48 BULLETIN 94, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



characteristics, it also reduced the size, the weight of fleece, the con- 

 stitution, and their ability to rustle for themselves. This being the 

 case, the breeders later used the Leicester for a type and approached 

 its desirable qualities as nearly as possible through selection within 

 the breed itself. 



The Romneys are still the favorite sheep in their native marsh. 

 They subsist here without artificial feeding throughout their second 

 winter. From this native habitat they have gradually spread over 

 the county of Kent, and flocks are also to be found in Sussex, Herts, 

 and Rutlandshire. 



They have been exported in increasing numbers since the establish- 

 ment of the English breed association in 1895, and are especially pop- 

 ular in New Zealand and Argentina. 



F. W. Harding imported for William Riddell & Sons in 1904 four 

 ewes and one ram of this breed from England. They were exhibited 

 at the St. Louis Exposition, but did not make a very favorable im- 

 pression. Eleven ewes and one ram were imported in 1909 for the 

 same firm from New Zealand. Those from New Zealand were smaller, 

 had more quality, and were better shearers than the English. The 

 same year Mr. A. T. Hickman, of Egerton, Kent, exported 32 head 

 of rams to America, which were sold during the International Live 

 Stock Exposition of that year. They realized an average of only 

 $24,125 per head, a rather low price when $1,500 has been realized 

 for a single ram in England. 



As to adaptability of this breed to this country, much is yet to be 

 determined. Where they have been crossed upon fine wools they have 

 given large, strong lambs, and the promoters are high in their praise 

 of this breed. It is claimed that Romney lambs are larger at birth 

 than those of any other sheep. It seems altogether probable that 

 the breed will take a prominent place among the other long wools of 

 this country and enrich our live-stock industry by so doing. 



Three ewes and one ram were also imported for the Wyoming 

 Experiment Station in the fall of 1906, and they seem to have made 

 a favorable impression, both the purebreds and the crosses that 

 have been produced. 



The breed is white-faced and hornless and unusually hardy. Rams 

 should weigh from 200 to 225 pounds and ewes from 175 to 200 

 pounds. The mutton is the best of the long -wool breeds, ranking next 

 to the Downs, and it enters prominently into the frozen-carcass trade 

 of New Zealand and Argentina. The fleece is long and dense and has 

 some of the characteristics of the medium wools, the ringlets char- 

 acteristic of long wools being not as much in evidence. The foretop 

 may be either present or absent. Fleeces should weigh from 12 to 16 

 pounds. The wool ordinarily grades a low quarter blood combing. 



