THE RADNOR SHEEP. 415 



Tated in females of the flock. Several of the Eadnor ewes 

 exhibited at agricultural shows of late years have had " short 

 stumps, scarcely amounting to horns." The Eadnors are short- 

 legged and active, hardy when exposed to severe weather, and 

 thrifty in seeking for food on the scant herbage of the moun- 

 tains. Like all sheep of their class they are light in the fore 

 quarter, and, compared with modern improved breeds, slow- 

 feeding animals ; but the mutton they produce is of excellent 

 flavour. When fed in the usual way, on the mountain side 

 and the adjoining pastures, the wethers at three and four 

 years old produce Welsh mutton of the true flavour — a flavour 

 not unnaturally supposed to be in great measure due to the 

 peculiar (grasses mountain sheep feed on in such places. Much 

 that is called Welsh mutton in London, even if it does come 

 from Wales, is not of the true sort, but is often called Welsh 

 mutton for the very reason that it is not. Just as all the 

 so-called "Dorset butter" cannot possibly be produced in 

 Dorsetshire, so neither can the hills of Wales maintain moun- 

 tain sheep enough to be the source of all that goes by the name 

 of Welsh mutton in England. But anyone who has more than 

 once tasted Welsh mutton of the right kind, properly cooked, 

 should not afterwards be mistaken, or be easily deluded by his 

 butcher into thinking the joints supplied him, because small, 

 are necessarily portions of Welsh mountain sheep fed on their 

 native hills. 



Mr. Darwin says, *' Sheep are perhaps more readily affected 

 by the direct action of the conditions of life to which they have 

 been exposed than any other domestic animal." And again, 

 " A slight difference of climate and pasture sometimes slightly 

 affects the fleece." The improved Eadnor is a superior animal 

 to the white-faced Cardiganshire sheep, or to its remote 

 ancestors, and requires a somewhat better climate and herbage. 

 They have of late years greatly increased in size, and the weight 

 of fleece and quality of wool have been much improved. The old 

 breed was very small, and a great point with breeders of past 

 times was a very large tail, heavily woolled, and a large quantity 

 of coarse wool or hair about the breech. The Eadnors have 

 recently been developed into more useful, respectable-looking 

 animals. The wethers are sold at three or four years old, and 



