

THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED. 91 



longitudinally from head to tail, so that the whole body shall 

 be covered. The purpose served by the process is to re- 

 move insects and cutaneous diseases, and to defend the skin 

 from wetness. It is peculiarly beneficial in the case of this 

 breed, whose fur is less close and fine than that of any other 

 Sheep. The effect, however, is to diminish the value of the 

 wool, by staining it with the colouring matter of the tar, 

 which renders it less fitted for receiving the brighter colours 

 in dyeing. But it increases the weight of the fleece, and 

 conduces in so great a degree to the health of the animals, 

 by rendering them less liable to be injured by the coldness 

 and humidity to which they are exposed, that, whatever 

 doubts may exist of the expediency of the practice in the 

 case of other mountain breeds, experience shews its import- 

 ance in the case of this one all over the stormy countries 

 which it inhabits. 



This breed does not seem to amalgamate very readily with 

 other races, so that crossing has not generally been success- 

 ful as a means of permanent improvement. It has been 

 frequently crossed by the Cheviot, but the descendants have 

 been found inferior in weight, form, and quality of wool, to 

 the pure Cheviots, and to the Black-faced Heath Breed in 

 hardiness and aptitude to thrive in an upland country of 

 heaths. But as it is not always deemed safe to change a 

 stock of Sheep habituated to their locality, the practice of a 

 continued crossing with the Cheviot, until the flock has 

 acquired the characters of the latter, has been sometimes 

 adopted, so that the original Black-faced stock has become in 

 time almost Cheviot. Another species of crossing has been 

 remarkably successful, namely, the employing of males of the 

 Leicester or South Down breeds for a first cross. The lambs, 

 the result of this mixture, are excellent, rising to a much 

 .greater weight than those of the pure Black-faced blood. 

 Great numbers of this mixed race are now produced, and an 

 increased source of profit is thus opened to breeders by the 

 sale of their young Sheep. Of these crosses, the best has 



