32 
THE SHEEP. 
THE OLD NORFOLK EREED. 
every other race of Sheep to which the care of the breeder has been directed. But few breeders appear to have thought the 
Norfolk so deserving of preservation and improvement, as to have deemed it necessary to apply to it those principles of breeding 
which have been successfully applied to other races. Very lately, indeed, the matter has occupied the attention of the possessors 
of the few unmixed flocks which remain; hut unless these gentlemen are seconded by more extensive support than they have yet 
received, it is believed that this ancient race will, at no distant time, be merged in others which have acquired a higher value 
by the care of the breeder. 
The breed which of all others has the most trenched upon the domains of the ancient Norfolk is the Southdown. This 
admirable breed has not only occupied districts formerly possessed by the Norfolk, but has been largely used to cross the latter; 
and experience has shown that these crosses are superior in form, though not in weight, to those of the Leicester. This is a 
conclusion which might have been drawn even without the aid of experience. The Southdowns, which are a short-woolled race, 
and indigenous to a calcareous country, which is also the geological character of the country of the Norfolks, have a greater 
affinity with the Norfolks than the long-woolled Leicesters and Lincolns, and are therefore better suited to amalgamate with them. 
It has been seen, on the other hand, that the long-woolled Sheep of the plains are better fitted to unite with the Welsh, the 
Dartmoor, and Exmoor, than the fine-woolled Southdown; illustrating a principle of breeding too often disregarded, of bring¬ 
ing together animals which possess a certain community of characters. 
As connected with the Heath Breeds of the country may here be mentioned one of remarkable characters termed the 
PENISTONE. This race inhabits a district of the coal formation on the confines of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire. It 
is found in the higher parts of this district, where a coarse heathy herbage prevails, occupying a limited tract of about twenty-six 
miles by twenty. On the slopes of the hills the older breed merges in the crosses that have been made, chiefly with the Leicester. 
The Sheep are termed Penistone, from the market-town of that name, lying a few miles to the south of Huddersfield in the West 
Riding of Yorkshire, and to which they are usually driven for sale. 
These Sheep have wool of a medium length, of a silky appearance, but harsh and wiry, and weighing from four to five pounds 
the fleece. They have white faces and legs. The rams exceed the size of the ewes and wethers in an unusual degree, a pecu¬ 
liarity which is ascribed to their being taken to the lower country to be reared. The rams alone have horns, which are very 
large, lying close to the head, and projecting forward. A distinguishing character of this breed is an extreme coarseness of form, 
and especially of the extremities. The feet are large, the limbs bony, the shoulders heavy, the sides flat; but the most singular 
characteristic is the length and muscularity of the tail, in which respect the Penistone Sheep differ from all others in this country. 
This enlargement of the tail is merely muscular and bony, and not at all analogous to the growth of fat which takes place in the 
tails of certain Sheep of Eastern countries. The mutton of these Sheep is highly valued for its juiciness and flavour. 
The Penistone is manifestly to be referred to the same general type as the Black-faced Heath Breed. It approaches to this 
race in the character of its wool, but differs from it in .its clumsier and less agile form. The individuals are very large, but weigh 
the least perhaps in proportion to their offal and bulk of body, of any sheep of this country. 
It may excite surprise that a breed possessing such characters should have maintained its place in the centre of England, 
in the vicinity of some of the most opulent towns, and on the borders of districts the most celebrated for their breeds of Sheep. 
The Penistone district is, however, of peculiar characters. It is high, yet yields a plentiful coarse herbage of heath and intermixed 
grasses. It is scarcely sufficiently fertile, or sufficiently improved, for the Leicesters, and is just such a district as would appear 
to be suited to support a coarse race of native Sheep. Farmers have found these animals to be hardy, and adapted to the country 
in which they are naturalized, and hence have been disposed to overlook their defects. Yet a gentle crossing with more improved 
breeds might have corrected their more palpable defects, without rendering them too fine for their situation. It may be expected, 
however, that this coarse unthrifty breed will disappear, either by the effects of crossing, or by the substitution of superior varie¬ 
ties. A breed which seems well suited for this district, at least so long as it remains in its present uncultivated state, is the 
Cheviot, which is calculated to thrive well in a country of heaths with intermixed grasses. Cheviot flocks have indeed been intro¬ 
duced into the Penistone district, but the farmers dislike them on account of their smallness of size, not considering that a greater 
number of these smaller sheep could be maintained, and would yield a larger produce of mutton with less of offal, on the same 
space of ground. The pure Southdowns would be out of place in these rugged pastures, which are not adapted to a race the 
natives of a country of short and fine herbage. Still more unsuitable are other breeds which have been employed to cross these 
coarse animals, as for example the Ryeland, one of the prettiest little breeds in the country, but differing in all its characters from 
the Penistone. 
