771 CATTLE AND DAIEY FARMING. 



These recollections were revived last week by an unlookedrfor visit to Street! y Hall, 

 Linton. As Mr. Henry Webb, the eldest son of his celebrated father, has never exhibited 

 his sheep at the Royal and other shows, and as no prominence has been given to them 

 in agricultural journals, I was quite surprised to find the descendants of the original 

 Babraham stock of Southdowns displaying all the purity, good form, fine quality, and 

 good size of their ancestors, with which I was well acquainted twenty-five years ago. 

 The Babraham stock, so far as I have been concerned, had dropped entirely out of sight. 

 Not so, however, with the leading breeders and prize-winners at Eoyal and other shows, 

 as vrill be seen shortly. 



Mr. Henry Webb lUred Streetly Hall (which is about six miles from Babraham) four 

 years before the death of hia father. He continued to superintend his father's flock, so 

 far as seeing to his entry of pedigrees and the matching of males and females went, and 

 during this time he had the pick of the best of such sheep and lambs as his father could 

 spare. Then at the sale at Babraham, in 1861, he bought eighty of the aged ewes, the full 

 character of which, both in regard to their breeding capacity and pedigree, he well knew. 

 He also bought eight rams of suitable relationship to the ewes he then purchased and 

 previously possessed at Streetly Hall. It was in this way his present flock was founded, 

 and it may as well be said at once that not a single sheep of other stock has since been 

 introduced to the Babraham flock. This close in-and-in breeding has, of course, re- 

 quired great and good j udgment, as well as an intimate knowledge of the complete record 

 'of relationship which has been kept. All this has been displayed in a masterly way by 

 Mr. Henry Webb, as evidently by the prolific character and uniform appearance of his 

 present flock. 



Streetly Hall, five miles northeast of Linton, is an occupation of 550 acres, 40 acres 

 only of which are pasture. This farm has been in the Webb family for four generations, 

 or upwards of a hundred and fifty years. Its soil is all of a tenacious character, the 

 subsoil being either pure clay or a chalky marl. Some specially skilled management 

 and cropping is therefore required to make it suitable for the health and progress of a 

 large flock of sheep. 



The breeding ewes kept number from two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty, 

 according as season may vary, or the demand by foreign customers may be more or less. 

 Some aged or barren ewes are drafted from the main flock yearly, and these are replaced by 

 the required number of the best shearlings. As to the health of the sheep, the greatest 

 possible care is taken to avoid contagious diseases. The fences by roadsides are hurdled 

 off, and the gates by roadsides are fenced off by squares or semicircular loops or hurdles, 

 so that the sheep may not come in contact with any passing stock. If sheep or cattle 

 are seen to pass along the road — and the shepherd is always on the lookout for this — the 

 passage along the same road of the Streetly Hall flock is not allowed for at least seven 

 days, no matter what the inconvenience and extra expense may be. This may be looked 

 upon by some stock-keepers as an overdrawn precaution, but this great care is justified 

 by the fact that while diseases have existed in the neighborhood and close at hand, the 

 Streetly Hall' flock has never been attacked in any form. As an instance of the healthy 

 and prolific character of this flock — its close consanguinity notwithstanding — every ewe 

 but one that was put to a ram last year had a lamb this spring. 



The mode of registering the pedigree of each strain of the flock is to mark the ears of the 

 lambs in a given way before they are weaned. Then the dams — which, of course, have 

 had their ear-marks since they were lambs— are dotted with paint on the near or off 

 shoulder, oi^on the side or rump, each mark indicating that she was by a certain ram, 

 or had some other close relationship to other rams. These signs are all recorded in the 

 flock-book, and when the time for matching rams and ewes in the autumn arrives, it is 

 to be seen at a glance (by any one like Mr. Henry Webb, who is used to it) which ewes 

 and rams are closely related, and which are further removed in relationship. This 

 skilled and accurate system necessitates the use of eight or ten rams every year for the 

 two hundred and thirty to two hundred and fifty ewes. Sometimes ten ewes of one 

 strain may be suitable for one ram of another strain. In other cases, twenty, thirty, or 

 fifty ewes of other stains may be suitable for other rams. The best rams of particular 

 strains that are suitable for a given number of the ewes of the current flock are valued 

 beyond price; for no consideration would they be sold. An instance of this occurred 

 recently. A Frenchman (one of the leading breeders of Southdowns in France) came 

 over, as usual, to buy, and he showed his good judgment by specially admiring a par- 

 ticular sheep; but he was peremptorily told that he was not for sale, as he was required 

 for so many ewes at home. This, however, did not pacify monsieur, for he went back 

 the next day and said, " I was thinking about No. — all last evening, and dreaming 

 about him all night, and you must let me have him." But, as I have said, a specially 

 good sheep of a given strain is reckoned by Mr. Henly Webb as being beyond price, and 

 he had appointed him for use this year with so many ewes, and no tempting offer could 

 cause him to depart from his resolve. This is how the fine character of the Babraham 



