112 ON THE CHEVIOT BEEED OF SHEEP. " 



Act of Union in 1707 that pastoral prosperity returned ; and^ 

 after a lapse of only forty or fifty years, the discriminating 

 treatment of stock by a Eoxhurghshire farmer, Mr Eobson of 

 Belford, then led to a fair start being made wdth the develop- 

 ment of the present variety of sheep. In working out Ms 

 system of crossing, Mr Eobson, as has before Ijeen indicated, 

 undoubtedly used what were then the representatives of old 

 native flocks. 



Wliat the characteristics of these were has been told by one 

 or two authorities. Youatt, in liis valuable volume on the sheep, 

 says, that — " on the upper part of that liill in Northumberland, 

 which is properly termed the Che^'iot, a peculiar and most valu- 

 able breed of sheep is found, and they have been there from time 

 immemorial. Tradition says they came from the border dis- 

 tricts of Scotland ; but they are totally different from the black- 

 faced sheep, and bear little or no resemblance to the original 

 dunfaced Scottish stock." Then, again. Professor Low, in his 

 work on the " Domestic Animals of Great Britain," states that — 

 " the Cheviot breed of sheep is derived from a district of Porphpy, 

 situated in the north of Northumberland, and extending into 

 Scotland, forming the mountains termed Cheviot. This district 

 has produced from time immemorial a race of sheep entirely dis- 

 tinct in its characters from the wild heath breed of the elevated 

 moors adjoining." 



" The Cheviot sheep," Professor Low further mentions, although ■ 

 he fails to give an explanation as to whether he refers to the 

 unimproved or the improved animal, without wliich his informa- 

 tion is all but worthless, " are destitute of horn in the male and 

 female ; their faces and legs are white, exceptions merely occur- 

 ring in the case of individuals, in which these parts are dun." 



As to the breed wliich Mr Eobson used to supply the defects 

 that he considered inherent to his native sheep, a good many 

 contradictory opinions have been expressed. The late Patrick 

 Sellar, for example, from information obtained in Herefordshire, 

 ascribes the improvement to breeding from some tups, other than 

 Leicesters, recommended to a Border farmer by Mr Bakewell. 



In recent discussions on this question this theory has been 

 properly left altogether out of account, and the point in dispute 

 has been whether Lincolns or Leicesters were the strain that was 

 introduced. One ^vl'iter, who has within recent years dealt with 

 the subject on two different occasions, has expressed an opinion 

 first on the one side and then on the other, giving in his earKer 

 writing the preference to the Lincolns, on the authority of a 

 grandson of Mr Eobson, and in the other instance pronouncing 

 in favour of the Leicesters, on the not very convincing ruling of 

 " an old man, whose father was shepherd with Mr Eobson at the 

 time." Youatt and some others leave the matter untouched, but 



