434 Breeds of Sheep best adapted to different Localities. 



short- woolled sheep which we have at present left within the 

 British islands : of the first kind there are not probably to be 

 found two pure flocks in existence, but were at one period much 

 valued for their fleece, and also for the practice of cotting. They 

 were hardy, and could endure hardship and hunger equal to 

 any breed, but were of small size ; their shape was very much 

 like the merino, and a tradition exists that the merinos are de- 

 scended from the Ryelands. The Kerry and Wicklow sheep 

 partake of the fleece and form of the Ryeland, with the prolific- 

 ness of the Dorset sheep, which they in other respects somewhat 

 resemble, particularly in the circumstance of their receiving the 

 ram at an earlier period of the season, by which means what is 

 termed housefed lamb is procured at Christmas and during the 

 first months of the new year ; in Kerry, lamb is quite common at 

 the latter end of March, and the Cork market is tolerably well 

 supplied with house-lamb from this species during the month of 

 January. Dublin is similarly supplied by the Wicklow sheep ; 

 London receives its early lamb from the Dorset ; the latter are 

 larger animals than the Wicklow or Kerry. Feeding house-lamb 

 forms only a very minor portion of agricultural economics : we 

 have merely alluded to the subject for the purpose of indicating 

 the breeds best adapted for the purpose of such persons as may 

 feel disposed to practise this part of rural economy. 



Setting aside for the present the consideration of the Cheviots, 

 black-faced, and other varieties of mountain sheep, we will pro- 

 ceed to examine the various qualities, as adapted to different 

 situations, of the long- woolled races of sheep — these consist of the 

 old Lincolnshire, Teeswater, Romney Marsh, Bampton, and 

 Cotswold sheep. The thorough old Lincoln and Teeswater are 

 all but extinct; they were ungainly in every way, were long 

 arriving at maturity, arrived at very great weight, and possessed 

 heavy fleeces : both these descriptions of sheep are now much 

 mixed with Leicester blood, the cross doing better than the pure 

 breed of either race, as, although the Leicesters when first put 

 on the rich Lincolnshire marshes do better than any other sheep, 

 it has been observed that after the third or fourth generation, 

 successively bred on the same rich lands, the wool sensibly 

 deteriorates in quality, known on the banks of the Tees by the 

 term cotting ; the frame also assumes an awkward appearance, 

 and the disposition for early fattening in some measure disappears. 

 The Romney Marsh were originally somewhat similar in charac- 

 ter to those just described ; in consequence, however, of the -more 

 heavy stocking of the Kentish marshes, together with the fact of 

 the herbage on Romney Marsh not containing so heavy a per 

 centage of the most succulent and feeding grasses, the Romney 

 Marsh sheep did not attain the same weight of carcase or wool 



