568 = 302 
Practical Agriculture. 
scribes their characteristics thus : — They are principally white 
faced, but some have rusty-brown faces, some speckled, an 
others grey. The males are horned, and the ewes general) 
hornless, though they sometimes have very short horns, and ai 
occasionally found with horns equal in size to those of tl 
rams. The poll is generally clean ; but sometimes a tuft 
found on the forehead of the ram. The head is small ar. 
carried well up ; the neck is long, and the poll high. Tl 
shoulders are low, the chest is narrow, the girth small, and tl 
ribs are flat. The rump is high, and the tail long. The averaj 
weight of ewes is about 7 lbs. per quarter ; the wethers weig 
at three years old, 9 lbs. to 10 lbs. per quarter, dead-weigl 
The mutton is famous for its delicacy. The average clip 
wool is about 5 lbs. per fleece ; the quality, as a rule, is fine, b 
in some districts coarse and mixed with long hairs about t 
neck and back. The ewes generally produce only a single lam 
but are excellent nurses. Crosses of Welsh sheep with Leicestc 
or Downs are found valuable on the lowlands, and many Wei 
sheep are sent to English counties to breed fat lambs. 
Radnors. Radnor Sheep. — In the county of Radnor, on the hills of Breco 
and in the western part of Montgomery and parts of Merionet 
remains a breed of the native dark-faced sheep of Wales,- 
hardy active race, developed by good management and selecti 
into animals of larger size than the ordinary mountain shec 
and carrying heavier fleeces. They have been improved 
the introduction of a cross of Shropshire and of Leices 
blood. The old breed, says Mr. Morgan Evans, was v( 
small ; and a great point with breeders was a very large ta 
heavily woolled, and a quantity of coarse wool or hair about t 
breech. The best kinds of Radnors have black faces ; but ma 
are of a tan, grimy, or grey colour, and some, of questiona' 
purity of strain, have faces partly white. The rams are horn 
the ewes should be hornless. They are short-legged, light 
forequarter, and, though slow feeders, yield mutton of excell 
flavour. At three or four years old the wethers weigh 14 lbs. 
15 lbs. per quarter, dead-weight. The wool, of fine .qual' 
weighs 4 lbs. or 5 lbs. per fleece. The ewes are prolific, a 
very good nurses. 
The principal fairs for Radnor sheep are, Kington, Knight 
and Builth ; and large numbers of ewes are sold to adjoi^" 
English counties to breed fat lambs, by crossing with Shropshi 
Leicester, or Cotswold rams. 
Cheviots. Cheviots. — Whether this breed were native to the range of h 
of that name situated partly in Northumberland and partly 
border counties of Scotland, or whether they sprang from a ' 
sheep which were cast ashore on the Western Isles from the sb 
