THE SOUTHDOWN 



379 



the Southdown neck and fore quarters. Ellman very generally 

 improved the sheep, creating a superior mutton beast, and also 

 greatly adding to the thickness and quality of the fleece. He 

 demonstrated that the breed could be heavily stocked on the 

 land. In 1788 Arthur Young wrote, "Mr. Ellman, on 500 

 acres, has 700 ewes, lambs, and wethers in winter, and 1450 of 

 all sorts in summer, besides 140 head of cattle." Ellman is 

 universally regarded as the greatest of early sheep improvers, 



Fig. 169. Babraham Champion, first-prize and reserve-champion Southdown 

 ram at the Royal Agricultural Society of England Show in 1901. Also 

 won the Blythwood Challenge Bowl for the best Southdown of either sex 

 at the Oxfordshire Show. Bred and owned by C. Adeane, Babraham, 

 Cambridge, England, and used in the famous Babraham flock in 1901 and 

 1902. Photograph from F. N. Webb, Agent, Cambridge, England 



unless we except Bakewell. In 1829 he retired and dispersed 

 his flock of about 1400 head, of which 241 were wether lambs. 

 Mr. Ellman died in 1832. 



Jonas Webb of Babraham, Cambridge, England, built on the 

 Southdown model of Ellman. He began breeding about 1821 

 and purchased the best sheep he could buy, regardless of price. 

 These he mated with much wisdom, improving the Southdown 

 into the very best-known type of mutton sheep, — symmetrical, 



