29 i THE SHEEP OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



finishes in his strong vernacular with a voice as clear as a bell. 

 Lord Polwarth's (Mertoun), Miss Stark's (Mollondean), Rev. — 

 Bosanquet's (Eock), and other crack lots always hold a levee, 

 and thin other rings during their sale. The bidding seldom 

 flags, there being customers for all sorts — tup breeders taking 

 the choicest specimens — breeders of half and three-parts bred 

 stock choosing sheep of large frame and open wool ; of the 

 black-faced cross, those with closer skins ; fat lamb breeders, 

 sheep of good quality, though lacking wool below ; while some, 

 contented with any quadruped if only cheap (alas for them !), 

 fight it out with the butcher and local dealer. It is interesting 

 to the close observer to note the change in the various lots from 

 year to year, some from a bad cross, or untoward local circum- 

 stances, losing caste, while others come to the fore, showing the 

 great difficulty of keeping the character of a flock at a uniform 

 standard. 



Since writing the above paragraph several years ago, a con- 

 siderable diminution has taken place in the number of Border 

 Leicester rams exposed for sale in Scotland and the Border 

 counties. Their place is taken by half-bred rams — the first 

 cross between Border Leicester and Cheviot. Thus breeders of 

 half-bred sheep — which are considered the most paying in inter- 

 mediate soils and climates — put half-bred tups to half-bred 

 ewes, and keep up their flock less expensively than by buying 

 yearly half-bred lambs of the first cross. A half-bred stock so 

 managed does not lay on flesh so rapidly, but there is not a 

 doubt of their attaining bigger bone, larger frames, and more 

 robust constitution. We have a parallel to this in the system 

 of breeding carriage horses in Yorkshire, by putting half-bred 

 sires to half-bred mares, and thus producing horses with larger 

 and stouter frames than can be attained by a cross with a 

 thoroughbred. 



Of all the Border flocks, there is none that has maintained 

 such a uniform character as Lord Polwarth's, which deserves 

 more than a mere passing notice. In 1872 his lot of tups 

 showed to great advantage, the highest priced sheep reaching 

 1701., and the average about S7l., which had only once been 

 exceeded in their history. The flock was formed about the 

 beginning of the present century, being selected from the most 



