SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 3O7 



snow. They dig in the snow and subsist on the herbage that is left on 

 their heather-covered pasturage. 



The ewes are excellent mothers, and the lambs are hardy. The flesh 

 of the carcasses which average about sixty -five pounds is of a peculiarly 

 fine flavor. This sheep would thrive and do well in our exposed moun- 

 tain districts, but it is not likely they would thrive in confined situations 

 or in a mild soft climate. 



Oxford-Downs. This variety, known as one of the "long- wooled" 

 sheep, is comparatively a new cross-breed, which has come to be favora- 

 bly looked upon. It has appeared in America and is to be found on the 

 farms of several of our most enterprising sheep-fanciers. It is a cross 

 between a Hampshire-down ewe and a Cotswold ram. The first cross 

 was made in 1830, but was not recognized as a separate class till 1862. 

 The wool is finer and firmer than the Cotswold, and is from 

 five to six inches long. On ordinary feeding, such as is usually given 

 on a mixed farm, it will as a yearling produce a carcass from sixty to 

 seventy-five pounds, and shear a fleece of seven pounds. By extra care 

 and feeding it will produce much heavier carcasses. At a fat cattle show 

 in lyOndon there were exhibited Oxford-downs under two years of age 

 that weighed three hundred pounds each. Rams have sheared nineteen 

 pounds for their first fleece. 



They have a curly fleece, which is thickly set on a small body. The 

 head is similar to the Cotswold, having a tuft on the forehead, but 

 the face and legs it inherits from the Hampshire-downs, being dark 

 in color. 



They are found very profitable feeders, and on wet soils have with- 

 stood the winters without being affected with "giddiness" or "water on 

 the brain," that invariabl}^ attacked the Cotswolds and Southdowns. 



Hampshire-Downs. Tliis breed of sheep is rapidly rising in 

 favor. The residents of the southern states previous to i860 imported 

 many of this breed of sheep, and they soon became more popular than 

 the Southdowns. But the demand^ of the residents of the south for food 

 a id the raids of the northern and southern armies, caused the 

 Hampshire- Downs to disapper from that section. It is a larger animai 

 t-ian the Southdown, and is valuable where a more sizable animal than 

 the Southdown, is desired. It originated seventy-five years ago by a 

 cross between the native sheep on Hampshire "Downs" and a pure 

 Southdown. In this cross the horns of the native disappeared, and his 



