| any existence till about 60 or 70 years ago. 
| original sheep of the downs of Hampshire were 
_a large, hardy, long-horned, coarse-boned, un- 
| thrifty breed, with tolerably fine short wool, 
| carcases thin and weak; 
projecting fibres.” 
variety of this breed, known as the Babraham 
Southdowns, was recently raised by Mr. James 
Webb of Babraham in Cambridgeshire, and has 
come into great favour. 
The Hampshire Down sheep cannot easily be 
traced to their origin, and seem not to have had 
The 
good milkers, and similar in many respects to 
the old Wiltshire breed ; but they are now ex- 
tinct, The present race seem to have had a 
mixed origin, and probably arose, in a main de- 
gree, from crosses of many of the earliest rams 
of the improved Southdown race with ewes of 
the old Hampshire and the old Berkshire races ; 
and they have a larger bulk, a stouter structure, 
coarser bones, and longer legs than the present 
Southdowns, and are better adapted for endur- 
ing hardships, and for serving some general pur- 
-poses. The normal form of this breed prevails 
in North Hampshire ; a subvariety of it extends 
into Berkshire and Wiltshire ; and a mixture of 
it and the Southdown, with a predominance of 
the blood of the latter, prevails in South Hamp- 
shire. 
The Lincoln sheep are a long-woolled race, but 
| comprise two very distinct breeds, the old and 
the improved. The old Lincoln sheep are the 
_ most remarkable of the peculiar, coarse, large- 
| bodied family who inhabit the rich marshy tracts 
| of the Fens of England. They are hornless and 
whitefaced, and have a large tuft on their fore- 
head ; their size is bulky, their form coarse, and 
their bones large ; their legsare large and rough; 
their flanks are hollow, their sides flat, and their 
their fleece is won- 
drously heavy, and sends down its long unctuous 
wool in pendulous masses almost to the ground ; 
and their flesh is coarser, leaner, and less finely 
flavoured than that of the smaller breeds. But 
they fatten slowly, and consume much food, and 
are ill adapted to any system of sparce or artifi-. 
cial feeding ; and now they occur within narrow 
limits, and are hastening to extinction. The 
improved Lincolns are a cross between the old 
Lincolns and the Leicesters, and are smaller than 
the former, and have less wool, and a better form, 
and a greater aptitude to fatten, and a superior 
thriftiness of growth, and a better adaptation 
in every way to the altered circumstances of 
the husbandry of the plains. “With the new 
era of agricultural improvement, when the heaths, 
wolds, and rabbit warrens were converted by the 
| spirited breeders into tillage, arose the great im- 
| portance of adapting the large unwieldy old 
Lincolns, hitherto produced for the rich marshes, 
to the more moderate production of the healthy 
soils under improvement; consequently rapid 
advances have been made in their improvement 
by judicious crosses with the Leicesters; and at 
SHEEP. 
A new and beautiful sub- 
the present time they rank amongst the most 
valuable breeds for the purposes assigned to them, 
and are shown in great perfection at the great 
spring fairs of Lincoln, Caistor, Boston, and other 
places, at each of which full 20,000 lamb-hogs 
usually change hands, from the heath and wold 
breeders to the graziers and dealers from the sur- 
rounding grazing districts. But they are prin- 
cipally shown in condition for the butcher ; and, 
instead of representing the old coarse breed to 
be fattened when 2 or 3 years old, they now 
combine to a great extent the properties of the 
Leicester, upon a larger scale, with a longer and 
heavier staple of wool; and in this they have 
been much aided by the judicious selection of 
males, from time to time, by the spirited ram- 
breeders in the different districts in the county.” 
The Romney marsh or Kent sheep inhabit the 
low flat extensive fen district on the south coast 
of Kent, and have extended thence into other 
parts of that county. The old or native breed 
were coarsely-shaped long-woolled animals of 
similar character to the old Lincolns, but smaller. 
Their head was coarse, and had a tuft of wool ; 
their neck was thick ; their, chest was narrow ; 
their sides flat, and their bellies large ; their 
limbs were long and stout, and rested on broad 
feet ; and their fleece weighed 7 lb. or 8 lb., and 
had wool of different qualities on different parts, 
but in the aggregate moderately soft. They fat- 
tened slowly, and, though well liked by the but- 
cher, were unthrifty to the farmer, and conse- 
quently passed, in the progress of modern im- 
provement, into general disfavour. The modern 
breed is a very diversified cross between the old 
breed and the Leicester ; and while some flocks 
of it exhibit much of the character of the old, and 
have long legs, flat sides, and coarse extremities, 
other flocks exhibit scarcely a trace of it, and 
possess an independent character of much im- 
provement in form, greater disposition to fatten, 
superior thriftiness in growth, and considerable 
reduction in size. “ Though the pure Leicester 
ram,” we are told, “is now but rarely employed, 
from the fear of inducing a too great delicacy in 
the breed, and an inability to withstand the ex- 
posure to the weather, and the absence of shel- 
ter; yet the present race evidently shows the 
source from whence it derived its improvement. 
With the progress of this improvement also 
there arose a greater disposition to select the 
most improved specimens for the perpetuation 
of the race ; and the adoption of this principle 
has, in a great measure, prevented the annie 
of returning to the pure Leicester.” 
The Bampton Notts or Devon. sheep are a re- 
cently established and very fine breed of long- 
woolled animals, formed by crossing an old breed 
on the confines of Devonshire and Somersetshire | 
with the Leicester sheep. The old breed had a 
white face, a coarse clumsy form, a thick hide, 
and a long and heavy fleece; and, though dif- 
ficult to fatten, they weighed at two years of age 
PUR | | 
| 
Leal 
