6oo 



is, white hairs among the wool. The bone should be fairly strong ; 

 very fine bone is very frequently associated with a tendency to de- 

 generacy. It is the fashion to decry the merinos as a mutton 

 sheep, but this is a great error. It is superior to the longwool, and 

 second to the southdown and the Shropshire. The prejudice 

 against it has been caused by its dark color, and not to any lack of 

 quality in the mutton. 



THE LONGWOOLS. 



The Lincoln is conspicuous for the beautiful lustre of its wool. 

 The staple is long, extending in many instances to 10 inches. The 

 old Lincoln was a very ill-shaped sheep, with a large plain head, 

 and very slow in maturing. All that has been altered, and the shape 

 has been improved by a judicious cross with the English Leicester, 

 and the large head has been greatly reduced in size by selection in 

 breeding. Though not as large in frame as of old, the modern 

 Lincoln is yet considerably larger than the Leicester, and he is now 

 marked by almost as early maturity. 



ENGLISH LEICESTERS. 



These are very handsome sheep, and they fatten readily ; 

 indeed their tendency to take on fat, and their well-shaped bodies, 

 have led to their being employed in the amelioration of most of the 

 British breeds of longwool sheep. In Australia the Leicester takes 

 on too much fat to the proportion of lean meat. Leicester wool is 

 now almost as lustrous as Lincoln wool, but the fleeces are lighter. 



The border Leicester is a more robust animal than the English 

 representative of the breed ; its fleece is heavier ; it gives more 

 lean meat in proportion to the fat, and is consequently preferred by 

 sheep breeders in most parts of the world to the old English type ; 

 but neither breed is as much fancied by flock masters as the 

 Lincoln. 



THE COTSWOLD 



is a very shapely sheep, a good doer, yields a fine carcase of meat, 

 and its fleece is about as valuable as that of the border Leicester. 

 It is used for raising crossbreds in a few districts of Victoria, but 

 has never been much fancied by the general run of sheep-breeders. 



THE ROMNEY MARSH 



is a most useful sheep. It is not as attractive in appearance as any 

 of the longwools previously mentioned, and its wool lacks lustre 

 and is of a much coarser type than any other. But in a severe 

 climate, where other sheep are apt to suffer from foot rot and die 

 from fluke, it can hold its own. 



This has been proved in a wet piece of coast country in 

 Victoria. Romneys have been bred on this land for the last thirty 

 years, and no other breed of sheep will last over two generations, 

 and the merinos not as long. 



