348 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



129 ewes. Thirty rams were annually reared, of whicli twenty 

 were brought to the hammer. Grand-looking sheep, and much 

 :ap predated by breeders. The average of 1864 was 171. 3s. 4d. ; 

 forty yearling ewes made 67s. each. Since that time higher 

 prices have been realised. Nobleman, the third-prize old sheep 

 at Worcester, and which has been already alluded to, was the 

 sire of the yearlings, and very promising they looked ; indeed, 

 the stock throughout were highly creditable. Mr. Coxon was 

 a good feeder, and occasionally illustrated the feeding qualities 

 of the Shropshire : in 1862 one of his old wethers weighed 591b. 

 a quarter. Mr. Coxon superintended the late Col. Dyott's flock, 

 which has also achieved considerable success. Of late years 

 Mrs. Beach, of the Hattons, near Wolverhampton, has made her 

 mark, carrying off at the Wolverhampton show a special prize 

 as the winner of the greatest number of prizes. The land is 

 particularly favourable for early development, and few can bring 

 out lambs or even shearlings in such perfection. Her sheep are 

 not large, but possess great symmetry and particularly matchy 

 heads. 



Sufficient has been advanced to show that the Shropshire 

 sheep, though of comparatively recent origin, are at the present 

 widely spread and much valued, Let us now consider how far 

 these favourable opinions are justified. We know of no breed 

 so prolific : the increase in all cases is to a certain extent, and 

 •often materially, influenced by the nature of the land, as yielding 

 nourishing or inferior food. On an average, if the ewes are 

 well cared for before and during the time the ram is with them, 

 at least 50 per cent, of doubles may be looked for ; and when 

 Shropshire rams are put upon Longwool ewes, the increase is 

 much greater, as the following facts sufficiently prove. On a 

 strong, poor farm we purchased forty Banffshire ewes every 

 autumn — i.e., a description of Border Leicester with a slight 

 Cheviot cross — and served them with a Shropshire ram, either 

 a shearling or a ram lamb. In 1872 thirty-six ewes produced 

 seventy-eight lambs, all sold fat. The next season the forty 

 ewes produced eighty-two lambs ; but owing to unfavourable 

 causes, we lost ten lambs, and seventy-two fine lambs were sold 

 fat during the summer. This prolific tendency is a point of 

 ^reat importance, for it is not with the Shropshires as with 



