40 BRITISH SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING. 



per ewe being no rare average. The Suffolk Society gives shep- 

 herds' premiums for the greatest number of lambs raised per ewe. 

 My personal experience with the Hollesley Flock in 1902 was 

 587 lambs from 303 ewes, inspected on May 1, and I can vouch 

 for its accuracy. 



The Suffolk Sheep Society have published the following scale 

 of points : 



SCALE OF POINTS. 



Head. Hornless ; face black and long, and muzzle moderately 

 fine especially in ewes. (A small quantity of clean 

 white wool on the forehead not objected to.) Ears, 

 a medium length, black and fine texture. Eyes, 



bright and full 25 



Neck. Moderate length and well set. (In rams stronger, 



with a good crest) . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 



Shoulder. Broad and oblique . . . . . . . . . . 5 



Chest. Deep and wide . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 



Back and Loin. Long, level, and well covered with meat and 

 muscle ; tail broad and well set up. The ribs long 

 and well sprung, with a full flank . . . . . . 20 



Legs and Feet. Straight and black, with fine and flat bone. 

 Woolled to knees and hocks, clean below. Fore legs 

 set well apart. Hind legs well filled with mutton . . 20 

 Belly (also Scrotum of Rams). Well covered with wool. . 5 



Fleece. Moderately short ; close fine fibre without tendency 

 to mat or felt together, and well defined, i.e., not 

 shading off into dark wool or hair . . . . . . 10 



Skin. Fine, soft, and pink colour. . .. .. .. .. 5 



Total 100 



THE DORSET HORN. 



The Dorset Horn breed, having its indigenous home in Dorset 

 and Somerset, is of the heath type, and in its unimproved type had 

 much in common with the unimproved white -faced old Wiltshire 

 horned breed, which was the foundation stock of the Hampshire 

 Down. It is singular in England as having a pink nose, similar 

 to that of the Merino, and old illustrations show great similarity 

 between the unimproved Merino and the little improved Dorset. 

 Whether at any early date the Merino, or other of the pink nosed 

 breeds from the Mediterranean coast line, was brought on to the 

 Dorset is not conclusively shown ; but it is certainly strange 

 that if there were no such intervention that this particular feature 

 should have been developed in this breed. That the breed had 



