374 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



spring, and many of them remain there the whole year round, 

 the only time they are got in being for shearing and weaning, the 

 latter of which is effected by keeping the lambs for some weeks 

 in the inclosures. The Exmoor is a larger, higher quality, and 

 in every respect better animal than the Welsh, and has been 

 much improved in the last fifteen years. Stores command very 

 high prices, and have advanced from 25 to 30 per cent, in value 

 during the last two years. Winsford Fair, held about the middle 

 of August, would be about the likeliest place to obtain them. 

 The demand for the rams is limited, as the breed can scarcely 

 be considered one for general use ; but still much care and atten- 

 tion have of late years been bestowed upon it, and good rams 

 often fetch from ten to fifteen guineas." 



Exmoor ewes will lamb earlier than the time mentioned by 

 Mr. King if required so to do. Mr. Stranger says : " The lamb- 

 ing season begins in January, and continues through February 

 and March; early lambs are generally the best for rearing." 

 Some other points of management are particularised in 

 Dixon's " Prize Essay on Mountain Sheep," published in 1866. 

 He says : " The original Exmoors milk better than the 

 * improved,* and old ewes especially. There are instances of 

 ewes rearing three lambs well after the first fortnight. The 

 ewes are always brought down to the lower ground to lamb, and 

 get a few turnips and oats ; and then come in again from the 

 hills in November to the poorest inclosed lands. They are put 

 to the tui> at two years old, and are generally drafted after 

 three crops of lambs, though some old favourites go on far 

 longer." There is a demand for the draft ewes of the Exmoor 

 just as for those of the Dorset breed, to bear lambs for fattening 

 in other parts of the country ; to answer which purpose more 

 effectually they are tupped with Leicester rams. The same 

 cross is also freely resorted to for rearing purposes, as, whenever 

 the land is a little better, the west-country cross-breds are kept, 

 generally obtained from Exmoor ewes and Leicester rams ; and 

 a great many small farmers, even of the hill districts, not having 

 a large run of common, find it more profitable to keep this kind 

 instead of the pure Exmoor. Dixon, alluding to this matter, 

 observes : " They (the Exmoors) hold their own on the purely 

 hill districts; but since the Commons Liclosure Act many 



