396 On tlie Exhibition of' Live Stock at Chester. 



short-woolled breeds," The Welsh call for a few remarks from 

 their hitherto secluded position. They have been described as 

 an aboriginal race, enjoying their freedom over the mountain 

 ranges. An early writer upon the mountain breeds of Wales 

 says of them : — 



" Some are homed, others polled ; some are nearly white, others of every 

 intermediate hue between a dirty white and a perfect black. They all, how- 

 ever, agree in the foUowng particulars : — The head is small ; the neck long, 

 ^rect, and delicate ; the forequarters light, with narrow breast and shoulders ; 

 the sides flat, the back and loins narrow, the legs slight and long ; the 

 animals possessing considerable agility and an imquiet habit, so as to render 

 them most annoyingly troublesome when attempted to be kept in the small 

 enclosures of the vale. The fleece weighs about 2^ lbs." 



Here we have a pure aboriginal animal before us, untouched, 

 as are their pastures, by the hand of the husbandman, and 

 exactly what "ought not to be." The question now arises, 

 Can this state of things be improved? if so, how, and by what 

 means ? 



Much has been written on animals adapting themselves to 

 climate and hardships : surely these hitherto neglected breeds 

 may be assisted in all that relates to a mountain life. If we turn 

 to Scotland we find that the mountain race of sheep has been 

 attended to in full ratio with other breeds, for, while they have 

 their hardy black-faced sheep even to the summit of their loftiest 

 mountains, we find them cultivating the hardy Cheviot at the 

 middle altitude ; and even up to some 400 or 500 feet they 

 cultivate the Leicester. These are instructive examples for the 

 Principality. Some fifty years since the sheep-farming of the 

 mountains of Scotland was merely a nominal affair for both sheep 

 and shepherds ; it is now one of the staple returns of the northern 

 counties. In reply to my inquiries, Mr. Hugh Watson, of 

 Keillor, Cupar-Angus (one of the Judges for mountain sheep), 

 whose celebrity as a breeder is so well known, Avrites thus : — 



" In Classes I. and II., for Welsh mountain sheep, at Chester, the speci- 

 mens exhibited were not worth cultivating. Their quality of mutton is said 

 to be fine-grained and high-flavoured, which must be the effect of the 

 herbs they feed upon, for the aiiimal itself is ill-shaped, and must be hard to 

 feed. They never can be made rent-paylrifj animals. Could they not be 

 supplanted by SoiithdoAvns from the jjoorest Sussex Downs, where they feed 

 on furze and benty grass, and go far to seek their sustenance ; or by the 

 black-faced mountain breed of Scotland, that feed on the highest elevations of 

 that country, and yield very delicate and high-flavoured mutton, and are 

 twice the size of the Welsh mountain sheep ? Where there is herbage sufficient 

 to maintain them (which is not the case on the highest mountains in Scotland), 

 the Cheviot sheep are a fine race, with mutton of first-rate quality and vahiablc 

 wool ; they are found in the greatest perfection on the green Cheviot range 

 of hills in the south of Scotland, near the English border ; and are now 

 equally thriving on the pastures of Sutherland, Caithness, and Inverness- 

 shires, but not on the most elevated mountains, these being occupied by the 

 Scotch black-faced mountain sheep, a race well adapted for their wild range. 



