18 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



are crossed a great deal, and the resulting lainbs make fine feeders. The Cheviot 

 is a small, active, and hardy breed. On their native hills they subsist by grazing 

 the year round, even with snow on the ground. In appearance they are clean-cut 

 and stylish. The head, ears, and legs are free from wool and covered by short, white 

 hair. There is a distinct ruff or collar about the neck. The wool is exceptiorially 

 white, but the fleeces are rather light. The ewes are good mothers and very prolific, 

 having a large percentage of twins. There are no Cheviots at present in this 

 Province, but the breed has been introduced with very satisfactory results in the 

 more barren and elevated sections of Quebec. 



THE TUNIS. 



This breed comes from Northern Africa. The first pair were brought over in 

 1799, and the breed attained great popularity in the vicinity of Philadelphia for the 

 quality of their mutton. This breed has proved very hardy and adaptable, being 

 able to stand alike the extreme warmth of the Southern States and the cold of the 

 northern winters. The ewes are very fertile, and will mate at almost any season. 

 For this reason the Tunis has been used for the production of early " hothouse " 

 lambs. At the Arizona Experiment Station Tunis rams proved superior to those of 

 several other mutton breeds, such as the Oxford, Shropshire, Dorset, and Hampshire, 

 for crossing on range ewes. The Tunis sheep proved very prolific, had excellent 

 range qualities, and withstood extreme heat and the attacks of the bot-fly better than 

 any other breed. The rams were especially good in these points. The breed is small 

 and early-maturing. Both sexes are hornless. The head is covered with short 

 hair, tawny-brown or brown and white in colour. The ears are large, broad, and 

 pendulous. In mutton form this breed could be bettered. The leg of mutton is apt 

 to be light. The tail is broad and fat, being originally used as a storehouse to carry 

 the animal over famine periods. The fleece of the Tunis is classed along with the 

 medium-woolled breeds. 



THE RYELAND. 



This breed conies from Herefordshire, England, from a district formerly noted 

 for rye-growing. It is sometimes called the White-faced Shropshire. The old Rye- 

 lands were a small, white-faced breed, very hardy, and with fleeces of excellent 

 quality. This breed was improved by crossing with the Leicester. These sheep 

 became very numerous, and for a long time the breed was an important one. Later 

 the other down breeds crowded it out and it became almost extinct. Lately, how- 

 ever, the breed is on the ascendancy. The ewes have fine breeding qualities, being 

 excellent mothers, good milkers, and very fertile, producing many twins and triplets. 

 The Southdown crossed with this breed results in a very fine type of sheep. They 

 are a hardy breed, with great spring of rib. They are easily fattened and thrive on 

 scanty pasture. The carcass, however, is apt to contain too much tallow. The fleece 

 is quite heavy and of excellent quality. 



THE LEICESTER. 



The English Leicester was almost the first of the modern improved breeds of 

 live stock, and this breed, in turn, was used to improve many of the other British 

 breeds of sheep. Not only this, but the development of this breed showed the way 

 in the general improvement of all our live stock which has taken place during the 

 last two centuries. Robert Bakewell, of Dishley Hall, Leicestershire, England, began 

 this great movement in the agricultural world in 1755, working with the Old Leicester 

 sheep and improving them by careful selection and breeding-out of all recognition. 

 He produced sheep which would invariably hand down their characteristics to their 

 offspring. That is to say, he 'fixed the type. His rams were widely used all over 

 England, and they proved remarkably prepotent. The mutton, however, was not of 

 the best quality, being coarse-grained and containing too much fat deposited on the 

 outside of the lean instead of being mixed with it. Quality has been more in demand 

 since then, and the Old English Leicester breed is not common. 



