38 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



effected by crossing with the Leicester breed, and the 

 Roscommon sheep of to-day is an exceedingly well-made 

 animal, with the characteristic white face and wool of the 

 Leicester. Anyone who reads the description of the Irish 

 Long-woolled sheep given in his time by Professor Low, and 

 compares it with what he may himself see in Ireland, will 

 come to the conclusion that the breeders of these sheep have 

 not been idle during recent years. The soil and climate of 

 Ireland are favourable for the development of the larger and 

 longer-woolled sorts of sheep, and in the Roscommon breed 

 we see a good instance of successful improvement. 



THE WENSLEYDALE LONGWOOLS. 



These appear to be the modern form of an old breed once 

 well-known as Teeswaters. They are closely allied to the 

 Leicesters, and it is claimed for them that they, as well as the 

 old Lincolns, were employed by Bakewell in his work of 

 selection and improvement. 



The great similarity in type between the Wensleydale, 

 Leicester, and west country Devon Longwools is very 

 striking, and evidently points back to a common origin. 

 These Longwoolled races of Leicester type appear to have 

 occupied the country from Yorkshire on the north-east to 

 Devon and Somerset on the south-west, and to have ex- 

 tended through Nottingham, Leicester, Warwick, Worces- 

 tershire, and Gloucestershire, and adjoining counties. They 

 therefore occupied a broad band in the Midlands and in the 

 north-eastern and south-western counties, following, indeed, 

 the northern boundary of the chalk formation, south of which 

 the Down breeds have their home, and north of which the 

 hardier mountain races of Wales, Derbyshire, Lancashire, 

 Cheviots, and the Highlands of Scotland are to be found. 



Mr. J. Heugh, of Mudd Fields, Bedale, writes to us as 

 follows: "The Wensleydale Longwoolled sheep appear to 

 have had their origin in the valley of the Tees, on the borders 



