THE BLACKFACED BEEED OF SHEEP. 227 



There Las been no smearing in this part of the county, says Mr 

 Buchanan, for the last twenty years. As a general rule, it is 

 found that dipping answers equally as v^ell as smearing, and 

 is much cheaper. Dipping can be performed with half a pound 

 of grease at say 8d., and dip and men's wages, say 2d. — 5d. in all 

 for each animal ; while smearing would cost as much as Is. a 

 head. He dips his Iambs at weaning time, and again at the 1st 

 of November, when sending them away to the wintering. Hill 

 ewes are dipped once a year, generally in the end of October. 



Mr William AVhyte, Spott, Kirriemuir, corroborates the 

 remarks of other authorities regarding the popularity of the 

 breed, and mentions the counties of Lanark, Dumfries, Koss, and 

 Inverness specially in wdiich the Cheviot breed is being sup- 

 planted by blackfaced sheep. The amount of sheep pasture, 

 however, says Mr Whyte, w^hich has been put under deer has 

 greatly curtailed the extent of sheep farming. It has not been 

 paying so well as could be desired of late, owing to the low 

 price of wool and the cost of wintering. The latter expense has 

 been doubled within the past thirty years. Wool is selling at 

 half what it realised some twelve years ago. The clip of well- 

 wintered w^ethers averages from 5 lbs. to 7 lbs., while that of 

 ewes is from 4 lbs. to 5 lbs. Smearing is not practised in this 

 county. Mr Whyte dips his lambs when they are weaned in 

 August, and again in the 1st of October before sending them 

 away to the wintering. The wool of the blackfaced sheep, Mr 

 AVhyte continues, can only be improved by selecting fine woolled 

 tups of the same breed, without tampering with crossing. 

 Crossing might be the means of temporarily improving the wool, 

 but thereby tlie type and hardiness of the sheep would be 

 destroyed. 



Mr Gordon, Udale, Invergordon, concludes that the most 

 efficient way to secure and conserve the best qualities of the 

 blackfaced sheep, as well as to eradicate its defects in a proper 

 and satisfactory manner, is by careful and judicious selection. 

 He has tried various crosses, and br.id them back to the pure lieath 

 breed again, but without success. The tups used in crossing 

 were those of the Leicester, Lincoln, and Cheviot breeds, and of 

 what is known as the improved Lincoln tup, tlirew the best 

 progeny as regards the quality of wool and flavour of mutton. 

 The blackfaced breed of sheep, says Mr Gordon, has always been 

 popular in the central and western counties of Scotland, and 

 even in the counties of Sutherland, lioss, and Inverness, where, 

 about the beginning of the present century, it was almost 

 entirely supei-seded by the Cheviot breed ; it is again predomi- 

 nant, and lias increased greatly since the heavy mortality among 

 sheep stocks during the severe winters of 1859-60, 1878-79, 

 and 1880-81. 



Mr 1). M'x\rtliur, Elmpark, Helensburgh, a retired sheep 



