7 02 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
ON THE VARIOUS BREEDS OE SHEEP IN GREAT BRITAIN, 
ESPECIALLY WITH REFERENCE TO THE CHARACTER 
AND YALUE OF THEIR WOOL. 
By John Wilson, Professor of Agriculture in the 
University of Edinburgh. 
( Continued from p. 665.) 
Short-woolled Breeds. 
South Downs . — The name of this breed is taken from the 
range of Chalk Hills which, running in an east and westerly 
direction through the southern portions of the counties of 
Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and Dorsetshire, are known gene- 
rally as the 6i South Downs.” Their elevation is nowhere 
very great; their breadth varies from one mile to six or eight; 
and their surface is firm and dry, and covered with a close, 
short, and sweet herbage. On the south side they dip gra- 
dually towards the sea ; on the north they are bounded by 
the rich lands of the Lower Chalk, or of the Wealden forma- 
tions. The entire district is admirably adapted for the suc- 
cessful development of sheep-farming, both in the wide range 
and nutritious vegetation of the hill pastures and in the 
climate ; while the proximity to well-cultivated lands stretch- 
ing along their base insures an abundance of keep, so neces- 
sary to sustain the condition and the character of our improved 
breeds. The South Downs of the present day present pro- 
bably as marked an improvement upon the original breed as 
that exhibited by the Leicesters or any other breed. To the 
late Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, we are indebted for the high 
estimation in which they are now generally held. When he 
commenced his experiments in breeding he found the sheep 
of small size and far from possessing good points ; being long 
and thin in the neck; narrow in the fore-quarters; high on 
the shoulders, low behind, yet high on the loins, sharp on 
the back ; the ribs flat, drooping behind, with the tail set very 
low ; good in the leg, though somewhat coarse in the bone. 
By a careful and unremitting attention during a series of 
years to the defective points in the animal, and a judicious 
selection of his breeding flock, his progressive improvements 
were at length acknowledged far and wide ; and he closed a 
