SOUTH DOWN SHEEP. 57 



80 Ibs. weight each. At two years old they will weigh from 

 100 to 120 Ibs. each. The meat is of fine quality and always 

 commands the highest price in the market. The ewes are 

 very prolific, and are excellent mothers, commonly rearing 120 

 to 130 lambs to the 100 ewes. The fleece, which closely 

 covers the body, produces the most valuable of our native 

 wools. It is short in the staple, fine and curling, with spiral 

 ends, and is used for carding purposes generally."* 



* Mr. Jonas Webb, of Babraham, Cambridgeshire, was the 

 most successful follower of Ellman, and carried the breed to 

 ili;it perfection which is now seen in its best specimens. The 

 average weight of his sheep, at from 13 to 15 months old, was 

 about 126 Ibs., and the average yield of wool per head, about 

 Ibs. 



SOUTH DOWX EWES. 



Choice specimens of Mr. E 'man's sheep were imported into 

 the United States some years since by Mr. John Hare Powell, 

 of Pennsylvania, Francis Rotch, Esq., of New York, and 

 various other breeders. Mr. Webb's have also been exten- 



* Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. 16, p. 

 3* 



