The Limestone is a breed of which little is heard. It is almost restricted to the fells of Westmorland, and is probably nearly related to the Scotch Black-face. The breed does not thrive off its own geological formation, and the ewes seek the ram early in the season. The so-called "Limestones" of the Derbyshire hills are really Leicesters.

The Welsh Mountain is a small, active, soft-woolled, whitefaced breed of hardy character. The legs are often yellowish, and this colour may extend to the face. The mutton is of excellent quality. The ewes, although difficult to confine by ordinary fences, are in high favour in lowland districts for breeding fattening lambs to Down and other early maturity rams. The Clun Forest is a local breed in W. Shropshire and the adjacent part of Wales. It is descended from the old Tan-faced sheep. It is now three parts Shropshire, having been much crossed with that breed, but its wool is rather coarser. The Radnor is short-limbed and low-set with speckled face and legs. It is related to the Clun Forest and the Kerry Hill sheep. The draft ewes of all three breeds are in high demand for breeding to Down and longwool rams in the English midlands.

The Ryeland breed is so named from the Ryelands, a poor upland district in Herefordshire. It is a very old breed, against which the Shropshires have made substantial headway. Its superior qualities in wool and mutton production have been fully demonstrated, and a demand for rams is springing up in S. as well as in N. America. The Ryeland sheep are small, hornless, have white faces and legs, and remarkably fine short wool, with a topknot on the forehead.

The Dartmoor, a hardy local Devonshire breed, is a large hornless, longwool, white-fleeced sheep, with a long mottled face. It has been attracting attention in recent years.

The Exmoor is a horned breed of Devonshire moorland, one of the few remaining remnants of direct descent from the old forest breeds of England. They have white legs and faces and black nostrils. The coiled horns lie more closely to the head than in the Dorset and Somerset Horn breed. The Exmoors have a close, fine fleece of short wool. They are very hardy, and yield mutton of choice flavour.

The Dorset and Somerset Horn is an old west-country breed of sheep. The fleece is fine in quality, of close texture, and the wool is intermediate between long and short, whilst the head carries a forelock. Both sexes have horns, very much coiled in the ram. The muzzle, legs and hoofs are white; the nostrils pink. This is a hardy breed, in size somewhat exceeding the Southdown. The special characteristic of the breed is that the ewes take the ram at an unusually early period of the year, and cast ewes are in demand for breeding house lamb for Christmas. Two crops of lambs in a year are sometimes obtained from the ewes, although it does not pay to keep such rapid breeding up regularly. The Merino is the most widely distributed sheep in the world.

but they are wool-sheep which produce slowly a secondary quality of mutton-thin and blue in appearance. The Merino resemble the Dorset Horn breed. The rams possess large coiling horns-the ewes may or may not have them. The muzzle is flesh-coloured and the face covered with wool. The wool, densely set on a wrinkled skin, is white and generally fine, although it is classified into long, short, fine and strong. Merino cross with early-maturity longwool, Down, or other close-wooled rams, are good butchers' sheep, and most of the frozen mutton imported into the United Kingdom has had more or less of a merino origin. (W. FR.; R. W.)

Lowland Sheep-breeding and Feeding.-A Shropshire flock of about two hundred breeding ewes is here taken as a typical example of the numerous systems of managing sheep on a mixed farm of grazing and arable land. The ewes lamb from early in January till the a few days. When drafted to an adjoining field they run in front end of February. The lambs have the shelter of a lambing shed for of their mothers and get a little crushed oats and linseed cake meal, the ewes receiving kail or roots and hay to develop milk. Swedes gradually give place to mangolds, rye and clover before the end of May. At this time unshorn lambs are dipped and dosed with one April, when shearing of the ewe flock begins, to be finished early in of Cooper's tablets of sulphur-arsenic dip material to destroy internal parasites. The operation is repeated in September. The lambs are weaned towards the end of June and the ewes run on the poorest pasture till August to lose surplus fat. In August the ewes are culled and the flock made up to its full numbers by selected shearling ewes. All are assorted and mated to suitable rams. Most of the older ewes take the ram in September, but maiden ewes are kept back till October. During the rest of the year the ewes run on grass and food daily, lb each, gradually rising as they grow heavy in lamb receive hay when necessary, with a limited amount of dry artificial to 1 lb per day. Turnips before lambing, if given in liberal quantities, are an unsafe food. To increase the number of doubles, ewes are sometimes put on good fresh grass, rape or mustard a week before the tups go out a ram to sixty ewes is a usual proportion, though with care a stud ram can be got to settle twice the number. With good management twenty ewes of any of the lowland breeds should produce and rear thirty lambs, and the proportion can be increased by breeding from ewes with a prolific tendency. The period of gestation of a ewe is between 21 and 22 weeks, and the period of oestrum 24 hours. If not settled the ewe comes back to the ram in from 13 to 18 (usually 16) days. To indicate the time or times of tupping three colours of paint are used. The breast of the ram is rubbed daily for the first fortnight with blue, for a similar period with red, and finally with black.

