532 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



Mynds in Shropshire and the Cannock ChasL'. of Staffordshire, and 

 they bring forward evidence to sustain their position. About 1858 

 Mr. Tanner made an agricultural survey of Shropshire and paid par- 

 ticular attention to its sheep, and his conclusion, after much inquiry 

 and personal investigation, is thus expressed: " For my part I do not 

 consider them a pure breed, but a cross-bred animal from the original 

 Long Mynd or old Shropshire sheep." Plymley, who published in 1803 

 a general view of the agriculture of Shropshire, says : 



There is a breed of sheep on the Long Mynd with horns and black faces that seem 

 an indigenous sort; they are nimble, hardy, and weigh near 10 pounds per quarter 

 when fatted. The fleeces upon the average may yield 2| pounds, of which one-half 

 pound will be the breeoheus or coarse wool, and is sold distinct from the rest. The 

 farmers of the hill country seem to think the greatest advantage they derive from 

 the access of foreign stock is from the cross of the Southdown with the Long Mynd 

 sheep ; the produce they state to be as hardy and to bite as close as the Long Mynd 

 sheep ; and the weight of the carcass is increased. 



Erom this positive statement of an observer in the beginning of the 

 century and from his own observations nearly sixty years later, Tanner 

 thought it evident that this cross of the Southdown and the Long Mynd 

 was an early favorite, and that the practice continued could not be 

 doubted, for it was well known that flrst-class flocks of pure South- 

 downs were kept in Corfe Dale, and annual ram sales were held for 

 very many years until they were gradually superseded by the imijroved 

 Shropshire Down, and at the time Tanner wrote Southdown rams from 

 the best breeders still found their way from the east of England to 

 Shropshire. Even those flockmasters who claimed to be holders of the 

 original breed could give no proof of purity of blood for twenty-five or 

 thirty years. 



Spooner, in his essay on cross-breeding, is exiilicit in his statement 

 that the Shropshire is " undoubtedly a cross-bred animal, and indeed 

 affords a striking example of the perfection that can be derived from 

 a judicious mixture of various breeds," and he quotes Mr. Meire, a 

 breeder, who at a meeting of a farmers' club in Shropshire, 1858, 

 observed : 



It is not attempted to be denied that the Shropshire is a cross-bred sheep. The 

 original breed was horned, and the first attempt at improvement was to get rid of 

 the^e incumbrances, and there is little doubt that this was effected by a cross of the 

 Southdown. This sheep was well adapted for the Downs, but for the inclosures of 

 Shropshire something more docile was required, consequently recourse was had to 

 the Leicester. 



This crossing and recrossing at length gave place to the practice of 

 careful selection, "and thus," says Spooner, "uniformity was sought for 

 and attained, and the present superior breed was established. It is 

 now held that no further cross is required."* 



Those who hold that some of the improved Shropshires are from the 

 Cannock Chase sheep point to many facts, among others that the dry 



* W. C. Spooner on Cross Breeding. Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society, 

 Vol. XX. 



