2O MODERN' SHEEP I BREEDS AND MANAUKMKNT. 



black one among them, roamed this unenclosed and uninviting tract 

 of land, which was at that time the common property of those who 

 saw fit to run their stock upon it, which generally consisted of 

 sheep or geese. While this land did not afford such fare as we 

 would call desirable, in this day of intensive farming for the feed- 

 ing of our modern "mortgage lifters," or England's "rent-payers," 

 it furnished a pretty good bite for the animals that depastured it 

 in those days, from the middle of June to about the first of Octo- 

 ber; but when snow covered the ground it offered them little and 

 at times starvation stared them in the face. No wonder their 

 princely offspring have qualities to resist the elements. 



As may be naturally inferred, it takes time to breed out the 

 more objectionable features of a breed, and even to this day the 

 undesirable horns of the Morfe Common seem more or less de- 

 termined to show themselves in poorly-bred flocks of Shropshires, 

 and many an otherwise good ram has been relegated to a lowly 

 position in the show ring for this reason, or for the appearance of 

 black wool, which is so objectionable. 



It would appear that historians are a unit in that Mr. Samuel 

 Meire and Mr. George Adney, although working on somewhat 

 different lines, laid the foundation of the Shropshire breed. Mr. 

 Meire operated at Berrington, until he left that farm and went to 

 live on his own estate at Harley, in the same parish where Mr. 

 Adney did considerable of his work as an improver of the breed. 

 That Mr. Meire's sheep possessed surprising constitutional vigor 

 is shown by the fact that his great ram "Magnum Bonum" was in 

 service eleven seasons, and his dam lived to be twenty years old. 

 "Magnum Bonum" was the sire of "Perfection," used by Mr. 

 Foster, of Kinver, which sired the first prize shearling at the 

 Chester show. At the same show the first prize pen bred by Mr. 

 Meire had this remarkable description accorded to it in the cata- 

 logue : "Two, eleven years, three months and two weeks old ; two, 

 nine years, three months and two weeks old ; and one, seven years, 

 three months and two weeks old; pen of five Shropshire Down 

 ewes, dark brown face and legs." These were shown against what 

 has been described as "blooming" shearling ewes. What proof of 

 constitution! In 1853, at Gloucester, Mr. Foster and Mr. Meire 

 captured all the premiums, and this with entries from Mr. Meire's 

 stock. When Mr. Meire gave up Berrington Farm he took but a 

 few ewes to Harley, not more than forty, authorities claim. Mr. 

 Meire's first ram sale netted him the equivalent of $62.50 per head 

 for fourteen head. He is said to have favored rather light, uni- 

 formly-tinted features, also wool and quality rather than size. He 

 did not long follow ram breeding, on account of ill health. 



Coleman, in his work (1877), speaking of Mr. Henry Smith's 

 flock of Sutton Maddock, says : "Mr. Smith's flock, which was so 

 well known at one time, was at first principally descended from Mr. 



