Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire in 1888 : Class 1. 531 
large estates, and there are fewer small owners in it than in 
Lincoln. 
It will be seen by the table already given (on page 512) to 
show the Size of Holdings that the proportion of occupations of 
each class is very similar for both counties ; the chief difference 
being the greater number of very large farms of over 1,000 
acres in Lincolnshire. 
The Shorthorn breed of Cattle prevails in the county, and a 
good many are reared on the borders of Derbyshire, where good 
bulls are now used, and the quality of the produce is improving. 
Irish bullocks are, however, largely bought at York by the 
great winter graziers. 
The Sheej) are principally Leicesters, or Lincolns crossed 
with Leicester rams, but the change to darker faces is probably 
extending faster here than in Lincolnshire. For a neighbour- 
hood of 20 miles around the first and second prize farms, for 
instance, the Norfolk, or Cambridgeshire, half-bred sheep are 
chiefly bought for grazing. Pure Shropshire sheep are being 
increasingly bred, as also the cross between them and the white 
faces. But the acclimatisation of imported sheep always takes 
some time to accomplish, till the expiration of which it will be 
impossible to gauge its success. Notts has always been much 
more a sheep-breeding than a cattle-rearing county, and its 
agriculturists were amongst the first to see the importance of 
using the best rams, chiefly of the Leicester breed, for which 
they were enterprising enough to pay prices considered in early 
days almost fabulous. There was the old " Forest " breed of 
sheep peculiar to the large woodland districts, which seems to 
have been of by no means remarkable merit, and which is now 
probably extinct. 
The Shire Breed of cart-horses is in very good favour and 
force, particularly upon the stiffer soils, and not a few of the 
Notts farmers seem rightly determined to partake in the advan- 
taores of the revival of the trade in them. Those of the Vale 
of Belvoir have long been famous for their successful attention 
to this branch of their business. Mr. Reynolds says of them in 
the paper already referred to: "As early as 1804 I find the 
breed of heavy horses was encouraged in Nottinghamshire," 
and goes on to specify particular stallions and their owners. 
The Pigs most in favour are the large white Yorkshire, the 
Berkshire, or the cross. 
It so happened that several of the competing farms occupied 
the site of the ancient Sherwood Forest, with all its famous 
history, tradition, and romance. It was, therefore, impossible 
that even presumably prosaic farm judges could look upon this 
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