5oQ = 290 
Practical Agriculture. 
staple, namely, 10 to 18 inches, and weighed 8 to 16 lbs. pt 
fleece. The wool was curly-stapled, and noted for its gloss t 
lustre. The breed was adapted to the rich, moist marsh land; 
and capable of enduring the winter exposure on those wet layers 
Improved Leicester blood having worked a vast change in the breed, th 
Lincolns. improved Lincoln may now be said to possess a size, expansio 
of frame, and nobility of appearance equal to that of the Coti 
wold, with the compactness of form, quality of flesh, propensit 
to fatten, and fine countenance and light ofFal of the Leicester 
while surpassing both for the weight and value of its woo 
Great weights An experiment conducted by the Parlington Farmers' Club, i 
and fleeces. ^j^^ years 1861-2, showed a larger profit from Lincolns fed upo 
rape, turnips, and oilcake, than from Cotswolds, Teeswater 
Border Leicesters, Leicesters, Shropshire Downs, or Southdown: 
Some of the heaviest dead-weights lecorded are as follow : — 
three-shear Lincoln wether of Mr. Dawson, in 1827, is said t 
have weighed lbs. per quarter ; a wether killed at Holbeac 
in 1844 weighed 72^ lbs. per quarter ; a ewe exhibited at tb 
Smithfield Club Show in 1846, by Mr. .John Clarke, of Lon 
Sutton, weighed 65i lbs. per quarter ; and Mr. Clarke, of Car 
wick, exhibited at Lincoln, in 1827, wether sheep each of vvhic 
weighed 65 lbs. per quarter and yielded 24 lbs. of wool. Recentl 
a fourteen-months-old shearling of Mr. Marshall, of Branstoi 
gave a fleece of 26^ lbs. ; and whole clips of hogg wool ( 
Mr. Marshall and of Mr. J. J. Clarke, of Welton-le-Wold, ha\ 
averaged about 12 lbs. per fleece. The Lincolns are a fairl 
prolific breed ; about one-third of the ewes dropping twins, whii 
triplets are not uncommon, and four lambs occasionally come { 
a birth. They are excellent nurses. 
Locality. The improved Lincolns are bred throughout their nativ 
county, in Rutland, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshin 
and Cambridgeshire ; and also in parts of Norfolk, Hunting 
donshire, and Northamptonshire; and some flocks have bee 
established in Scotland and in Ireland. Lincdln rams ai' 
largely used for improving other longwool breeds and ft 
crossing ; and they are exported on a very considerable scale t 
South America, the Cape, New Zealand, and the Australia 
colonies. The cross with merino is found to produce a sui 
prising increase in the length and weight of the wool. 
Fairs. There are great shows of Lincoln sheep at Boston, Caisto 
and other fairs ; but the grandest sight is that of 40,000 t 
50,000 hoggs at Lincoln April fair, when the best pens realil 
from four to five guineas per head at fourteen months ol< 
Some of the most marvellous specimens of fat sheep ever p"" 
duced, both for weight, form, and wool, won a recent Smithfie 
Club champion plate for Mr. John Byron. 