Fattening tegs usually go on to soft turnips in the end of September or beginning of October, and later on to yellows, green-rounds and swedes and, in spring and early summer, mangolds. The roots are cut into fingers and supplemented by an allowance of concentrated food made up of a mixture of ground cakes and meal, lb rising to about b; and 3 lb to 1 lb of hay per day. The dry substance consumed per 100 lb live weight in a ration of Ib cake and corn, 12 lb roots and 1 lb hay daily, would be 16 lb per week, and this gives an increase of nearly 2% live weight or 1 lb of live weight increase for 8 lb of dry food eaten. Sheep finishing at 135 lb live weight yield about 53% of carcass or over 70 lb each.

Management of Mountain Breeds.-Ewes on natural pastures receive no hand feeding except a little hay when snow deeply covers the ground. The rams come in from the hills on the 1st of January and are sent to winter on turnips. Weak ewes, not safe to survive the hardships of spring, are brought in to better pasture during February and March. Ewe hogs wintered on grass in the low country from the 1st of November are brought home in April, and about the middle of April on the average mountain ewes begin to lamb. One lamb at weaning time for every ewe is rather over the normal amount of produce. Cheviot and cross-bred lambs are marked, and the males are castrated, towards the end of May. Nearly a month later black-face lambs are marked and the eild sheep are shornthe shearing of milch ewes being delayed till the second week of July. Towards the end of July sheep are all dipped to protect them from maggot flies (which are generally worst during August) with materials containing arsenic and sulphur, like that of Cooper and Bigg. Fat wethers for the butcher are drafted from the hills in August and the two succeeding months. Lamb sales are most numerous in August, when lowland farmers secure their tegs to feed in winter. In this month breeding ewes recover condition and strength to withstand the winter storms. Ram auctions are on in September and draft ewe sales begin and continue through October. Early this month winter dipping is done at midday in dry weather.

It has been the foundation stock of the flocks of all the great sheep countries. A few have existed in Britain for more than a

"buist" put on at clipping time with a large iron letter dipped in hot tar, have the distinctive paint or kiel mark claimed by the farm to which they belong rubbed on the wool. The rams are turned out to the hills between the 15th and the 24th of November,

Lowland rams put to breed half-bred and cross lambs receive about 1 lb of grain daily to prevent their falling off too rapidly in condition, as they would do if exclusively supported on mountain fare. LITERATURE.-D. Low, Breeds of the Domestic Animals of the British Isles (1842, illustrated, and 1845); R. Wallace, Farm Live Stock of Great Britain (1907); J. Coleman, Sheep of Great Britain (1907), and the Flock Books of the various breed societies. (R. W.) SHEEPSHANKS, JOHN (1787-1863), British manufacturer and art collector, was born in Leeds, and became a partner in his father's business as a cloth manufacturer. His brother Richard (1794-1855) was a distinguished astronomer and man of science, whose collection of instruments eventually passed to the Royal Astronomical Society. John Sheepshanks collected pictures, mainly by British artists, and in 1857 presented his magnificent collection to the nation. He retired from business in 1833 and died a bachelor in 1863.

