120 Sheep-Farming 



live, and the quality of a Down. As Clare Sewell 

 Read expressed it, the breeders sought an improve- 

 ment of the Cotswold at that time because their 

 meat gave too much to the grease pot and too little 

 to the table, the mutton at that day selling for a 

 penny less per pound than that of the Downs. 



The same writer faulted the Downs for the condi- 

 tions of Oxfordshire, because they are not adapted 

 for folding, as he says : "In feeding these two sort of 

 sheep on dirty land, the Downs with short coats do 

 not keep themselves as clean as the half-breeds. The 

 Down is constantly moving about and will amble 

 round a turnip and walk about his fold, while his less 

 active neighbor will eat his feed and quietly lie down." 

 It will be seen that the object of the breeders was to 

 produce a sheep adapted to the arable farming con- 

 ditions of Oxfordshire — a sheep that would stand 

 folding and heavy feeding and yet retain some of 

 the quality of meat and wool and hardihood charac- 

 teristic of the more active Down breeds. 



Recognition as a breed. — The Royal Agricultural 

 Society, formed in 1838, held its first exhibition at 

 Oxford, 1839, and in the first report of the society 

 the only breeds recognized are the Leicester and the 

 Southdown, there being another class called "long- 

 wooled," in which Cotswold and Oxfordshires were 

 shown. The latter were then considered long- 

 wooled, and in this class at the exhibition mentioned, 

 their premiums were awarded to Oxfordshire rams 



