ATHELSTANEFOIID TO COLDSTREAM. 145 



to the cheek-bone like a knife, and we thought ^' the 

 mules^^ or greyfaces happy in their thick-set fleece 

 when Ave were descending by flinty ruts and ice- 

 bound burns, on the welcome Kelso side. As their 

 breeders say, " they come as big as you like, and the 

 turnip comes out on the wool" ; seeing that with extra 

 feeding the best of the hoggs will often clip 81bs. 

 They are very fond of them in some parts of York- 

 shire, and the farmers of the Askrigg district buy the 

 shots of the blackfaced ewe hoggs solely to breed 

 them. 



The hill farmers burn their heather on a regular 

 rotation, and Mr. Clapperton gave it as his opinion 

 recently, at one of the East Lothian Farmers^ 

 Club meetings, that "when properly burned it 

 would feed blackfaced sheep better than any young 

 grass in East Lothian." Under a thousand feet, at 

 least, Mr. George Hope considered that "more 

 money had been made by converting heather into 

 arable land than by any other system of farming in 

 Scotland, potatoes and altogether," provided the land 

 was taken at a heather rent, and landlords gave some 

 assistance in fencing and draining. 



Carfrae Mill had not the attraction for us which 

 it has for the Duke^s field two or three times in the 

 season, and at Lauder, nearly every stall was full 

 of horses whose riders had gone to the rink. It was 

 aright cheery ride by Mellerstain and Smailholm, and 

 Mr. Usher (as ardent a curler as he is a hunter) was 

 just returning from the ice on Benvoirlich when we 



2 L 



