In 1795: "That no ram shall be let to any
members of the Lincolnshire Society, in classes,
at less than two hundred guineas." This was a
hit at the rival Lincolnshire breed, a kindred
tribe of long wools. Also, "That no member
shall sell any ewes, except to kill, at less than
ten guineas each."

In 1796, it was " Resolved, that whoever
deals with Mr.——- , shall pay the society fifty
guineas; that not less than one hundred guineas
be taken from any of the persons whose names
are hereafter written, for their first contract for
one ram; if two join, not less than two hundred
guineas, after which the price to be thirty
guineas for each ram." And the list included
upwards of fifty of the first noblemen, gentlemen,
and farmers in the kingdom. So well had these
measures succeeded, that in a letter quoted in
the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, dated
September, 1797, a Mr. Astley offers four
hundred guineas for leave to send fifty ewes to
the rams of Mr. Stubbin, of Holmpierpoint, an
original member of the Dishley Society.

The Dishley Society so far fulfilled its objects
that the mild, weak, indolent, white-faced, small-
boned, thorough-bred new Leicester became a
rage and a fashion, and spread all over the kingdom,
into suitable, and into the most unsuitable
districts. A Lincolnshire farmer, the late Mr.
Loft, of Louth, hired two rams at a thousand
guineas for the year. A Cornish man, Mr.
Peters, unknown to fame, brought a waggon-
load at a fabulous price into his county, and
conquered the wool-bearing native Celts.

About the same time that Bakewell was
creating and popularising the new Leicester
and long-woolled sheep, and laying down
the axioms on which all breeds of sheep were
to be improved, Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, in
Sussex, was quietly engaged in cultivating the
South Down, a small active sheep, with dark or
speckled face, and dark grey legs, found from
time immemorial on the downs of Sussex, as far
as we can learn; for the friends of this eminent
breeder are much more liberal with big words
than facts, and have published a life, which
contains all sorts of details, except information on
the subject that made him an agricultural
benefactor. Before Ellman's time they were small, high
on the shoulders, high on the loins, low on the
rump, sharp on the back, with flat ribs; they
were rarely fat before four years old, and were
valued as much for their fine wool as for their
meat. Ellman, by judicious breeding, gave the
South Down symmetry, and obtained early maturity.
For a long series of years, the Leicester
long-wool and the South Down short-wool sheep
were rivals, and hot discussions were carried on,
and many wagers laid in a wagering age as to
their comparative superiority. But, in time,
each settled down to its place. The Leicester,
the Lincoln, and kindred long-wools, to richer
and fallow land, the South Down to Downs,
and dry light chalk or sandy lands, and a
cross of one of the two was found available
on every soil and iu every climate.
Mr. Coke, of Holkham, afterwards Earl
of Leicester, with his usual sagacity,
soon hit on this truth. He began with the
most improved breed, the Leicesters, for he
found the native Norfolks were perfectly
unprofitable, of " no more a source of profit,"
he said, " than a dung-cart;" but experiments
and experience afterwards showed him that on
the light turnip land of West Norfolk, the
South Down was the right animal. And the
South Down improved in size and constitution,
and, made perfect by Jonas Webb, the
Cambridgeshire breeder, has almost superseded, or
rather crossed out, the native county black-
faced, sharp-backed breed, which had been
bred on the wild moors which then covered
half the district, because they could live on
anything, and bear any hardship of climate.
It must be owned that a Norfolk wether, when
four years old, and really fat, was, and is,
mutton of the highest class. At the present
day, the South Down is identified with Jonas
Webb, who gave it size and constitution,
fitted it for all climates, for Scotland and the
United States, France and Australia. A
Quarterly Reviewer tells how this change was
the dreams of his childhood.

Almost all agricultural improvements have
been followed by a reaction.

The Leicester fell into disrepute from being
so overbred that the fat sheep were all fat, and
the breeding ewes could not even rear their
lambs.

The South Downs suffered between the years
1800 and 1816 from an attempt to render the
wool a substitute for Merino, so as to render
this country self-supplying in short wool as well
as long wool, and also  from attempts by crosses
with the Merino, to put a Merino fleece on a
South Down carcase. The late Lord Western
pursued this last scheme with great zeal and no
success, up to 1835. Lord Somerville tried to
introduce the German plan of housing or
cotting Down sheep in winter. Even Lord
Leicester fell into the delusion of spoiling South
Downs with Merino rams. The rise of our
Australian sheep colonies, and the repeal of the
restrictions on wool importation, put a final stop
to these misdirected efforts. For at least twenty
years, mutton and mutton alone has been the
main object of the sheep farmer.

Within the same time, by the help of artificial
food and portable manures, sheep husbandry has
been introduced on tens of thousands of acres
previously in waste, or in coarse pasture
devoted to breeding colts, or coarse horned
cattle, as well as on arable farms growing little
or no natural grass. Another curious change has
taken place; every local breed in England has been
crossed and improved either by the Leicester or
South Down, or both. Or if like the Dorsets
not permanently crossed, one of the two superior
breeds has been used to procure a large
and superior class of lambs. For instance, one
of the oldest breeds in England is the Cotswold,
which no doubt nourished on those limestone
ranges in the time of Mr. Justice Shallow. The
Cotswold is a large, lively, long-woolled sheep,