THE WENSLEYDALE LONGWOOLS. 39 



of Yorks and Durham; as, up to recent years, they were 

 known by the name of Teeswaters, and, in some districts, are 

 known by that name to this day. According to some authori- 

 ties, they took a part in building up the new Leicester or the 

 Dishley sheep. Speaking of Robert Bakewell, and of the old 

 breeds he used in his experiments, and in the proportion he 

 employed them, one writer says : * The old Leicester breed, 

 which might come most readily to his hand, were large, coarse 

 animals, with an abundant fleece, and a fair disposition to 

 fatten, and they probably contributed not a little to his results. 

 But other Long-woolled breeds, particularly the old Lincoln 

 and two other breeds, respectively Warwickshire and the 

 valley of the Tees, are also reported to have been more or less 

 in requisition.' They took the name of Wensleydale Long- 

 wools about the time the Yorkshire Agricultural Society com- 

 menced giving prizes for them, being more extensively 

 cultivated in Wensleydale than in other parts. They are 

 more symmetrical, with a greater aptitude to fatten than 

 formerly, the improvement being due to a cross of the 

 Leicester ; either from the noted Blue Cap, bred by Mr. W. 

 Sonley, of Lund Court, Kirkby Moorside, or some of his 

 descendants. The present type has long been fixed, and no 

 one who has achieved any success as a Wensleydale breeder 

 has deviated from a line of pure breeding. The Wensleydale 

 is a large, high standing sheep, with a characteristic blue in 

 the skin of the face and ears, but which sometimes extends to 

 the whole of the body, though the shade is deeper on the face 

 and shanks. The dark colour is cultivated, because of the 

 extensive use of the rams for crossing with the Black-faced 

 Mountain ewes ; it is found that dark blue rams throw dark 

 faced lambs a point much valued. The lambs bred in this 

 way are called Crosses in Scotland, where they are extensively 

 bred. In the east of Yorks, and in Lincolnshire, where many 

 thousands of them are annually bought and fattened, they go 

 by the name of Mashams. The wool of the Wensleydale is of 

 a uniform open character. Long silky locks should cover 



