154 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3. 



given way to the Dishley breed, or have been so 

 improved by crosses, as to retain but little of their 

 original appearance. 



The value of this species of stock may be in a 

 great degree estimated by its aptitude to increase 

 in flesh at an early age, and when no particular 

 means of fatting are used; of which the following 

 account of four, fed by Sir. Mason, of Chilton, af- 

 fords a fair specimen: — 



Thus, the weight gained from five months to 

 one year and seven months old, is 114^ lbs., or at 

 the rate of 1 lb. 15 oz. per week; but from that 

 age to two years and seven months old, the gain 

 in weight is only 33 lbs., or 10 oz. per week.* 



IX. The Romney Marsh sheep have existed 

 immemorially on that rich tract of grazing land, 

 on the southern coast of the counties of Kent and 

 Sussex, from which they take their name. In 

 their pure state, they are distinguished by white 

 faces, a considerable thickness and length of head, 

 and a brand forehead, with a tuft of wool upon it; 

 a long and thin neck, and Hat-sided carcass. 

 They are wide on the loin, but have a sharp chine, 

 and the breast is narrow, and not deep; the belly 

 large; a good cleft; the thigh full and broad, car- 

 rying the chief weight in the hind quarter; the tail 

 thick, long, and coarse; the legs thick, with large 

 feet, the muscle coarse, and the bone large. The 

 wool is a good combing quality, the fleece of fat- 

 tening wethers weighing from eight to nine 

 pounds; the mutton is equal to that of any of the 

 large polled breeds, and their proof being good, 

 they are favorites with the butchers. When fat, 

 the wethers usually average from ten to twelve 

 stone each, and the ewes from nine to eleven. | 

 They are very hardy; are bred with little care, on 

 wet and exposed land, requiring, after the first 

 year, when they are wintered on the uplands, no 

 other food in the severest situation, than occasion- 

 ally a little hay, in addition to their pasture; and 

 are fattened entirely on grass. 



Within these few years, the fashionable Lei- 

 cester breed has been introduced into Romney 

 Marsh, and the cross has, no doubt, improved the 

 form of the native sheep; but its effect, in the 

 opinion of a very competent judge, J "has evident- 

 ly been that of reducing the size of the animals, 

 and making the wool coarser, but giving them a 

 better disposition to fatten." The rage for Lei- 

 cester sheep seems, however, to have subsided 



' Durham Agricultural Survey, p. 253. 



t Price, on the Management of Sheep in Romney 

 Marsh, 4to. Ch. II. p. 109. 



\ Mr. Boys, of Betshanger. Agricultural Survey of 

 Kent, 2d edit. p. 174. 



among the marsh graziers, and the ram breeders 

 are now anxious to make it appear, that their 

 stock is unmixed with the Dishley blood; though, 

 in truth, there are but few, if any, flocks without 

 at least a remote dash of it. Besides the diminu- 

 tion of weight of carcass, and the deterioration of 

 the fleece, the Leicester breed has been found too 

 tender for the cold and open pastures of the 

 marsh. The breeders complain that they suffer 

 great losses from the delicacy of the lambs, and 

 the ewes are found neither to produce so well, nor 

 to be such good nurses as those of the original 

 race; but the improved disposition to fatten must 

 be allowed to be of great advantage. Mr. Price, 

 who has been already quoted, informs us, "that, 

 at no very distant period, the wethers seldom 

 readied market till three years old, but now two 

 years old wethers, and sometimes even yearlino-s, 

 are sold to the butchers;" and he adds, as his 

 opinion, "that this variety may be made the most 

 valuable in the kingdom for rich pastures, as pro- 

 ducing most meat at the least expense, and thus 

 afford the grazier the greatest profit." 



X. The Devonshire polled sheep form two dis- 

 tinct varieties of the same breed: — 



1. The South Devon or dim-faced Nott, with 

 brown face and legs; a crooked backed, flat-sided, 

 coarsely boned and woolled animal, carrying a 

 fleece of ten pounds average weight, and averag- 

 ing 22 lbs. per quarter of good mutton, at thirty 

 months old. 



2. The Hampton Noil, with white face and legs, 

 though in other respects nearly resemblinc the 

 former in appearance; but the wethers will, at 

 twenty months old, average as much weight of 

 carcass as the others at thirty, and, if kept on for 

 another year, Avill reach, when fat, as much as 28 

 lbs. per quarter. They are not, however, equally 

 productive of wool; for, at the first period, 

 they only yield about 6^ lbs., and at the latter, 8 

 lbs. 



Considerable improvement has been effected in 

 the form of these sheep, as well as in most other 

 of the long-woolled breeds, by crosses with the 

 new Leicesters, and a greater aptitude has been 

 acquired to fatten at an earlier period; but while 

 many of their defects have been thus cured, the 

 same complaints are made, as in the other in- 

 stances already noticed, of increased tenderness in 

 the lambs, which are found to require extraordina- 

 ry care and nursing, yet often perish through the 

 severity of the weather: also of a very material 

 diminution in the weight both of the fleece and 

 carcass; the former being reduced from ten pounds 

 to eight, and the latter from twenty-two pounds to 

 nineteen pounds per quarter. They are likewise 

 bare of wool upon the belly, which occasions 

 great injury to animals constantly lying out, and 

 much exposed to wet; none of which disadvan- 

 tages have attended a cross with the old Leices- 

 ter, which has, on the contrary, increased the 

 weight of flesh, as well as the disposition to fat- 

 ten.* 



Another variety of long-woolled sheep is found 

 on the Cotswold Hills, to which most of the re- 

 marks already made on the Devon breeds will 

 equally apply. 



The chief of the short-xvoolled breeds are — 



* Vancouver, Agricultural Survev of Devonshire, 

 Chap. XIV. Sect. 2. 



