352 Bisc (Old Progress of the Leicester Breed of Sheep. 
the cars broad and erect, the nose brown coloured or hazel, with 
an open nostril and a large expressive eye. The scrags are hard 
to keep up to the proper thickness, but still the leg of mutton or 
the gigot is the prime difficulty ; and there is also a tendency to 
be too fat on the rib. As with the Dartmoors, a wide tail is a 
great point. Since the introduction of so much artificial feeding, 
the size has been considerably increased, and the ewes are 
generally fatted off after three crops of lambs at from 2Glbs. to 
■JO lbs. a quarter. St. Ninian's, near Wooller, is the great fair, 
late in September, for the cast ewes, but some are sold at Cornhill, 
where they made as much as 63s. to 60s. the autumn before last. 
Penrith dealers have been the principal ewe buyers at St. Ninian's 
for the last five-and-forty years, and take on nearly all the lots to 
ttie York and Harewood fairs. The best ewes are nearly always 
picked up by the dealers in the pastures, and the price is governed 
by St. Ninian's. Mid-ewe lambs are not sold, but are generally fed 
off as shearlings Avith the wether hoggs and the shot gimmers. 
Some of the best gimmers have fetched 201. apiece to go to Ireland. 
Lord Polwarth's rams, as well as those of a few other flock- 
masters, were sold by auction at home for many years. In 1846 
the Kelso public sales were established on the second Thursday 
in September, and 350 rams were entered, but 13Z. was the 
highest price. Lord Polwarth's were first brought to Kelso in 
1852. In 1820 his Lordship's home-average had only been 
31. 15.?. for 35 ; whereas in 1865 it was oil. 18s. lOUL at Kelso 
for the same number. His Lordship's top sheep went for 95Z. 
that 3'ear, and for 106/. in 1867. The supply of rams has 
become so large that some breeders in " the little kingdom of Scot- 
land and'Northumberland," as it is called, have preferred taking 
their lots into the Edinburgh sale ring; but even with this slight 
take off, upwards of 2300 rams, the property of between fifty and 
sixty breeders are sold annually in the four rings at Kelso. 
There ai"e two or three grades of purchasers among the Irishmen 
who come over in large numbers. Some go up to 15/., but a 
great many cannot be tempted beyond 7/. The Caithness men 
bid with great spirit, and there is generally a commission from 
North Wales, at least every other year. Lord Penrhyn is in the 
habit of getting them to cross his pure Leicesters. The cross 
produces a hardier sheep, with wool as fine and a little longer in 
the staple. The order of sale in the four rings is decided by lot. 
Lord Polwarth's always make a very high average, however 
low down in the list they may be drawn ; but it militates ver}'^ 
severely against the great majority of the lots if they are put up 
after two o'clock. Still a lot of 85 from a noted breeder has 
made as much as 11/. 2s. 8d., and 100 have also gone off pretty 
late in the afternoon at 10/. 12s. 7d. 
Durham and Yorkshire have been quite the home of the 
