Farming of Lincolnshire. 



395 



light land districts ; and the breeders keep up their breed by 

 selecting different rams — sometimes for wool, sometimes for 

 symmetry, mutton, &c. &c. On the Chff the first cross is con- 

 sidered the best, viz. the produce of a large heavy-woolled ewe 

 that has been put to a good pure Leicester ram. 



The question of their suitability implies a comparison : are they 

 better adapted to the Wolds, Cliff, Heath, &c., than any other 

 breed would be ? The only varieties which can come into com- 

 petition with these Long-wools, are, we should think, the pure 

 Leicester and the South Down. If the Lincolnshire uplands re- 

 sembled the wide open downs and bleak uncultivated sheep-walks 

 of more southern counties, and the system of driving and folding 

 were practised or required, then the South Downs, being better 

 travellers, would undoubtedly be a desirable breed. The prin- 

 cipal purpose, however, for which sheep are kept on these lands, 

 is to eat off the turnips, and the large breed does remarkably well 

 for folding after the Lincolnshire custom ; that is, the lambs occupy 

 the foremost inclosure of hurdles, followed by the older sheep, 

 both being supplied with corn or cake and the turnips (sliced) in 

 troughs, and the folds are moved forward daily. The fine and 

 thickly-set wool of the South Down sheep may be well calculated 

 to resist the keen blasts of the hills ; but the Lincolnshire breed 

 (like the Cotswolds on their elevated lands) are also hardy, pos- 

 sessing heavy, warm, well-set fleeces ; and it must be borne in 

 mind that the smaller kind of long-wools are native inhabitants of 

 these ranges. If the question were — Which of these two breeds 

 will thrive the best upon hard fare ? the reply might have been 

 given in favour of the Down ; but the ''light turnip lands" afford 

 an abundance of good provender and a dry layer, and the ques- 

 tion is therefore of a different nature. The South Dov/ns have not 

 been fully tried, but general opinion declares against them. A 

 cross between Leicester ewes and Down rams has been attempted 

 in some localities, not with the idea of its ever becoming general 

 but merely for special purposes, the produce having been sold as 

 fat lamb " — a practice incapable of large extension in these 

 breeding districts. The Leicester has certainly proved the most 

 generally useful of all breeds, both for grazing in all but moun- 

 tainous regions and for improving other kinds of sheep ; and if 

 aptitude to fatten quickly on the kinds of food, and in the climate 

 and situation of the Lincolnshire highlands, were the only circum- 

 stance to be taken into account, without doubt the strong (or im- 

 proved) Leicester would be most suitable and remunerative. As 

 a proof of this, the breeders of large sheep themselves allow, 

 that whenever farmers make off their own flock instead of selling 

 their lamb-hogs to feeders, they choose a small breed and keep 

 close to the pure Leicesters. Another consideration, however. 



