Suffolk  Sheep. 
67 
of  carcass  ; the  other  was  wide  and  deep-bodied  on  short  legs. 
The  gentle  disposition  of  the  Down  was  also  required  to  modify 
the  great  constitutional  vigour  of  the  horned  sheep,  which 
was,  so  it  seems,  associated  with  some  ferocity.  In  the  Live 
Stock  Journal  for  1885,  we  find,  on  page  220,  an  extract  from 
the  East  Anglian  Daily  Times , in  which  it  is  stated  that 
“ Mr.  Joseph  Smith,  of  Hasketon,  remembers,  when  a boy, 
how  the  Norfolk  rams  belonging  to  his  father  used  to  knock 
down  the  shepherd,  for  these  horned  sheep  were  very 
pugnacious.” 
To  the  credit  of  a past  generation  of  East  Anglian  flock- 
masters,  it  may  be  said  that,  while  keeping  all  that  was  of 
value  in  the  Norfolk,  they  added  to  it  many  points  previously 
wanting,  which  they  got  mostly  from  the  Southdown,  but 
possibly  from  other  varieties  as  well,  for  history  offers  some 
suggestions  of  such  having  happened,  and  the  resultant  product 
eventually  became  known  as  the  Suffolk  sheep.  To  make  this 
historical  summary  more  complete,  we  may  quote  Mr.  Hugh 
Raynbird,  who,  writing  “.On  the  Farming  of  Suffolk  ” in  the 
R.A.S.E.  Journal  for  1847,  says,  “ Breeding  sheep  are  chiefly  a 
cross  between  the  Down  and  the  old  Norfolk,”  there  being  no 
doubt,  from  the  context,  that  by  “ Down  ” Mr.  Raynbird  means 
the  Southdown. 
We  learn  from  the  S.S.S.  Flock-book  that  by  1859  these 
cross-breds  had  been  christened  “ Suffolks,”  and  that  classes 
were  provided  for  them  as  such  at  the  Suffolk  County  Show. 
In  a recent  communication,  Mr.  W.  K.  Bond  informs  me  that 
he  has  before  him  copies  of  the  catalogues  of  the  Suffolk 
Agricultural  Show  for  the  years  1858  and  1859.  In  the 
former  year,  the  classes  were  for  “ Black-faced  Sheep,”  in  the 
latter  for  “ Black-faced  Suffolks."  The  1858  Show  was  at 
Bury  St.  Edmunds,  and  that  of  1859  at  Ipswich. 
In  1886  we  get  some  independent  testimony  of  the  progress 
of  the  breed.  Mr.  W.  J.  Moscrop,  in  his  repoi't  on  the  Farm 
Prize  Competition  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  (R.A.S.E.  Journal, 
pp.  574-5),  says  : “ In  the  breed  of  sheep  within  the  present 
century  there  have  been  greater  changes  and  improvements 
even  than  in  the  cattle.”  The  writer  who  had,  earlier  in  the 
report,  given  much  credit  for  the  improvement  noticed  in  the 
horned  stock  of  the  counties,  gives  now  some  history  of  the 
making  of  the  breed,  and  goes  on  to  say  that  “ the  result  of 
crossing  the  old  Norfolk  with  them  ” [the  Southdowns]  “ was 
the  creation  of  a new  breed  possessing  the  good  qualities  of 
both.  . . . The  breed  is  now  known  as  the  Suffolk.  ...  The 
mutton  is  reported  to  be  worth  fully  a penny  more  per  pound 
than  that  from  the  long-wool  cross,  and  so  famous  has  it 
become  that  gentlemen  of  the  Turf  frequenting  Newmarket 
