The Farm Livestock of the Period. 267 



would some day breed a class of sheep with less uncomfortable 

 saddles than those on which his grandsire gave him rides. 

 We all know how well he fulfilled this undertaking by raising 

 the mutton of Ellman's variety to its present premier position 

 in the meat market. 



In the days, however, antecedent to Jonas "Webb, for pro- 

 ductiveness the large Holland and Lincolnshire breeds were 

 preferred, for delicacy of mutton the tiny Shetland and 

 Norman sheep. For peculiarities not necessarily profitable 

 to the breeder, the Sologne sheep of France with their wool 

 curled, as it was vulgarly supposed, by the agency of the lark's 

 bill, and the Andalusian sheep of Spain, conspicuous for their 

 brindled and spotted fleeces, or those of Persia for their white, 

 reddish, and silver-grey colouring, were remarkable.^ 



It was most important to ultimate success, as pointed out 

 by Young, for the farmer to select some breed of sheep adapted 

 to the nature of his soil. On light sandy lands where there 

 would be " a spare bite," the Welsh, Moor, or Norfolk sheep 

 was preferred. On the best land one or other of the larger 

 breeds was resorted to. The Teeswater, thought by some to 

 be the finest English sheep, was suited for the very richest 

 pastures ; so also was the Lincolnshire breed. After these 

 came the Hertford, Dorset, and Wilts varieties, which were 

 generally selected for medium soils. 



Bakewell also recognised the necessity for more than one 

 breed, and did not confine his entire attention to the Leicester. 

 He had discovered in the Cheviot a variety useful to moun- 

 tainous districts, and in the Southdown a sheep specially 

 adapted for browsing on the sweet wild pastures of the Sussex 

 uplands. 



And indeed it was high time for the farmers of this country 

 to bestir themselves, unless they wanted to see one of their 

 chief avenues of profit closed against them. The old days, 

 when the wool trade used to be termed the "gold mine" 

 of the country, were gone. Spanish wool, clipped from the 

 descendants of those rams which Edward IV. gave to the King 



* Fai^mer's Ka'endar, p, 27. A, Young. 



