50 



English farmer is engaged in the production of those heavy- 

 breeds, to which we have referred, as best adapted to his soil, 

 and climate, and market, his neighbors, both near and remote, 

 are occupied with a very different business. 



In the mountains of Westmoreland, Lancashire, and North- 

 umberland, and throughout Scotland, the Black-Faced Heath 

 sheep roam over the cold, bleak pastures, whose variety and 

 sweetness of herbage, though it is short, gives peculiar delicacy 

 of flavor to the mutton, and whose climate gives these sheep 

 great hardiness and endurance. They are the short sheep of 

 Scotland, in contradistinction to the Cheviot, or long sheep — 

 a distinction upon which Scott and the Ettrick Shepherd had 

 their famous discussion. In form they are short, round, fii-m 

 and handsome. Their weight is from 16 to 20 pounds per 

 quaater; and their yield is about 5 pounds of long, coarse, 

 shaggy wool. 



In the more fertile and better cultivated portions of this dis- 

 trict, the Cheirot, a larger sheep, is increasing in numbers very 

 rapidly. These sheep are found, not only upon the high hills 

 of Cumberland, Galloway, and Westmoreland, from which 

 they take their name, but they are very generally kept in most 

 parts of Scotland. They are peculiarly adapted to the rough^ 

 cold region which they inhabit. Their legs are long and 

 strong, fitting them for travelling through bogs and snow ; 

 their quarters are strong and very evenly balanced ', their fleece 

 is close, compact and fine ; and their forms are straight, round, 

 and well proportioned. Their weight, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, is from 12 to 18 pounds per quarter; and under extra- 

 ordinary feeding and care they reach 30 and 32 pounds per 

 quarter. 



In Wales, a " small, short, knotty sheep " is found, kept in 

 large flocks, and exposed to much hardship. They weigh 

 about 10 pounds^per quarter, and their mutton is very highly 

 esteemed. 



In Ireland, a coarse, heavy, misshapen sheep, which attained 

 u large size upon the rich pastures of that island, has been much 



