THE DORSET DOWN. 65 



ewes. They form an excellent cross with Leicesters, Lincolns, 

 and Cotswolds, and are often put to these ewes during their 

 last year of breeding, for producing fat lambs or wethers. 



TBe Hampshire breed is able to withstand severe climates. 

 Mr. John Craster, of Craster Tower, Northumberland, has for 

 several years past kept a flock of pure-bred Hampshires, and 

 esteems them highly. His estate borders the sea on the bleak 

 east coast of the most northerly part of England; and as these 

 sheep are able to thrive and give satisfaction in such a climate 

 they may be credited with a hardihood equal to that of any 

 other English race of sheep. 



THE DORSET DOWN. 



This breed is not to be confused with the Dorset Horn. 

 It is essentially a Down race, brown in face, short in wooL 

 There can be little doubt that the Dorset Down is descended 

 from crosses effected upon the original Down breed of the 

 County by Southdown rams from Mr. Ellman's flocks at 

 Glynde, Sussex. Mr. Thomas Homes Saunders and his son,. 

 Mr. Thomas Chapman Saunders, both of Watercomb, near 

 Dorchester, seem to have been pioneers in the work of selec- 

 tion and improvement. The result was a sheep which in 

 many respects resembled and might be thought identical with 

 the Hampshire Down sheep in fact Hampshire breeders 

 were in the habit of frequenting Mr. T. C. Chapman's ram 

 sales and making purchases. The two breeds or strains are, 

 however, not identical, as the Watercomb sheep were always 

 lighter in feature and more Southdown in type than the dark- 

 featured Hampshire of the Plain. There has no doubt been 

 much commingling between the two races, but the elite among 

 the breeders are careful and averse to the blend. The Dorset 

 Down may therefore be classed as a distinct breed, and is 

 represented by the Dorset Down Sheep Breeders' Association. 

 It is rather too "kind" for the taste of Hampshire breeders, 

 who for many years past have preferred a stronger sheep, 

 many of them considering that a Hampshire sheep cannot be 

 too strong. 



