106 Sheep-Farming 



under 300 acres in extent. The main water-shed 

 line of this county, according to the same writer, 

 begins at Inkpen, Beacon, 972.8 feet above the level 

 of the sea, in the North Downs, and it ends at 

 Butzer Hill, altitude 882.6 feet, in the South Downs. 

 The writer before quoted estimates the central chalk 

 plateau at 760 square miles, while the soil of the rest 

 of the country is made up of clays, marls, sands, and 

 gravels. 



The Hampshire foundation stock. — The earliest 

 recorded description of the foundation stock from 

 which the Hampshire was evolved was written by 

 Messrs. Abraham and William Driver for the Board 

 of Agriculture of Great Britain in 1794, in which 

 they say: "The Hampshire sheep is horned for the 

 most part, with a white face, though some few have 

 speckled faces ; formerly they were long-legged and 

 narrow, but now much improved, being short-legged 

 and well-carcassed." The sheep of Wilts and Hants, 

 the original source of the Hampshire, is described 

 as follows: "They were imposing-looking animals, 

 long in leg, high in withers, sharp in the spine, large, 

 bony, narrow, with big heads, curling horns, and 

 Roman noses. They died out in Wiltshire about forty 

 years since. They lived rather longer in Hants, their 

 powers of enduring long travehng and severe folding, 

 hard keeping, and working recommending them as 

 the best manure carriers for the light lands, which 

 were by this means alone kept in a state of fertility." 



