THE SHROPSHIRE 



393 



than the Southdown but shorter than Oxford or Hampshire. 

 When the fleece is opened it frequently shows considerable oil 

 for a medium wool, and has a most attractive fiber. A good 

 specimen of Shropshire should be well covered with wool about 

 the belly and down the legs to below knee and hock. 



The Shropshire's rank as a general-purpose sheep is high, which 

 accounts for its popularity. The combination of the better-class 

 mutton and wool, with ample size and above average fecundity, 

 has met the demands of the modern farmer. 



The vigor of the Shropshire is criticised by some as not being 

 as great as it should be, if compared with the Merino, being more 

 subject to colds in winter, and showing less resistance to the 

 twisted stomach worm 

 (Strongylus) in summer 

 than is desirable. 



The distribution of the 

 Shropshire is to-day world- 

 wide, it being found in 

 most of the counties of 

 England, in Scotland, Ire- 

 land, Russia, France, Ger- 

 many, South Africa, South 

 America, Australia, New 

 Zealand, Tasmania, Ja- 

 maica, the Falkland 

 Islands, the United States, and Canada. There are very success- 

 ful flocks in certain mountain districts, as in Scotland and New 

 England, but it is essentially a sheep suited to gently rolling 

 lands, preferably north rather than in the dry south. In America 

 fine flocks exist in Canada, and the breed is well represented in 

 the states generally, but especially in New York, Indiana, Michi- 

 gan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. 



Organizations to promote Shropshire sheep are among the 

 earlier ones of the kind. In 1882 the English Shropshire Sheep 

 Society was established and the first volume of the flock book 

 published in 1884, since which twenty-three volumes have been 

 issued to 1905. The American Shropshire Sheep Association 

 was organized at La Fayette, Indiana, in February, 1884, and is 



Fig. 180. A pair of prize-winning Shropshire 

 ewes at the Pan-American Exposition, 1901. 

 Owned and exhibited by G. H. Davison, 

 Millbrook, New York. Photograph from the 

 National Stockman and Farmer 



