[62] 



We know of no breed so prolific. The increase in all cases 

 is to a certain extent, and often materially, influenced by 

 the nature of the land nourishing, or yielding, or inferior 

 food. On an average, if the ewes ar^ well cared for before 

 and during the time the ram is with them, at least fifty per 

 cent, of doublets may be looked for; and when Shropshire 

 rams are put with long- wool ewes, the increase is much 

 greater. On a small farm, we purchase, every autumn, forty 

 Banffshire ewes a description of border Leicester, with a 

 slight Cheviot cross and serve them with a Shropshire 

 ram. In 1872 thirty-six ewes produced seventy-eight lambs, 

 all sold fat. This season the forty ewes produced eighty- 

 two lambs, but owing to unfavorable causes we lost ten 

 lambs, or such portion of the same as have not been 

 already treated with mint sauce. This prolific tendency is 

 a point of great importance, for it is not with the Shrop- 

 shires as it is with some of the larger breeds, that a fine 

 single lamb is more esteemed than a double. The ewes are 

 good mothers, and can do justice to their offspring; more- 

 over, it is always profitable to assist nature by nutritious 

 diet. Next, the Shropshire is a hardy sheep, suitable for a 

 large range of soils, and capable of close folding, without 

 sensible loss of size. The yield both of mutton and wool 

 is far greater than from the Southdown, or other short wool. 

 Hampshires may arrive at greater weight, but they require 

 more time. The proportion of bone and offal is greater 

 and the wool much less." 



We have no personal acquaintance with these breeds of 

 sheep, but those having a knowledge of them commend 

 them very highly. The character here given would com- 

 mend them rather as mutton sheep than as sheep for early 

 lambs. It is no uncommon thing to see a ewe with three 

 lambs, and the late Hays Blackman, Esq., of Davidson 

 county, had a ewe that raised four good lambs without any 

 feeding except that obtained from her udder. 



