THE RYELAND BREED. 155 



racter, and, as has been said, to obtain an assistant in the 

 country to select the Sheep, and to send a trusty servant to 

 take charge of them. The expense of purchasing and trans- 

 porting the Sheep to England is not considerable ; and when 

 we consider the immense national importance of conveying 

 to our Australian possessions the best of the race that can be 

 obtained, it is to be trusted that the colonists will find it for 

 their interest to resort to countries where the animals can 

 be obtained in the greatest purity and perfection. 



XV. THE RYELAND BREED. 



In the tract of country lying westward of the Severn, and 

 bounded by the mountains of Wales, there has in every 

 known period existed a race of Sheep, of small size, destitute 

 of horns, and noted for the softness and fineness of their 

 wool. The part of England where this breed was long the 

 most diffused and cultivated was the county of Hereford, a 

 tract of the old red sandstone formation, stretching from the 

 confines of Wales to near the Severn. But the breed ex- 

 tended into Monmouthshire on the south, into Shropshire on 

 the north, and into Gloucestershire and Warwickshire on the 

 east, occupying many forests, commons, and wastes. The 

 variety reared in the county of Hereford was generally termed 

 the Hereford Breed. Sometimes it was characterized by the 

 names of the places in which it was found in the greatest 

 numbers or perfection. It was sometimes termed the Archen- 

 field Breed, and sometimes the Ross Breed, from the south- 

 eastern district of the county lying between the Forest of 

 Dean and the Malvern Hills. But it became at length more 

 generally known by the name of the Ryeland Breed, from 

 certain sandy tracts formerly devoted to the production of 

 rye, situated southward of the river Wye. 



We have no historical record of the derivation of this 

 breed from any other country, and may therefore assume 



