On the Fertility of different Breeds of Sheep, §c. 103 



flocks. So also with the Shropshire breed in Staffordshire and the 

 home county, if 50 per cent, of the difference between the losses was 

 added to the percentage of twins in the home county, they would still 

 have 12 per cent, less than the Staffordshire flocks; and it is not 

 probable that a different method of farming in these two neighbouring 

 districts can account for such difference in fertility. 



The returns of the Suffolk flocks in Essex are misleading, inasmuch 

 as some of the flocks with the highest percentage of lambs do not show 

 the percentage of twins ; at the same time I am disposed to think that 

 Essex is not so favourable a county as Suffolk for this breed of sheep. 



The difference in the return of lambs for Southdowns in East 

 Anglia and in the South, is probably due to the more careful records 

 which the smaller size of the flocks and the method of farming in 

 East Anglia allows, and I suspect the difference in the percentage of 

 twins may be similarly accounted for. 



In neither of the cases where different breeds are represented in the 

 same locality, does the percentage of twins of the foreign flocks 

 approach that of the home breed. Southdowns do not approach the 

 fertility of Suffolks in East Anglia, nor do Hampshires become as 

 fertile as Dorset Horns in the West country. 



The Suffolks, Hampshires, and Dorset Horns are most fertile in their 

 home districts ; in the case of the Shropshire breed, Staffordshire may 

 be considered a part of the home district ; and only in the case of the 

 Lincolns is it demonstrated that any breed thrives better in a foreign 

 district than at home. This was to be expected, for it can hardly be 

 doubted that natural selection, as well as artificial selection, has been 

 at work on the different breeds of sheep in this country. 



In the case of the Lincoln breed it is of interest to note, in this con- 

 nection, that the method of farming in some parts of Lincolnshire has 

 greatly altered in modern times ; for instance, the facility which the 

 soil on the wolds affords to grow especially fine crops of roots, enables 

 the flock-masters in that district to keep more sheep per acre than is 

 possible on the low-lying farms ; this leads to crowding and to other 

 even more artificial conditions which, as the statistics indicate, are not 

 favourable to the fertility of the breed ; on the other hand several of 

 the more successful flocks m Yorkshire are run on grass chiefly and 

 under more natural conditions for sheep. 



The variation in fertility in different districts does not, however, 

 affect the racial character of the fertility of the different breeds (com- 

 pare Tables IY and Y — " Per cent, of Twins "), except in the case of 

 the Lincolns, where the returns of the Yorkshire flocks suggest that 

 this breed should be placed in the first rank with the Suffolks and 

 Shropshires, instead of in the second rank with Dorset Horns, Oxford 

 Downs, and Kents. The position of the Southdowns at the bottom of 

 the list remains unaltered. 



