lOG BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



wliite ; the ejcs prominent, but with a quiet expression; the 

 ears thin, ratlier long and directed backwards ; the neck full 

 and iH'oad where it proceeds from the chest ; the breast broad 

 and full ; the shoulders broad and round ; no rising in the 

 withers or hollow behind the situation of these bones; the 

 bones of the leg small, standing wide apart; the chest and 

 barrel deep and round ; the ribs forming a considerable arch 

 from the spine ; the carcase gradually diminishing in width 

 towards the rump ; the quarters long and full, and as with the 

 fore legs, the muscles extending down to the hock ; the thighs 

 also wide and full ; the legs of a moderate length ; the pelt 

 also moderately thin, but soft, elastic and covered with a good 

 quantity of wool." Tlie fleeces of the Leicesters average about 

 seven and a half pounds, soft, but rather inferior, worth about 

 twenty-six cents per pound. In the carcase, the weight of the 

 hind and fore quarters approximates nearer than in most 

 breeds ; two year old wethers, weighing when fat, from twenty- 

 five to thirty-five pounds per quarter. When tliese "sheep were 

 first introduced into Canada and from there into the States, we 

 have no means of ascertaining ; the first direct importation was 

 about 1820, by the late Christoplier Dunn, of Albany, and sub- 

 sequently by C:>\. Powell, of Philadelphia. 



SOUTH DOWNS. 



While the Leicesters can only trace their origin about a hun- 

 dred years, when they as it were, sprang into being, a different 

 animal altogetlier from their predecessors, the South Down 

 on the other hand, can trace a long line of pure descent from a 

 period antecedent to William the Conqueror, and is unquestion- 

 ably the purest and most unmixed breed in Great Britain. 

 The Leicester was made from a few individual animals possess- 

 ing the qualifications which the breeder thouglit desirable, but 

 the South Downs have reached their present perfection by con- 

 slant and unremitting attention to the })urity and perfection of 

 the original breed. 



The improvement of the Downs has necessarily been slower 

 in its progress, but it has been obtained without any sacrifice 

 of the intrinsic and desirable qualities of the original breed. 

 The original sheep of the South Downs of Sussex were of the 

 smaller breeds, with light forc-c^uarters, narrow chests, long 



