CHAPTER X. 



LONd-WOOLLED LINCOLN SUEKP 



TTK iinprovod Liuooln nhoop, tukin^ alono iuto oon- 

 suloratiou the weight o£ the Ueeoo, is unrivalled as 

 ft wool producer ; and for wool and mufcton oombiiied 

 it has, in the writer's opinion, no equal as a rent- 

 paying animal. It must be understotnl that he writes fi\>m a 

 Lincoln breeder's point of view, but his aim will be to deal 

 strictly with facts, and thus leave the ivader to form his owtt 

 conclusions. 



tTpWfti*ds of a century ai^o Lincoluvshin' possessed an est^ttblished 

 bixied of sheep, with long bony legs and larg\> oaivasses, and, 

 according to Ellis, they carried more wool than any shei^p what- 

 soever. Milbtirn speaks of them as having largt^ and coarse 

 carcasses, the length from the head to the tail being in some 

 mmn fe)ur fe^t seven inches. The ribs wei*© flattish, and not 

 oovei'ed very thickly with flesh ; the belly diH>]>, and the 

 shoulders so forward as almost to hide the brea^st ; the neck 

 thick and large, with a deep and flabby dewlap hanging from 

 it ; the skin thick and the flesh often gitiineil ; the hind 

 quarters full and fat, the tendency being to lay on fat at the 

 rump ; and the logs flovshy and det^p. The whole animal, con- 

 tiuues Milburn, appears to l>e somewhat unshaixily, taking the 

 8t,andard of a connoisseur as a criterion, but the valuable wool 

 which tx)vei*8 it hides all imperfections. 



Thei-e can be no question that the original Lincolnshire sheep 

 were ungainly animals and gross feeders, possessing but little 

 aptitude to fatten. When it was seen, however, what a vast 

 improvement had beini nuide in the Leicester sheep by Btvkewell, 



