28 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



awarded to the three great rams, "Celebrity/ 5 "Earl of Salisbury/' 

 and "Patentee." The prominence which they were thought en- 

 titled to as a breed, however, was not given them until the year 

 1860, when, at the Eoyal Show, held at Canterbury, they were 

 allotted a separate class. This step brought no less than 192 en- 

 tries into the ring, and since then almost without exception, the 

 Shropshires at this famous annual show have outnumbered those of 

 any other breed. 



In 1858 Professor Tanner wrote: "Only a few years since 

 any mention of the Shropshire Downs raised an inquiry, even among 

 intellectual agriculturists, as to their character and few, compara- 

 tively speaking, knew anything of them," 



Anent the Shropshire and his achievements at the Eoyal Show, 

 Mr. Alfred Mansell says : "Since 1859, despite the great prejudice 

 and opposition of exhibitors of other breeds, the Shropshires have 

 steadily increased in number at the Eoyal Shows, culminating in 

 the grand display of 1884 at Shrewsbury, when 875 Shropshires 

 were exhibited against 420 Southdowns, Hampshires, Lincolns, 

 Leicesters, Cotswolds, Mountain, and all other distinct breeds, 

 being considerably more than double the number of all other 

 breeds, and demonstrating very conclusively that the Shropshire is 

 a x sheep that meets the requirements of the day, and surely is 

 the coming race." 



No less than sixty exhibitors hailing from fifteen counties, be- 

 sides one exhibitor from Ireland, were represented at this show, 

 and if this number of exhibitors and exhibits is any guide as to the 

 popularity of the Shropshire, it surely must be most convincing. 



The Shropshire has not only found its way into every nook 

 and corner of Great Britain, but all over the American continent, 

 Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, South America, and continental 

 Europe, and is truly a cosmopolitan. This is not all ; it has flour- 

 ished as the proverbial green bay tree everywhere it has gone, not- 

 withstanding the wide diversity in climatic and geological condi- 

 tions it has met. No doubt the readiness with which it adapts it- 

 self to varied conditions to some extent accounts for the rapid 

 strides it has made the world over. Speaking of this characteristic, 

 Mr. Alfred Mansell says: " Another fact worthy of notice is that 

 this breed seems to thrive and become acclimatized in all places if 

 properly cared for, as is proved by the exhibitors extending over a 

 wide area and by the experience of others who have seen the breed 

 flourishing in England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, South 

 America, Canada, the colonies, France, Germany, Greece, and 

 most other continental countries whose soil and surroundings differ 

 to a great extent. The power of acclimatizing itself has not 

 escaped the notice of .foreigners, who of late years have exported 

 the breed largely." In Australia they are not perhaps quite & 

 fashionable as the Lincoln and the Leicester, and the same may De 



