THE CULTIVATOR. 
149 
with the hack, and not too wide abeve; they should bow outward from the top 
to the breast, indicating a springing rib beneath, and leaving room for it. 
The ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending fir back¬ 
ward, and the last rib projecting more than the others; the back flat from the 
shoulders to the setting on of the tail; the loin broad and Hat; the rump long 
and broad, and the tail set on high and nearly on a level with the spine. The 
hips wide; the space between them and the last rib on either side as narrow 
as possible, and the ribs, generally, presenting a circular form like a barrel. 
The belly as straight as the back. 
The legs neither too long nor too short. The fore-legs straight from the 
breast to the foot; not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart both 
before and behind; the hocks having a direction rather outward, and the twist, 
or the meeting of the thighs behind, being particularly full; the bones tine, yet 
having no appearance of weakness, and ol a speckled or dark colour. 
The belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and 
behind to the knee, and to the hock; the wool short, close, curled, and fine, 
and free from spiry projecting fibres. 
The South-Down is adapted to almost any situation in the midland part of 
England, it has a patience of occasional short beep, and an endurance of hard 
stocking, equal to any other sheep; an early maturity, scarcely inferior to that 
of the Leicestcrs, and the flesh finely grained, and of peculiarly good flavor. 
Fig. 45. 
South Dawn Ram. 
It is only lately that the South Downs have been brought to that degree of 
perfection which they at present exhibit. Their zealous advocate, and the 
breeder to whom they are indebted more than to any other for the estimation 
in which they are now justly held, Mr. Eliman, says of them—“• This breed 
was formerly of a small size, and far from p ssessing a good shape, being long 
and thin in the neck, high on the shoulders, low behind, high on the loins, 
down on the rumps, the tail set on very low, perpendicular from the hip-bones, 
sharp on the back—the ribs flat, not bowing, narrow in the fore-quarters, but 
good in the leg, although having nig bone.” Arthur Young, who saw them in 
1776, thus speaks of them—“ Fine wool is certainly a very considerable ob¬ 
ject, provided it is gained on a well-formed carcase; but if a fine coat is pro¬ 
cured at the expense of a thin chine, low fore-end, and rising back-bone, the 
advantage is purchased too dearly. The faults most common in the South 
Down breed are these three. They are found very general even in the best 
flocks, inasmuch as not more than one sheep in a hundred, perhaps in two hun¬ 
dred, is to be seen tolerably free from them.” 
Since that time they have materially improved, yet not by any admixture 
of foreign blood, for even the cross with the Leicesters was a failure, and the 
promised advantages to be derived from the Merinos were delusive. The 
sheep-owners began better to understand, and carefully to practise, the true 
principles of breeding. The “ sorting” of their flocks was no longer left to the 
menial; the sexual intercourse of the sheep was no longer a matter almost of 
chance-medley: but a system of selection was adopted and sedulously follow¬ 
ed. In addition to this, as has been already remarked, there was a great im¬ 
provement in agriculture generally. The introduction of the turnip-husband¬ 
ry enabled the farmer to keep more sheep on the same quantity of land, and 
to keep them better, and, in fret, to feed them up earlier and more certainly to 
that development of form and utility of which they were capable. “ They are 
now ” says Mr. Eliman, “ much improved both in shape and constitution. 
They are smaller in bone, equally hardy, with a greater disposition to fatten, 
and much heavier in carcase when fat. They used seldom to fatten u til they 
were four years old; but it would now be a rare sight to see a pen of South 
Down wethers at market more than two years old, and many are killed before 
they reach that age.” 
For an account of the most perfect form of the South Down sheep, the read¬ 
er is referred back to p. Ill of this Treatise, where a description is given of 
what a hill or down sheep ought to be; and to which may be added, that this 
animal has a patience of occasional short keep, and an endurance of hard stock¬ 
ing scarcely surpassed by any other sheep, an early maturity not inferior to 
that of the Leicesters, the flesh finely grained, and the wool of the most useful 
quality. 
The South Down sheep are polled; but it is probable that the original 
breed was horned. It has been shown that the primitive breed of sheep was 
probably horned. The ram that was sacrificed by Abraham, instead of his son 
was entangled in a thicket by his horns; and it is not unusual to find among 
the male South Down lambs some with small horns. ' 
The dusky or sometimes black hue of the head and legs of the South Downs 
not only proves the original colour of the sheep, and perhaps of all sheep, but 
the later period at which it w as seriously attempted to gel rid of this dingy hue. 
