128 HIGH FARMING IN NORTHUMBRIA 



to eat off the grass in the parks, and in forty-eight 

 hours may exchange the Fells for Kensington Gardens. 



Soon after Bakewell's improved Leicesters had 

 become famous, rams of that breed were brought up 

 into the north of England ; and by repeated crossing 

 on the native sheep, probably unimproved Cheviots, a 

 new race of Leicesters was evolved, differing only to 

 a trivial extent from the parent breed in appearance 

 if not in constitution, but nowadays distinguished as 

 " Border Leicesters." These are very widely dis- 

 tributed over Northumberland and the south of 

 Scotland, though they require the arable land and are 

 not suited to the rough hill-sides on which the Cheviots 

 flourish. A still more recent introduction are the 

 Oxford Downs, of which during the last thirty years 

 or so several flocks have been established in the 

 district, so that the Oxford Down rams make a con- 

 siderable figure at the great ram sale held at Kelso 

 every September. The Oxfords are probably the 

 largest of all the Down breeds, though they are bred 

 in the Border country somewhat finer and smaller than 

 in their native shires, the flocks having in many cases 

 been built up on a foundation of Cheviot and Leicester 

 blood ; again, the Oxfords are essentially sheep of the 

 arable land, and must be well fed and quickly grown 

 to be profitable. 



But perhaps the most numerous sheep in the district 

 are cross-breds by Leicester rams on Cheviot ewes. 

 These cross-breds are very uniform in type and might 

 almost be regarded as a distinct breed, because they 

 are very commonly bred together for another genera- 

 tion, or the ewes are again crossed with a Leicester 

 ram. In a general way it is recognized that cross- 

 breds possess a vigour that neither of the parents 

 shows ; but nothing further than a first cross is usually 



