, ->. n ^ ^ 



66 SHEEP : BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OTHER MIDDLE WOOLLED SHEEP. 

 THE OXFORDSHIRE DOWN. 



As an offshoot of the Hampshire Down and Cotswold races, 

 the Oxfordshire Down may well follow the description of the 

 first-named parent. Recent as the Hampshire Down must 

 be considered to be, the Oxfordshire followed at a still later 

 date. Up to 1859 the classification of sheep at the Royal 

 included only Leicesters, Southdowns, Longwools (not 

 Leicesters), and Shortwools (not Southdowns). In 1860 the 

 Shropshire sheep were awarded separate classes at Canter- 

 bury. At the same show attention was particularly directed 

 to the excellence of the Hampshire and Oxford classes, but 

 it was not till the Battersea meeting in 1862 that prizes were 

 for the first time given to the Oxfords as a separate class. 

 At the general meeting of the Society, held in December, 

 1 86 1, it was announced that it had been determined to add 

 to the prize sheet classes for Lincolns, Cotswolds, Hampshire 

 Downs, Dorset, Oxfordshire Downs, Romney Marsh, Mountain, 

 and Irish Long-woolled sheep. Accordingly, at the great 

 meeting in Battersea Park which was held simultaneously 

 with the second great International Exhibition held in London 

 in 1862, the Royal Agricultural Society recognised the fact 

 that Long-woolled sheep (not Leicesters) and Short-woolled 

 sheep (not Southdowns) did not constitute exactly a fair 

 classification of the breeds of sheep of Great Britain. 



The progress of sheep breeding within the last forty years 

 has been indeed extraordinary. That within the memory of 



