BUTE AXD ARRAK. 45 



done in another. Indeed, sheep-farming in Arran is very much 

 like arable-farming ; there are drones in this hive as well as in 

 the other. One man has drained his hills and paid great attention 

 to the breeding of his tups and ewes ; another is content to leave 

 things as he found them. There is not the slightest doubt, how- 

 ever, taking the island all over, that the sheep on the hills have 

 been greatly improved within the last twenty-five years. Many 

 energetic young farmers have entered the field, and they have 

 introduced tups from the very best stocks in the mainland, which 

 have effected a marked improvement on the quality of the stocks 

 on the larger farms. The " shot " lambs from these farms are, 

 many of them, sold to the tenants on the smaller farms, and in 

 this way all the stocks in the island have gradually improved. 

 It would be as difficult as it is invidious to single out any one 

 farmer more than another as being the principal agent in effect- 

 ing the meritorious change in the quality of the sheep, but if 

 success in a showyard be any criterion of the quality of flocks, 

 then the owners of the flocks of Balnacoole, Glen Scorrodale, and 

 Glenree, must be awarded the place of honour. 



The stocks throughout the island are now, with one exception, 

 l)lackfaced. As in Bute, Cheviots have been experimented with, 

 but all who had them have now disposed of them except the 

 tenant of Glenree. The larger sheep-farms in the glens carry 

 stocks varying in numbers from 400 to 1800 head each. Gene- 

 rally the flocks are composed of ewes and wethers, but the former 

 are more in number than the latter. The worst of the wether 

 lambs are sold every year, and the best, on mixed stock 

 farms, are kept till they are three years old. The old 

 ewes are sold to farmers on the mainland to be crossed with 

 Leicester tups for the production of cross-bred lambs for the 

 butchers. The tups on the hill farms are bought for the most 

 part in Edinburgh and Ayr, at the autumn ram sales. Tups 

 which have effected the greatest change on the flocks have been 

 bred at Dornel, Knowehead, Overshiels, Westown, and Polquheys. 

 With the exception of those in the north end of the island the 

 sheep are strong healthy animals, large of size, and carrying 

 good fleeces ; those in the extreme north are smaller than the 

 others, but they also have greatly improved during recent years. 

 The rams are let out about the 20th of November, and the lamb- 

 ing season extends from the middle of April till near the end of 

 May. The lambs are weaned about the 20th of August, and 

 are then generally dipped ; but sometimes they are not dipped 

 until a short time before they are sent to the low lands to graze 

 for the winter, and on a very few farms they are di})ped when 

 weaned, and again in March or April. Smearing is now ])ut little 

 practised, dipping with patent compositions having taken its 

 place. 



