538 



SHEEP 



sheep, creating a superior mutton beast and also greatly adding to 

 the thickness and quality of the fleece. He demonstrated that the 

 breed could be heavily stocked on the land. In 1788 Arthur Young 

 wrote ^: "Mr. Ellman, on 500 acres, has 700 ewes, lambs, and 

 wethers in winter, and 1450 of all sorts in summer, besides 140 

 head of cattle." Sheep of Ellman breeding did not receive marked 

 recognition at first, but eventually he commanded high prices. In 



Fig. 241. Babraham Champion, first-prize and reserve-champion Southdown ram 

 at the Royal Agricultural Society of England Show in 1901. Also won the Blyth- 

 wood Challenge Bowl for the best Southdown of either sex at the Oxfordshire 

 ■Show. Bred and owned by C. Adeane, Babraham, Cambridge, England, and used 

 in the famous Babraham flock in 1901 and 1902. From photograph, by courtesy 



of F. N. Webb 



1798 the Emperor of Russia is said to have bought 2 rams for 

 $1500. Ellman is universally regarded as the greatest of early 

 sheep improvers, unless we except Bakewell. In 1829 he retired 

 and dispersed his flock of about 1400 head, of which 241 were 

 wether lambs. Mr. Ellman died in 1832 in his eightieth year. 



Jonas Webb of Babraham, Cambridge, England, a tenant farmer, 

 built on the Southdown model of Ellman. He began breeding 

 about 1 82 1 and purchased the best sheep he could buy, regardless 



1 Annals of Agriculture, Vol. XI, p. 200. 



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