292 THE SHEEP OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



be of symmetrical form and pure blood : nay, more, we think 

 that where an apparent increase in the weight of fleece and 

 frame has been attained it frequently proves fallacious when 

 brought to the test of the scales, the extra open fleece weighing 

 lighter than that of a medium texture, and the larger and looser 

 frame, when stripped of the offal, being less heavy than the 

 more compact, on the same principle as the bone of the 

 thoroughbred horse exceeds in specific gravity the porous bone 

 of the Clydesdale. 



There is nothing in the general feeding and management of 

 the Border Leicesters differing materially from that of other 

 breeds. They require good land and good shelter, and, having 

 these, will live and thrive on a small quantity of food. Having 

 a strong tendency to fatten, they arrive at early maturity, and 

 are capable of producing a greater quantity of wool and mutton 

 in a given time than almost any other breed. Their mutton, 

 however, does not stand high in mercantile value, being coarse 

 in the grain and tallowy in the fat. Time was when it found a 

 ready market among the pitmen in collieries. A story is still 

 extant of one of them, when purchasing a portion of a cast ewe 

 with several inches of fat on the rib, on being asked if it was 

 not too fat for him, exclaimed, " Fat ! I care na if it war as fat 

 as at ween Newcastle and the Scottish Border." Time has 

 brought its changes to the pitmen, as to other members of 

 society ; higher wages and more leisure enable him to partici- 

 pate in the growing luxuries of the age, and while on gala days 

 he relishes his leg of Cheviot or Southdown, his old titbit is 

 only fit for melting into tallow. 



The worth of the Leicester sheep does not, however, depend 

 on its value as mutton. In all well-bred flocks the great bulk 

 of the lambs on the male side are kept for tups, and in like 

 manner the best on the female side for breeding purposes. 

 Thus only a limited portion of each, the cast ewes, and tups of 

 a certain age, find their way into the butcher market. Their 

 intrinsic value consists in their crossing profitably with the 

 Cheviot, Black-faced, Southdown, &c. The latter are not culti- 

 vated extensively in Scotland or the Border Counties, being 

 generally considered too tender for the climate. The cross with 

 the black-faced makes fine sheep at two years old, yielding 



