Breeds of Sheep lest adapted to different Localities. 425 



but the sheep which are now kept by farmers generally he considered an 

 improved sheep — improved in size, and in the produce as to quantity, as 

 applicable to carcase, and also more wool, but not of so fine a quality. 

 In sorting wool in that part of the county of Kent, at the time that fine 

 wool bore a good price, used to make about one-eighth of our best quality 

 of English wool ; now (1828) we do not set a basket for it at all; the 

 quantity is so small we do not throw it out, we do not separate it. Had 

 been in the habit for several years of purchasing the fleeces of particular 

 flocks ; there is one flock of Southdown wool in the county of Sussex that 

 he has had from the year 1792 up to 1828 ; and in the" year 1814 the 

 fleeces ran, some fourteen to the tod, and some few fifteen, and some few 

 sixteen and seventeen. Had some wool last year and it ran eleven and a 

 half fleeces to the tod all the way through, so that there has been an in- 

 crease of weight of probably one-third, and of course a deterioration of 

 quality; the quantity of coarse wool has greatly increased from that 

 description of sheep. As far as his observation goes, wherever in- 

 closures take place and the land becomes better cultivated, they keep a 

 better kind of sheep, and Southdown sheep of a good size are always more 

 marketable than of a small size. There are some few Southdown flocks 

 now, the wool of which is as good as ever it was. but generally they are 

 deteriorated." 



Mr. W illiam Cunnmgton, woolstapler, Wiltshire, principally 

 purchased Southdown wool, and gave the following particulars of 

 Southdown wool assorted : — 





List. 



Wash. 



Abbs. 



1 Drt. 



Head. 



Super. 



Choice. 



Prime. 



Pick. 



Flower Farm : 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



lbs. 



1812 . . 



2 



68 



20 



11 



20 



56 



202 



412 



43 



ISIS . . 



16 



117 



70 



52 



86 



160 



323 



915 



170 



1822 . . 



62 



95 



134 



93 



•288 



274 



309 



665 



19 



Ay tons: 





















" 1S11 . . 



23 



98 



41 



21 



50 



131 



305 



357 



127 



1520 . . 



52 



106 



62 



65 



145 



213 



329 



468 





1822 . . 



102 



52 



55 



57 



120 



200 



272 



392 





Deveriest: 





















1823 . . 



110 



209 



353 



369 



658 



614 



800 



843 



16 



1827 . . 



96 



93 



397 



374 



758 



956 



636 



444 





Nowlson : 





















1811 . . 





56 



27 



10 



16 



21 



95 



247 



493 



1816 . . 



ii 



143 



49 



26 



34 



98 



242 



851 



112 



1821 . . 



42 



101 



47 



51 



79 



128 



230 



444 





Cross : 





















1817 . . 



23 



100 



55 



67 



59 



159 



386 



946 



72 



1825 . . 



51 



S3 



190 



153 



425 



322 



308 



272 



8 



Powell : 





















1815 . . 





112 



64 



40 



67 



148 



347 



875 



90 



1827 . . 



52 



52 



218 



94 



376 



273 



411 



705 



none. 



"In the year 1815 one of those portions of wool, the gross weight of 

 which was 1006 lbs., made the best quality in sorting 60 lbs. ; and in the 

 year 1827 the same wool, grown on the same farm, made none of that 

 quality. From the year 1811 till 1822 lived at Heytesbury, and sold the 

 whole of my wool, or nearly so, to the Frome Market; and when I 

 removed to where I now reside, near Pewsey, I sold then the greater 

 portion of my wool still in Frome ; but within the last two years the 

 greater part has been sent to Rochdale, and that district, where it is used 

 principally for flannels, baizes, and goods of that description. Attributed 



