1920.] 



The Decline in ISueep Breeding. 



451 



ably less than it was fifty years ago. The four-year-old wether 

 which used to represent the highest standard of mutton produc- 

 tion is now very seldom seen at table, and probably would not be 

 appreciated by the present generation if it were. Early maturity 

 has been adopted as a principle which suited at once the interest 

 of the producer and the taste of the consumer. It is evident, 

 however, that with the progressive adoption of this principle the 

 number of sheep returned each year would decrease, even 

 although the actual number bred were maintained. Since 1893 

 the annual returns have given the number of breeding ewes 

 separately from other sheep. The average numbers of ewes so 

 returned during the past 25 years, in millions, were : — 



1895-9 10-0 



1900-4 10-1 



1905-9 10-3 



1910-4 10-1 



1915-9 9-6 



It will be seen that the breeding flock in the five years before 

 the War, though showing some decHne as compared with the 

 preceding five years, had been fairly maintained at the level of 

 the ten years previous. In fact, if the returns are examined 

 year by year it appears that the number of breeding ewes in each 

 of the three years 1908-10 was higher than in any year for which 

 we have records, and that although the number fell from a maxi- 

 mum of 10,810,000 in 1909 to a minimum of 9,618,000 in 1913, 

 there were signs of recovery when the War broke out, and 

 one-half of the loss had been made good by June, 1916. 



Effects of the War. — This brings us to a consideration of the 

 effects of the War upon sheep-breeding and to the question as it 

 now confronts us. The returns for June, 1914, represent the 

 pre-war position, and it will be useful to state the figures for that 

 year and for each succeeding year up to 1919, the returns for the 

 present year being not yet available. 



The number of breeding ewes and of other sheep, with the 

 total returned for Great Britain in each of these years, the figures 

 again representing millions, were : — 



1914 

 1915 

 1910 

 1917 

 1918 

 1919 



/■J /res, 

 9-8 

 9-9 



101 

 9-9 

 9-.') 



Other Sheep. 

 14-5 

 14-7 

 14-9 

 14-1 

 ];5-9 

 lL^-9 



•J4-3 



•jr>-o 



•J4-0 

 •Jl-.') 



