1907.] Production of Wool in Great Britain. 475 



of the principal breeds. A considerable amount of information 

 was obtained relating to the breeds of sheep kept in different 

 districts, and these are summarized in the Report so as to 

 present as far as possible a brief account of the wool-growing 

 ■capabilities of each county. Wool buyers also were requested 

 to furnish particulars as to the counties or districts whence 

 they obtained their supplies, and the details which they 

 supplied serve to some extent as a check on the county figures. 



Breeds of Sheep for which Estimates are given. — The informa- 

 tion which was obtained as to the variety of breeds of sheep 

 kept in Great Britain affords some index to their relative 

 importance in particular counties. It cannot, however, be 

 regarded as exhaustive, and although it may perhaps be 

 regarded as fairly approximating to a general survey of the 

 •country, it is insufficient to furnish a statistical basis for a 

 " census of breeds." In many counties the estimates furnished 

 of the proportions of the predominant breeds approach practical 

 certainty, but in others they are evidently incomplete. 



The number of separate breeds for which estimates of wool- 

 production have been supplied from one or more counties in 

 Great Britain is 29, and the complete list is as follows : — 



It would seem that the most widely distributed breeds are the 

 Blackfaced and Cheviots, which are not only kept in the majority 

 of Scottish counties, but also figure in the returns from several 

 English counties. The same may be said in a somewhat less 

 degree of the Border Leicester, so that the Scottish admixture 

 in English flocks appears to have attained considerable propor- 

 tions. Of the English breeds, five are prominent by reason of 

 the number of counties from which estimates of their wool- 

 bearing capabilities are supplied, viz., Hampshires, Shropshires, 

 Oxford Downs-, South downs, and Lincolns. 



Blackfaced 

 Border Leicester 

 Cheviot 

 Clun 



■Cotswold 

 .Dartmoor 

 Devon Longwool 

 Dorset Down 

 Dorset Horn 

 Exmoor 

 •Hampshire 

 Herd wick 

 Irish 



Kent or Romney Marsh 

 Kerry 



Leicester 



Lincoln 



Lonk 



Orkney 



Oxford Down 



Radnor 



Ryeland 



Shetland 



Shropshire 



South Devon 



Southdown 



Suffolk 



Welsh Mountain 

 Wensleydale 



