474 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK iv. 



months will clip 10 Ib. of wool and are full of mutton must be 

 dangerous rivals for other breeds. The average clip of Mr. Peel's 

 flock this year was 6 Ib., and sold at 50s. the tod, and the breeding 

 ewes and shearling rams ran on the hillside pastures as they liked." 

 There was a small but very good collection of this breed at the 

 Windsor Show of the Eoyal Agricultural Society in 1889, where their 

 great size attracted general notice. 



THE LIMESTONE breed was no doubt also originally an oifshoot of the 

 Black-faces, and may be found chiefly in the fells of Westmoreland. 

 They are not much known outside their own district, but a small yet 

 creditable display of them was exhibited at the Windsor Show in 

 1889. The sheep called " Limestones " in North Derbyshire are really 

 Leicesters. 



THE PENISTONE is a breed of sheep found on the borders of York- 

 shire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, on a heathy tract of land about 

 twenty-six miles in length by twenty in breadth, and the} r are called 

 the Penistone from the market-town of that name, where they are sold. 

 They are described by Mr. Low as having wool of a medium length, 

 of a silky appearance, but harsh and wiry, and weighing from 4 to 5 Ib. 

 the fleece. They have white faces and legs. The rams alone have 

 horns, which are very large, lying close to the head, and projecting 

 forward. The breed is now little known, and is apparently dying out. 



THE WELSH MOUNTAIN breed (fig. 107) held at one time almost un- 

 challenged possession of the Principality. There were no doubt two 

 fairly distinct types, the one being found only in the higher mountains, 

 and the other being more generally distributed. The higher mountain 

 sheep was goat-like in appearance, and had a long tail and ridge of hair 

 on the back, with the throat white and the face and legs black. They 

 were very wild and active, and are said to be the original stock of 

 the Radnor sheep, which is larger and heavier but still retains the 

 black face and legs. 



The soft-woolled sheep are the distinguishing breed of Wales. 

 They are small and active, with white faces, and they furnish the wool 

 from which the famous Welsh flannel is made. The flesh is firm and 

 sweet, and has a high reputation as an article of food. Some attempts 

 have been made to introduce other breeds, such as the Cheviots, into 

 the mountain pastures of Wales, but without success. Of late years, 

 however, the Welsh farmers in the lower and less exposed districts 

 have introduced improved English breeds to a considerable extent. 



Turning now to the improved breeds of sheep of which English flocks 

 mainly consist, we find that they divide themselves, as already mentioned, 

 on page 466, into two classes the long-woolled and the short-woolled 

 the peculiar merits of which formed a subject of discussion for many 

 years amongst agriculturists. Each class has valuable characteristics, 

 and it was long thought that no effort to blend them would prove to 

 be permanently successful. Nature seemed to have intended them for 



