116 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



for many years, their characteristics are well fixed. The old 

 Cotswolds or Gloucestershire sheep were coarser in form and 

 larger in body than the improved Cotswolds of the present day, but 

 the latter are somewhat larger, hardier, more prolific and better 

 milkers than the pure new Leicesters, and they are, with many, 

 taking the place of Leicesters, on account of their superiority 

 in these respects and their adaptation to common treatment. 

 Tliat the quality of their mutton is better than that of the 

 Leicester is seen in the higher price it commands in the market. 

 The new or improved Oxfordshire, is only another name for the 

 improved Cotswold, the result of careful selection. The new 

 Oxfordshires are somewhat larger sized, and have a great ten- 

 dency to fatten on account of their wide frames, and quietness of 

 disposition, and the open texture of their flesh. The taste of 

 many breeders, at the present time, runs very much to large 

 size, and in the opinion of some, the largest sized sheep are 

 most profitable ; but it depends much on the richness and aljun- 

 dance of food, and with many of us who have but short pastures 

 the largest sized sheep might prove any thing but profitable. 



The South Down is one of the oldest and purest breeds, tracing 

 its origin even beyond the time of William the Conqueror, It 

 is middle-woolled, though so good was the fleece that it once 

 ranked as fine wool and was used for carding, till a large supply of 

 superior fine wool from the continent took its place. The South 

 Downs have felt the hand of improvement like most other breeds 

 of animals in Great Britahi, and in point of form and symmetry 

 and fineness of bone they far surpass their ancestors of a half 

 century ago. They possess also greater tendency to fatten, 

 arrive at maturity earlier, and attain greater weights, still main- 

 taining great hardihood of constitution and being able to subsist 

 on poor pasture and hard fare. They will do well where many 

 other breeds would die or deteriorate. The fineness of the 

 fleece of the South Downs is only a secondary object generall}--, 

 and it is as an animal profitable for the butcher that it is most 

 bred among us. They lay on fat inside, where it is mixed with 

 the lean to a greater extent than the Leicesters, and hence are 

 more po})ular with tlie butchers, particularly in the London 

 market. 



The head of the South Down is small and hornless, the face 

 dark gray, of medium length, the eye bright and full, the neck 