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SHEEPSHEAD, the name of one of the largest species of the genus Sargus, marine fishes known on the coasts of S. Europe as sargo or saragu." These fishes possess two kinds of teeth:-one, broad and flat, like incisors, occupying in a single series the front of the jaws; the other, semiglobular and molarlike, arranged in several series on the sides of the jaws. The genus belongs to the Acanthopterygian family Sparidae which includes the Sea-breams. The sheepshead, Sargus ovis, occurs in abundance on the Atlantic coasts of the United States, from Cape Cod to Florida, and is one of the most valued food-fishes of

Sheepshead.

North America. It is said to attain to a length of 30 in. and a weight of 15 lb. Its food consists of shellfish, which it detaches with its incisors from the base to which they are fixed, crushing them with its powerful molars. It may be distinguished from other allied species by seven or eight dark cross-bands traversing the body, by a recumbent spine in front of the dorsal fin, by twelve spines and as many rays of the dorsal and ten rays of the anal fin, and by forty-six scales along the lateral line. The term "sheepshead" is also given in some parts of North America to a freshwater Sciaenoid, Corvina oscula, which is much less esteemed for the table.

SHEERNESS, a garrison town and naval seaport in the Faversham parliamentary division of Kent, England, in the Isle of Sheppey, on the right bank of the Medway estuary at its junction with the Thames, 51 m. E. of London by the SouthEastern & Chatham railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 18,179. Blue Town, the older part of the town, with the dockyard, is defended by strong modern-built fortifications, especially the forts of Garrison Point and Barton's Point, commanding the entrance of both the Thames and the Medway. The dockyard, chiefly used for naval repairs, covers about 60 acres, and consists of three basins and large docks, the depth of water in the basins ranging down to 26 ft. Within the yard there are extensive naval stores and barracks. Outside the dockyard are the residences of the admiral of the home fleet and other officers, and barracks. The harbour is spacious, sheltered, and deep

even at low water. Sheerness has some trade in corn and seed, and there is steamboat connexion with Port Victoria, on the opposite side of the Medway; with Southend, on the opposite side of the Thames; and with Chatham and London, and the town is in some favour as a seaside resort. A small fort was built at Sheerness by Charles II., which, on the roth of July 1667, was taken by the Dutch fleet under De Ruyter.

SHEET, an expanse or surface, flat and thin, of various materials; a rope attached to a sail. These two apparently widely separated meanings are to be explained by the generally received etymology. In O. Eng. there are three words, all from the root seen in "shoot," to dart, let fly, thrust forward; scele or scyte, a sheet of cloth, sceat, corner or fold of a garment, projecting angles, region (e.g. sas sceat, portion of the sea, gulf, bay), and sceata, foot of a sail, pes veli (Wright, Gloss.). The original meaning, according to Skeat, is "projection," or that which shoots out, then a corner, especially of a garment or of a cloth; after which it was extended to mean a whole cloth or "sheet." In Icelandic, the cognate word skaut has much the same meanings, including that of a rope attached to a sail. Other cognate forms in Teutonic languages are Ger. Schoss, lap, bosom, properly fold of a garment, Dutch school, Icel. skaut, &c. In current English usage," sheet "is commonly applied to any flat, thin surface, such as a sheet of paper, a sheet of metal, or, in a transferred application, to an expanse of water, ice, fire, &c. More specifically it is used of a rectangular piece of linen or cotton used as that part of the usual bed clothes which are next the sleeper's body. In nautical usage the term "sheet" is applied to a rope or chain attached to the lower corners of a sail for the purpose of extension or change of direction (see RIGGING). The connexion in derivation with "shoot" is clearly seen in "sheet-anchor," earlier "shoot-anchor "-one that is kept in reserve, to be "shot" in case of emergency (see ANCHOR).

