OXFOBDSHIKE DOWN SHEEP. 67 



them then fit for the butcher. The mutton, killed from his 

 rocky, rough pastures, in November, is of very high quality. 

 His ewes, in 1862, averaged 8J Ibs. to the fleece, unwashed 

 the average weight of the shorn ewes being 135 Ibs. and rams 

 220 Ibs. The yield of lambs was 160 per cent, on the number 

 of breeding ewes. In 1863 the yield of wool fell to a small 

 fraction under 8 Ibs., and the increase of lambs rose to 175 

 per cent.* His wethers yield on the average fully 10 Ibs. of 

 wool. At my request, Mr. Fay forwarded me specimens of 

 their wool. The first was taken from a ram two years old, 

 weighing 220 Ibs., and his fleece this year weighed 12 Ibs. 10 

 oz. The wool is about 8 inches long. The ewe, three years 

 old, with two ram lambs at her side nearly two months old, 

 weighed 136 Ibs., and her fleece 8 Ibs. The wool is over 7 

 inches long ; the quality in both instances is rather fine for 

 wool of such length ; it has a good luster ; is neither hairy 

 nor harsh; and it has a very desirable quality for certain 

 fabrics, and will always command a ready sale.f 



These sheep have gray faces and legs, lighter colored than 

 those of the South Downs. Theypartake of the admirable 

 forms of their parent stocks ; are gentle and disinclined to 

 rove ; but they are willing to work hard for their feed, and 

 are very promiscuous feeders. They make excellent returns 

 for their feed and mature very early. 



* Every practical sheep fanner understands of course that a nursing ewe yields 

 considerably less wool than a dry one, and that the fleece is still more diminished by a 

 ewe's nursing two lambs. 



1 1 made special inquiries in regard to this wool, and detail the result, when I 

 have not done so in regard to the other English families, because the Oxfordshire 

 Downs are of more recent origin, and far less is generally known of them in our 

 country, in this particular. 



