Farm-Prize Competition, 1880. 
527 
dry weather in summer is sufficient to stop the growth of grass 
and make it begin to " curl." * 
Sheep. — Sheep come next in order, and a brief account must 
be rendered of them. A hundred pure-bred Scotch ewes run 
on the high aUotment before alluded to, both winter and summer, 
and in the former season get no assistance, not even a little 
hay. There is plenty of heather, without which they would 
starve, but this is their principal winter food. To these ewes 
a Wensleydale tup is put, and the half-bred produce are again 
bred from. The Scotch tup follows after the Longwool has had 
first turn. The second-cross lambs got by a Longwool tup are 
made fat, if possible, during the summer, but a few sometimes 
remain till autumn, and have to be finished off with turnips. 
In April the Scotch gimmers which have been living on the 
lowlands at home go on to the hills for the summer with the 
older sheep, but some of the half-bred ewes with pairs remain 
with their lambs. Lambing begins about the middle of March 
with the half-breds, and about the same period with the Scotch 
ewes. The latter are brought down for this purpose, but do 
not long enjoy these fat commons. On April 26th I found 50 
of these, with one lamb apiece, had already been relegated to 
their native mountain. Nineteen with pairs were being in- 
dulged a little longer. The half-bred ewes are good sucklers, 
and their lambs should get fat without cake. The ewes are 
distributed thinly over the grass in spring, and the meadow 
for mowing is not generally cleared till the 12th of May. The 
wethers and " shots " are all made off fat by the help of a few 
swedes given them in the pastures in winter. 
There were 330 sheep in February, viz. : 
78 Scotch-bred ewes. 
49 ditto shearlings. 
51 ditto gimmer hoggs. 
97 Scotch horned ewes. 
14 ditto gimmer hoggs. 
6 Leicester Longwool tups. 
7 fat half-bred ewes. 
19 ditto wether hoggs. 
8 blackfaced wether hoggs. 
1 Scotch ram. 
330 
There was a good drop of lambs this year, and losses had been 
* Indeed, I imagine it is only the abundant rainfall of this valley which 
(with artificial aids) renders it productive at all. At Stavely, a little farther up 
the valley, the annual rainfall seems to amount to about 65 inches, as I have 
deduced from eight years' records in Mr. J. J. Symons's Tables. 
