CHAPTER VI. 



BEITISH SHOET-WOOLBD SHEEP, ETO., DT THE UNITED 



STATES. 



THE SOUTH DOWNS, HAMPSHIRE DOWNS, SHEOPSHIKE DOWNS, 

 AND OXFOEDSHIEE DOWNS. 



The principal Short -Wooled British families of Sheep 

 which have been introduced in any considerable numbers into 

 the United States since the period of the early settlement of 

 the country, are the South Downs, the Hampshire Downs, the 

 Shropshire Downs and the Oxfordshire Downs. I include the 

 last .under this designation only because they are classed 

 among the Downs, — ^for those introduced into the United 

 States are really a middle if not almost a long-wooled sheep. 



The South Downs. — Professor WUson, in his paper 

 already cited, thus describes the South Downs : 



" The South Downs of the present day present probably as 

 marked an improvement upon the original breed as that 

 exhibited by the Leicesters or any other breed. To the 

 late Mr. Elknan, of Glynde, they are indebted for the high 

 estimation in which they are now generally held. When he 

 commenced his experiments in breeding he found the sheep of 

 small size and far from possessing good points ; being long 

 and thin in the neck ; narrow in the fore quarters ; high on 

 the shoulders ; low behind, yet high on the loins ; sharp on 

 the back ; the ribs flat, drooping behind, with the tail set very 

 low ; good in the leg, though somewhat coarse in the bone. 

 By a careful and unremitting atteiltion during a series of years 

 to the defective points ia the animal, and a judicious selection 

 of his breeding flock, his progressive improvements were at 

 length acknowledged far and wide ; and he closed an useful 

 and honorable career of some fifty years with the satisfactory 

 conviction that he had obtained for his favorite breed a repu- 

 tation and character which would secure them a place as the 

 first of our short -wooled sheep. 



