4S 



The soil and climate and agricultural system of England are 

 admirably adapted to this business. The mild and humid at- 

 mosphere, and the equability of the temperature, encourage the 

 growth of the animal, and enable it to arrive at early ma- 

 turity ; at the same time the fleece has a tendency to increase 

 in length and coarseness. The luxuriant pastures, also, afford 

 suitable food for animals whose heavy carcases require abund- 

 ant nourishment. The ease with which root crops, especially 

 turnips, are raised on English soil, combined with the possibil- 

 ity of feeding such crops on the land, during the mild winters 

 of that island, enables the English farmer to support his sheep 

 with great economy during the cold season. All this produces 

 a sheep, which when brought to the stall is in a condition to 

 take on fat rapidly, and to remunerate the feeder. 



It is not surprising that the same system of husbandry, which 

 developed and required short horns among horned cattle, should 

 also develop and require Leicester, Cotswolds, Oxford Downs, 

 Shropshires, and South Downs among sheep — of the first of 

 which (the Leicester) Mr. Webster says — " They must be kept 

 well ; they should always be fat ; and pressed, by good keeping, 

 to early maturity, they are found very profitable." When we 

 read of Leicesters weighing from thirty to forty pounds to the 

 quarter, at two years old, of Cotswolds weighing nearly 400 

 pounds, of New Oxfordshire ewes weighing over 200 pounds, 

 of Oxford Downs weighing 360 pounds, we should bear in 

 mind that these animals have received English feeding, mostly 

 on English soil, and under an English sky. It is not impossible 

 to do this in our own State, and our own county, as the Cots- 

 wolds exhibited by Mr. Corliss, and the Oxford Downs exhib- 

 ited by Mr. Fay will testify. 



It is unnecessary to describe the breeds mentioned above ; 

 their history and qualities being well known to all who are 

 interested in sheep husbandry. Most of them are prolific 

 and supply the breeder with an abundance of lambs for masket, 

 if he desires it. Such facts as can be obtained with regard to 

 their products in mutton and wool may not be uninteresting. 



