178 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
This animal has a patience of occasional short keep, and an endurance 
of hard stocking scarcely surpassed by any other sheep, an early matu- 
rity not inferior to that of the Leicesters, the flesh finely grained, and 
the wool of the most useful quality. 
The average weight of the fleece of a South-Down hill sheep was 
stated by Mr. Luccock, in 1800, to be two pounds; it has now in- 
creased to three pounds. The fleece of the lowland sheep, that used 
to be three pounds, is now three and a half, or even four pounds. This 
is the natural consequence of the different mode of feeding, and the 
larger size of the animal. The length of the staple in the hill sheep 
rarely exceeded two inches, and was oftener not more than one and a 
half "inches: it is now more than two inches, and in some of the low- 
land sheep it has reached to four inches. The number of hill sheep had 
rather decreased since 1800, and those in the lowlands had materially 
so ; but now that South-Down wool is once more obtaining a remuner- 
ating price, the flocks are becoming larger than they were. The color 
of the wool differs materially, according to the color of the soil. The 
shortest and the finest wool is produced on the chalky soil, where the 
sheep have to travel far for their food ; but there is a hardness and a 
brittleness about this wool which was always seriously objected to. 
The greater comparative bulk of the fiber, and paucity of serrations, 
will account for the harshness and want of felting property, which have 
been considered as defects in this wool. The brittleness of the pile is, 
perhaps, to be attributed chiefly to the soil. The clothiers were always 
careful not to use too much of it in the making of their finest cloths. 
When most in repute, the South-Down was principally devoted to the 
manufacture of servants’ and army clothing, or it was sparingly mixed 
with other wools for finer cloth. Now, however, when it is materially 
increased in length, and become a combing wool, and applicable to so 
many more purposes than it was before — now that it enters into the 
composition of flannels, baizes, and worsted goods of almost every de- 
scription — its fineness and its felting, compared with some of the other 
short wools, render it a truly valuable article. The South-Down sheep- 
master justly repudiates the charge of its deterioration — it has only 
changed its character — it has become a good combing wool, instead of 
an inferior carding one; it has become more extensively useful, and 
therefore more valuable ; and the time is not tar distant when the sheep- 
owner will be convinced that it is his interest to make the South-Down 
wool even longer and heavier than it now is. A sheep possessing such 
qualities must of course be valuable in upland districts, in the vicinity 
of markets. They have been introduced into every part of the British 
dominions, and imported into various other countries. The Emperor of 
Russia paid Mr. Eliraan three hundred guineas for two rams, and in 
1800, “a ram belonging to the Duke of Bedford, was let for one season 
at eighty guineas, two others at forty guineas each, and four more at 
twenty-eight guineas each.” These valuable sheep were introduced into 
the United States a few years since by Col. J. H. Powell, of Philadel- 
phia. and a small number were imported in 1834. The last were from 
the flock of Mr. Ellman, at a cost of $Sti0 a head. Several other impor- 
tations have since taken place. 
