150 WESTMORLAND AGRICULTURE. iSoo— 1900 



ewes are horned, the horns being set wide apart. The legs are black, 

 with a sprinkling of white hairs. The wool is loose and shaggy, and 

 brings about ^d. per lb. less than the Scotch black-faced. A good 

 ewe flock will give fleeces weighing 4 to 5 lbs. each. 



The draft ewes after they have had three or four crops of lambs 

 are put to Leicester, Border Leicester, or, now what is yearly becoming 

 more common, Wensleydale rams. 



It may be noted here that the only record of Lonks in the county 

 belonged to J. J. Banks, of Lane Foot, who kept them for a few years 

 and finally sold his flock from Potter Fell Farm at the Kendal Auction 

 Mart in October, 1882, the ewes made 33/6 to 40/6, shearling gimmers 

 37/6 to 44/3, shearling wethers 23/- to 31/-, two-shear wethers 33/6 

 to 44/9, gimmer lambs 18/9 to 25/-, and wether lambs 13/- to 17/6 

 each. 



(3) Swaledales are a variety of black-faced sheep found in the north- 

 eastern part of the county bordering on Yorkshire and Durham — whence 

 this variation from the Rough Fell type has arisen. It is recorded 

 that in the Masham district of Yorkshire they had a breed of sheep 

 which were known as " Mug Leicesters," " which were not a relic of 

 the ' Teeswater,' and a ' New Leicester ' man woiild not look at them." 

 The lambs produced from the cross of the " Mug Leicester " with the 

 native horned ewes produced what were known as " Swaledale " 

 lambs, a " very hardy sort with close, short coats and a hard touch," 

 but they were not such good feeders as shearlings, as the cross with 

 Scotch ewes. Prizes were annually given at the Murton tup show for 

 Warton Crag rams till the late sixties, and this fact may account for the 

 variation in the closeness of the wool ; its fineness and the mealiness 

 of the nose coming from the Herdwicks, as the mealiness of the nose 

 of the Scotch type in the sixties was derived from the later breed. 



They are now a distinct type of black-faced sheep bred round 

 Kirkby Stephen eastwards to Swaledale and the adjoining Yorkshire 

 dales ; Ravenstonedale is the dividing Une between the Swaledale and 

 Rough Fell sheep — the eastern side of the dale being occupied by the 

 former and the western side by the latter. The Swaledales are longer 

 in the body than the Rough Fell sheep and differ materiedly from 

 that breed in coat. The fleece is much finer and softer, and brings 

 from ^d. to |d. more per lb. in the market. 



