Live Stock 71 



that there were in it 953 cattle ; and of these no less 

 than 346 were oxen for the plough, the number of 

 ploughs in the parish being 65. 



In connection with what has been said about the in- 

 troduction of improved breeds of cattle, it has to be 

 noted that the business of sheep farming was no whit 

 more advanced than that of stock raising. Considerable 

 numbers of one or two native breeds of very small size 

 (there was a whitefaced and a blackfaced variety) were 

 reared in the Lowlands. They were fed on the rougher 

 and less fertile pieces of land, and were valued chiefly 

 for their wool, which was fine, though the fleece would 

 weigh only from 20 to 28 ozs. It was not till the pa- 

 triotic Sir John Sinclair formed the British Wool Society 

 in 1791, that the larger Cheviot variety or " long hill 

 sheep of the East Border " was generally introduced and 

 naturalised in the northern parts of Scotland. 



In or about the year 1764 "a few dealers from Gallo- 

 way and the west of Scotland " seem to have begun a sort 

 of regular business of " droving " cattle to England. A 

 more or less intermittent " trade " of the kind had ap- 

 parently gone on for many years previous to that time. 

 And some of these Scotch cattle, after sale in English 

 fairs, and fattening on English pastures, would find 

 their way to the London market ; though the wants of 

 the Navy in the matter of salt beef appear to have been 

 at this time, and for long after, regarded as the main 

 source of demand. In 1 763 " salted beef was purchased 

 at the average of one penny per pound." It rose in 

 price next year ; but the year after, viz., 1765, the price 

 of black cattle fell so suddenly and badly that " the 

 dealers in Aberdeenshire universally stopped payments." 

 In 1766, " cattle dealers came from England, in the 

 end of June and July, to purchase live stock for the 

 English market " (previously they had been content 

 to wait till they were " droved " over the Border to 

 them). The fact indicated a rising demand ; which was 

 but temporary, however, for " a second and sudden fall 



