584 VARIOUS BREEDS OP SHEEP IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
In the following outline of our different native breeds I 
have endeavoured to give, in a condensed form, the general 
physical characteristics and agricultural values of each, con- 
fining my observations, save as regards a few occasional 
references, to the pure breeds, as the limits of my paper would 
not permit me to do justice to the various crosses between 
them which are every year increasing in importance both in 
an industrial and in a more strictly agricultural sense.* 
1st Division. — The Agricultural Characters of 
the Native Breeds of Sheep. 
The Long - Wootted Breeds. 
Lincolnshire. — This breed takes, perhaps, the first place 
amongst the native sheep of Great Britain, both as regards the 
weight of the animal and the size of its fleece. The sheep have 
no horns, their faces and legs are white, they have also long flat- 
ribbed bodies, and coarse legs. They grow to a large size on 
the rich pasturage of the lowlands of Lincolnshire, and produce 
a heavy fleece, which originally constituted their chief value, 
the improvement of the carcase being generally less attended 
to by the breeders than the fleece. For many years a great 
rivalry existed between them and the improved Leicesters, on 
which breed probably more attention had been paid to the 
carcase than to the fleece. At length an union was established 
between them, and the produce, by a system of judicious 
breeding, exhibited the leading qualities of both breeds: 
the coarseness of the animal frame gradually disappeared, the 
flesh was laid on more uniformly, maturity was advanced 
fully one year, less food was required, and an aptitude to 
fatten induced. The ewes were improved, and, when drafted 
for market, always carried a better condition and fetched 
more money than the old breed used to do ; the fleece was 
slightly diminished in weight, but was improved in quality. 
The sheep now are, by the improved system of turnip- 
husbandry, rendered fit for market as hogs (yearlings): they 
then w 7 eigh on the average 80, to 100 lb. each ; if kept till 
they are older they become of a large size and not so suited 
* The materials from which these sketches of our native breeds of sheep 
have been drawn, were for the most part kindly furnished to me by the 
breeders to whom on a recent occasion I applied (on behalf of the Board of 
Trade) for specimen fleeces of their respective flocks. For the information 
in reference to the commercial application and value of the different wools, 
I am indeed to Mr. John Hubbard, of Leeds. — J. W. 
