CHAPTER XLIX 



THE SHROPSHIRE 



The native home of Shropshire sheep is in the counties of Shrop- 

 shire and Stafford, England. Shropshire is in central-western Eng- 

 land, being bounded on the west by Wales, while Stafford lies just 

 to the east. Shropshire is an irregular parallelogram with an area 

 of about 1346 square miles. The river Severn flows through the 

 county, and Shrewsbury, with a population of about 30,000, is the 

 county seat. In 1803 Plymley wrote i; 



Though no part of this county can be called flat, generally speaking, yet 

 the northeastern parts are comparatively so, as contrasted with the hills on its 

 southern and western borders, leading on to the Welsh mountains, and with 

 the hills of Derbyshire and Staffordshire to the east unite with the still more 

 level country of Chester, in forming a great plain or valley. 



The Clee Hills to the southwest rise to an altitude of 1800 feet. 

 The soil varies from light alluvial to heavy clay, and the small 

 cereals, grasses, and root crops do well. The climate is moderate 

 and well suited to sheep. 



The origin of Shropshire sheep is from several native types 

 on which Southdown, Leicester, and Cotswold blood was used. In 

 1803 Plymley wrote that considerable flocks were then kept in 

 southwest Shropshire, but in the county, as a whole, flocks were 

 few and small. He states that there is a breed of sheep on the 

 Longmynd with horns and black faces that seems an indigenous 

 sort ; these sheep are nimble, hardy, and weigh near ten pounds a 

 quarter when fatted, and have fleeces that may weigh two and one- 

 half pounds, of which a half will be breechin, or coarse wool. He also 

 states that the farmers of the hill country seem to think the great- 

 est advantage they derive from the access of foreign stock is from 

 the cross of the Southdown with Longmynd sheep. In 1792 the 

 Bristol Wool Society, reporting on the sheep of England,^ stated 



1 Joseph Plymley, General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire, 1803. 



2 John A. Craig, Sheep Farming in North America. New York, 1913. 



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