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commonly known, the medium-wooled breeds. All of our mutton 

 breeds came originally from England, noted as the greatest meat- 

 consuming nation in the world, and where the people have a particular 

 liking for mutton, even though noted as beef eaters. 



Of the long-wooled breeds the three most important are the Leicester, 

 Lincoln and Cotswold, and of the medium wools the Shropshire, South- 

 down, Hampshire Down, Oxford and Dorset are the best known and 

 most valuable. The four first named medium wools are known as the 

 "down" breeds, as they originated in the down countries of England, 

 — in Shropshire, Sussex, Oxford and other counties in south-central 

 England. 



As a general thing the long-wooled breeds are the larger, and, as is 

 true of most large animals when compared with those of the same 

 species which are smaller in size, are slow in reaching their mature form. 

 Add to this the fact that the quality of their flesh is not of the best, 

 there being a tendency to coarseness in grain, the fibers of the red 

 meat standing out prominently, like the fibers in the shoulder steaks 

 of a beef, as compared with the fibers of the loin cut of the same 

 animal. With this coarse texture there is a tendency to a too uneven 

 distribution of the fat, great soft bunches being likely to appear at the 

 tail head and down at the fore flank, giving weight to the animal but 

 detracting markedly from the value of the carcass. Another charac- 

 teristic of the long-wooled breeds which might be urged as an ob- 

 jection is that they are not as strongly prolific as the smaller varieties. 

 Bearing these things in mind it will hardly be necessary to discuss 

 their characteristics more in detail, and the principal characteristics 

 of the smaller sheep will follow. 



Of these none is so widely known throughout the entire country as 

 the Shropshire. It is a fairly small breed, mature rams averaging 

 225 pounds and ewes from 150 to 160 pounds, sometimes reaching 175 

 pounds. It is about the average in size of the middle-wooled breeds, 

 and is a very squarely built and low-set animal, having abundant 

 spread of rib, and carrying a thick covering of flesh on the back, loin 

 and leg, those parts of most value on the carcass. From the back and 

 loin come the chops, while roast leg is furnished from the latter part. 

 A dense, fairly uniform fleece of medium length, averaging from two 

 and one-half to three and one-half inches in length, covers the sheep. 



A typical individual of the breed is blocky, low set, with level top 

 and bottom lines, wooled well down to the feet, both in front and 

 behind, with the body well covered. No black wool should show, but 

 the tips of the nose and ears are black in the best specimens. The 

 wool should go well over the face, leaving only the tips of the nose and 

 ears visible, the eyes being scarcely visible in many animals. The 

 ears should have little tufts of fleece scattered about over their upper 

 surface. 



This breed is very popular as a general-purpose animal on account 

 of its good size and fine quality of mutton and wool. Its early ma- 

 turing qualities are first class, and are transmitted in large part to 

 grade offspring. As grazing sheep other breeds have more adaptability, 

 but in New England satisfactory results have been obtained in grazing 

 them. The average percentage of increase among Shropshire flocks is 

 nearly 150, or an average of a lamb and a half per ewe. Not every 

 flock master can secure so high an average, but many have had even 

 better results. It is as common a breed in America as any. 



The Southdown is the smallest of the "down" breeds, averaging 

 for the ram 175 pounds and the ewe 135 pounds, and is the oldest pure 

 breed of the mutton type. It is even lower set than the Shropshire, 



