FALKIRK TO EDINBURGH. 41 



North of Scotland, and blackfaces and Cheviots 

 are pretty equally divided. Many of them have 

 been bought on speculation at the Inverness Charac- 

 ter market, and forty thousand will sometimes be 

 pitched. It is principally a wedder market, as the 

 draft ewes do not come out in force before October. 

 The best Cheviot wedders go into Cumberland, and 

 the black-faced to Ayrshire, Wigtownshire, Edin- 

 burgh, and the West Lothian. The highest price that 

 the Messrs. Swan ever got for Cheviot wedders was- 

 42s. 6d. for 758, bred by Mr. John Hall, of Sei- 

 ber^s Cross, and sold for Mr. Wallbank, who had 

 purchased them at Inverness. Within seven or eight 

 years they have risen 10s. a-piece, but they range 

 from 34s. to 40s., and blackfaced wedders which 

 have touched 33s., from 31s. to 27s. A lot of cast 

 Cheviot ewes from Mr. Mitchell's of Kibigill in 

 Sutherlandshire went as high recently as 31s. 6d. 



The Kelso September fair has been very lecently 

 established. It is made up principally of shorthorns 

 from Yorkshire and Cumberland, which are bought 

 to fatten in the district. The cast ewes are mostly 

 three-parts or half-bred, and are bought for York- 

 shire and the East Lothian, the half-breds at from 

 35s. to 40s., and the three -parts at half-a-crown or 

 3s. more. East Linton, which is the centre of a 

 capital locality, comes between the two autumn Fal- 

 kirks on the first Thursday in October ; and although 

 it has only been established for six or seven years, it 

 averages higher per head than any lean market in 



