FALDONSIDE TO DALGIG. 243 



of blackfaced wool unwashed, and 40s. for Cheviot 

 washed. Comparing well-fed wedders at three, the 

 average of blackfaced will be from 15 to 171bs., and 

 of Cheviots from 17 to 211bs. The blackfaces " grow 

 like mischieF^ the first year on pasture, and after that 

 they slacken, but still they are the daintiest morsel 

 to set before a club, with currant jelly in aid. 



The larger-boned ones are always better growers, and 

 hardier, and flockmasters like them with a long neck 

 and a short face, if they can get it. The head should 

 be broad between the eyes, and free from wool ; the 

 nose full and Eoman, the jaw broad and strong, and 

 the eyes not too near the root of the horns, which 

 should be flat and well apart, not too large, and 

 coming away free from the head. Rams whose horns 

 grow upwards from the same root invariably get their 

 lambs with those lumps on the crown, which are so 

 fatal at lambing time. The horn grows stronger 

 in deep boggy land, and as, unlike the hart, they 

 cannot 



" Hang their old head on the pale," 



and leave it there each April, some of the heavy- 

 headed ones grow sadly weary, rest it Hstlessly on a 

 stone or dyke bank, and are careless about the ewes. 

 Many have their horns sawn oif at the first bend, or 

 cut close and fired at the end of the flint, to prevent 

 them bleeding to death. The roundness at the 

 root of a horn will often indicate in a tup 

 lamb that he will get them with soft bloody horus, 

 which will grow into the head. These bloody horns 



2 R 2 



