The various Breeds of Sheep in Great Britain. 241 
in some parts of Hants and Bucks the soil gives it a brown 
colour and harsh character ; in the chalk down districts of Wilts 
it has a white colour and rather dry harsh fibre ; whilst in the 
rich soil of the Wealdcn clay of Sussex and Kent, the Down 
breed of wool is softer, cleaner, and more valuable than in any 
other part of the kingdom. 
These influences of course produce a great variety of wool, 
but all the kinds may be divided into three general classes, the 
general characters of which may be described as follows : — 
Scotch Cross-bred and Welsh Wools. — These are grown in the 
mountainous districts of the west and north of Scotland and the 
western side of England, commencing in the Highlands of Scot- 
land and extending southwards to the mountains of Cumberland 
and Westmoreland, the moorland district of Yorkshire and 
Lancashire, and the mountains of Wales. All these have the 
ends of the staple very coarse, or coarser than the rest of the 
fleece ; and there is generally distributed more or less throughout 
the whole of the fleece a " hem[>y " or coarse white dead hair, 
differing in every respect from the character of the wool. The 
wools are used principally for the manufacture of low woollen 
fabrics, such as carpets, horse-rugs, &c. Recently some of the 
better and longer portions have been sorted out and used for 
low worsted goods. 
Down and Short-Stapled Wools are produced chiefly in the 
district extending from Norfolk in a south-westerly direction to 
the extremity of Dorset, and included between that line and the 
coast. In this area occur the exceptional district of Romney 
Marsh and the rich county of Kent, which produce excellent 
wool of the deep-grown character. The wools are generally 
valuable. The tegs and the longer portions of the wethers are 
used for fine worsted yarns, while the shorter fleeces and shorter 
portions of the longer ones are used for woollen goods. The 
Down wools are generally speaking of a rather dry, harsh charac- 
ter, and therefore peculiarly adapted for the manufacture of 
flannels, for which they are now generally used, as well as for 
other goods not requiring to be " milled." 
The Decp-ffrown Combing Wools. — These are exemplified by 
the Lincoln, the Leicester, and other long- stapled sorts of wool. 
These in their various characters occupy the districts lying be- 
tween the two already described as containing the breeds pro- 
ducing the other varieties of fleece. These centre districts may 
be considered generally as extending from the Lothians in Scot- 
land through Northumberland, central and east Yorkshire, Lin- 
colnshire, and the Midland Counties, to Gloucester, Somerset, 
Devon, and Cornwall. The wools of this description are used 
lor worsted purposes ; the length of the staple, the brightness 
VOL. XVI. K 
