340 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
headquarters at Hamilton, Ohio. Thirteen volumes of 
the record have been issued, and over 70,000 animals re- 
corded. In England, the interests of the breed are in the 
hands of the Oxford Down Sheep Breeders’ Association. 
It has issued a flock-book each year since its inception in 
1888. 
HampsHirE Down SHeep. Plate XIII. 
By H. P. Miller 
396. The Hampshire breed derives its name from the 
county of that name in the south of England, one of the 
counties in which it was developed. It is a mutton breed. 
397. History in England. — The Hampshire Down 
sheep was produced by the use of the Southdown 
on the Wiltshire-horned and the Berkshire-knot sheep. 
The former was a white-faced race, and the latter 
black-faced. The Wiltshire was considered the largest 
of the native breeds. William Humphrey, of Newbury, 
Hampshire, who is accredited as being the first and great- 
est improver of the breed, assembled, about 1834, a flock 
of carefully selected ewes of what were then referred to in 
a general way as West-Country Downs, including the two 
above-mentioned local strains. He began his work of 
improvement by selection, but later became imbued with 
the idea that crossing would be advantageous, and in 
successive years purchased three Southdown rams from 
Jonas Webb. A little later, James Rawlence began im- 
provement of what was known as the Sussex sheep. He 
used some Hampshire and West-Country Down blood. 
Later, the two flocks were coalesced to form the Hampshire 
Down breed. Hampshires were first accorded a class at 
the Royal Agricultural Society Show in 1857. 
