 

 first time in 1788. The Ryeland and other fine- 

 woolled breeds of England were crossed by Merino 

 rams in 1792. The Merino breed of rams were 

 cultivated with great care by George III. The 

 sales of His Majesty's stock, which commenced in 

 the year 1804, attracted such general attention in 

 England, that a society was formed for promoting 

 the breed in 181 1 ; but the high expectations which 

 were formed of the result of this cross with native 

 sheep were far from being realised. The quality 

 of the wool of the native sheep was improved, but 

 the increased value of the fleece was an inadequate 

 compensation for defects in the character of the 

 animals themselves, which proved less hardy than 

 the parent stock, slow feeders, very defective in 

 form, and the mutton very inferior. 



The Merinos are now extinct in Great Britain ; 

 but the immense flocks in Australia and New 

 Zealand, alone calculated to exceed upwards of 

 fifty millions, with upwards of nine millions at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, to say nothing of South 

 America, amply supply the looms of Great Britain 

 with an ever increasing quantity of the finest wool 

 for broad-cloth ; and now even the manufactories 

 on the Tweed at Galashiels are mostly engaged 

 in spinning foreign wools into tweeds. 



Merino sheep are treated in Spain, France, 

 and Germany with a greater regard to the wool 

 than to the weight and value of the animal ; but 

 the farmers in England find it more profitable 

 to raise weight and value of mutton, combined 

 with fleeces of combing or lustre wool, which now 

 sells at a higher price per pound than even Merino 

 wool. In Spain, the fleece of the ram weighs 

 eight pounds, and that of the ewe five pounds ; 

 but this wool has such a large quantity of yolk, 

 which absorbs every kind of impurity with which 

 it comes in contact, that it loses three-fifths of its 

 weight by being properly washed. 



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