370 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



being buried in a snowdrift for several days ; a fine, curly horn ; 

 a broad, square loin ; round ribs ; a drum-like and not a square 

 carcase, on short legs ; and close-set fleece with wool well up to 

 the cheeks." To the above description it may be added that 

 they possess white faces, legs, and fleeces, and have been termed 

 " the little white ivories ; " but, although they stand tolerably 

 well on their fore legs, there is a failing point behind the 

 shoulder, and none, even of the improved sheep we have yet seen, 

 girth particularly well there. They are also rather indifferent 

 about the neck. 



The elevated mountain ranges, which are from 1000 to 1800 

 feet above the sea level, are intersected by narrow, circuituous 

 valleys, where the farms and hamlets appear. These valleys are 

 tolerably fertile in their nature, and cultivation often extends far 

 up the hill-sides, by the agency of the turn- wrist plough. Catch- 

 water meadows are also formed wherever a trickling stream can 

 be utilised, and luxuriant verdure always follows in the train of 

 irrigation here. These facts should be borne in mind in perusing 

 the appended accounts of sheep management, which varies 

 materially on different farms, being dependent on the extent to 

 which the flockmaster is provided with fertile inclosures and 

 water meadows. 



Arthur Young, in " Annals of Agriculture " for 1794, makes a 

 passing allusion to Exmoor sheep, which had been brought under 

 his notice in a visit to Monksilver. He states that they were at 

 that period sold at South Molton market as hoggets, at from 9s. 

 to 16s. each, and, after being kept on the hills two or three years 

 for the annual i)rofit of their fleeces, they were fattened on 

 turnips, and sold without their fleeces, the average weight of 

 which was 31b. to 41b., and that of their carcases 161b. to 181b. 

 per quarter. The weight of the fleece is about one pound heavier 

 now, with which exception this description will apply to the 

 present period. Billingsley, in his Survey of Somerset furnished 

 to the Board of Agriculture, gives a very similar account, adding 

 thereto the following : " Though these sheep in appearance are 

 vastly inferior to those before described (the old Bampton breed), 

 being in their youth subject to a precarious subsistence on the 

 forests and hills, it is the opinion of many sensible farmers that 

 they are altogether as profitable stock." 



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