466 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK iv. 



During the past century an immense improvement has taken place in 

 British sheep, and as a consequence most of the old local breeds have 

 either been supplanted by others, or have been so altered in character 

 by means of systematic crossing and selection as to have little but 

 their name in common with their ancestors. Over the greater part of 

 England the breeds of sheep divide themselves naturally into two 

 great sections, viz., the Longwools, which are found chiefly in the rich 

 lowland pastures and marshes, and the Shortwools, which are kept 

 especialty on the Downs and uplands. The former generally have 

 been to a considerable extent indebted to the new or "Dishley" 

 Leicester, as perfected by Bakewell, and Ihe latter to the Southdown 

 as improved by Ellman. 1 



But, in addition to these two classes, and to a certain extent over- 

 lapping each, there are the Mountain breeds, some of which are long- 

 woolled and some shortwoolled, some whitefaced and some blackfaced, 

 some horned and some polled. Foremost among the Mountain breeds 

 of sheep we may take 



THE BLACK-FACED MOUNTAIN. This is the most numerously re- 

 presented breed in the British Islands. In Scotland the Black-faces 

 form a large majority of all the sheep stocks of the country. It 

 has been a matter of dispute as to whether the breed be of English or 

 of Scotch origin, but the most likely theory is that they were originally 

 natives of the southern and south-eastern counties of Scotland and 

 of some of the northern counties of England. As early as the com- 

 mencement of the eighteenth century, the village of West Linton in 

 Peeblesshire was recognised as the principal market for black-faced 

 sheep. It is a well-known fact that they have been the native breed 

 in the south-eastern counties of Scotland and the northern counties 

 of England from very early times, but at the present da} r the most 

 prominent breeding stocks of Black-faces are to be found in the 

 Midland Counties of Scotland. 



For a time their popularity was on the wane on account of their 

 wool being coarser in texture than that of either the Cheviot or the 

 Leicester, and at the period when the relative price of wool as com- 

 pared with mutton was much higher than it is now, a good many 

 black-faced stocks on the higher grounds were displaced by Cheviots. 

 But the long succession of stormy seasons which began in 1860 worked 

 sad havoc among the Cheviot stocks on the higher and more exposed 

 regions, whereas the black-faced stock came through these severe 

 winters with much less loss. The greater hardiness of the Black-faces 

 as compared with the Cheviots, which was abundantly demonstrated 

 during the disastrous seasons that followed 1860, made them the 

 favourite sheep for all the higher grounds in. Scotland and the North 

 of England, and the immense fall since then in the price of wool as 

 compared with mutton, has removed any temptation to risk the 



1 Generally speaking the Longwools are white-faced, and the Shortwools black- or brown- 

 faced. 



