MUTTON BREEDS. 41 



on; fleece fine and white. It presents a very 

 strLlving appearance, tlie rams having bold, 

 Roman countenances, and the ewes character- 

 istic strong but feminine faces. 



The Hampshire is essentially the sheep for 

 the aiable farm, fitted by long habit to being 

 put in hurdles, able to consume a large amount 

 of food and to make from it good mutton at 

 an early age. The Hampshire lamb is famed 

 for its early maturity and great weight. There 

 is no breed that excels the Hampshire in this 

 respect. Well kept Hampshires are among the 

 most profitable sheep in the world. 



The writer recalls with great pleasure some 

 days spent in the Hampshire growing country 

 of England. It was much of it a soil of only 

 moderate fertility, resting on chalk, the farms 

 of fairly good size. One in especial of 1,400 

 acres he recalls to mind, for on that farm weic 

 2,500 magnificent Hampshire sheep and lambs. 

 ]\Tost of them were in hurdles and following 

 the hurdles were .seen great crops of grain. 



There seemed to be not a single sheep or 

 lamb on this farm that was not in perfect 

 health and vigor. 



A man ambitious to do the best possible 

 thing with sheep can take up the Hampshii-e 

 breed with good courage, for tliey have in 

 them possibilities in the way of great and 

 rapid growth beyond most breeds; perhapi^ 

 bej^ond any other breed. On the other hand 

 few breeds degenerate into more unsightly 

 "weeds" than badly kept and diseased Hamp- 

 shires. Tlie Hampshire ram is often used for 



