108 riELD AND rEllN. 



his farm, his poultry, his greyhounds, his flowers, his 

 Shropshire Downs, and his Cotswolds, let alone the 

 old sorrel mare and her line. Dorkings and Rouens 

 have always been his feathered favourites ; and it was 

 with the Woolmet, the Mellerstain and the Comiston 

 lots that the Edinburgh January poultry sales began. 

 He has bred Cotswolds to cross with half-bred ewes 

 for these eight or nine years past, and raised 

 his flock in the first instance from Lane, Hewer, and 

 Handy. The fat lambs have made high prices in the 

 Edinburgh market, and Mr. Gibson hopes ultimately 

 to see both them and the Shrops (which jNIr. Randell 

 selected for him) holding their own with the Leices- 

 ters and the Southdowns. Lord Wemyss has also a 

 small Cotswold flock, and so has Mr. Scot Skirving ; 

 and a tup and twelve ewes of Mr. Beale Browne's have 

 come to Mr. Reed's of Drem ; but it is to his lord- 

 ship, Mr. Skirving, and Mr. Gibson that the High- 

 land Society competition has hitherto been confined. 

 At Woolmet there are one hundred and sixty 

 ewes in the Cotswold, and eighty in the Shrop- 

 shire flock, which is of much more recent date ; and 

 so far Mr. Gibson has been enabled to get £3 or ^4 

 for his tup lambs, and £6 to o€14 for his shearling 

 tups. 



He has been a courser for more than thirty 

 years ; and the Caledonian coursing picture by Ans- 

 dell, which hangs over his side-board bears its 

 silent record to many a good comrade passed 

 away. His trainer Robert ^Murray's talk is more 



