Rise and Proc/ress of the Leicester Breed of Sheep. 351 
in tlae heij^lit of their milk, and they are sold as high as 12/. at 
Kelso, but Leicester on half-bred answers best. Breeding " mules" 
is a great Lanarkshire fancy ; and the English dealers bring 
Leicester rams and take back black-faced hogg "shots" to put 
to the Leicester in Yorkshire. 
" The Barmshires," or Border Leicesters, are peculiar to the 
Border counties of Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and Northumber- 
land. Mr. Angus, of Whitfield's, flock, is, as it were, the herald 
of the breed, as you approach the district from the Newcastle 
side, but the flocks are all smaller on the clays. The old grass 
begins beyond Morpeth, and the traveller north by the rail skirts 
the farm of the Rev. Mr. Bosanquet, of ' The Rock,' who annually 
sells 100 rams at Kelso. They flourish on the banks of the 
Bowmont- Water and all along the spurs of the Cheviot range, 
but more especially in the warm and sheltered barley and turnip 
soils round Kelso and Coldstream. Unless a hill farm is annexed 
to the arable, the whole flock consists of Border Leicesters, and the 
South Country Leicesters, or " blue head," is proudly eschewed. 
The leading flocks have rather marked peculiarities. Some 
excel both in size and fleece, while others have lighter fleeces and 
smaller scrags, but more quality and fashion. A very big head 
is the characteristic of one or two flocks, and another can generally 
be told by " the bridge in front of the hock." Still, of late years, 
there has been so much interchange of blood that they are 
fast becoming more of one type, especially in their wool, 
which has acquired much more staple and curl. The ewes, 
which are remarkably good milkers, should lamb about the 
middle of March, and when weaning time is come the farmer 
will often give you the choice of " yow or cow " when the 
cheese is put upon the table. The lambs are dipped a week 
after the ewes are clipped, so as to keep the ewes clean. Wether 
hoggs should be quick off the shears, and not be kept above 
fourteen months, when they generally reach from 18 to 19 lbs. a 
quarter. Their wool averages from 7 to 8 lbs. all round, and a 
highly fed tup-hogg will clip to 12 lbs., according to the nature of 
the soil. Clay land is favourable for wool on the belly, but the finer 
bred they are the greater the difficulty in preventing it from peel- 
ing. The lambs are generally born with a top-knot, but it comes 
off; and if their whisker or their scrag wool is very plentiful, 
they are pretty certain to peel below. Rams which have this 
tendency are generally capital graziers, and get better fat lambs, 
and are therefore in good request for crossing. Their hocks 
should be rather away from them if they are to follow Cheviot 
ewes on the hill side, and to travel on the undulating farms from 
the banks of the Tweed to the Bowmont. They should also 
have plenty of bone, and not be round in the shank. The heads 
should be long and thin, without any tendency to a blue shade, 
