HAMPSHIRE DOWNS. 57 



were beautiful in form and of great size ; and, on making 

 inquiries as to how they were brought to such perfection, I 

 was informed that a Leicester ram was coupled to some of 

 the largest Cotswold ewes, and the most robust of the 

 produce was selected for use. The thought then struck me 

 that my best plan would be to obtain a first-rate Sussex 

 Down sheep to put to my larger Hampshire Down ewes, 

 both being the Short-woolled breed. . . . With this object 

 I wrote to Mr. Jonas Webb to send me one of his best sheep, 

 and he sent me a shearling by his favourite sheep Babraham. 

 I went down the next two years, and selected for myself; but 

 the stock did not suit my taste so well as the one he sent me, 

 and I did not use them. I then commissioned him to send 

 me the sheep which obtained the first prize at Liverpool, 

 and from these two sheep, the first and the last, by marking 

 the lambs of each tribe as they fell, then coupling them 

 together at the third and fourth generation, my present flock 

 was made." 



Mr. Humphrey found his first difficulty in loss of size, and 

 to obviate it drafted out his finest and smallest bred ewes, 

 replacing them with the largest Hampshire Down ewes he 

 could find that suited his fancy, and on these he continued to 

 use the most masculine and robust of his own bred rams. 

 This policy entirely succeeded, and, as he himself said, 

 " beyond what I could have expected." 



Oak Ash is eight miles from Wantage, Berks, and was 

 named from an ash tree which grew up within the hollow 

 trunk of an ancient oak, but which was removed and re- 

 planted where it now stands. It is an estate of 600 acres all 

 under tillage, and without water meadow. It is nearly all 

 good, and rather strong land, and has been known to grow 

 one load of marketable wheat per acre over the whole wheat 

 area. The house is well placed and commodious. Mr. Hum- 

 phrey, at the time under our notice, was the proprietor of 

 this and other lands, and remained there until his death. He 

 unquestionably possessed in a high degree the peculiar genius 



