At the block test competition at the Dublin winter shows, the 

 mutton has been proved to be " splendidly grained, evenly mixed 

 with fat and lean, and of excellent quality." 



THE DORSET HORN SHEEP. The Dorset Horn is a pink-nosed, 

 white-faced horned breed of exceptional merit and popularity. 

 Apart from single flocks scattered widely over the country, " the 

 chief home ot the leading Horn flocks is now in the southern and 

 western parts of the county, with Dorchester as the centre, and in 

 the Isle of Wight, where very old established and extensive flocks 

 are kept. " 



Wool. The wool, classed as medium grade on the Continent, 

 covers the crown and comes close up round the horns and ears 

 and on to the jaws, as in the Merino, and forms a dense tuft on the 

 forehead. The wool is closely set, dense and level on the surface. 

 Shearing generally takes place in June, when both lambs and ewes 

 are shorn. The lambs give from 2 I / 2 to 3 Ib. of wool, ewes 5 to 

 7 Ib., and yearling rams 10 to 14 Ib. The wool of the lamb is 

 specially valued for its whiteness and other superior qualities. The 

 Dorset Horn usually shares with the Ryeland breed the premier 

 awards for fine short white wool at the Annual Show of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England. 



Early Maturity. The special and peculiar feature of the breed 

 is that the ewes come in season as early as April or May and can 

 consequently breed "house lamb" for Christmas, weighing 10 to 

 12 Ib. per quarter at 10 to 12 weeks old. 



THE WESTERN SHEEP. The Western Sheep is an improved and 

 modernised remnant of the old slow-maturity, white-faced, long- 

 tailed, horned Wiltshire breed, described by Low as the " largest 

 of the fine-woolled sheep of England. Its fleece was not only light 

 (about 2*/ a Ib.) but its belly was destitute of wool," a condition 

 attributed to the warm, dry, chalky soil of the area. 



THE RYELAND SHEEP. The Ryeland breed is believed to be 

 named from a poor sandy district in the southern part of Hereford- 

 shire, on which rye used to be grown. 



THE SOUTHDOWN SHEEP. The Southdown or Sussexdown is the 

 breed which was employed to refine all the other Down breeds in 

 the same way as the English Leicester was employed to improve 

 the longwool breeds. The present refined and symmetrical animal 

 has been developed by selection from the original stock, which was 

 leggy and ill-proportioned. No outside blood was introduced, al- 

 though Bakewell urged the use of the Leicester ram. 



