British Breeds of Sheep 91 



Leicester and Cotswold or the short-wooled South- 

 downs." 



Improvement of the early Shropshire. — The sheep 

 that were the original source of the Shropshire were 

 noted chiefly for the high quaUty of the wool that 

 they produced. In a prize report on the Agriculture 

 of Shropshire, the following occurs : The quality 

 of the Shropshire Down wool is exceedingly good, 

 and the fleeces average good weight. The fleeces 

 from ewes average from five to eight pounds ; wethers 

 fifteen months old, seven to eight pounds; yearling 

 rams, eight to twelve pounds; but this excessive 

 weight is generally accompanied by coarseness, which 

 depreciates the value of the fleece. As far back as 

 the fourteenth century, we find the Shropshire wool 

 considered the choicest in England. . . . Sub- 

 sequently in a work published in 1694 (" The Interest 

 of England," page 4) it is stated: "Our Shrop- 

 shire wool is not to be equaled in its kind by 

 any part of the world and is suitable to almost 

 any degree of quality." Another early chronicler 

 says: "The account previously given of the price 

 of Shropshire wool (£9 6s. 4d. per sack), the highest 

 in England, is in a great degree confirmatory of this 

 opinion, and was composed most probably of the 

 fleeces of the more common sheep, which were so long 

 the pride and boast of Shropshire, produced as they 

 did the finest wool in England, the superior to the 

 Rylands." From this and the facts previously 



