OXFOEDSHIKE DOWN SHEEP. 67 



them then fit for the butcher. The mutton, killed from his 

 rocky, rough pastures, in November, is of very high quality. 

 His ewes, in 1862, averaged 8 J lbs. to the fleece, unwashed — 

 the average weight of the shorn ewes being 135 lbs. and rams 

 220 lbs. The yield of lambs was 160 per cent, on the number 

 of breeding ewes. In 1863 the yield of wool fell to a small 

 fraction imder 8 lbs., and the increase of lambs rose to 175 

 per cent.* His wethers yield on the average fully 10 lbs. of 

 wool. At my request, Mr. Fay forwarded me specimens of 

 their wool. The first was taken from a ram two years old, 

 weighing 220 lbs., and his fleece this year weighed 12 lbs. 10 

 oz. The wool is about 8 inches long. The ewe, three years 

 old, with two ram lambs at her side nearly two months old, 

 weighed 136 lbs., and her fleece 8 lbs. The wool is over 7 

 inches long ; the quality in both instances is rather fine for 

 wool of such length ; it has a good luster ; is neither hairy 

 nor harsh; and it has a very desirable quality for certain 

 fabrics, and will always commiand a ready sale.f 



These sheep have gray faces and legs, lighter colored than 

 those of the South Downs. They partake of the admirable 

 forms of their parent stocks; are gentle and disinclined to 

 rove ; but they are willing to work hard for their feed, and 

 are very promiscuous feeders. They make excellent returns 

 for their feed and mature very early. 



* Every practical sheep fanner understands of course that a nursing^ ewe yields 

 considerably less wool than a dry one, and that the fleece is still more diminished by a 

 ewe*a nursing two lambs. 



1 1 made special inquiries in regard to this wool, and detail the result, when 1 

 have not done so in regard to the other English families, because the Oxfordshire 

 Downs are of more recent origin, and iUr less is generally known of them in our 

 countiy, in this particular. 



