NO. 10. 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



151 



pay much attention to their appearance when 

 young. The eyes and ears are carefully ex- 

 amined in the lambs, and if there is a redness 

 about the one or the other, the animal is con- 

 sidered not to be in health, and he seldom 

 shakes off the fever under which he is then 

 laboring in sufficient time to overtake his 

 companions in growth and endurance. The 

 coat is also closely examined, and especially 

 that of the young ram, for if it is nut 

 thoroughly compact, no beauty of form can 

 compensate for the want of hardiness which 

 this clearly indicates. 



The Cheviot possesses very considerable 

 f\\ttening properties, and can endure much 

 hardship both from starvation and cold. He 

 is now tit for the butcher at three years, and 

 at two when crossed with the Leicester. 

 The wethers average from 12 to 18 lbs. per 

 quarter, and the mutton is of excellent qual- 

 ity. They have been exhibited at the 

 Highland cattleshow, 30 and 32 lbs. per 

 quarter. The wool is inferior to the South 

 Down, and it is not so fine as it was before 

 the improvement of the carcass commenced 

 It is longer and more useful for many combing 

 purposes, but is quite abandoned in the man- 

 ufacture of fine cloth. Mr. Varley's evidence 

 on the point contains much truth and sound 

 philosoph)s and deserves the serious consid- 

 eration not only of the Cheviot breeder, 

 but of every sheep-master. " The Cheviot 

 wool is deteriorated v^ry much in point of 

 hair, and will not make fine cloths now as it 

 once would. I went into Scotland on pur- 

 pose to inspect the Cheviot wool, and gave 

 it up on account of its being so much alter- 

 ed. It is coarser and longer, and although 

 fit for combing, yet only to make low coat- 

 ings and flushings. I allude to the Cheviot 

 which has a partial cross of the Leicester. 

 As sheep increase in weight, the wool will 

 necessarily do so ; it becomes longer in the 

 hair and coarser."* It follows as a matter 

 of necessity that if as Mr. Sutcliffe states,the 

 grazier "can now get as much weight in 

 sixteen months in the Cheviot and Leicester 

 cross, as he could in a three year old wether 

 in former times," that the wool must neces- 

 sarily undergo a corresponding change, f 



Sir John Sinclair's description of them in 

 1792, and before they were thus changed 

 by the admixture of the Leicester, is too 

 valuable to be omitted even in in this rapid 

 sketch of the history of the Cheviots. It is 

 here given in a somewhat condensed form : — 

 " Perhaps there is no part of the whole Island 

 where, at single sight, a fine wooUed breed 

 of sheep is less to be expected than among 



* Evidence before the Hoi^e of Lordsjin 1828, 

 p. 156. 

 t Ditto, p. 183. 



the Cheviot hills. Many parts of the sheep 

 walks consist of nothing but peat bogs and 

 deep morasses. During winterthe hills are 

 covered with snow for two, three, and some- 

 times four months, and they have an ample 

 proportion of bad weather during the other 

 seasons of the year, and yet a sheep is to 

 be found that will thrive even in the wildest 

 part of it. Their shape is excellent, and 

 their fore-quarter in particular is distinguish- 

 ed by such justness of proportion, as to be 

 equal in weight to the hind one. Their 

 limbs are of a length to fit them for traveling 

 and enable them to pass over bogs and 

 snows, through which a shorter legged ani- 

 mal could not penetrate. They have'a closer 

 lieece than the Tweeddale and Leicester 

 breeds, which keeps them warmer in cold 

 weather, and prevents either rain or snow 

 from incommoding them. Their fleece is 

 shorter and consequently more portable over 

 mountainous pastures. They are excellent 

 snow travelers, and are accustomed to pro- 

 cure their food by scraping the snow off the 

 ground with their feet even when the top is 

 hardened by frost. They have never any 

 other food, except when it is proposed to 

 fatten them, than the grass and natural hay 

 produced on their own hills. Their weiaht 

 when fat, is from 17 to 20 lbs. per quarter; 

 and when fed on heath and kept to a proper 

 age, their meat is fully equal in flavor to any 

 the Highlands can produce." 



Mr, Cully, an excellent judge of live 

 stock, differs from Sir John Sinclair in this 



respect, and says of the Cheviot sheep 



"Fore-quarter wanting depth in the chest, 

 and breadth both there and on the chine."* 

 This might be correct as to the Cheviots of 

 that day; but the system of crossinor with 

 the Leicester which has been pursued, has 

 remedied this defect. 



The black-faced sheep and the Cheviots 

 share the mountainous parts of the north of 

 England and the whole of Scotland between 

 them. Each has its advocates, and each is 

 a useful and valuable sheep. There are three 

 important points among them — the wool, the 

 carcass, and the hardiness. 



First, as to the wool. Here there can be 

 little doubt : a certain weight of the wool of 

 the Cheviot sheep is, on an average, fifty per 

 cent, better than the same weight of the wool 

 of the black-faced breed ; and the white 

 Cheviot wool is more valuable in a still 

 higher proportion.]- Lord Napier, in his 

 examination before the Lords, estimates the 

 difference in value to be yet greater, for he 

 says, "The black-faced sheep produce a 

 wool only half the value of the Cheviots." 



* Cully on Live Stock, p. 150. 

 f Little on Mountain Sheep, p. 98 



