1028 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



Xm. South-Downs. 

 The South-Downs, ouce the most celebrated of the mutton breeds, 

 both in England and the United States, ought probably still to be the 

 favorites wherever the production of mutton is the chief aim of the 

 breeder. But in the United States, wool is the most valua))le product of 

 sheep husbandry, and in England the South-Downs have, of late years, 

 ^jven place in many districts to the broods heretofore mentioned, Avhich 

 eon)bine good mutton with superior wool. This is veiy generally ihe 

 case in the United States, and especially in the West, except in the 

 vicinity of large cities where superior mutton commands high prices. 

 Still, the South-Downs have been bred for many years in the United 

 Stiites, and are found in all sections of the country. The ewes are very 



HAMPSHIRE EWES. 



prolific. The staple of the wool is fine and curled, with spiral ends, weA 

 adapted to carding. They are models of what a mutton and hill sheep 

 should be ; in shape and character they have altered very much from the 

 old-time South-Downs, being smaller in the bone, equally hardy, and 

 with a greater disposition to fatten is combined a heavier carcass when 

 fat. The head of the modern South-Down should be of a medium 

 length, and the lips thin ; the under-jaw, or chap, fine and thin ; the ears 

 tolerably wide apart, well covered with wool, full and thin ; the forehead 

 well covered with wool, especially between the ears, and the eye full and 

 bright, but not prominent. 



The neck should be of proportionate length, thin next the head, and 

 enlarging towards the shoulders, where it should be broad and straighten 

 ihe top, and not what is generally called ewe-necked. The breast should 

 be wide and deep, projecting well forward between the fore-legs. This 

 is considered an essential point with gi-aziers, as the breast gives the 

 sheep a greater degree of weight, and also Indicates a good coustitutioir 

 and disposition to thriVki. 



