78 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



reason for the great natural prepotency of the raius of this 

 breed in the production of the various crosses which have 

 been made by the Cotswold ranis. It is one of the hardiest 

 of all breeds, having been reared for this long period in a 

 poor exposed district, and while it changes character when 

 removed to more favorable surroundings, yet it is one of the 

 hardiest sheep for the range. It is the next largest sheep to 

 the Lincoln. It is a good mutton sheep and has a good 

 fleece of rather coarse wool, valuable for heavy goods. The 

 flesh is not so fine as that of the Down breeds, but is yet ex- 

 cellent for the butchers' use when not over fifteen months 

 old, when it fattens readily and makes twenty-five pounds 

 to the quarter. Its old size has been somewhat reduced, to 

 conform to the present demand for lighter carcasses. The 

 fleece, too, is not so heavy as it used to be, when it often 

 weighed 12 Ibs. or over of wool. It has> been crossed with 

 advantage with the Leicester, yielding then better mutton 

 and a finer staple of lustrous wool, in good demand for 

 heavy goods, and especially of the coarser kinds of women's 

 dress fabrics. One of the best of its crosses is with the 

 smaller Down breeds. It has been used with much success 

 to cross on the Merino, the lambs of this cross making fine 

 market stock, being large and fat, and the full grown cross 

 breeds making fine market mutton and a useful fleece. Sir 

 J. B. Lawes in his experiments in feeding sheep of various 

 breeds, proved that these sheep made a more profitable re- 

 turn in growth for the food consumed than any other breed. 

 Its hardiness has been proved by its average losses by death 

 or accident being as low as two and a half per cent under 

 ordinary circumstances, under a system of open fielding dur- 

 ing the winter. It has been kept mostly on a system of feed- 

 ing in the open ground on turnips. 



The face of this sheep is mostly white, sometimes with a 

 grayish mottled marking; the cross with the Downs gives a 

 black face with a less pronounced Roman nose, which is 

 however less prominent than in the Lincoln and Leicester. 

 The forehead has a conspicuous tuft of wool. The belly is 

 generally well covered with wool, as is also the scrotum. 

 For crossing on the smaller breeds, especially our common 

 natives, it is not excelled in point of the hardiness of the 

 progeny, the increased size and the weight and value of 

 the fleece. 



