90 Sheep-Farming 



per quarter when fattened. Their fleeces upon 

 an average may weigh two and one half pounds, of 

 which one half pound will be brechen or coarse wool 

 and is sold distinct from the rest. The farmers 

 of the hill country seem to think the greatest ad- 

 vantage they derive from the access of foreign stock 

 is from the cross of the Southdown with the Long- 

 mynd sheep ; the produce they state to be as hardy 

 and to bite as close as the Longmynd sheep, and the 

 weight of the carcass is increased." 



In 1792 the sheep of England were subjected to 

 the investigations of the Bristol Wool Society, and 

 they reported on the Morf e Common sheep as follows : 

 "On Morfe Common near Bridgeworth, which 

 contains about 600,000 acres, there are about 10,000 

 sheep kept during the summer months which pro- 

 duce wool of superior quaUty. They are considered 

 a native breed — a black-faced or brown or spotted 

 faced, horned sheep, little subject to either rot or 

 scab, . . . clipping nearly two pounds of fleece ex- 

 clusive of the breeching, which may be taken at 

 one seventh or one eighth part of the whole." The 

 writer who quotes the foregoing continues : "This 

 appears to have been the original stock from which 

 the present breed of Shropshire Downs has sprung. 

 As the country advanced, and the breed became more 

 valuable for their carcasses as well as for their wool, 

 the Morfe Common sheep were crossed with other 

 breeds, but more particularly with the long-wooled 



