276 THE BORDER LEICESTER BREED OF SHEEP. 



tlie highest priced sheep was £4. At the next, sale, that of 1844, 

 however, the average is given at £4, and the highest price was 

 £6, 6s. In 1859 the rams from this flock topped the sale, with 

 an average of £12, 4s. 8d., and in 1869 they again, as has been 

 said, came to the front, though averaging only £16, 9s. 4d., as 

 compared with £34, ?>s. in 1865 and £25, 15s. in 1866. 



Leicester sheep in their management and their diseases do not 

 differ much from the general park stock of the country. The 

 tups are generally put to the ewes at the beginning of October ; 

 and during winter the breeding stock get a few turnips on 

 grass. At the lambing season the ewes are supplied in addition 

 to turnips, if necessary, with a little oats or some other hand 

 feeding. The clipping takes place about the end of May ; and 

 the lambs are spained from the mothers in the middle of July. 



In regard to diseases the only peculiarities of the breed are that 

 they are perhaps a little more liable than others to inflammation 

 of the udder, or what is known amongst breeders as "udder clap;" 

 as well as to inflammation of the lungs, and that^ among tup lambs 

 there is after spaining a greater tendency to scouring. For the 

 treatment of inflamed udders, the best mixture is probably one 

 of carbolic acid and oil. The w^eakness in the lungs is ascribed 

 by some to the effects of long continued in-and-in breeding, and 

 there can be little doubt that where sufficient attention is not 

 jjaid to a proper development of the chest, nothing is more 

 likely to perpetuate this bad characteristic than in-and-in breed- 

 ing, though on the other hand, provided the chest be wide to 

 begin with, a certain affinity of blood will not induce any weak- 

 ness. For the prevention of the scouring, the only thing that 

 can be recommended is the removal of the lambs to clover 

 stubble, and the supply of some dry feeding such as oats. 



The value of the Leicester sheep lies not in its own qualities, 

 but in its importance for crossing purposes. In constitu- 

 tion it is a comj^aratively delicate animal ; the ewes are bad 

 nurses, and the mutton is too fat to bring a good price per lb. 

 When, however, they are considered in reference to their merits 

 for crossing, they deserve a very different character. There is, 

 perhaps, no type of sheep that has conduced more to the pros- 

 perity of the agricultural or pastoral farmer than the Leicester. 

 Most of the breeds of long-woolled sheep have benefited from 

 an infusion of their blood. In the south the breed has, when 

 used upon the Downs, produced a stock that has been found 

 admirably suited to that part of the country. In Scotland the 

 Border Leicester has exerted a remarkable influence, for over the 

 whole of the better cultivated districts, nearly the entire sheep 

 stock are either half or three parts bred, — the first, a cross 

 between a Leicester tup and Cheviot ew^es, and the second 

 between a Leicester tup and half-bred ewes, produced by 



