SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 201 



ftill, and, as with the fore legs, the muscles extend- 

 ing down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and full. 

 The legs of a moderate length ; the pelt also mod- 

 erately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a 

 good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some 

 breeds, but considerably finer."* 



THE SOUTH DOWN. 



This breed of sheep has existed for several cen- 

 turies in England, on a range of chalky hills called 

 the South Downs. They were, as recently as 1776, 

 small in size, and of a form not superior to the 

 common wooled sheep of the United States. Since 

 that period, a course of judicious breeding, pursued 

 by one man (Mr. Ellman, of Glynde), has mainly 

 contributed to raise this variety to its present high 

 degree of perfection, and that, too, without the ad- 

 mixture of the slightest degree of foreign blood. In 

 our remarks on this breed of sheep, it will be under- 

 stood that we speak of the pure, improved family 

 as the original stock, presenting, with trifling modi- 

 fications, the same characteristics which they exhib 

 ited sixty years since, are yet to be found in Eng- 

 land, and, as the middle space is occupied by a va 

 riety of grades, rising or falling in value as they 

 approximate to or recede from the improved blood. 



The South Down is an upland sheep of medium 

 size, and its wool, which, in point of length, belongs 

 to the middle class, is estimated to rank with half- 

 grade Merino. The average weight of fleece in the 

 hill-fed sheep is three pounds, and in the lowland four 

 pounds. But the Down is raised more particularly 

 for its mutton, which for quality takes precedence 

 of all other in the English markets. Its early ma- 

 turity, and extreme aptitude to lay on flesh, render 

 it peculiarly valuable for this purpose. The Down 



* Sheep Husbandry, p. 110. 



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