M.— AGRICULTURE 253 



management of grassland. Is it possible that we may return to the practice 

 of keeping at least a considerable proportion of our flocks in a way less 

 wasteful of heat and energy on the part of the sheep ? At present they 

 must utilise a large proportion of their intake of nutriment in obtaining 

 their food and maintaining their body heat. The housing or ' cotting ' 

 of sheep is no new idea. Shall we ever return to it on a large scale ? 



A more probable change is an alteration in demand. At present, lamb 

 is the only form of sheep meat for which there is a real demand. It is 

 difficult to sell mutton even from good quality yearling sheep, and old 

 ewes can hardly be given away, but it is not inconceivable that new methods 

 of cooking, or the establishment of a canning industry, or the need for 

 greater national and individual economy, may again bring larger, older 

 and fatter sheep to the front. If the consuming public are brought to 

 take the same interest in food values that the intelligent farmer shows in 

 the purchase of feeding stuffs, it seems unlikely that they will disregard 

 the great differences in value for money at present provided by diff'erent 

 classes of meat. Perhaps it would not be wise to push this suggestion too 

 far. I fear that sheep farming would not be a distinctive feature of a 

 vegetarian Britain ! 



Multiplicity of Breeds. — Of more immediate interest is the oft- debated 

 question whether we need so many different breeds of sheep. Gervase 

 Markham, in the account which I have quoted, mentioned six breeds. 

 At the end of the eighteenth century we find a considerable increase. 

 George Culley, for instance, describes the following : Leicester, Lincoln, 

 Teeswater, Devon Natts, Exmoor, Dorset Horn, Herefords or Ryelands, 

 Southdown, Norfolk, the Heath breed (Black-faces), Herdwickes, Cheviots, 

 Spanish (Merino), Dun-faces and Shetlands. This list, however, was 

 by no means complete, because he failed to mention such breeds as the 

 Cotswolds, Wiltshires and Welsh, all of which were kept in considerable 

 numbers ; and, while we do not expect to find such names as Hampshires 

 and Shropshires, it is surprising that he did not mention some of the 

 local types from which these sprang. 



Making these necessary additions, the list of British breeds existing 

 at the end of the eighteenth century becomes quite a formidable one. 

 Therefore, when we are accused of having far too many breeds of sheep, 

 we can at least say that most of them were developed by our rather 

 remote ancestors. We must, however, plead guilty to having increased, 

 rather than reduced, the number, and I feel that I must consider briefly 

 this multiplicity of breeds and discuss the necessity for maintaining so 

 many. 



Merino wool constitutes about 40 per cent, of the world's total clip, so that 

 probably about one- third of all sheep are of this one type, and when we 

 reflect that five or six breeds and their crosses probably comprise about 

 half the sheep population of the world, it does seem absurd that we should 

 maintain thirty or forty in a small country, with a sheep population of 

 only 25 millions. The disadvantages, particularly from the point of view 

 of marketing, are obvious. 



There are, however, other aspects of the matter which I should like to 

 submit. I have already pointed out that most of our breeds can be traced 



