114 Sheep-Farming 



excellence and scale of points adopted by the Ameri- 

 can Hampshire Down Association are as follows : 

 Head moderately large but not coarse, well covered 

 with wool on forehead and cheeks ; nostrils wide ; 

 color (head and legs) dark brown or black; eyes 

 prominent and lustrous ; ears moderately long and 

 thin and dark brown or black in color ; legs well 

 under outside of body, straight with good size of 

 bone, black ; neck a regular taper from shoulders to 

 head without any hollow in front of shoulders, set 

 high up on body ; shoulders deep and full in heart 

 place, with breast prominent and full ; back straight, 

 with full spring of rib ; loin wide and straight with- 

 out depression in front of hips ; quarters long from 

 hips to rump without sloping, and deep in thigh, 

 broad in hips and rump, with full hams, inside of 

 thighs full. 



Mutton qualities. — While the Hampshires are not 

 the finest in the quality of frame or flesh, they have 

 the reputation of surpassing all others in the rapid 

 gain the lambs make when well fed. At the Smithfield 

 fat stock show in England, they have in the majority 

 of instances led all others in the rate of daily gain. 

 In 1882 the pen of Hampshires averaged .75 pound 

 per head daily, which was only equaled by the pen of 

 Leicester s ; in 1883 two of the Hampshire pens aver- 

 aged .77 pound, which led all others, and in 1885 they 

 again led with a daily gain of .76 pound, and in 1886 

 they were tied for first position with the Lincolns, 



