154! FIELD AND FERN. 



professionally observed, " The home stable won again J^ 

 And so the average went steadily on, till it was only 

 3Jd. short of £27, or £6 12s. 9d. beyond the average 

 for the same number in ^63, no small rise on the 

 £\0 8s. all round of ^60. The ring cleared out after 

 the closing lot, 35, just like the House of Commons to 

 the smoking-room, when a great speaker is down, and 

 who shall we say gets up? and "£3 2s. 6d., gie 

 us a bit stiffer than that, Mr. Swan,'' were the last 

 words that were audible in our reporter's gallery. 



In the course of the day £57 (as well as £9 Os. 6d. 

 for 48) and £51 were made respectively by Mr. 

 Stark and Mr. Calder. "Sisterpath^^ kept up its old 

 prestige with £10 10s. Sjd. for 49, and Mr. Purvis 

 Avas there again with £9 7s. 9id. for a hundred. 

 The Simsons were pretty close, " Blainslie" with £7 

 10s. 9d. for 80, and " CourthilF' with £7 17s. 8d. for 

 70; but there is no fair comparison of averages unless 

 the time of putting up is stated as well. 



Lord Polwarth has fine old grass and very beauti- 

 ful shelter and climate for his flock at Mertoun, four 

 miles from St. Boswells, and he sets the fashion as 

 completely as Mr. Sanday did in England, and never 

 buys tups at Kelso. In fact, the other Border 

 breeders declare that it is a perfect Caucasian mystery 

 where he does get his tups from . The uniformity of 

 his lordship's sheep is very marked, from their gay looks, 

 flat backs, round ribs, and slight deficiency about the 

 scrag. In size and wool some of the other flocks 

 are their equals, and in the two-shear competition 



