In Wiltshire we enter on a new district of short wool. The management of the flock is well understood here, and the fold is the chief object for which it is kept ; for this purpose the Wiltshire sheep are peculiarly well adapted. On the chalky division of this county their numbers are very great, the South Down sheep having, within these few years, gained admission along with the native breed. This district of Wiltshire is supposed to support 583,500 sheep, which yield, at 2 lbs. each, a produce of nearly 6700 packs of wool. In the north western part of the county a much lighter stock is kept, generally about three sheep to four acres, or perhaps, on an average, not more than one sheep to two acres. The number of sheep is estimated at 117,500 ; which yield, at three pounds of wool each fleece, 1460 packs. Near ly 'the whole of the wool is wrought in the western ma nufactures.
In Berkshire, the Bagshot-heath, Wiltshire, Dorset, and South Down breeds are kept. The average weight of wool produced by those different breeds, is about 34 lbs. The stock about three sheep upon four acres ; the total number 306,600 ; the whole produce 4150 packs of wool,—part of which is wrought by the west ern manufactures, and the remainder used by those in the north of England.
In the southern division of Oxfordshire, the Wiltshire sheep are kept; about four on five acres ; the fleece averaging 31 lbs. while in the northern division it ave rages 4} lbs. In the whole county there are probably 304,600 sheep, and 5300 packs of wool. Of this quan tity one portion is used at home, in the manufacture of blankets at Witney, and of worsted shags at Banbury ; a second portion is employed at Leicester, in the stock ing trade ; and a third is sent to the Yorkshire clo thiers.
The wool of Buckinghamshire, with the exception of that which is produced on the chalk hills of that county, is fit for the use of the clothier. It is derived princi pally from sheep of the Dorset and Wiltshire breed, though in some parts the Dishley breed has been intro duced. The stock in this county is about six sheep to eleven acres; the total number 223,000; the fleece, on an average, 3 lbs. and the whole wool produced 2800 packs : a small proportion of which is used in Leicester, by far the greater part going into the Yorkshire clothing country. • The sheep in Hertfordshire are chiefly of the Wilt shire breed, though the South Down are rapidly making progress in that county. The fleece of both kinds may be averaged at 41 lbs.; the total number of sheep at up wards of 277,000 ; and the whole produce of wool at 5300 packs. Nearly the whole of it is wrought up in
the north of England, some little at Leicester, and some in Suffolk, at Bury St Edmunds: The vicinity of the metropolis, and the peculiar de mands on agricultural produce which it creates, render Middlesex by no means remarkable, either for the num ber of sheep which it supports, or for the judicious na ture of their management, or the quality of their wool. The stock here is extremely light, not being more than 19 sheep upon 32 acres ; and as not half the ground supports this animal, the total number cannot be reckon ed at more than 45,000 ;the average weight of whose fleeces being 4 lhs. the whole wool produced in this county is 750 packs.
The sheep of Dorsetshire, it has been already re marked, resemble those of Wiltshire ; in one respect, however, they are more valuable, at least to the sheep farmers in the vicinity of the metropolis, as they lamb very early in the season, and thus supply the London market, at a time when this kind of food is in great re quest, and consequently very dear. In the county from which they derive their name, they arc, however, in some measure driven out by the introduction of the South Down. In the isles of Portland and Purbeck, and about Wareham and Pool, a small kind of sheep pre vails, different from the native breed, and resembling the Welsh sheep. The stock of Dorsetshire is about 632.300, or 28 sheep to 31 acres. The average fleece is 34 lbs. and the whole produce of wool is 9900 packs. In this county the lambs are shorn, and the wool from them is about one-third of the quantity obtained from the dams. lost of the wool is employed in the manufactures of the west of England.
In Devonshire, besides the long-woolled sheep already noticed, there are several kinds which carry short wool ; the average fleece of which may be estimated at 4 lbs. According to which, from 437,000 sheep, there will be produced about 7300 packs of wool, which is manufac tured within the county.
Cornwall, both on account of the moisture of its cli mate and the nature of its soil, is ill adapted to sheep husbandry. It is extremely difficult to form an estimate of the stock kept in this county : it is very light, proba bly not more than one sheep to four acres; the weight of the fleece is about 4 lbs.; the number of sheep about 230.000; the quantity of wool they afford, nearly 3400 packs. The yarn produced from it is partly wrought into the common serge of the county, and partly sent to Devonshire.