LONGWOOLS. 67 



THE COTS WOLD. 



The Cotswold breed is native to the Cotswold Hills, which run 

 through the eastern side of Gloucestershire in a south-westerly 

 to a north-easterly direction. It is a long-woolled, hornless breed, 

 with face generally white, though a slight greyness is not objection- 

 able, as it is an old characteristic of the breed, which included 

 white, grey, and mottled faces. As an indication of hardiness 

 and indigenous character, a slight greyness is not to be despised. 

 The breed can be traced back for several centuries, though at 

 the end of the eighteenth century and a little later there was a 

 considerable introduction of the Leicester blood, which worked 

 well, and brought it into more accord with modern breeds, without 

 impairing its hardiness. It is a big sheep, and it is exceptional 

 that a long-woolled race should naturally have been established 

 on such high, bleak hills as the Cotswold ; though the fact that 

 it was customary to house the sheep in cots or cotes at night in 

 winter, made a considerable difference to the amount of hardship they 

 had to undergo. The practice of providing these cots on the exposed 

 hills or wolds was so general that the hills were named after them. 



In its unimproved condition the sheep was large of frame, coarse, 

 and a slow feeder, to a large extent finding its living on the short, 

 sweet herbage of the hills. It is still a big sheep, one of the very 

 biggest, cutting a heavy fleece of long, open, curly, somewhat coarse 

 wool. Hoggets produce up to half a tod (14 lb.), but a general 

 flock average is about 9 lb. Much of the Cotswold district gradually 

 came under the plough, and the sheep, in its modernised state, 

 was brought more under the influence of folding, both on seeds 

 in summer and roots in winter. The modern Cotswold is long, 

 with a notably straight, broad back, carried well out to the rump, 

 with the ribs well sprung. Improvement has been made in the 

 under line, which, with long legs and a somewhat cut up flank, 

 used to spoil the outline, and did not recommend the animal to 

 those who were accustomed to something that filled the eye better. 

 The wool has also improved in quality. The mutton, in common 

 with most other long-wool breeds, is not of choicest quality, being 

 coarse in fibre and lacking in flavour as compared with the short- 

 wool breeds. There is, however, quite a distinctiveness about 

 the breed in its carriage and contour. The head is well set on, 

 the face is characteristic, with a full tuft of wool which sets out 

 boldly and long. 



Without complimenting the breed at every point as being suitable 

 to go on to a great variety of soils as a pure race, there is no doubt 

 as to the great value the Cotswold possesses for crossing, and of 

 the great part it has taken in the formation of some of our most 

 valued mutton-making breeds. It has crossed so well with the 



