74 Sheep-Farming 



and the locks have a pecuHar curHness or evenness of 

 crimp from end to end that is quite distinct from 

 the open waviness of the Lincoln and Cotswold 

 fleeces. 



While these breeds are especially adapted to low- 

 lands, their extra weight and tendency to run to fat 

 do not give them the popularity in the markets that 

 is accorded those breeds that come to maturity at 

 smaller weights. In some sections where the rain- 

 fall is excessive, the long-wool type of fleece carries 

 the water from the body better than do middle or 

 fine-wool fleeces, and thus affords a practical ad- 

 vantage as well as the one of length of staple. Cots- 

 wold and Lincoln blood have been used extensively 

 in range breeding to maintain size of frame and 

 length of staple. 



The Southdown (Pis. IV, V, VI) 



The native district of the breed exists in the Downs 

 of Sussex, a range of chalk hills which assume the 

 form of a bow in the county of that name. The 

 following description will exactly locate the home 

 of these sheep. "If the reader will glance at the 

 geological map of England and trace the boundary 

 of the great chalk formation in that country, he will 

 see that it is, roughly speaking, the form of a bow 

 or the arc of a circle, the bow being formed by the 

 eastern coast of Hunstanton and traversing the west 



