MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 225 



These rations were just right to keep them in good breeding con- 

 dition. 



MUTTON FORM. 



Mutton form is that in a sheep which tickles the fancy of the 

 butcher, gives him the least waste, and consequently the most 

 profit, and, at the same time, pleases his customers. While a 

 heavy fleece usually means profit to the butcher, it is given very 

 little consideration by those looking for quality in the mutton 

 they handle. The twenty-pound fleece of a heavy Cotswold or Lin- 

 coln yearling would be no inducement to him to buy such class of 

 stock where he is catering to a first-class trade, such as demands 

 the neat joints found in the rather lighter fleeced Southdown. 

 Of course it is important that mutton sheep carry as heavy a 

 fleece as possible, provided that in seeking fleece mutton qualities 

 are not sacrificed. 



The butcher's ideal of mutton form is a comparatively small 

 frame, of moderately light bone, covered with a great depth and 

 wealth of flesh. The showmen's idea of straight back, wide, deep- 

 fleshed loins, smoothness of shoulder, heavy, thick, round leg-of- 

 mutton, closeness to the ground, roundness of barrel, level flanks, 

 is also the butcher's ideal, but the excessive weight and often 

 excessive fat, bordering on the blubber line, are not. 



Naturally, in different sections of different eountries, the 

 butcher's ideal varies; especially is this true of England, the 

 home of many breeds, where, in some parts, the heavy whitefaced 

 breeds would receive very little recognition, where local taste and 

 fashion calls for Down mutton. When buying stock for the feed 

 lots, feeders should bear these facts in mind, and not lose sight of 

 the fact that good butchers' stock cannot be expected from a poor 

 class of feeder stock. 



It may be safe to say that nowhere is the butchers' ideal found 

 more often than in the Southdown, not because other breeds do 

 not possess strong recommendations, but because of the South- 

 down's almost perfect form, handy weight and little waste. Espe- 

 cially is this true in this day of small, first-class, handy-weight 

 carcasses. 



MUTTON. 



Mutton can be improved by feeding. Although hill country 

 sheep have a reputation for the lusciousness of their flesh, it is 

 a well known fact that where sheep, in certain localities, are fed 

 on cake, roots, etc., they yield a better quality of mutton than 

 those in the same locality fed only on grass. The highest priced 

 joints of mutton are found in the hind quarters of sheep. The 

 highest priced joints of beef are found in the hind quarters of 

 cattle. But this does not say that the fore quarters of these ani- 



