39() BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



tail head and down at the fore flank, giving weight to the animal but 

 detracting markedly from the value of the carcass. Another charac- 

 teristic of the long-wooled breeds which might be urged as an ob- 

 jection is that they are not as strongly prolific as the smaller varieties. 

 Bearing these things in mind it will hardly be necessary to discuss 

 their characteristics more in detail, and the principal characteristics 

 of the smaller sheep will follow. 



Of these none is so widely known throughout the entire country as 

 the Shropshire. It is a fairly small breed, mature rams averaging 

 225 pounds and ewes from 150 to 160 pounds, sometimes reaching 175 

 pounds. It is about the average in size of the middle-wooled breeds, 

 is a very squarely built and low-set animal, having abundant spread 

 of rib, and carrying a thick covering of flesh on the back, loin and 

 leg, those parts of most value on the carcass. From the back and loin 

 come the chops, while roast leg is furnished from the hind quarters. 

 A dense, fairly uniform fleece of medium length, averaging from two 

 and one-half to three and one-half inches in length, covers the sheep. 



A typical individual of the breed is low set, blocky, with level top 

 and bottom lines, wooled well down to the feet, both in front and 

 behind, with the belly well covered. No black wool should show on 

 any part of the body, but the tips of the nose and ears are black in 

 the best specimens. The wool should go well over the face, leaving 

 only the tips of the nose and ears visible, the eyes being scarcely 

 visible in many animals. The ears should have little tufts of fleece 

 scattered about over their upper surface. 



This breed is very popular as a general-purpose animal on account 

 of its good size and fine quality of mutton and wool. Its early ma- 

 turing qualities are first class, and are transmitted in large part to 

 grade offspring. As grazing sheep other breeds may have wider adapt- 

 ability, but in New England satisfactory results have been obtained in 

 grazing them. The average percentage of increase among Shropshire 

 flocks is nearly 150, or an average of a lamb and a half per ewe. 

 Not every flock master can secure so high an average, but many have 

 had even better results. It is as common a breed in America as any. 



The Southdown is the smallest of the "down" breeds, averaging 

 for the ram 175 pounds and the ewe 135 pounds, and is the oldest pure 

 breed of the mutton type. It is even lower set than the Shropshire, 

 and has as nearly a perfect mutton type, though on a small scale, as 

 any of the so-called mutton breeds. It is so compactly made, and 

 carries so much weight in such little bulk, that it is often described as 

 the bullet type. For quality of mutton it is rarely surpassed, having 

 an exceedingly fine flavor, with a large percentage of edible meat. In 

 color the breed is of a rather grayish brown on the face, ears and legs, 

 with a white fleece. There is a difference from the Shropshire both in 

 length of fleece and distribution. The Southdown has a dense fleece, 

 meaning one with a maximum number of fibers per square inch of 

 surface, but it is considerably shorter than the Shropshire, there being 



