THE SOUTHDOWN. 5! 



One of the advantages of the breed, which it shares with 

 other Down races, is its power of resisting the evil effects of 

 over-stocking. As far back as 1788, Arthur Young writes : 

 " Mr. Ellman, on 500 acres, has 700 ewes, lambs, and 

 wethers in winter, and 1,450 of all sorts in summer, besides 

 140 head of cattle." These numbers read even now as 

 extraordinary, before the days of cake feeding, or impor- 

 tation of cheap corn from America, and are scarcely to 

 be rivalled. Cotswold or Leicester breeders would consider 

 such a stock as inconsistent with keeping up either the 

 stature or the health of their flocks, and yet such is the 

 character of the Southdown that they can resist the in 

 fluences of over-crowding. The number of sheep kept by 

 Wiltshire and Hampshire sheep farmers in these days are 

 not much short of those maintained by Mr. Ellman, and 

 when we take into consideration the greater size of the 

 Hampshire sheep, the weight per acre must be considerably 

 greater. 



The Southdown race in its own district was long well 

 maintained by the late Mr. Rigden, of Hove, near Brighton, 

 and by Mr. Penfold, of Selsey. This flock, which had existed 

 for a century, was only recently dispersed, with what excellent 

 result will be fresh in the memory of readers and breeders. 

 The late Jonas Webb, whose honoured name is still held in 

 the highest respect, was a fitting successor to the Ellmans, 

 although farming on the downs of Cambridgeshire, and it was 

 through him, in a great measure, that the true type was 

 handed down to our generation. Mr. S. M. Jonas, of Chris- 

 hall Grange, Royston, and Mr. Henry Webb, of Streetly Hall, 

 whose sale was a landmark in the history of the breed, 

 possessed flocks descended from the older Babraham South- 

 downs, and both of these last-named gentlemen are relatives 

 of the more famous Jonas Webb, whose name is worthy of 

 special notice as a master in the art of breeding. That was a 

 pretty anecdote, and literally true, of Jonas Webb, when 

 exhibiting at a great Parisian International Show held under 



