297 
bridge or Overton in July ; tlw. remainder he sells from time to 
time, according- to his supply ol" food or requirements for money, 
at different fairs, up to Weyhill on the 10th of October, or 
Andover on the 17th of November, reserving ahvays 140 chilver 
lambs to replace the one-third of his ewes, which, being full- 
mouthed, he drafts out of his breeding flock, year by year. No 
farmer works his own rams, but buys the best blood he can get, 
and puts them to the ewe lambs at eighteen months old. There 
are so many noted ram breeders, and so many celebrated flocks, 
without the absolute pre-eminence of any one or two, in the 
county, that it would be impossible to particularise all, and in 
vidious to name only a few ; but, out of the county, it may be 
said, there is no Hampshire down blood superior to Mr. 
Humphrey's, of Chaddleworth. 
Of the quality of the wool, Mr. Cunnington, of Devizes, an 
extensive woolstapler, writes me : "The wool of these sheep is 
used mainly for the same purposes as that of southdowns. The 
(juality, however, is inferior, to at least Id. per lb. in value, and 
it does not yield so much of the finer sorts. The colour, too, of 
much of the Hampshire wool (in the neighbourhood of Andover, 
for instance) is very inferior, being coloured by the red soil on 
\vhich the sheep lie. In the south of the county, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Lymington, some of the wools are as fine and good 
as any in this county, and the colour of these is also very good." 
The cropping on a chalk-farm is, as has been already stated, 
largely influenced by the requirements of the sheep stock. Of 
green crops, the best sheep food, in early autumn, is rape ; then 
succeed, in order, cabbages (if grown), white turnips, carrots (if 
grown), late turnips, and swedes, up to the spring, when, but 
not before, mangold is admirable. 
The absence of natural springs on the downs necessitates arti- 
ficial ponds, to catch and retain the rain water. The bottom is 
first puddled with clay 6 inches thick, then 2 inches of quick- 
lime are spread, then 3 or 4 of chalk, then another thin layer of 
clay, with a coating of chalk over it. The whole surface is then 
pitched with flint-stones well rammed. This will hold water; 
but it costs Is. per square foot, besides the hauling, which may 
cost half as much again. 
Sheep fairs are the proper accompaniment of sheep farming. 
Those of Hants are unequalled — Stockbridge, Overton, Apple- 
shaw, Weyhill, Whitchurch, Winchester, Andover. 65,000 
sheep are penned at the famous Overton lamb fair, where the 
best breeders enter into keen competition for cups given by the 
Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Carnarvon, the Earl of Ports- 
mouth, Viscount Eversley, Sir F. T. Baring, Mr. Beach, and 
Mr. Melville Portal, for four classes of vvether lambs, one of 
