69 
Shropshire Sheep. 
them, and, taking them in every point, we have yet to be 
convinced that they are to be surpassed by any other breed.” 
At Chester Royal Show in 1858 Messrs. J. & E. Crane with 
Celebrity , Mr. W. 0. Foster, Mrs. Annie Baker with Chester Billy 
and Mr. G. Adney with Patentee and Earl Salisbury were 
successful competitors, and the Reports of Judges at the Royal 
and at local Shows in succeeding years continue to draw 
attention to the qualities of the breed, which was first recog- 
nised as distinct at the Warwick Meeting in 1859, when special 
classes were admitted into the R.A.S.E. prize list, in which 192 
sheep competed. At the Leeds Meeting in 1861, the judges of 
Shropshires reported : — u Perhaps no description of sheep 
excited more interest in the Showyard than these. We find 
them in greater number than any other breed shown. It is 
impossible not to be struck with the appearance of these as a 
most useful rent-paying kind of animal. It would be well for 
breeders of these sheep to bear in mind that the qualities which 
have brought their sheep into notice are their aptitude to 
produce great weight and quality of both mutton and wool, 
combined with early maturity, wliile they will bear to be 
stocked more thickly than any other breed of equal weight. 
In addition to these good qualities, they are far more prolific 
than any other breed, and capital nurses.” 
About this period the principal breeders were Mr. Sampson 
Byrd, Mr. Henry Mathews, Mr. Pry r ce W. Bowen, Lord Wenlock, 
all of whom were successful exhibitors at the Royal, and other 
breeders showing at that time and not already mentioned, 
include Mr. J. H. Bradburne, Mr. R. H, Masfen, Mr. Joseph 
Meire, Mr. Maddox, Mr. John Preece, Mr. John Stubbs, Mr. 0. 
R. Keeling, Colonel Dyott, Mr. William Grindle, Mr. J. B. Green, 
Mr. T. C. Whitmore, Mr. Edward Thornton, Mr. Tarte, Mr. 
Urwick, Mr. Thomas Marsh, Mr. Grewcock, Mr. Nurse, &c., &c. 
To repeat what has been so well put forward by experts in 
the middle of the last century, no breed is so prolific and with 
ordinary management and care during the autumn and winter, 
at least 50 per cent, of doubles may be looked for, though in 
many instances I have known a much larger crop, and the 
increase when a Shropshire ram is put upon long-woolled ewes 
is, to quote Professor Coleman’s own words, “ much greater.” 
In his work on the sheep of Great Britain he states that in the 
autumn he usually purchases forty Banffshire ewes, i.e. a 
description of Border Leicesters, with a slight Cheviot cross, 
and serves them with a Shropshire ram, either a shearling or a 
ram lamb. In 1872, thirty-six ewes produced seventy-eight 
lambs (216 § per cent.) all sold fat. In a subsequent year, forty 
ewes produced eighty-two lambs* but owing to unfavourable 
causes ten were lost. 
