538 SHEEP MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND 



than Cheviot wool. It is specially valuable in the manufacture 

 of coarse articles, such as carpets ; and, as it is less subjected 

 to foreign competition than other wools, it fluctuates less in 

 price. The former ratio in price, i.e., half the value of Cheviot 

 wool, has in recent years been altered by Blackface wool 

 selling at a relatively higher figure. The fleece averages 3^ 

 to 4^ Ibs. from ewes, up to 5 Ibs. for the best hill " running- 

 flocks " (ewe and hogg), and up to 7 Ibs. for two-year-old and 

 three-year-old wethers. It is usually clipped unwashed. 

 Much is exported to America when the price does not exceed 

 6d. per lb., as then it can be imported under a much smaller 

 duty than higher-priced wools. Black or blue spots on the 

 neck, tail, or other parts of the wool-producing portion of the 

 skin of a Blackface sheep are objectionable. 



Within the last quarter of last century a very strong 

 woolled variety of the breed was developed by Charles 

 Howatson of Glenbuck, and other breeders who followed 

 similar lines. Immense fleeces are produced on sheep 

 receiving abundance of food, as shown in Plate CXLVIII. ; 

 and this strain does not fatten so readily as one with a fine, 

 close, short fleece. For a time the strong-coated sheep held 

 the field, practically undisputed, against the older, shorter 

 fleeced, and more woolly variety; but, by the end of the 

 century, a division of opinion had arisen, and many thought 

 the length and strength of the wool had been carried too 

 far, and that the long wool especially associated with short 

 legs of the fashionable showyard sheep was a serious dis- 

 advantage in snow, and a danger which met the first lambs 

 of young ewes many of which, born away from assistance, 

 died without finding the mother's teats. Rough-bellied sheep 

 are also declared by many to be, as a class, inferior milkers. 

 These authorities further insist that the coat of the hardiest 

 sheep is one with good soft wool, short and thick, with a bit 

 of kemp showing on the back, nature's ideal covering a 

 combination of hair and wool, seen to perfection in the 

 Shetland and the Faroe Islands breeds, and also in the 

 coats of Herdwick and Four-horned St Kilda sheep. 



The advocates of strong coats of wool are: Charles 

 Howatson, of Glenbuck ; Matthew G. Hamilton, Woolfords ; 

 Charles Cadzow, Borland, and James Cadzow, Stonehill 

 (Cadzow Brothers, Borland and Stonehill) ; James Hamilton, 



