36o 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



The Southdown ram has no equal as a cross with Merino ewes, as 

 the lambs are held in high esteem by the butchers because they 

 are always plump and tender, and have that much sought-for mark, 

 "blackface." 



l^ .df^fii^if'^ 



A TYPICAL ENGLISH SOUTHDOWN. 



Re-engraved from the l,ondon Live Stock Journal, this portrait of a 

 prize-winning two-shear Southdown ram called "Son of Enterprise," 

 bred by H. L. C. Brassey, Preston Hall, Aylesford, Kent. 



"An animal of great substance, he has excellent breed chararacter, 

 his head, scrag, and shoulders being of the best, with loin, back, and 

 girth all in proportion, while he has a good fleece." 



Prencll Merino. About the time of the American Revolution 

 there were selected about a quarter of a thousand sheep from the finest 

 flocks in Spain and these sheep were placed on a public farm near Paris 

 in France, where the effort of improving upon the breed was undertaken. 

 These sheep, selected from all parts of Spain, while possessing marked 

 superiority, must have had marked differences in them. These 

 differences, by j'ears of very careful breeding, became merged into a 

 breed of sheep much superior to its ancestors, and became known as 



