COTSWOLD SHEEP. 49 



Guelph, Canada West. " Pilgrim," the ram, of which a cut 

 is given on preceding page, was bred by Mr. Stone, and is 

 now the property of Mr. Henry G. White, of South Fra- 

 mingham, Massachusetts. Pilgrini, just off his winter feed, 

 weighs 250 lbs. He would weigh considerably more in the 

 Ml. He yielded 18 lbs. of wool in 1862. 



The ewe, " Lady Gay," a portrait of which is given on next 

 page was also bred by Mr. Stone, and is owned by Mr. White. 

 She weighs 200 lbs., suckling a lamb. She yielded 16 pounds 

 of wool in 1862. Pilgrim, and five ewes belonging to Mr. 

 White, yielded an average of 16 lbs. of wool per head. 



The Cotswolds are thus described by Mr. Spooner in his 

 work on Sheep : — " The Cotswold is a large breed of sheep, 

 with a long and abundant fleece, and the ewes are very 

 prolific and good nurses. Formerly they were bred only on 

 the hills, and fatted in the valleys of the Severn and the 

 Thames ; but with the inclosure of the Cotswold Hills and the 

 improvement of their cultivation they have been reared and 

 fatted in the same district. They have been extensively 

 crossed with the Leicester sheep, by which their size and 

 fleece have been somewhat dimmished, but their carcasses 

 considerably improved, and their maturity rendered earlier. 

 The wethers are now sometimes fattened at 14 months old, 

 when they weigh from 15 lbs. to 24 lbs. per quarter, and at 

 two years old increase to 20 lbs. or 30 lbs. The wool is 

 strong, mellow, and of good color, though rather coarse, 6 to 

 8 inches in length, and from 7 lbs. to 8 lbs. per fleece. The 

 superior hardihood of the improved Cotswold over the 

 Leicester, and their adaptation to common treatment, together 

 with the prolific nature of the ewes and their abundance of 

 milk, have rendered them in many places rivals of the N"ew 

 Leicester, and have obtained for them, of late years, more 

 attention to their selection and general treatment, under 

 which management still further improvement appears very 

 probable. They have also been used in crossing other breeds, 

 and as before noticed, have been mixed with the Hampshire 

 Downs. It is, indeed, the improved Cotswold that, under the 

 term N"ew or Improved Oxfordshire Sheep, are so frequently 

 the successful candidates for prizes offered for the best long- 

 wooled sheep at some of the principal agricultural meetings 

 or shows in the Kingdom. The quality of the mutton is 

 considered superior to that of the Leicester, the tallow being 

 less abundant, with a larger development of muscle or flesh. 

 We may, therefore, regard this breed as one of established 

 3 



