The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition , 1883. 
513 
and  a cliff  20  feet  deep  of  gravel  on  4 feet  of  sand.  The  cost  of 
repairing  the  damage  in  Swaledale  above  Richmond  will  be  from 
500/.  to  700/.  One  great  injustice  in  all  this  is  that  the  rate- 
payers have  to  provide  the  money  to  replace  the  roads  and 
bridges,  which  upholds  the  landowners’  property  at  its  full  value 
at  principally  the  expense  of  the  tenants,  the  landowners,  with 
few  exceptions,  getting  off  scot-free.  The  rateable  value  in  the 
Richmond  Highway  District  is  150,207/.  Brompton-on-Swale 
is  about  a mile  to  the  west  of  Catterick  Station,  and  about  one 
and  a half  to  two  miles  north-west  of  Mr.  Teasdale  Hutchinson’s 
farm.” 
Wensleydale  gives  its  name  to  a breed  of  long-woolled  sheeps 
which  is  much  used  in  the  North  and  West  Ridings.  They  are 
bigger  sheep  than  Leicesters,  and  are  general  favourites  over  the 
district  for  crossing  with  Cheviot  or  Scotch  black-faced  ewes. 
The  shearling  ram  of  this  breed,  which  gained  the  prize  at  the 
York  Show,  was  a really  excellent  sheep,  combining  great  frame 
writh  good  quality,  clean-legged,  well  woolled,  and  of  vigorous 
and  active  habit  (see  p.  495). 
There  appeared  to  be  considerable  haziness  in  the  minds  of 
some  of  the  competitors  as  to  the  breed  of  sheep  found  on  their 
I farms.  Those  who  kept  a flying  stock  generally  reported  their 
sheep  to  be  “ Bamshires,”  which,  after  several  inquiries,  was 
found  to  be  a contraction  of  “ Bamboroughshire,”  a district  on 
the  east  coast  of  north  Northumberland.  These  sheep,  as  a rule, 
had  been  obtained  in  York  market.  The  ewes  were  drafts  from 
north-country  flocks  of  Border  Leicester  and  the  various  crosses 
of  Leicester-Cheviots,  and  the  hoggs  were  the  produce  of  such 
ewes.  In  the  East  Riding,  where  regular  breeding  flocks  are 
kept,  the  principal  breed  is  Leicester,  with  a confession  to  a 
strain  of  Lincoln  in  it.  Shropshire  and  Oxfordshire  Down  rams 
have  been  occasionally  used,  and,  where  the  produce  is  sold  as  fat 
lambs,  the  cross  is  well  spoken  of.  Where  these  crossbred  lambs 
have  been  wintered,  the  sheep  are  said  to  be  not  quite  so  heavy 
as  the  pure  breed,  but  the  mutton  commands  a higher  price  per 
pound. 
On  the  first  inspection  in  January,  sheep  folded  on  turnips 
were  in  a most  miserable  plight  on  several  of  the  competing 
farms ; being  confined  in  small  folds,  with  such  a weight  of  mud 
adhering  to  their  legs  and  bellies,  that  they  could  scarcely  drag 
their  feet  out  of  the  knee-deep  puddle  from  which  there  was  no 
escaping.  A more  unnatural  life  than  to  compel  sheep  to  lie  on 
a mixture  of  nearly  equal  parts  of  soil  and  water  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine.  The  Judges  were  curious  to  find  out  the  effect  of  this 
treatment  on  breeding-ewes  that  were  getting  no  dry  food,  and 
had  no  outrake.  The  result  was  what  they  anticipated.  At  the 
next  visit  in  April  doleful  reports  were  given  of  a most  trying 
