Mountain Breeds of Sheep, 363 



Their slow maturity and the lower value of their wool is always 

 against them. Connoisseurs never consider that " the gravy 

 runs like brandy " from a haunch of Blackface till it is between 

 three and four years old. Where they are put on to good park- 

 pasture they grow wonderfully the first year, and, as far as the 

 eye is a guide, there is no way of distinguishing between them 

 and a good average Cheviot on the platter except by the smaller 

 tail. The light sprittle face was once liked, owing to a notion 

 that it indicated faster feeding and more wool, as well as a 

 quieter disposition. Then the Irish buyers began to fancy a 

 darker face, and thus the dark sprittle came gradually into 

 fashion and is thought to betoken a hardier sheep. A long 

 neck and a short face, with a good broad jaw and forehead, and 

 an eye not too near the root of the horn, are all cardinal points ; 

 and good "rotten horns," open at the end, generally denote 

 better thrivers. The horns should also be flat and well apart at 

 the root, not too large, and coming well away from the head. 

 A roundness at the root indicates a tendency in a tup to get 

 soft, bloody horns, which will grow into the head, and get 

 frosted to the flint in cold weather. 



Of late years the demand for Blackface dams for breeding 

 " mules " with the Leicester has sent up prices amazingly. Few 

 " butchers' sheep " exceed this cross ; they are as soon ready as 

 half-breds, and suit the fat-lamb market as well. The York- 

 shire dealers bring Leicester tups to Lanarkshire, and take back 

 ewe lambs, rough ewe hoggs, and cast ewes over the Border, 

 as well as the wether " mule " lambs which are bred there. 

 Farmers about the Askrigg district in Yorkshire are very fond 

 of " mules," and they may also be found on the Berwickshire 

 side of the Lammermoors, as well as in Fife and the Lothians. 



Cumberland and Westmoreland, and a very small portion of 

 Lancashire, may be said to monopolise the Herdwicks. Eskdale, 

 Wasdale, Ewesdale, Ennerdale, and Loweswater are their head 

 centres, which meet in peaceful rivalry at the Fell Dales Asso- 

 ciation. Grasmere, Shap, and Ulverston know them well. 



" Secure they graze, 

 Around the stones of Dunmail-raise," 



where the last king of Rocky Cumberland set up his mountain 

 throne; and they wander over the slopes ofSkiddaw and Saddle- 

 back, and the south-west side of Cross Fell. The scattered and 

 primitive " statesmen" of the lake valleys consider them as rivals 

 to the Lonks, and steadily disdain a cross. Once upon a time 

 there was such a difference between the sheep bred " Above and 

 Below Derwent," that they had separate classes on the Fell Dales 



