EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 581 



Morfe Common sheep. This tract of land is situated on the borders of 

 the Severn, near Bridgenorth, and contains nearly 4,000 acres. The ewes 

 wnv fed on the common from the middle of June to October, when the 

 young sheep were brought on it for the winter. From the shortness 

 of the pastures and the quantity of furze about the common the sheep 

 began to lose their teeth at five years old, and were then disposed of. 



The Morfe sheep had small horns, with speckled, dark, or black faces 

 and legs ; the wether weighing about 13 pounds, and the ewe 9 pounds 

 the quarter, and the fleece weighing about 2 pounds. In many points 

 resembling the Eyeland, if indeed not a variety of that breed, it had 

 been found from time immemorial in various parts of Worcestershire, 

 Shropshire, and Staffordshire. It was probably this species of Shrop- 

 shire wool that in 1343 was the choicest and the dearest in England, 

 and at every succeeding period, when mention has been made of it, 

 justice has been done to its excellent quality. It has now shared the 

 fate of every short- wooled fleece. The importation of a better material 

 and the tyranny of fashion tempted the farmer to cross even this breed 

 with a heavier sheep; and the experiment, however it may have an- 

 swered to him in a pecuniary point of view, materially changed the 

 character and the destiny of the Morfe fleece. 



In 1792, when the British Wool Society procured all the information 

 possible regarding the sheep of England, they reported that on Morfe 

 Common there were about 10,000 sheep kept during the summer months 

 which produced wool of a superior quality. They were considered a 

 native breed; were black-faced or brown or spotted faced, horned sheep, 

 little subject to either rot or scab; weighing, the wethers from 11 to 14 

 pounds, and the ewes from 9 to 11 pounds the quarter. 



Upon this and other evidence Professor Wilson concludes that the 

 original stock from which the present breed of Shropshire Downs 

 sprung was the old Morfe Common, and as the country advanced and 

 the breeds became valuable for their carcasses as well as for their wool, 

 the Morfe Common sheep were crossed with other breeds, but more 

 particularly with the long- wooled Leicester and Cotswold or the 

 short- wooled Southdown. The admixture of such different blood has 

 produced a corresponding variation in the character of the present 

 breed of Shropshire Downs, and tended materially to sustain the 

 hesitation which long existed to allow them a place as a distinct 

 breed. Where, however, the original cross was with the Southdown 

 and the breed has been continued unmixed with the long- wooled sheep, 

 they present the characteristics of a short- wooled breed.* 



This view is not universally shared, and it is not unhesitatingly 

 acknowledged that the Shropshire Down is a pure sheep descended 

 from the Morfe Common. It is held by many that, though modern 

 sheep in their improved character, the original stocks were the Long 



* Prof. John Wilson, in Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 Vol. xvi. 



