REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF DUMFRIESSHIRE. 319 



"at the present time it is believed that all Eskdale is under 

 Cheviot stocks, and also by far the most part of Annandale, up 

 to the marches of the county, including the vales of Evan and 

 Moffat. They are not yet so numerous in the upper part of 

 Xithsdale, where short sheep still prevail." Though there have 

 been pauses in the progress, when from bad seasons the farmers 

 were deterred from changing, yet it may be said on the whole 

 that it has been regular and steady. The Blackfaced, however, 

 still hold their own on some hills, especially on the more rugged 

 and heathy in Nithsclale. About one-sixth of the hill stocks are 

 Blackfaced sheep, the remaining five-sixths being Cheviots. In 

 some cases pure Blackfaced lambs are bred, while in other 

 instances Crosses (Blackfaced and Leicester) are produced. 



The farmers who breed Leicester and other long-wooled sheep 

 are not numerous. The quality of many of the stocks, however, 

 is very good, as has often been proved at the Highland Society's 

 and other shows. Messrs Wilkin, Tinwald Downs, and Hamil- 

 ton, Torthorwald, have long bred first-rate animals of this class ; 

 while more recently they have had formidable competitors in 

 Messrs Smith, Dalfibble ; Bell Irvine, of Whitehill ; and Beattie, 

 Newbie. 



In forming an estimate of the number of sheep in Dumfries- 

 shire, much depends on the time of the year at which the 

 estimate is made. The statistics have been always collected at 

 an unfavourable season for affording satisfactory information on 

 this point. When collected through the Highland Society and 

 the late Mr Hall Maxwell, the enumerators made their inquiries 

 on one occasion on the 1st of June, and another on the 1st of 

 July ; but it w 7 ill be evident to most readers that there are usually 

 more sheep in the county at that particular season than at any 

 other. Many of the old feeding sheep are not cleared out to make 

 room for the lambs ; and, moreover, many of the latter are taken 

 out of the bounds of the county altogether in August and 

 September. Again, the statistics collected through the Inland 

 Revenue were gathered on the 5th of March, when there were 

 almost no lambs at all. This explanation regarding the dates at 

 which the inquiries were made, accounts for the vast difference 

 in numbers between the returns of 1856 and 1866. The High- 

 land Society return of 1856 gave 243,783 sheep of all ages for 

 breeding, 38,666 sheep of all ages for feeding, and 186,023 lambs; 

 the total number of sheep of all ages being thus 468,472. The 

 return of the Inland Revenue, made on the 5th March 1866, was 

 as follows : — One year old and above, 243,758 ; under one year old, 

 127,728 ; the total at that date being only 371,486. It appears to 

 the reporter that the period at which the estimate should be 

 made is the 1st of November, for the stocks both on the high and 

 the low lands are generally adjusted at that season as they are 



