7.

[732] The total number of sheep in Great Britain in 1877 was
28,161,164; in 1907, 26,115,455. In 1688 Youatt estimates it at
12,000,000; In 1741, 17,000,000; in 1800 26,000,000; in 1830
32,000,000.

[733] Unfortunately the class 50 acres and under at this time included
holdings _under_ one acre, so that it is useless for the comparison of
the number of small holdings at the two dates, for in 1907 none appear
under one acre.

CHAPTER XXIII

MODERN FARM LIVE STOCK

CART HORSES

Arthur Young at the end of the eighteenth century found only two
kinds of cart horses worthy of mention, the Shire and the Suffolk
Punch; to-day, besides these two, we have the Clydesdale.

The Shire horse, according to Sir Walter Gilbey, is the purest
survival of the Great Horse of mediaeval times, known also as the War
Horse, and the Old English Black Horse. It is the largest of draught
horses, attaining a height of 17 to 17.3 hands and a weight of 2,200
lb., its general characteristics being immense strength, symmetrical
proportions, bold free action, and docile disposition. In 1878 the
Shire Horse Society was established to improve the breed, and
distribute sound and healthy sires through the country.

The Clydesdale, whose native home is the valley of the Clyde, is not
so large as the Shire, but strong, active, and a fine worker. They
are either derived from a cross between Flemish stallions and
Lanarkshire mares, or are an improvement of the old Lanark breed.[734]

The Suffolk Punch looks what he is-a thorough farm horse. He stands
lower than the two former breeds, but weighs heavily, often 2,000 lb.
They are generally chestnut or light dun in colour, and their legs
are without the feather of the Clydesdale and Shire. They have been
long associated with Suffolk, and were mentioned by Camden in 1586.
According to the Suffolk _Stud Book_ of 1880, the Suffolk horses
of to-day are with few exceptions the descendants in the direct male
line of the original breed described by Arthur Young.

CATTLE

What was the original breed of cattle in this island is uncertain. The
Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in
1887 favours the view that the herds of wild cattle, such as still
exist at Chillingham, represent the original breed of Great Britain.
It states that the 'urus' was the only indigenous wild ox in this
country, and the source of all our domesticated breeds as well as of
the few wild ones