178 DOMESTIC ANESIALS. 



This animal lias a patience of occasional short keep, and an endurance 

 of hard stocking scarcely surpassed by any other sheep, an early matu- 

 rity not inferior to that of the Leicesters, the flesh finely grained, and 

 the wool of the most useful quality. 



The average weight of the fleece of a South-Down hill sheep was 

 stated by Mr. Luccock, in 1800, to be two pounds; it has now in- 

 creased to three pounds. The fleece of the lowland sheep, that used 

 to be three pounds, is now three and a half, or even four pounds. This 

 is the natural consequence of the different mode of feeding, and the 

 larger size of the animal. The length of the staple in the hill sheep 

 rarelv exceeded two inches, and was oftener not more than one and a 

 half inches : it is now more than two inches, and in some of the low- 

 land sheep it has reached to four inches. The number of hill sheep had 

 rather decreased since 1800, and those in the lowlands had materially 

 so ; but now^ that South-Down wool is once more obtaining a remuner- 

 ating price, the flocks are becoming larger than they were. The color 

 of the wool differs materially, according to the color of the soil. The 

 shortest and the finest wool is produced on the chalky soil, where the 

 sheep have to travel far for their food ; but there is a liardness and a 

 brittleness about this wool wiiich was always seriously objected to. 



The greater comparative bulk of the fiber, and paucity of serrations, 

 will account for the harshness and want of felting property, which have 

 been considered as defects in this wool. The brittleness of the pile is, 

 perhaps, to be attributed chiefly to the soil. The clothiers were always 

 careful not to use too much of it in the making of their finest cloths. 

 When most in repute, the South-Dowu was principally devoted to the 

 manufacture of servants' and army clothing, or it was sparingly mixed 

 with other wools for finer cloth. Now, however, when it is materially 

 increased in length, and become a combing wool, and applicable to so 

 many more purposes than it was before — now that it enters into the 

 composition of flannels, baizes, and worsted goods of almost every de- 

 scription — its fineness and its felting, compared with some of the other 

 short wools, render it a truly valuable article. The South-Down sheep- 

 master justly repudiates, the charge of its deterioration — it has onhj 

 changed ita character — it has become a good combing wool, instead of 

 an inferior carding one; it has become more extensively useful, and 

 therefore more valuable ; and the time is not far distant when the sheep- 

 owner will be convinced that it is his interest to make the South-Down 

 wool even longer and heavier than it now is. A sheep possessing such 

 qualities must of course be valuable in upland districts, in the vicinity 

 of markets. They have been introduced into every part of the British 

 dominions, and imported into various other countries. The Emperor of 

 Russia paid Mr. Ellman three hundred guineas for two rams, and in 

 1800, "a ram belonging to the Duke of Bedford, was let for one season 

 at eighty guineas, two others at forty guineas each, and four more at 

 twenty-eight guineas each." These valuable sheep were introduced into 

 the United States a few years since by Col. J. H. Powell, of Philadel- 

 phia, and a small number were imported in 1834. The last were from 

 the flock of Mr, Ellman, at a cost of $60 a head. Several other impor- 

 tations have sjnco taken place. 