SHEFFIELD, JOHN BAKER HOLROYD, IST EARL OF (17351821), English politician, came of a Yorkshire family, a branch of which had settled in Ireland. He inherited considerable wealth, and in 1769 bought Sheffield Place in Sussex from Lord de la Warr. Having served in the army he entered the House of Commons in 1780, and in that year was prominent against Lord George Gordon and the rioters. In 1783 he was created an Irish peer as Baron Sheffield of Roscommon, a barony of the United Kingdom (Sheffield of Sheffield, Yorks) being added in 1802. In 1816 he was created Viscount Pevensey and earl of Sheffield. He was a great authority on farming, and in 1803 he was made president of the Board of Agriculture; but he is chiefly remembered as the friend of Gibbon (g..), whose works he afterwards edited. His son and grandson succeeded as 2nd and 3rd earls, the latter (1832-1909) being a well-known patron of cricket, at whose death the earldom became extinct. The Irish barony, however, under a special remainder, passed to the 4th baron Stanley of Alderley, who thus became Baron Sheffield of Roscommon.

SHEFFIELD, a city, and municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 158 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1901) 409,070. It is served by the Midland, Great Central and Great Northern railways, and has direct connexion with all the principal lines in the north of England. The principal stations are Victoria (Great Central) and Midland. Sheffield is situated on hilly ground in the extreme south of the county, and at the junction of several streams with the river Don, the principal of which are the Sheaf, the Porter, the Rivelin and the Loxley. The manufacturing quarter lies mainly in the Don valley, while the chief residential suburbs extend up the picturesque hills to the south. The centre of the city, with the majority of the public buildings, lies on the slope south of the Don, and here are several handsome thoroughfares. The older portions were somewhat irregular and overcrowded, but a great number of improvements were effected under an act of 1875, and have been steadily continued. There is an extensive system of tramways, serving the outlying townships. The parish church of St Peter is a cruciform building, mainly Perpendicular. The original Norman building is supposed

to have been burned during the wars of Edward III. with the barons, and the most ancient existing part is the tower, dating from the 14th century. A restoration in 1880, when transepts and a W. front were added, improved the church by demolishing the galleries and other heavy internal fittings. There are a number of interesting mural monuments; and the Shrewsbury chapel contains a fine tomb of the 4th earl of Shrewsbury, who founded it in the 16th century. Of the principal public buildings, the town hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1897. It is a fine building in the style of the Renaissance, surmounted by a lofty tower, which is crowned by an emblematic statue in bronze. The Cutlers' hall was built in 1832 and enlarged in 1857 by the addition of a magnificent banqueting hall. The handsome corn exchange, in Tudor style, and the market hall were acquired from the duke of Norfolk by the corporation. Among several theatres, the Theatre Royal was originally erected in 1793. Others are the Alexandra, Lyceum and Alhambra. There are extensive barracks. Literary and social institutions include the Athenaeum (1847), with news-room and library; the literary and philosophical society (1822), the Sheffield club (1862), the Sheffield library, founded in 1777, and the free library (1856), with several branches. The public museum and the Mappin art gallery are situated in Weston Park; and in Meersbrook Hall is the fine Ruskin museum, containing Ruskin's art, mineralogical, natural history, and botanical collections, and some original drawings and valuable books. These are in the custody of the corporation. Beyond St Peter's church relics of antiquity are few, but there remains a part of the manor-house of Hallam, dating from the 16th century. In the S. of the city is Broom Hall, a fine ancient half-timbered building.

The educational establishments are important. University College, constituted by that title in 1897, was founded in 1879 as the Firth College by Mark Firth (1819-1880), an eminent steel-manufacturer. This institution was enlarged in 1892, and comprised, besides the college, a technical department (1886) occupying the buildings of the former grammar school, and equipped with metallurgical laboratories, steel works, iron foundry, a machine and fitting shop, &c.; and a medical school, together with a school of pharmacy. In 1903 the foundation was laid of a building, at Western Bank, to contain the departments of medicine, arts, pure science, commerce, &c. When the college became dissociated in 1904 from the Victoria University, Manchester, of which it had formed a constituent, the necessary financial and other preparations were taken in hand to enable the college to be incorporated as the Sheffield University, and it was opened as such by King Edward VII. Other educational institutions are the free writing school (1715, rebuilt in 1827), the boys' charity school (founded 1706), the girls' charity school (1786), the Church of England educational institute, the Roman Catholic reformatory (1861), the Wesley College, associated with London University, Ranmoor College of the Methodist New Connexion, the mechanics' institute, and the school of

art.

