ui;kdwick SHEEP.] AND TlllMli \'Ai:i()lS lUiHEDS. [ueuuwilk bui,^i'. 



of October, alleging that they aro less liable 

 to have it torn oil by tho I'ur/.o ami briarn, and 

 luore able to forage for their daily supply of 

 scauty herbage amongst tho buahcd iu wiuter." 



THE IIKRDW H K SlIKKl'. 

 This i3 tho most valuable sheep ou the 

 inouutaiufl of Cumberland and AVcstniorelaud ; 

 and their origin is thus given by au admirable 

 writer on tho sheep. In the beginning of the 

 last century a ship was stranded on tho coast 

 of Cumberland, and had ou board some Scotch 

 sheep, which seem to bo now unknown in that 

 country. They were got ou shore; and being 

 driven up the country, were purchased by 

 somo farmers, who lived at Wasdale-head, in 

 the neighbourhood of Keswick. They were 

 small, active, polled, and their faces and legs 

 speckled, having a great proportion of white, 

 with a few black spots strewed upon it. They 

 were turned, at once, upon tho neighbouring 

 hills. They had not been long there before 

 they evinced a peculiar sagacity in foreseeing 

 the approach of a snow-storm ; for, a little 

 before its coming, they clustered together on 

 the most exposed side of the mountain, and 

 where the violence of the wind usually pre- 

 vented the snow from lodging. This instinct 

 caused them to be regarded with a degree of 

 interest, and almost of superstition ; and their 

 excellent qualities and adaptation to their new 

 situation, became speedily evident. Their 

 fleece was considerably finer than that of tho 

 common black sheep, and the matted quality of 

 the wool enabled them to endure any severity 

 oi weather, and even to pass tho whole of the 

 winter without the smallest quantity of hay 

 being expended upon them. They were con- 

 tinually moving about, and, therefore, rarely 

 or ever overwhelmed by tlie snow ; and, by 

 their ceaseless activity, they scraped away the 

 snow, however deeply the herbage might be 

 buried under it. The ewes weigh from six 

 to eight pounds per quarter, and the wethers 

 about eleven. The wethers are slaughtered at 

 four or five years old, and seem not only to 

 thrive best ou their native pastures, but, when 

 the ewes are driven away, they will invariably 

 return at lambiug-time to their old quarters, 

 however distant they may be. This shows a 

 remarkably wild instinct, and is of the same 

 character as that of the black-faced Highland 

 4z 



sheep — flocks of which will Bometimes actually 

 swim across tho Firth of Forth to find their 

 way to tlieir native mountains. 



Tho ewes breed for fifteen or twenty years, 

 and aro always kept as long aa tht-y will con- 

 linuo to do bo; the sales being made of tho 

 fatted wethers. AVMien killed at home, tho 

 legs aro usually cured and dried; and it is 

 jocosely said that tho inhabitants of these up- 

 lands never eat mutton but when they lind a 

 fallen sheep, which, when they do, they shako 

 by tho leg, and if it drops to pieces it is re- 

 jected ; but if not, it is carried home, dressed, 

 I and eaten. Their flesh has a strong game 

 j kind of flavour, much relished by the epicures 

 of large towns. Tho animal is said to have 

 fourteen instead of thirteen ribs, which is tho 

 number possessed by all other species. 



Having thus specified some of tho more im- 

 portant of the middle-wooUed breeds of sheep 

 in our island, most of them, or all, derived from 

 the old short-wooUed breeds by a system of 

 judicious management, wo have now to state 

 that the middle- wool varies in difierent breeds, 

 in fineness and in its power of felting. Long 

 wool is much more uniform, and for this 

 reason — that it is the produce of tho Leicester 

 race, and of races with which tho Leicester 

 race has become completely intermingled. 

 " All long-woolled sheep," says Mr. Youatt, 

 " both in appearance and in fleece, are becom- 

 ing one family." Long wool, which is now 

 very much improved, it being the aim of tho 

 breeder to render it finer (at the expense of 

 its length, which it will bear), is characterised 

 by strength and transparency, but it is do- 

 ficicnt in the power of felting. Its average 

 length is about eight inches. This applies 

 more particularly to that sort called the long- 

 coiubiug wool ; there is, however, a variety of 

 long wool which approximates to the middle 

 wool, and termed the short-combing wool, 

 which is somewhat shorter than the other, 

 finer, and more disposed to felt. Tho long- 

 combing wool is used in tho manufacture of 

 hard yarn, and for purposes in which length 

 and firmness are essential ; the other is used 

 for stufls of a soft texture, and for hosiery 

 goods. AVe have alluded to the Leicester 

 breed as the typical example of the long- 

 fleeced races ; but it is to be observed that 

 ] this breed is an improvement upon the heavy, 



721 



