SHEEP. 87 



increased value to the progeny of our ordinary slieep. The Leices- 

 ters have long headed the list of English Sheep, but recently either 

 some of the less aristocratic families have stolen a march upon 

 them or the taste of John Bull has changed, for the mutton of the 

 black-faced breeds is worth in Smithfield market half pence per 

 pound more than the Leicesters. We take it that the English are 

 the best judges — and following them South Downs are to be recom- 

 mended as more valuable to us here than Leicesters. They cer- 

 tainly are to be so recommended, if the fashion of feeding or more 

 properly starving Sheep, hitherto often practiced is to be continued, 

 for they have " a patience of occasional short keep, and an endur- 

 ance of hard stocking equal to any other Sheep." 



But the best Sheep, (in the opinion of those of your Committee 

 who have seen them,) which have yet been introduced to the 

 United States, are those lately imported by Mr. Fay, of Lynn — a 

 gentleman to whom our Society, for his pecuniary liberality, is under 

 many obligations — for the benefit of his suggestions and examples 

 far more. After very particular and extensive observation of dif- 

 ferent breeds and different flocks of the same breed, Mr. Fay 

 selected these, as in his opinion, the best English Sheep to send to 

 his farm in Essex Countj-, both for profit and improvement. These 

 Sheep have been by him named " Oxfordshire Downs." They are 

 cross-bred between the Cotswold and pure South Down, inheriting 

 from the former a carcass exceeding in weight that of the South 

 Down from one-fifth to one quarter — a fleece, the fibre of which is 

 somewhat coarser and stronger, it is true — but weightier than the 

 South Down by one-third to one-half — from the latter, the rotundity 

 of form and fullness of muscle in the more valuable parts, with the 

 brown face and leg, so that they may not be very inaptly termed. 

 South Downs, enlarged and improved. We should suppose that 

 the live weight of either of Mr. Fay's imported bucks would exceed 

 two hundred pounds. The Ewes are larger than pure South Down 

 Ewes, in like proportion. We recommend to those farmers of the 

 county who are interested in Sheep-breeding, to look at these 

 Sheep. The sight will well repay the expense of a visit from any 

 part of the Commonwealth. 



With these various and abundant materials for improvement 

 within our reach, and with the certainty that the raising of Sheep 

 even unimproved, is profitable, we must be blind to our interests 



