438 Breeds of Sheep best adapted to different Localities. 



the sea, no sheep will pay the farmer equal to the native Cheviot. 

 The present breed is largely crossed with the new Leicester, and 

 is found an exceedingly profitable cross for the purpose of 

 putting on turnips when hoggets. On a large part of the lower 

 Grampians the Cheviots might advantageously replace, and in 

 some instances are superseding, the black-faced breed, which we 

 are about to notice. 



The black-faced sheep are of the horned kind ; they are a 

 straight, upright sheep, with a short body, and from that circum- 

 stance are locally known on the borders as the short breed of 

 sheep in contradistinction from the long or Cheviot sheep. They 

 will clip on an average five pounds of wool, suitable for making a 

 medium description of worsted, and would clip considerably more 

 only from the circumstance that they are not shorn until late in 

 the season, and then by no means close, otherwise if an unfavour- 

 able winter set in early the sheep would suffer most materially. 

 Of the breeds generally known and extensively used, none have 

 been found so well qualified to withstand the inclemency and 

 hard fare of our highest mountains, with the exception of another 

 breed, the Herdwicks, which are not generally known, but which 

 will shortly be noticed. 



The black-faced sheep are extensively bred on the Cumber- 

 land, Westmoreland, and Lancashire mountains, better known as 

 "the Lake District," and more or less on the Lowland Scottish 

 hills, and, with the hardy race of black cattle, are the sole occu- 

 pants of the northern highlands of Scotland. That this breed 

 can be greatly improved was evidenced by the fine animals 

 shown at our Society's Newcastle Exhibition. They are exceed- 

 ingly hardy. This breed has been very much improved in many 

 places, but the improvements are made entirely by selection. 

 All the crosses with heath sheep, having in view the improvement 

 of the progeny as heath sheep only, have proved decided failures; 

 but crossing with the Leicesters and Southdowns for the purpose of 

 procuring lambs of superior quality, or with the intention of 

 selling the produce of such cross as hoggets to the Lowland 

 farmers, is a practice that has proved decidedly successful, and is 

 practised in some places to the utmost extent that heath farms are 

 capable of sustaining. To follow this system it is necessary that the 

 farmer should possess some dale land, in addition to his heathy 

 pastures ; they will not fatten until they have quite turned three 

 years old, and will then attain a weight of about 15 or 16 lbs. 

 a quarter ; we have seen some extraordinary fine ones attain 

 a weight of 20 lbs. per quarter. It is worthy of remark at the 

 same time, that these have generally been black-woolled sheep. 

 The ewes are not put to the ram until about November, at which 

 time they are brought from the mountains into the vales and 



