152 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



i 



Fig. 41.— The Chevolt Ram. 



This is quite an important consideration 

 to the sheep-farmer, whose wool is nearly or 

 quite three-eights of the produce of his farm. 

 The Cheviot is capable of much improve- 

 ment in this respect. By careful attention to 

 the selection it miojht be made finer in the 

 pile; it miffht be shorter in the staple, and 

 closer and thicker on the body of the animal, 

 losing nothing- in weight, but forming a 

 warm and more impenetrable coat; and lastly 

 a very important desideratum with regard 

 to the Cheviots, for the want of it is their 

 grand defect — there might be more e4uality 

 in point of firmness and felting property on 

 the different parts of the carcass. Very con- 

 siderable progress has been made within a 

 few years towards the effecting of all these 

 purposes, and particularly the last. 



The second comparison between these 

 sheep has reference to the carcass. It can- 

 not for a moment be denied that the Cheviot 

 is by far the most contented of the two on] 

 whatever kind of pasture he may be put, and i 

 there is no axiom so universally admitted as i 

 that contentedness and a disposition to thrive | 

 are inseparable companions. The Cheviot' 

 comes to maturity a twelvemonth sooner than 

 the black-faced sheep ; and at whatever age! 

 the fattening process commences with them, i 

 the Cheviot will ever leave the black-faced 

 far behind. Placed upon turnpes, the Chev-' 

 lots will gain many weeks on the black-faced, ' 

 or placed on the scantiest pasture he will 

 manage to retain his condition as much and 

 as long as his antagonist. It is true that 



from the superior size and weight of the 

 Cheviot so many of them cannot be kept on 

 the same quantity of ground as of the black- 

 faced sheep, but a greater quantity of mut- 

 ton will be produced, and a greater profit to 

 the farmer, and it is on this account that the 

 sheep-farms are more numerous than they 

 used to be, and the value of them has almost 

 doubled, and the number of sheep has mul- 

 tiplied almost beyond belief. Much of this 

 is doubtless to be attributed to the superior 

 system of management which has been 

 adopted ; but that superior system of man- 

 agement takes for granted a superior animal 

 on which to work. A great proportion of 

 Scotland is now exclusively employed in the 

 rearing of sheep ; and there are very few 

 parts of the South Highlands at least where 

 the Cheviot has not superseded, or is rapid- 

 ly superseding the native black-faced sheep. 

 One point of comparison alone remains — 

 hardiness; the power of resisting the com- 

 bined and lonir-continued infiuence of cold 

 and hunger. When the contest first commen- 

 ced on this point, tliere is no doubt that the 

 black-faced sheep claimed a decisive victory. 

 The Cheviots did not weather the inclem- 

 cy of a Highland winter ; and the loss of the 

 ewes and lambs almost, and in some cases 

 more than balanced the advantage of finer 

 wool and early maturity. But the trial was 

 not fairly made: the pasture, the soil, the 

 nature of the clinjate from which the Cheviot 

 was taken was not compared ; they were 

 often as dissimilar as possible ; it was there- 



