124 THE SHEEP. 



The country of the Dorsets is calcareous, being partly on the 

 limits of the chalk formation, and partly on the lias and oolite ; 

 and the climate is mild, and the herbage is mixed with wild 

 thyme and other aromatic plants. Formerly, the race was 

 greatly more diffused in England than it now is. William 

 Ellis, in his Shepherd's Guide, published in 1749, describes 

 the west country Sheep as having " white faces, white and 

 short legs, broad loins, and fine curled wool." He says they 

 are of different sizes, the smaller sort being fed on commons, 

 and that they are more tender of their young than any other, 

 and in an especial manner the Dorsetshire variety. " Where- 

 upon," says he, " those farmers that live in Hertfordshire, 

 Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Middlesex, Surrey, and 

 Kent, and would be masters of a fine kind of Sheep, for 

 folding, fattening, and breeding lambs, cannot have a better 

 sort." 



Since the period referred to, however, this race of Sheep 

 has been continually diminishing in numbers. The extension 

 of the improved Leicesters and Southdowns gradually cir- 

 cumscribed the limits of the ancient Dorsets ; and in the 

 various midland and eastern counties in which they formerly 

 abounded, scattered flocks only are found, and these rarely 

 pure. 



The crosses of this breed with the Leicesters and South- 

 downs being superior to the original stock, a powerful cause 

 is in operation to produce an intermixture of blood ; and 

 were it not for the demand which exists in the great towns, 

 and especially in London, for early lambs, the Dorsets might 

 be expected, like so many of the older breeds of the country, 

 to become extinct. Should this take place, we know of no 

 means of supplying its place, for no other breed of these 

 Islands possesses the properties of early breeding and fecun- 

 dity in the same degree. While, therefore, the rearing of 

 early lambs continues to be profitable, care should be used 

 in preserving the purity of this ancient race, and in calling 

 forth, by selection of the male and female parents, those 



