CHAPTER LIV 



THE DORSET HORN 



The native home of Dorset Horn sheep, sometimes called in 

 England Somerset and Dorset sheep, is in the counties of 

 central and southern England, but notably Dorset, Somerset, 

 and Wiltshire. The land here is generally rolling in localities, 

 rather hilly, and tends to a clayey or chalky character. Roots 

 and small grains, especially wheat and grass, are the staple crops, 

 these doing well on the better lands. The climate is very tem- 

 perate and well suited to 

 outdoor life the entire 

 year. 



The origin of the Dor- 

 set Horn seems to be from 

 old native stock of Dorset 

 and Somerset counties 

 especially. The general 

 evidence of British author- 

 ities is that this is the only 

 horned breed with white 

 face and leg in Britain, and 

 that this characteristic 

 has been long preserved. 

 In 1842 Professor Low 

 wrote that in Dorset from 

 time immemorial there had existed a breed of sheep with horns 

 common to both sexes, having white face and legs, low shoulders, 

 broad deep loins, long but not coarse limbs, black lips and nostrils, 

 though sometimes flesh-colored, and possessing fine wool. In the 

 adjoining county of Somerset was a rather larger type of much 

 the same breed, lanker in form, longer wooled, and with pink or 

 flesh-colored nose, by which they were known as " Pink-Nosed 



408 



Fig. 188. A Dorset ram, first prize in class at 

 several state fairs in 1898, shown by Tran- 

 quillity Farm of New Jersey. Photograph 

 by the author 



