SHEEP. 



grafs-land than Wiltthires, and will in that cafe thrive more, 

 and better fupport the hardftiips of (hort food ; but on arable 

 land with plenty of turnips, clover, rye, tares, &c. in am- 

 ple provifion, the Wiltfliires are more profitable than the 

 South Downs. The Wiltfhires are large (heep, and confe- 

 quently require to be well kept. In the trials of Mr. Hale, 

 of King's Waldon, for five or fix years, nothing beats 

 South Downs, where there is much grafs ; but on artificial 

 grafs and turnips, without a breadth of natural grafs, they 

 will not do like the Wiltfliires ; for which reafon Mr. Ro- 

 berts, on his own farm, keeps Wiltfliire ewes, and crefTcs 

 them with South Down rams ; fo that they lamb in March. 

 When put to grafs they are folded, and fome lambs are fold 

 at 34J. in the beginning of harveft ; fome twins at ^ls.6d.; and 

 the beil are kept. He approves fo much of them, that he 

 intends to continue them. Mr. Hale's flock is a capital one, 

 and the wool remarkably fine. And between thirty and 

 forty years fince, Mr. Calvert of Albury had Lincoln flieep, 

 but fold them, from conviftion that they did not aniwcr : he 

 was then, for about twenty years, in the Wiltfliire breed ; 

 and lalUy, he changed thefe for the South Downs, which he 

 has had for the laft feven or eight years, and prefers them to 

 all. He has no other but lord Pelham's breed, both lambs 

 and ewes, and confiders the more modern attempts to raife 

 2l Jiner race, as likely to prove mifchievous : he will not 

 have any thing to do with them. His fix-toothed wethers 

 weigh eleven ftone and a half. He finds the breed extremely 

 healthy : they very rarely die ; and are fnbjcft to much 

 fewer dillempers than the Wiltfliires. And Mr. Smith has 

 changed Wiltfliires for South Downs. He has about 400 in 

 all, fome of them Wiltfliires; they zxe fed and ivorkeil together, 

 and folded on wet lands. The South Downs in exceeding 

 good order, but the Wiltfliires very inferior. But about 

 Barkw ay, South Downs are not yet introduced; Mr Whittle, 

 however, gave it as his decided opinion, \.h2X feed and wcrt 

 Wiltfliires and South Downs together in the fame manner, 

 and the former will prove to be the mod profitable ; the latter 

 are much injured by the dirt, as they are too fliort in hair 

 and legs ; it was tried at Kimpton Hoo, and fuch was the 

 refult. He has fold Wiltfliire wethers thrice fliorn, at 7/. 14J. 

 each. And Mr. Doe, of Bygrave, keeps Wiltfliire ewes, 

 which he croffes every year by new Leiceller rams ; but goes 

 no farther than the firlt crofs. Thefe anfwer greatly, 

 whether the fale be fat lambs or ftiearlings. He does not 

 approve of South Downs, on account of their inferior 

 weight. 



However, from the high charafter which South Down 

 fheep have lately attained, it may not be uninterefting to give 

 M". Young's account of their firfl; introduftion into Nor- 

 folk. Heremarks, that when once an improvement has fpread 

 fo much as to become an objeft of importance, there are 

 generally many claimants for the merit ; and if fuch claimants 

 are only heard of many yea's after, but little attention is 

 due to them. With regard to the neighbouring county of 

 Suffolk, he can fpeak with fome accuracy, but fliould not 

 mention it on this occafion, were not the faft connected 

 with the introduftion into Norfolk. In May, 1785, he 

 publiflied an account of an obfervation he had made in 1784, 

 the year he brought them into Suffolk from Sulfex ; and it 

 being printed at the time, the faft will admit of no doubt. 

