. i. DEVON AND COTSWOLD SHEEP. 48* 



wisely availed themselves to a considerable extent ot the Leicester 

 cross, and a report on the farming of Somerset, published in 1850, 

 stated that it was then considered that " there could not be a better 

 sheep for the purpose of the farmers of the rich lands than the improved 

 Bamptoh crossed with Leicester." Many breeders so far introduced 

 the Leicester blood that their flocks might eventually have been 

 described as three-quarters Leicester, and one-quarter Bampton. For 

 many years now the breed thus resulting has been kept pure, and has 

 assumed the name of Devon Longwools. An association for the pro- 

 motion of the interests of the breed and the establishment of a Flock- 

 Book was started in 1889. 



THE SOUTH DEVON or SOUTH HAMS sheep are another local 

 Devonian variety which was transformed by the Leicester invasion, but 

 which retains its original name. The origin of the South Hams Notts 

 is somewhat uncertain. Their home seems to have been in the Vale of 

 Honiton, though now in their improved form they have spread along 

 the South of Devon and into Cornwall. They are described as having 

 been an inferior description of sheep and ill-shaped, carrying heavy but 

 coarse fleeces, and coming to a great weight. They had brown faces 

 and legs, thus indicating an affinity with the Down. By ( crossing with the 

 Leicesters this naturally coarse-fleshed sheep was improved in quality, 

 so that they fatten earlier, and a finer and more silky fleece is obtained. 

 The wool is moderately fine, and the staple long ; the fleece weighs 

 about 9 Ib. At the Plymouth Show of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 1890, there was a small but excellent display of this breed, which 

 proved that the South Hams had developed into a very useful class of 

 sheep. 



THE COTSWOLDS are another variety of long-woolled sheep which 

 are found chiefly on the Gloucestershire hills from whence they take 

 their name. They have lived there from time immemorial, and from 

 the earliest periods of English history have been celebrated for length 

 of fleece, and for hardiness of constitution. They are unquestionably 

 well adapted to the Cotswold soil and climate. They, too, were crossed 

 with the Leicesters, and were considerably improved thereby, the 

 " new Cotswold " as one writer says " having a decided advantage 

 over the old, on account of the greater hardihood as compared with the 

 pure Leicester, and the deeper grown nature of the wool than in the 

 original stock." 



The general characteristics of the Cotswolds (fig. 117) are their bold 

 and commanding appearance, their finely arched neck giving them an 

 ease of carriage when walking which is peculiarly their own. They 

 have broad straight backs with arched ribs and length of quarter, carry- 

 ing an enormous weight of carcass upon clean yet open legs. Their 

 shoulders are rather open, but in line with the back, thus giving them 

 a good appearance in the sheep pen ; the chest is broad and deep. 

 They have great thickness through the heart ; at a show some years ago 

 two of the winning two-shear rams girthed 5 feet and 5 feet 4 inches 



