CHAPTER V. 



BRITISH BREEDS. 



SOUTHDOWN— RYELAND— DORSET— BLACK-FACED— CHEVIOT— SHET- 

 LAND ISLAND— IRISH SHEEP. 



SOUTH DOWN. 



The sheep of Great Britain for a long time have been 

 classed into middle-wooled, and long-wooled. The short 

 wools, properly speaking, now employed in English cloth 

 manufactures, are of foreign growth. 



The middle-wooled breeds comprise the South Down, 

 Norfolk, Dorset, Cheviot, and some others, which are infe- 

 rior, however, to these. 



Confessedly, on all hands, at the head of the middle- 

 wooled varieties, stands the South Down, and are destined, 

 doubtless, to occupy a large share of the attention of Ameri- 

 can breeders. 



The original as well as present location of a large proportion 

 of this breed is on the South Downs (from whence the name 

 of the breed is derived), a long range of chalky hills, diverg- 

 ing from the great chalky stratum which intersects the king- 

 dom from Norfolk to Dorchester. " They may be considered 

 as occupying a space of more than sixty miles in length, and 

 about five or six in breadth, consisting of a succession of 

 open downs, with very few enclosures. On these downs a 

 certain breed of sheep has been cultivated for many centu- 

 ries, in greater perfection than elsewhere ; and hence have 

 sprung those successive colonies, which have found their 

 way to every part of the kingdom, and materially benefited 

 the breed of short-wooled sheep wherever they have gone."* 



The perfection of carcase which the South Down at pres- 

 ent exhibits, is owing to the skill of that distinguished sheep- 



* Luccock on Wool. 



