432 



Agriculture of Nort 'laimherland. 



they are kept on the turnips till mid-day, and then allowed to 

 make out to the hills in the afterpart of the day. The ewe hogs 

 are generally fed off grass the following summer, and sold fat. 

 The wethers are grazed, and cither sold in October, to feed on 

 turnips, or kept and fed by the breeder. When it is not intended 

 to feed hogs off turnips, but to graze them the following summer, 

 it is best to allow them to come to turnips as soon as they come 

 from their lair in the morning, and to make off into rough land in 

 the afternoon, as by this means they get to more bone and grow 

 to a larger size, and produce the finest quality of mutton. The 

 sheep also get fuller in the loins by being more gradually fed. 

 The variety of food has also the good effect of keeping the sheep 

 in health. However simple the above fact may seem at first 

 sight, it is found to be of first-rate importance by men of expe- 

 rience ; where no such heathy ground is at the farmer's command, 

 it is always advisable to give the sheep hay or pea-straw, as either 

 has the effect of making them relish the turnips, and keeps their 

 teeth clean. 



The Leicester and Cheviot sheep are both exceedingly well 

 adapted to the situations in which they are kept and the treat- 

 ment they commonly receive. The Leicesters only do well on 

 low, dry, warm, and level lands ; being of a quiet, domicstic, and 

 inactive nature, they should procure their meat easily, and have a 

 great deal of rest during the day. The Cheviot sheep, on the 

 contrary, are of a sprightly, wild, active nature, and lightly made. 

 They take little rest during the day, and wide ranges to seek their 

 food, which circumstances recommend them above every other 

 breed to the Northumberland hill farmer. The Cheviot sheep 

 are superior to the Highland black-faced sheep, as they are not so 

 wild as the latter, and come earlier to maturity. 



As sheep for grazing purposes, there are none equal to the 

 half-hreds, already named, especially if intended to be fed off grass 

 of second quality, without having had good treatment the previous 

 winter. They perhaps do not fatten so readily at an early age 

 as the Leicester sheep, but were they to receive as good treatment 

 from their birth, and kept to two years old, they would make as 

 heavy sheep, and worth more by the pound. They possess in a 

 medium degree, when fat, the best points of the Leicester and 

 Cheviot sheep. Both these breeds are spotty in their points when 

 fat ; the former may be considered prime when they have fat ribs, 

 loins, and good breasts, without being fat on their tail-heads, and 

 with small neck-veins and legs; the latter may be said to be 

 prime, with fat tail-heads, good neck-veins, loins, and legs, with- 

 out being fat on their ribs and breasts. The half-bred sheep, 

 when fat, possess all these good qualities in a happy medium, and 

 justly deserve to be called the nicest muttoned sheep fed in 



