66 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



sheep to briiig lambs, so that generally it suffers undeserved 

 detraction on account of the lighter weight of the lainbs 

 at the exhibitions, as compared with the earlier dropped 

 Hainpshires. The carcass weighs twenty to twenty-four 

 pounds the quarter at a year or fourteen months old. 



This sheep has not so dark a face as the Hampshire, this 

 being somewhat mottled, nor is the shoulder so broad as 

 in the Hampshire. It has not the evenness of its close com- 

 petitor, showing a less well defined type, and thus needing 

 longer breeding with careful selection of the rams used, 

 as well as of the ewes. Lambs are bred by the English 

 farmers by crossing these ewes with a Hampshire ram, for 

 the purpose of darkening the face, and the reverse cross 

 is used when the face is satisfactory but the form is not. 

 Then a Cotswoid ram is used. Sometimes a Shropshire ram 

 is chosen and the result of this cross is a much improved 

 carcass, broad along the back, and with better hind quarters. 

 When well selected rams are used this breed is one of the 

 most profitable for mutton, and as the fleece is an excellent 

 worsted wool and weighs seven pounds on an average, it is 

 a valuable addition to our adopted breeds. It is one of the- 

 best farm sheep, although it has a good reputation for range 

 purposes. For this it is not to be thought that it is the pur- 

 pose of the shepherd to make a flock of this breed; on the 

 other hand the rams of this and other breeds are procured 

 to cross on the common native or grade sheep, and thus pro- 

 duce a high grade w r hose value is easily doubled by this use 

 of good rams. It is thus a matter for the shepherd to select 

 the rams he may find the most valuable for this use, and the 

 Oxford Down is well worthy of regard for this purpose. 

 The sheep shown in the illustration was the champion of all 

 breeds in the two shear class at the Oxfordshire show of last 

 year. 



THE DOKSET. 



This sheep in its native country goes by the name or 

 class of the Somerset and Dorset Horned breed. Of late 

 years this breed has become exceedingly popular on this 

 continent, mostly however for its special fecundity and -early 

 breeding habit. Indeed it is so prolific that two lambing sea- 

 sons in the year are possible under the right management. 

 It Is a white faced sheep with a close short fleece used 



