IC'J TIIK Nil UK I'. 



Kngland. I hit, of all these varieties, m\v the most, ini|MHM 

 ant and generally diffused, is that which inhabits the range 

 of chalky hills of Sussex, commonly termed the South |)owns 

 The South Downs of Sussex consist of a r.-n^c of low 

 chalky hills, of live or six miles in breadth, si retching along 

 ihe coast upwards of sixty miles, an 1 passing into the chalky 

 lauds of Hants on the west. In contact with this range of 

 hills, is a tract of low cultivated ground, which is usually 

 connected with the Down farms, although many of the latter 

 have no vale or tlal land attached. The herbage of these 

 hills is short., but well adapted for the keeping of Sheep, of 

 which vast numbers have, in every known period, occupied 

 the pastures. Whilst the dry ness of the air, the moderate 

 elevation of the land, and consequent mildness of the climate, 

 are all eminently favourable to the rearing of a race 4 of I><>\\ n 

 or Mountain Sheep, the contact of the cultivated country 

 alVords the means of supplying artificial food in due quantity. 

 It is this combination of favourable circumstances which has 

 rendered these calcareous hills capable of Supporting a 

 greater number of Sheep than perhaps any tract of similar 

 fertility in the country, and has afforded the means to the 

 breeders of applying the resources of artificial feeding to 

 their improvement. The original breed of the Sussex Downs 

 was not superior to that of many other districts of the Chalk- 

 formation ; but the means of supplying the animals with arti- 

 ficial food, which tl raphical situation of this long and 

 narrow chain of hills in contact with the richer country 

 afforded, aided the breeders in applying to the improvement of 

 I he race a system of breeding and feeding, which has ren- 

 dered the South Down Urccd the most esteemed in the 

 countries suited to it of all the Short -woolled Sheep of Mug- 

 land. 



The native breed of the South Down hills was of the 

 smaller kinds of Sheep, with light fore-quarters, narrow 

 diesis, long necks, and long, though not coarse, limbs. The 

 \vool was short, tine, and curling, although not equalling in 



