100 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tliey bear many of their characteristics, and might, had tliey 

 been bred with the care and perseverance which the South Downs 

 received, have been a most valuable breed. 



Our ancestors emigrated from different parts of the United 

 Kingdom, and some from the various countries of Europe. 

 Tliey brought with them their implements of husbandry, and 

 domestic animals to fertilize the wilderness. Each, it would be 

 natural to suppose, made choice of the favorite breed of his own 

 immediate district to transport to the new world, and the 

 admixture of these various breeds formed the mongrel family 

 called native sheep. Amid the perils of war and the incursions 

 of beasts of prey, these were preserved with attentive care. 



These common sheep yielded a wool only suited for the man- 

 ufacture of the coarser fabrics, averaging in the hands of good 

 farmers not over three and a half pounds of wool to the fleece. 

 They were slow in arriving at maturity, compared with the 

 improved English breeds, and yielded, when fully grown, only 

 from ten to fourteen pounds per quarter of a middling quality 

 of mutton, which was, however, in very slight demand. They 

 were usually long-legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on 

 the breast and back, although some instances might lie found of 

 flocks with short legs, and some approximation to the general 

 form of improved breeds. They were hardy, easy keepers, and 

 excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely destitute of 

 care, and without shelter, one hundred per cent, of lambs, and 

 in small flocks a still larger pi'oportion ; these were usually drop- 

 ped in the months of March and April. Restless in their dispo- 

 sition, their impatience of restraint almost equalled that of the 

 nntamcd sheep of the Rocky Mountains, and in many parts of 

 the country it was common to see flocks of from twenty to fifty 

 of these, roving with little regard toinclosures, over the posses- 

 sions of their owner and his neighbors, leaving a portion of their 

 wool on every thorn and bush. 



The old common stock as a distinct family has nearly disap- 

 peared, having been crossed to a greater or less degree with the 

 foreign breeds of later introduction. The first cross with the 

 Merino resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a 

 variety exceedingly valuable to the farmers who grew wool 

 for domestic purposes ; the fleeces were of uneven iineness, 

 being hairy on the thighs and dewlap, but the general quality 