 He recommended them ftrongly to every gentleman and 

 farmer he converfed with on the fuhjcft ; and at his per- 

 fuafion, as many well know, the late Mr. Macro, of Barrow, 

 purchafed that flock which the earl of Orford, after his 

 death, bought and eftabliflied at Houghton. Mr. Macro 

 died in 1789. And in a paper printed in the Annals, in 

 J790, he (Mr. Young) remarks," I have had fix and twenty 

 5 



years' experience in Norfolk fheep, and once thought fo 

 well ef them, as to carry them into Hertfordfliire ; but in 

 the advance of my practice, I began gradually to doubt the 

 fuperior merit of that breed. I thought that of all the 

 flieep which I had examined particularly, none promifed to 

 anfwer fo well for the general purpofe of the counties of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk as the South Downs. I began the 

 import in 1784, and in 1790 had 350. I had too much 

 friendfliip for the late Mr. Macro, to advife him to try any 

 experiment that I was not clear would anfwer to him. I 

 repeatedly urged him to try the South Downs ; he lillened 

 to me with attention for fome time, but would not deter- 

 mine, till having feen the number I kept proportionably to 

 the quantity of land, and at the fame time with fome Nor- 

 folks, it proved to him that the South Downs were worth 

 attending to ; and the journey I perfuaded him to take into 

 Suffex, giving him an opportunity to converfe with various 

 noted flieep-matlers there, he determined 10 make the expe- 

 riment : he went over, previous to Lewis fair, and bought 

 a flock of them. The lambs fold well at Ipfwich fair. 

 Mr. Le Blanc, at Cavenham, alfo turned South Down 

 rams to 700 Norfolk ewes : he found no difficulty at Ipf- 

 wich ; and his ftiepherd, after three years' obflinate pre- 

 ference to Norfolks, gave up his old friends, and aflually 

 fet South Downs for his rtiepherd's itock. Whether the 

 breed fliould or (hould not, in the long run, eftablifh itfelf, 

 I have the fatisfaAion of feeling that I have done no ill office 

 to my brother farmers by introducing it. From the daily 

 accounts I receive, I have good reafon to believe that it will 

 be eftabliflied." 



The farmers in Oxfordfliire employ many different forts 

 of (heep, as the Wiltihire, Berkfhire, and fome others ; but 

 the South Down and new Leicelter, and their crofies, are 

 fait driving the other forts out of the county, as being more 

 profitable in the number that can be kept on the fame ex- 

 tent of land, in fattening more expeditioufly, and at earlier 

 periods of their growth, in folding equally well, and in the 

 value of their wool. Some, however, think, that the long, 

 woolled fheep are very profitable on farms of the ftone-brafh 

 kind, and have large flocks of that fort. In this diftrift, 

 in general, the quantity of flieep that is kept is large, in 

 proportion to that of the extent of the farms. 



In Berkfhire, the large Wiltfliires and the breed of the 

 county are giving way to the South Down, and other imall- 

 fized breeds, as yielding more profit, fattening quicker, 

 and doing better in general. The new Leiceller, fo far as 

 they have been tried in proper fituations, have alfo anfwered 

 well. Some croffes of thefe fmaller breeds have likewife 

 been employed with confiderable fiiccefs. 



In the county of Eliex, ieveral forts of fheep-flock are 

 made ufe of by the farmers, as the Norfolks, Wiltfhires, 

 Lincolns, new Leiceflers, South Downs, and different 

 croffed kinds ; but the fuperiority and advantage of the 

 Downs are now almoft every where admitted. The 

 Dilbley or new Leicefter fort is alfo held in much eftima- 

 tion in many places, efpecially where the foil is of a dry 

 light nature ; as the wether lambs of this breed, and that 

 of the Diwns, on being conilantly kept together on the 

 fame land, until they became fat, the former were inva- ' 

 riably drawn off the firil, and were the fattelt and heavieil. 

 Befides, rams of thi"- fort are preferred for being put to 

 Norfolk ewes, to thofe of the other breed; as the produce 

 is larger, and fooner fat. The new Leiceflers are by fome, 

 however, thought inferior 10 the South Downs, as being 

 fuch bad breeders ; one hundred of them only producing 

 eighty lambs, while the fame number of the Downs will 

 bring one hundred and twenty. 



Ir 



