CHARACTERISTICS OF BREEDS. 155 



ready to impart information to those desirous to learn, 

 and labored zealously to encourage general improve- 

 ment. That he was pecuniarily successful is evident 

 from the continued rise in the price of his sheep. The 

 Duke of Eichmond, Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Grantham, 

 and other cotemporaries and successors of Mr. Ellman 

 have carried successfully forward the work so well be- 

 gun by him. The Improved South Downs now rank 

 first among British breeds in hardiness, constitution, 

 early maturity, symmetry, and quality of mutton and 

 of wool combined. The meat usually brings one to two 

 cents per pound more than that of most other breeds 

 in Smithfield market. It is of fine flavor, juicy, and 

 well marbled. The South Downs are of medium size, 

 (although Mr. Webb has in some cases attained a live 

 weight in breeding rams of 250 pounds, and a dressed 

 weight of 200 pounds in fattened wethers,) hardy, pro- 

 lific, and easily kept, suceeding on short pastures, al- 

 though they pay well for liberal feeding. 



The Oxford Downs may be named as an instance of 

 successful cross-breeding. They originated in a cross 

 between the Improved Cotswolds and the Hampshire 

 Downs."^ Having been perpetuated now for more than 



* The Hampshires are somewhat larger than the South Downs, 

 and quite as hardy — the fleece a ti-ifle shorter. The Oxford Downs 

 are not to be confounded with the Xew Oxfordshires. 



