DonsETsniRE SHEEP.] AND I'lIEIR VAlilOUS BTIEEDS. [dousetsiiiue sheep. 



considerably curled. The eyes are full, and 

 expressive of life : whilst tlie carcass is round- 

 barrelled, wilh well-nrched ribs. The lines 

 down the hams and the breast ore straight and 

 perpendicular. The neck is fiiio and clean. 

 The lean Higliland sheep are usually bouglit at 

 Falkirk trysts, where myriads of atiiinals cover 

 the moor. As many as 80,000, and even 

 90,000, are sometimes exhibited at the Oc- 

 tober trvst. Twenty thousand is a common 

 number at the other trysts. About half this 

 number are wethers of the sbear ; tho re- 

 mainder are two-year-olds, for further picking 

 on the moors, and for store or for feedinc;, and 

 a few rams. The year-old wethers arc either 

 purcliased there to fatten, or arc run on in 

 winter in any low pasture with rough grass, 

 and fattened in the summer of the following 

 year on grass. During the winter these will 

 subsist, and even improve, on very inferior 

 grass ; such, indeed, as almost every other 

 animal will refuse ; and if they are not crowded 

 on tlie ground, tbey will manage to get through 

 the winter. Many persons imagine, that it 

 takes four, or even five years, before the full 

 mutton-development of the black- faced sheep 

 takes place ; but this is not tbe case. Heather- 

 fed sheep, fed in the second winter after they 

 are lambed, are, when rapidly fatted, in as good 

 condition as they can be at any subsequent 

 period. " This breed," observes Professor Low, 

 " does not appear to amalgamate well with 

 other races, so that crossing has not generally 

 been successful as a means of permanent im- 

 provement. It has been frequently crossed by 

 the Cheviot, but the descendants have been 

 found inferior in weight, form, and quality of 

 wool, to the pure Cheviots, and to the black- 

 faced heath breed in hardiness and aptitude to 



thrive in an upland country of henthH. Hut 

 as it is not always deemed aitfe to change a 

 stock of sheep, habituated to their locality, tho 

 practice of a continued crossing with the 

 Cheviot, until tho (lock haa acquired tho 

 cliaracters of the latter, has been Homeliines 

 adopted ; so that tlie original black-faced Htock 

 has become, in time, almost Clioviot. Another 

 species of crossing haa become remarkably 

 successful — namely, the employing of mahaof 

 the Leicester or Southdown for a first cross. 

 Tho lambs — tho result of this mixture — are 

 excellent, rising to a much greater weight than 

 those of the pure black-faced blood. Of these 

 crosses, the best has been found to bo with tho 

 Leicesters. That with the tSouthdowus pro- 

 duces very handsome sheep, having perfectly 

 black faces and legs, and a close good fleece ; 

 but they scarcely attain tho size of the Lei- 

 cester crosses ; and the latter, accordingly, are 

 preferred for the special purpose for which 

 this species of breeding is designed." 



To keep black-faces properly, or well, they 

 should not be crowded, or too much over- 

 stocked. They are capable of bearing very- 

 hard treatment; will stand almost any degree 

 of cold, and any quantity of wet, whilst sup- 

 porting themselves on the poorest of pasture; 

 but they are seldom tried with this ; therefore, 

 age has to make up for previous neglect ; and 

 they must be kept longer than any other kind 

 of sheep, to bring them into suitable condition. 



Heavy stocking will, nearly always, make 

 the difference between good and bad produce; 

 as it will diminish the size of the sheep, throw 

 it back in its feeding, and the breeder and the 

 feeder will be a much greater time in bringing 

 up their produce to that condition which may 

 be called ready for the market. 



CHAPTER III, 



SHORT OR MIDDLE-WOOLLED BREEDS OF SHEEF. 



THE DORSETSHIRE SHEEP. I the Norfolk, the Suffolk, and Cheviot breeds, 



What some designate the middle-woolled with some others, which were all formerly 

 sheep, comprise the Dorset, the Southdown, short-woolled. For the sake of simplicity, we 

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