388 SHEEP 



amalgamated in the general improvement. The Southdown was 

 used on these to secure quality, while the Leicester and Cotswold 

 blood were used to obtain size and fleece, and from this combina- 

 tion came the modern Shropshire, after a considerable process of 

 selection. The breed is comparatively recent in its present char- 

 acter, though Alfred Mansell says the best characteristics of the 

 breed were present when the work of improvement was begun. 

 As late as 1858 Professor Tanner wrote : 



Only a few years since any mention of the Shropshire Down sheep 

 raised an inquiry, even among intellectual agriculturists, as to their charac- 

 ter, and few, comparatively speaking, knew anything of them. 



Two early prominent improvers of the Shropshire are said to 

 have been Samuel Meire of Berrington and later of Harley, 

 near Shrewsbury, and George Adney, of Harley. Meire sought 

 to remove the Shropshire coarseness and horns, and to improve 

 the levelness of back and spring of rib, the obliqueness of 

 shoulder, and breadth and fullness of rump. He purchased or 

 hired Southdown rams from John Ellman of Glynde and used 

 them in his flock. He also used Leicester blood with the pur- 

 pose of getting better feeders and animals of shorter body. 

 After securing his type he practiced the selection necessary to 

 bring important improvement. Adney did not cross extensively, 

 but a ram named Buckskin, used in his flock, with Southdown 

 blood in his veins, produced superior sheep, one of which, the 

 ewe Old Patentee, was a famous dam and prize winner whose 

 blood is prominent in the best early Shropshire pedigrees. 

 Many of the best flocks of to-day trace to those of Meire 

 and Adney. Other prominent breeders and improvers were 

 G. M. Kettle of Dallicott, Henry Smith of Shifnal, Green of 

 Marlow, Horton of Shrewsbury, and Farmer of Bridgnorth. 



Shropshires were first exhibited at the Royal Show in Eng- 

 land in 1853, and in a few years it was the most prominent 

 breed shown, 875 head being exhibited at the Shrewsbury Royal 

 in 1884, compared with 420 representing all other breeds. 



The introduction of the Shropshire to America is comparatively 

 recent. In i860 Samuel Sutton of Relay House, Maryland, 

 imported 20 ewes and a ram, which the American Farmer for 



