472 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK iv. 



in the showyard would not, as a rule, live on the Moor, as they are too 

 delicate. 



The Dartmoor sheep (fig. 104), should be well-boned, with curly 

 coat, rich skin, thick ear, good top-knot, and speckled face. A little 

 horn is not objected to " as it shows constitution." The ewes are the 

 best of mothers, and when crossed with rams of high quality, are good 

 for producing fat lambs. The latter fatten readily when pure bred (as 

 they are now considered pure) after they are twelve months old. The 

 Dartmoors clip good fleeces ewes that are kept fairly well about 10 or 

 11 Ib. each, the wethers from 12 to 14 lb., rams from 20 to 30 Ib. 

 Mr. Ward had a ram in 1891 from which was shorn a fleece weighing 

 33 lb. The wool is all shorn in the yolk. 



The country in which the Exmoors and Dartmoors are reared is 

 generally surcharged with water after the autumnal rains ; yet the hardy 

 character of these sheep enables them to withstand adverse climatic 

 conditions. Their summer pasture is scanty, and their winter food con- 

 sists chiefly in what they pick up while ranging over extensive tracts of 

 pasturage, with the assistance, in extremely severe weather, of a little 

 indifferent hay obtained from the coarse herbage of the moors, and, 

 perhaps, occasionally of a small supply of turnips, which, though some- 

 times cultivated, are, from the wetness of the land, often unavail- 

 able when most wanted. By means of their superior hardiness of 

 constitution, and more especially their power of resisting wet, 

 generally so injurious to sheep, nature has evidently adapted them 

 to this soil. It is not, therefore, much to be wondered at that the 

 attempts made to supplant them by more tender breeds, or to alter 

 their character too greatly by crossing, have not met with success. 



THE HERDWICK. The sheep known as Herdwicks (fig. 105) are 

 principally found in the mountainous districts at the head of the 

 Duddon and Esk Rivers, in Cumberland, and in some parts of West- 

 moreland. The wethers and ewes are chiefly polled, and their faces 

 and legs are speckled ; but a great portion of white, and a few 

 brownish black spots, are accounted marks of the purest breed. If 

 any of them are found with horns and black faces, they are considered 

 as descended from a cross with the common black-faced sheep. The 

 wool is open, and generally intermixed with kemps, or hairs, excepting 

 about the neck, where it is fine. The fleece weighs from 3 to 4 lb. 



They are a hardy breed, well adapted to seek their food among their 

 native rocks, which are in many places bare, and, even when covered, 

 support but a thin soil. The herbage is mostly green, but heather is 

 found on the summits. These sheep have no hay in winter, but sup- 

 port themselves in the deepest snows by scraping down to the herb- 

 age ; and should any part be blown bare, the}* are sure to discover it. 

 In storms they cluster together, in places where the snow is least likely 

 to lodge. The lambs are well covered with wool from the time they are 

 dropped. 



The ewes are kept as long as they will breed, which is occasionally 

 ten or even fifteen years. The wethers usually go off at about the same 



