52 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA 



nances, and the ewes characteristic strong but femi- 

 nine faces. 



The Hampshire is essentially the sheep for the 

 arable farm, fitted by long habit to being put in 

 hurdles,. able to consume a large amount of food and 

 to make from it good mutton at an early age. The 

 Hampshire lamb is famed for its early maturity 

 and great weight. There is no breed that exceeds 

 the Hampshire in this respect. Well kept Hamp- 

 shires are among the most profitable sheep in the 

 world. 



The writer recalls with great pleasure some days 

 spent in the Hampshire growing country of Eng- 

 land. It was much of it a soil of only moderate 

 fertility, resting on chalk, the farms of fairly good 

 size. One especially of 1,400 acres he recalls to 

 mind, for on that farm were 2,500 magnificent 

 Hampshire sheep and lambs. Most of them were 

 in hurdles and following the hurdles were seen great 

 crops of grain. 



There seemed to be not a single sheep or lamb 

 on this farm that was not in perfect health and 

 vigor. 



A man ambitious to do the best possible thing 

 with sheep can take up the Hampshire breed with 

 good courage, for they have in them possibilities in 

 the way of great and rapid growth beyond most 

 breeds; perhaps beyond any other breed. On the 

 other hand few breeds degenerate into more un- 

 si.n-litly "weeds" than tJadly kept and diseased 

 Hampshires. The Hampshire ram is often used for 



