4 1 6 Saddle and Sirloin. 



and Sir Charles Knightley, introduced the shorthorn 

 blood to Penrhyn some skx-and-thirty years ago, and 

 about 1851 a few pedigree females were brought from 

 Edgcott, Rothersthorpe, and elsewhere. Booth's 

 King Arthur and Vanguard were both hired, and 

 Marmaduke was a very good 4OO-guinea purchase ; 

 and the herd has not only taken firsts with a Love- 

 more steer and cow at Birmingham, but the first calf 

 prize with Jessamine at the Canterbury, and again 

 with Waterloo 26th at the Leicester Royal. 



Sheep-breeding has been made a great point of 

 both at the home and the mountain farm, which lies 

 at the foot of the mountains, fully five miles away. 

 The flock, which numbers about two thousand, is 

 really half Cheviot and Welsh, and the wethers are 

 kept to four years old for the sake of their mutton. 

 A disposition to kemp or hair in the Welsh fleece has 

 been very much counteracted by a cross with the 

 Cheviot, which has increased both the quantity and 

 texture of the wool, without spoiling the flavour of the 

 mutton or the natural hardness of the sheep. The 

 Leicesters and Shrops form a distinct flock of from 

 1000 to 1 200 on the lower Penrhyn Farm. The 



are also many ponies in the upper part of Radnorshire. The fairs are 

 cried at Chapel, and many ppny lots are sold from 50^. to 7/. 



Beddgelert, Llanllyfui, Llanberis, Capel Curig," and Bettws are all noted 

 fairs (and so is Llanbedr, between Conway and Llanrwst) in October 

 for cattle, wethers of all ages up to six, and broken-mouthed ewes. The 

 four- year-old wethers have gone as high as 2%s., and the draft ewes to 

 22s. for England. The fair at Menai Bridge is held monthly, and 

 dealers, as elsewhere, have generally had the offer of everything, so 

 that you are obliged to outbid them. Llangefui is also a fair of note, 

 and Caernarvon, Conway, and Llanerchymedd are for steers principally. 

 Caernarvonshire has good feeding between the base of Snowdon and 

 the Menai Straits, and again between the Rivals and Llyen districts. 

 Welsh mountain farms of 1000 to 1400 acres will let for 6o/. The 

 grey-black sheep don't generally die well ; in Caermarthenshire the 

 whites are better liked, and in Merionethshire yellow legs and black 

 faces are more the order of the day. July I5th is the general clipping 

 time, and they are pretty generally their own shearers. It strips away 

 from the neck, and leaves the scrag as bare as a deer's. 



