A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



the better lambs, and here a good many draught ewes as well as wether tegs 

 make their appearance. Findon second fair, early in September, has a good 

 show of lambs and draft ewes, sent almost entirely from West Sussex, 

 followed by Lewes on 21 September, the great fair of the year, where the 

 best lambs and draft ewes from nearly all the East Sussex flocks are sold, 

 together with a number of rams from both East and West Sussex breeders. A 

 week later is another fair at Lewes, at which are penned small lambs, over- 

 year ewes, &c. These fairs were formerly the only means, excepting private 

 sales, by which the breeder sold his produce. At all of them except Findon 

 the fair is an open one, and the buyer treats with the seller. 



Of late, however, a large number of sheep have been disposed of by 

 auction, and large sales are held, notably at Chichester in the month of August, 

 where Messrs. Stride and Messrs. Hobgen hold large sales of Southdown 

 sheep, patronized chiefly by West Sussex, the East Sussex breeders preferring to 

 deal with their customers direct. 



In August or September the flock is made up of three ages, 2-tooth, 

 4-tooth, and 6-tooth, in equal numbers, the 2-tooth being the lambs of the 

 previous year ; and in addition to the ewe flock the best of the ewe lambs are 

 kept, and some ten or twenty more than the probable number required for 

 flock purposes, to allow for contingencies. 



These lambs are the future mothers, and are then dignified by the title of 

 ' stock ewe lambs.' Possibly also some ram lambs are saved for sale, or for 

 use in that part of the flock where they are not related. 



The ewes, as has been before stated, are folded either on a piece of tares, 

 rape, or cabbage, and in wet weather are folded in what is termed a dry 

 fold, on the gratton, stubble, or possibly fallow ground, it being realized that 

 it is the best and easiest way of manuring the land. The stock lambs are 

 similarly folded, but have in winter a specially made fold, probably against a 

 straw stack, with wattles bound with straw ; this yard is littered down with 

 straw, and the sheep are thus protected against the bitter winds sweeping 

 across the Downs. 



Both ewes and lambs receive hay during the winter, and also cake or 

 oats, the latter feed depending on how they hold their own, and on the par- 

 ticular management carried out on the particular farm. 



In writing of the agriculture of Sussex, however, one cannot pass by 

 Southdown sheep with merely a brief account such as has been given in our 

 notes of their life history on the farm. The best breed of sheep in the world, 

 as Sussex men believe, and, at all events, well known for the excellence of 

 their mutton, their hardiness, good wool, and disposition to fatten, the South- 

 down is worthy of at all events a short description. 



When one talks of Southdowns, one naturally goes back to John Ellman 

 of Glynde, who did so much for the breed, and whose name is a household 

 word to anyone interested in Southdown sheep. If one turns to Arthur 

 Young's History of Sussex Agriculture, before referred to, one finds that most 

 of his notes on the breed were received, and his conclusions drawn, from 

 information given him by John Ellman. 



Arthur Young, writing about 1800, tells us that up to 1773 no polled 

 breed existed west of the Shoreham River (West Sussex), but that the flocks 

 were Dorsetshire or Hampshire ; that about 1779 Southdown rams were used, 



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