56 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



ten dollars a head for the earliest, and never less than three 

 dollars when under three mouths old. It is not the 

 size but the quality of the market lamb which regulates the 

 price of it to the breeder. We all know how difficult it is to 

 change a popular taste and start it in a new channel; and % 

 this old popularity of the black or smutty faces, and their 

 plump round carcasses, will not be easily altogether done 

 away with. 



A well fed Southdown should weigh 18 Ibs. the quarter 

 at a year old, which is near the popular margin as to weight; 

 at two years old a fat wether will easily make 33 to 35 Ibs. 

 to the quarter, butchers' weight; and yield two-thirds its 

 live weight in marketable meat. 



There is always a market for the wool, which is one of 

 the standard staples for flannels and clothing fabrics. And it 

 may be said in favor of this once most common sheep, that 

 it is one of the most easily kept of all breeds. Its native 

 home on the thin chalk downs of Southern England, of 

 which the herbage is thin and short, but very sweet and 

 nutritious, indicates the kind of lands on which this sheep 

 will do its best as to profit. 



THE SHROPSHIRE. 



The Shropshire shares the popularity of its chief progeni- 

 tor, the Southdown, whose dark face and legs it inherits. 

 The original type, the Morfe Common sheep, had a dark 

 spotted face and horns. It was a small sheep, yielding a 

 fleece of not over two pounds, and making a dressed weight 

 of eleven to fourteen pounds the quanter. This sheep w r as 

 crossed by Southdown rams which quickly gave an im- 

 proved quality, but the size was not profitable. The Leices- 

 ter sire was then introduced which gave the desired size and 

 weight, and increased the length and quantity of the fleece. 

 By very skillful breeding the cross has been brought to a 

 fixed type without any indication of reversion in any way. 

 It may now be considered as an established breed, and able 

 to support its present high character as a farmer's sheep, 

 or for the range flocks. It is one of the hardiest sheep, 

 except perhaps as to the unusually early lambs which at 

 times may need some protection when coming in advance of 

 the season. 