In almost every flock, notwithstanding the great care which is now taken to 
prevent it, several parti-coloured lambs w ill be dropped; some with large black 
spots, some half black, and some entirely black. A w riter in the “ Annals of 
Agriculture ” stales, that “ he has frequently had twelve or fourteen perfectly 
black lambs, although he never kept a black ram or ewe.” From this he draw s 
the conlusion, that their original colour w as black; that art alone produced the 
white wool; and that, if the best of the South Downs were left in a w ild state, 
they would in a few years become black again. 
There are no sheep more healthy than the South Downs. They seldom suf¬ 
fer from the hydatid on the brain, nor, on the majorit y of the farms, are they so 
much exposed to the rot as in many other districts. Their general health may 
be much connected w ith this frequent change of food, and their periodical jour¬ 
neys to and from the fold. 
The rams are usually put with the ewes about the middle of October, and 
remain w ith them three or four weeks. The careful breeder, where his farm 
w ill admit of it, puts only one ram to a certain number of ew es in each enclo¬ 
sure; about forty to a lamb ram, and eighty to one fully grown. He thus 
knows the progeny of each ram, a circumstance of no little importance w ith re¬ 
gard to the improvement of the breed. At the end of the third or fourth week 
the whole flock is again put together; two or three rams being left w ith them 
in case any of the ewes should still remain at heat. 
It is believed that the treatment of the ewes at this time has considerable 
connexion with the number of lambs which they will produce. If they are well 
kept, a considerable proportion of them will probably have twins. It is possi¬ 
ble that the stimulus of plentiful and nutritious food may have some influence 
on the number of the lambs; but if the farming arrangements of the sheep- 
breeder should render it desirable for his stock thus rapidly to multiply, he 
would be most likely to accomplish his object by breeding from rams and ewes 
that were twins. No fact can be more clearly established than an hereditary 
tendency to fecundity. 
The average dead weight of the South Down wether varies from eight to 
eleven stones; but Mr. Grantham exhibited a pen of three sheep in the last 
show of the Smithfield Club, (1835,) one of them weighing twenty stones 
three pounds; a second, twenty stones six pounds; and the third, twenty-one 
stones. 
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 increased to.three pounds. 
The fleece of the lowland sheep, that used to be three pounds, is now three 
and a half, or 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 in length, and w as oftener not more 
than one and a half inches: it is now more than two inches, and in some of the 
lowland sheep it has reached to four inches. The number of hill sheep had 
rather decreased since 1800, and those in the low lands had materially so; but 
now that South Down wool is once more obtaining a remunerating price, the 
flocks are becoming larger than they were. The colour of the wool differs 
materially, according to the colour of the soil. The shortest and the finest wool 
is produced on the chalky soil, where the sheep have to travel far for the food; 
but there is a harshness and brittleness about this wool which was always seri¬ 
ously objected to. 
The microscopic appearance of the South Dow n wool is delineated in page 
90. The fibre is the six-hundredth part of an inch in diameter ; that of the Sax¬ 
ony wool being but the eight-hundred-and-fourth part. The serrations are on¬ 
ly 2,080 to an inch; while in the Saxony wool 2,720 were observed in the 
same space. 
The practice of letting and selling rams was more prevalent and more profit¬ 
able among the breeders of the South Down sheep than of any other kind, ex¬ 
cept the Leicesters. At the sheep-shearing at Woburn, in 1800, a South Down 
ram, belonging to the Duke of Bedford, was let for one season at 80 guineas 
two others at 40 guineas each, and four more at 28 guineas each. This prac¬ 
tice has been of later years pursued extensively and profitably by Messrs. Eli¬ 
man, Grantham, Todd, and others. 
Two years previously to this, the emperor of Russia bought two of Mr. Ell- 
man’s rams, in order to try the effect of the cross on the northern sheep. The 
Duke of Bedford, at the request of Mr. Eliman, put a price upon them, observ¬ 
ing that he did not wish to charge a foreign sovereign, who had done him so 
much honor, more than any other individual. The price fixed by the Duke 
was 300 guineas for the two, and he purchased two more for himself at the 
same rate. 
The pure South Downs have penetrated to almost every part of the king¬ 
dom, and everywhere they have succeeded when care was taken that the lo¬ 
cality and the soil were suited to the breed; except that on the northern hills, 
where the Cheviots and the black-fuccd sheep wander, they have not thriven 
so well as on their native downs .—Library of Useful Knowledge, Farmer’s 
Series. _ 
ON THE USE OF LIME AS A MANURE— By M. Puvis. 
Translated for the Farmers’ Register from the Annales de 1'Agriculture Fran- 
caise, of 1835 .—f Concluded fi-om page 11'.j 
ABSORPTION OF PLANTS, IN VEGETATION ON CULTIVATED SOILS. 
32. Vegetation on uncultivated soils operates under conditions altogether 
