1858.] SENATE— No. 4. IIT 



thin towards the head, broad and high towards the shoulders, 

 the breast wide and deep and projecting well forwards between 

 the fore legs. The back is straight, flat from the shoulders to 

 the setting on of the tail, rump long and wide, the legs of 

 medium length, dark color or speckled, the wool short, close, 

 curled and fine. The meat of the South Down is fine grained, 

 and remarkable for its fine flavor and juiciness, cutting up well 

 into handsome joints. They feed easily and lay on large weights 

 of tallow. 



The South Down is a favorite in eastern Massachusetts, where 

 it is raised chiefly for the shambles. The ewes put to Cotswold 

 or Leicester rams produce an excellent first cross, in point of 

 flesh and fleece, coming early to maturity and arriving at great 

 weight, bringing more per pound than either Leicesters or Cots- 

 wolds. It is unquestionably one of our most useful breeds of 

 sheep and adapted eminently to our wants and situation, and 

 consequently thought to be more profitable for us than the fine- 

 woolled breeds. They have " a patience of occasional short 

 keep and an endurance of hard stocking, equal to any other 

 sheep." They are very healthy and free from rot and other 

 diseases. 



The Oxfordshire Downs are the result of a judicious cross of 

 the Cotswold with the pure South Down, and though it was 

 formed at a comparatively recent date, it is claimed that its 

 characteristics are so completely fixed as to entitle it to the 

 credit of forming a breed. The specimens of this breed now 

 in this State were mostly imported or bred by R. S. Fay, Esq., 

 of Lynn. These fine animals inherit the size of the larger Cots- 

 wolds, greatly exceeding in weight the pure South Downs, 

 while the fleece has a somewhat coarser and stronger fibre, but 

 heavier by more than a third, than that of the pure bred South 

 Down. They take from the South Downs a beautiful roundness 

 and symmetry of form and fulness of muscular development, 

 laying their flesh and fat on the more valuable parts, while the 

 brown or gray face and leg seem to distinguish them as " South 

 Downs enlarged and improved." Both the ewes and the bucks 

 are larger than the South Down. These sheep seem to offer 

 great facilities for the improvement of our middle-wooUed 

 breeds. They are very quiet and docile in their habits, and 

 have proved themselves perfectly hardy. 



