404 THE SHEEP OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



was lost, 404 lambs being reared. Mr. Ensor remarks that these 

 statistics show that " out of 3547 ewes, only sixty were lost, 

 and that they reared 4425 lambs, or 125 per cent, of lambs with 

 a loss of only 1*6 per cent, of ewes. 



According to information rendered by Mr. W. Bond, Buck- 

 land House, Durston, Taunton, the experience of Somerset flock- 

 masters is very similar, as he states that losses in lambing and 

 barrenness are so rare that from 150 to 160 lambs may usually 

 be calculated on for every 100 ewes placed with rams. Mr. 

 Bond is accustomed to lamb down much earlier than his neigh- 

 bours. The customary time for the flock ewes to yean both in 

 Dorset and Somerset ranges between the middle of December 

 and the middle of January, but the whole of the Buckland 

 House ewes yean in October and the first half of November. 

 With moderately liberal feeding his wethers come out fat 

 at from thirteen to fourteen months old, with carcase weights of 

 from 701b. to 801b. each. Of course there is no difficulty to get 

 them fat at a much earlier age with high feeding, and Mr. 

 Herbert Farthing states that wethers always well fed are 

 usually fit for slaughter at about twelve months old, and made 

 to yield carcases weighing about sixty-four to eighty pounds. 

 The ewes often yield carcases weighing from twelve to thirteen 

 stone. Horn flocks have increased very much in western and 

 southern Somerset during the past few years. There are six, if 

 not seven, members of the Kidner family who propagate the 

 breed, and Mr. S. Kidner, Milverton, and Mr. John Kidner, 

 Minehead, have taken first prizes at the Smithfield Club Show. 

 Within a radius of about five miles will be found not only the 

 flocks of Mr. H. Farthing and Mr. W. Bond, but those of Mr. 

 Dunning, Court Barton, Creech St. Michael; Mr. England, 

 Quantock, West Monkton ; Mr. Bond Huntstile, Goat hurst, and 

 several others. In south Somerset there is Mr. Charles 

 Harding, of Montacute, who has made his mark in the show- 

 yard, especially at the Smithfield Club Shows. 



Mr. Herbert Farthing, of Thurloxton, has quite taken the 

 lead in the showyard during the past twenty years, and, as is 

 tolerably well known, has frequently had no competitor for the 

 prizes offered by the Bath and West of England Society. 

 Occasionally one or two flockmasters from the Beaminster or 



