366 SHEEP BREEDING IN IRELAND. 



This crossing with the Leicesters would appear to have taken place 

 previous to 1800, and since then the flockowners in the country have kept 

 the native breed intact, improving it by judicious blending of the various 

 predominant qualities of the sire with the flock — that is, by taking advantage 

 of all valuable characteristics, encouraging their ' development, and by 

 degrees rendering them more permanent. This breed, like all classes of 

 stock bred in the West, is kept in a more natural way than other breeds of 

 sheep bred elsewhere, and it is doubtful if they have undergone as much 

 forcing and pampering as the latter, either for the show-ring or the butcher's 

 block. 



As stock ewes, the Roscommons are excellent nurses and milkers, and, 

 consequently, their lambs increase very rapidly in size and condition when 

 the flock is not pastured too thickly together. Writing on this breed of 

 sheep in 1895, Mr. Davison, of Esker, Timahoe, Queen's County, says: — • 

 " I hope there will be no tampering with the type of those sheep in their 

 native soils, for if this ewe was altered in her present size, milking qualities, 

 and robust constitution, it would be a national loss." Early development 

 has never been claimed for the Roscommons ; but like most slow-maturmg 

 breeds of sheep, their mutton is of excellent quality, well-grained, and 

 evenly mixed. The leading characteristics of the breed are plenty of size, 

 with a good round rib, strong bone, and fine, long, staple wool. A feature 

 of the Dublin Show last August was the magnificent display made by the 

 Roscommons in the sheep section. The larger proportion of the sheep oi 

 this breed exhibited were considered excellent as regards symmetry and 

 general conformation. Amongst the most successful exhibitors was Mr. M. 

 Flanagan, of Tomona, Tulsk, County Roscommon — the efficient and cour- 

 teous Hon. Sec. of the Roscommon Sheep Breeders' Association — to whom 

 the writer is under many obligations for his kindness in giving him all infor- 

 mation as regards the breed. 



The Wicklow Cheviots are called after the county of that name, to which 

 they are indigenous. They are much the best class of mountain sheep bred 

 in Ireland, and are akin to the Scotch Cheviot. They are a closely made, 

 short-legged type, with clean, hardy-looking, bony heads. They are not so 

 slow to fatten as the other mountain breeds, and they carry a better finish 

 and make more weights, and the mutton they produce is of the primest 

 quality. They are especially nice sheep to breed a market lamb when 

 removed to the good grazing districts, and crossed with a pure bred ram — 

 particularly the Shrop. or Oxford Down. For this latter purpose, these 

 sheep are coming into more favour each year ; they are excellent nurses 

 and very thrifty to feed, and when judiciously mated with a good Shrop. 

 or Oxford Down ram, and fed in the good grazing districts, they produce 

 lambs of fine size and prime quality. It must be said that the bree'd is 

 capable of improvement, and that an expenditure in the direction of breed- 

 ing and feeding would repay the cost. 



The mountain sheep of the County Mayo are still more of the Cheviot 

 type than those of the County Wicklow ; they are smaller in size, longer in 

 the neck, and much less symmetrical, and are slower to fatten. There are 

 a great many poor animals among these County Mayo mountain sheep, due 

 to their being too much inbred, and not getting proper attention in the 

 matter of feeding, and other respects. The Scotch Hornies predominate in 

 the North of Ireland — in the Counties Down, Tyrone, Armagh, and 



