WELSH MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 411 



used in making greys for other purposes in the household, a few 

 black sheep were thought an acquisition to the herd. The 

 Welsh mountain sheep occasionally beget black lambs, and a 

 few black ewes are generally kept for the benefit derived from 

 their wool for family purposes. But it does seem strange that, 

 with all the uses to which wool was put, no effort appears to 

 have been made to increase the weight of fleece, even at the 

 expense of a somewhat coarser fibre. Wool, however, was the 

 perquisite of the females — at least, they had the entire manage- 

 ment of all used in making woollen fabrics for family use. The 

 counsel of the gentler sex, who abhorred wool that did not 

 exactly suit their taste, would of course prevail. It must also 

 be considered that, until a comparatively recent period, local 

 weavers were the only purchasers of wool known to the Welsh 

 farmers, and they of course patronised that wool only which 

 made goods of the quality best suited to their limited 

 machinery, and which would make flannels of a kind most in 

 demand at the country fairs and markets, where their stalls are 

 invariably found. 



The Welsh mountain sheep are good nurses, and rear their 

 lambs well. They are often sold from the western counties of 

 Wales to go into some of the English counties for breeding fat 

 lambs, and they succeed well when crossed with larger breeds of 

 sheep. On exposed farms of poor soil in Wales they are 

 frequently used for this purpose, or a cross of these is kept, the 

 mountain ewes forming the original basis of the stock. The 

 sheep are crossed with Downs or Leicesters, or with any large 

 mongrel strain, and again recrossed with the mountain sheep 

 if necessary, all depending on the class of sheep the farm is best 

 suited to carry. The real mountain sheep are sold as wethers 

 at three years old. The cross-bred come to earlier maturity, 

 and the produce of these are sold as lambs in the May, June, or 

 July fairs. In making the first cross with mountain ewes, a 

 cross-bred small ram a little bigger than themselves is used, 

 always selecting males with small heads and hardy constitutions. 

 The rams may be too large and of too good a quality, the con- 

 sequence being much difficulty in lambing and tender lambs, 

 unable to stand the wind, rain, and cold. A friend of mine, one 

 of whose farms is on high land, writes and says : " I have used 



