THE SOUTHDOWN 



381 



have the Duke of Hamilton, Duke of Marlborough, Viscount 

 Hampden, and numerous others. 



The introduction of the Southdown to America without doubt 

 dates back to colonial days, and it has been assumed that the 

 best sheep of Rhode Island and eastern Connecticut were of 

 this breed. In 1803 a Dr. Rose of Fayette, Seneca County, 

 New York, is said to have commenced with a small flock of 

 Southdowns which did 

 remarkably well. In 1 8 1 3 

 these were crossed with 

 Spanish Merinos. In 1823 

 Sidney Hawes of New 

 York imported some 

 Southdowns, and sold 

 thirty-six ewes, two rams, 

 and ten wethers to C. N. 

 Bement of Albany, who 

 kept up his flock many 

 years. In 1834 Francis 

 Rotch of Otsego County, 

 New York, imported six 

 ewes and a ram from the 

 flock of T. Ellman, the son 

 of John. Following this 

 he made several other importations from the most noted English 

 flocks. In 1834 Isaac Maynard of Coshocton County brought 

 some Southdowns to Ohio, while in 1844 J. F. King of Warren 

 began breeding from Jonas Webb stock, imported by J. M. Hesless 

 of Trumbull County, Ohio. With the depreciation in Merino inter- 

 ests Southdowns grew in favor east of the Mississippi, and many 

 flocks were established along in the middle of the last century. 



The characteristics of the Southdown as described by Ellman 

 merit reproduction here on account of their source and their 

 considerable application to the breed to-day. 



The head small and hornless ; the face speckled or gray, and neither too 

 long nor too short ; the lips thin, and the space between the nose and eyes 

 narrow ; the under jaw or chap fine and thin ; the ears tolerably wide and 

 well covered with wool, and the forehead also, and the whole space between 



Fig. 171. CulfordEwe 18530, grand-champion 

 Southdown ewe at the Louisana Purchase 

 Exposition, 1904. Owned and exhibited by 

 W. A. McKerrow, Wisconsin. Photograph 

 by the author 