Among numerous medical or benevolent institutions may be mentioned the general infirmary, opened in 1797; the public hospital, erected in 1858 in connexion with the Sheffield medical school established in 1792; the school and manufactory for the blind, 1879, and the South Yorkshire lunatic asylum, 1872. Among many charities founded by citizens the most noteworthy is the Shrewsbury hospital for twenty men and twenty women, originally founded by the 7th earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1616), but greatly enlarged by successive benefactions.

died (1842) near Norton in Derbyshire, in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, which was the scene of his earlier work. Sheffield is well supplied with parks and public grounds. In the western suburbs is Weston Park, occupying the grounds of Weston Hall, purchased by the corporation in 1873. The Firth Park, of 36 acres, on the N.E. of the city, was presented by Mark Firth, and was opened in 1875 by King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra when prince and princess of Wales. There are botanical gardens of 18 acres in the western suburbs. A park and other recreation grounds have been presented by the duke of Norfolk as lord of the manor. To the N.W., towards Penistone, is Wharncliffe, retaining much of the characteristics of an ancient forest, and overlooking the valley of the Don from bold rocky terraces and ridges. The Bramall Lane cricket ground in Sheffield is the scene of many of the Yorkshire county cricket matches. The prosperity of Sheffield is chiefly dependent on the manufacture of steel. The smelting of iron in the district is supposed to date from Roman times, and there is distinct proof carrying it back its cutlery by the 14th century, as is shown by allusions in Chaucer. as far as the Norman Conquest. The town had become famed for There was an important trade carried on in knives in the reign of Elizabeth, and the Cutlers' Company was incorporated in 1624. In early times cutlery was made of blister or bar steel; afterwards shear steel was introduced for the same purpose; but in 1740 Benjamin Huntsman of Handsworth introduced the manufacture of cast steel, and Sheffield retains its supremacy in steel manufacture, notwithstanding foreign competition, especially that of Germany and the United States, its trade in heavy steel having kept pace with that in the other branches. It was with the aid of Sheffield capital that Henry Bessemer founded his pioneer works to develop the manufacture of his invention, and a large quantity of Bessemer steel is still made in Sheffield. The heavy branch of the steel manufacture includes armour plates, rails, tyres, axles, large castings for engines, steel shot, and steel for rifles. The cutlery trade embraces almost every variety of instrument and tool-spring and table knives, razors, scissors, surgical instruments, mathematical instruments, edge tools, files, saws, scythes, sickles, spades, shovels, engineering tools, hammers, vices, &c. The manufacture of engines and machinery is also largely carried on, as well as that of stoves and grates. The art of silver plating was introduced by Thomas Bolsover in 1742, and specimens of early Sheffield plate are highly prized. Among the other industries of the town are tanning, confectionery, cabinetmaking, bicycle-making, iron and brass founding, silver refining, cloth, and railway fittings, and testing. the manufacture of brushes, combs, optical instruments, horse-hair The Cutlers' Company (1624) exercises, by acts of 1883-1888, jurisdiction in all matters relating to the registration of trade marks, over all goods composed in whole or in part of any metal, wrought or unwrought, as 6 m. thereof. There are numerous collieries in the neighbourhood. also over all persons carrying on business in Hallamshire and within

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Sheffield is the seat of a suffragan bishop in the diocese of York. The town trust for the administration of property belonging to the town dates from the 14th century, and in 1681 the number and by a decree of the Court of Chancery. manner of election of the "town trustees was definitely settled Additional powers were conferred on the trustees by an act passed in 1874. The town first returned members to parliament in 1832. In 1885 the representation was increased from two to five members, the parliamentary divisions being Attercliffe, Brightside, Central, Ecclesall and Hallam. The County' borough was created in 1888, and in 1893 the town became a city. The corporation consists of a lord mayor (the title was conferred on the chief magistrate in 1897), 16 aldermen, and 48 councillors. Area, 23,662 acres.