MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 35 



The Hampshire is not in any sense a pampered breed, as it has 

 to rough it the year round out-of-doors in its native country, and 

 under conditions that have strengthened rather than weakened its 

 ability to withstand the hardships brought about through inclement 

 weather. Rain or snow does not bother the Hampshire, provided it 

 has the right kind of food and plenty of it. The constitutional 

 vigor of the Hampshire allows it to assimilate a large amount of 

 food, which is amply offset by its very rapid growth. The Hamp- 

 shire is a most impressive sire and the first cross of the purebred 

 Hampshire ram on the native we sometimes so much resembles the 

 pure Hampshire that it is hardly distinguishable from the original 

 so far as character is concerned. The annual fairs of Hampshire 

 Down sheep held in England are a sight worth seeing. It is noth- 

 ing unusual to see from 30,000 to 40,000 head of this grand breed 

 penned at a single fair. 



In 1894 there were 84 flocks registered in the English flock 

 book 114,000 head; ten years later this number was doubled and 

 is still growing apace. 



No breed has made more improvement or a greater impression 

 on the public than the Hampshire during the past few years. 



It is, perhaps, par excellence the sheep of early maturity. 

 The weights that it has made in comparative babyhood, under 

 modern systems of feeding and management, are almost incredible 

 to those who have handled smaller and less early maturing breeds. 

 A gain of over a pound a day is nothing unusual. In the Agri- 

 cultural Magazine of 1900, mention is made of a Wiltshire lamb 

 which weighed 24 pounds per quarter and contained 14 pounds of 

 loose fat. Nothing makes so impressive a pastoral scene as a bunch 

 of several hundred six or seven-months'-old Hampshire lambs, as 

 they are seen on English farms. Nothing gives one a better idea 

 of the wonderful popularity of the breed in certain sections than a 

 visit to the great Salisbury Fair and sales, where they are offered 

 for sale by thousands. 



The Hampshires were first awarded classes to themselves at 

 the Royal at Salisbury in 1857. 



The modern Hampshire is a merger of the old Hampshire ewe 

 and Wiltshire rams. The Wiltshire sheep were known as "crooks" 

 on account of the shape of their horns, which grew somewhat after 

 the style of the "old crumpled-horn" cow, that is, they turned back 

 behind the ear and crooked toward the cheek. They were said by 

 authorities to be the largest breed of sheep of their day. 



According to history the Cotswold figured in the evolution of 

 the Hampshire, for about 1829 Mr. John Twynam used CotswoM 

 rams for this purpose according to his own words. In 1840 the 

 Hampshires were shown at the Royal Agricultural Society Show at 

 Oxford as West-County Downs, a name which they bore for a long 

 time after. They were in face and other characteristics like the 



