а Professor Low, who always throws around his subject a pleasing philosophy, and is likewise given to comparison, says that the Blackfaced Heath breed possesses characters which distinguish it from every other in the British Islands. It is of the smaller races of sheep with respect to the weight at which it arrives, but it is larger and more robust than the Zetland, the Welsh, and the ancient softwooled sheep which it displaced. It somewhat resembles the Persian, so that it might be conjectured that it is derived from the East. But it is more natural to assume that its peculiar characters have been communicated to it by the effects of food and climate, in the rough heathy district from which it is derived. Their limbs are long and muscular, and their general form is robust; but the shoulders are not so low as in the Welsh breeds, nor are the posterior limbs so long. The face and legs are black, and there is a tendency to this. color in the fleece; but there is no tendency to the brown or russet color, which distinguishes the older fine-wooled races. The fur is shaggy and the wool coarse, in which respect it differs from that of all other mountain breeds of the country. It is of medium length, and weighs about three pounds the fleece when washed. These sheep are very hardy, and capable of subsisting on the coarsest heaths. They do not, however, like the sheep of Wales, prefer the summits of mountains, but feed wherever pasture can be obtained; and are not so nice in the choice of herbage as the Southdowns, Merinos, and other races derived from countries yielding the finer grasses. Although wild and independent in their habits, they are not so restless as the mountain sheep of Wales and other parts, but can be induced to remain in inclosures when sufficient food is supplied to them. The ordinary weight of the wethers, when killed at the age of about four years, is 15 pounds the quarter; but individuals are made to exceed this weight when properly treated and The mutton is not so delicate as sufficiently fed from an early age. that of the sheep of Wales, or the Southdowns of England, but it is more juicy, has more of the venison flavor, and is preferred to every other by those who are used to it. It is the mutton which is principally consumed in all the larger towns of Scotland, and great numbers of the sheep, at the age of three years and upwards, are carried to the pastures of the south to be fattened for the English markets. A great defect of this breed is the character of the fleece, which, besides being thin on the body, yields wool fit only for the manufacture of carpets and the coarser stuffs. Little general attention has been paid to the quality of the fleece, although it is susceptible A defect of the wool, very common of considerable improvement. in this breed, is the existence of what are termed kemps. These consist of hard and wiry filaments mixed with the pile. They are deficient in the felting property, and in the oily secretion which moistens the home wool. The removal of kemps is effected by superior food, and by breeding from parents free from the defect. Sometimes individuals are born with wool which is fine and short. Were advantage taken of this occurrence it might be possible, by means of breeding, to produce a variety with fine in place of coarse wool. Extending as it does over a great variety of situation and soils, from the moist moors of Yorkshire and other parts to the rocky mountains of the north of Scotland, this breed presents a great diversity of size and aspect. In some of the lower and less heathy moors, both of England and Scotland, the sheep have so far deviated from the ordinary type as to have lost their horns and the black color of the legs and face. This variety is generally of smaller size and less hardy habits than those which are naturalized on the dryer mountains of abundant heath. The best of the breed are found in Tweeddale in Scotland, which may be partly due to the nature of the country, and partly to the superior care bestowed in breeding. Those existing in the hills of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire are much inferior to those of the border counties of Scotland. Over a great part of the highlands and islands of Scotland the breed has degenerated from the want of care and from insufficient food. In many of these situations, indeed, the stock may be said to be mixed, for it has been the result of crosses with the original races. So great has been the improvement since Low's time that his description does not give full justice to the Blackfaced of the present day. Now, the prominent features of a good specimen of the breed are a rough, shaggy fleece, great agility, hardy appearance, and a bold, defiant action. Both ewes and rams are horned. A model ram has the following characteristics, as given by the Scotts: Head large and masculine; Roman nose, with wide open nostrils and black muzzle; the face covered with a variegated black and white, or sometimes all black, close, hard hair, the colors clearly defined and not running into each other. The black, as a rule, predominates, although many well-bred specimens have rather most white on their faces. Large full eye, and broad between eyes. Horns strong and nicely curved, clear of the side of the head, and about an inch apart at the roots-never meeting on the cantle nor rising above the level of the cantle. Tups whose horns rise much above the crown of the head are objected to for breeding purposes, as the horns in the lambs are liable to cause severe injury to the ewe at lambing. The neck is rather short, strong, and slightly crested. Shoulder level and well filled up to the neck. Back straight and not too long. Ribs well sprung and deep, giving the animal a round, barrel-like appearance. Back broad. Hindquarters deep and fleshy. Deep and broad chest, with wide brisket. Strong legs, especially from the knee upwards. Large feet, with open hoofs and springy pasterns. Such a shaped foot is a great safeguard against foot-rot, as a close-hoofed foot can not be so easily cleaned and cured, and is not so answerable for climbing steep hills. The wool is strong and thick in staple, and about 12 to 22 inches in length; slightly "wavy" and free from hairs and dark or blue-gray spots. Blue or black streaks about the neck or tail-head, though still common to the breed, are not desirable. The wool, when full grown, reaches to within an inch or two of the ground. The legs are generally of a jet-black color, and squarely planted under the body. The chest and hindquarters are broad and square, imparting fine symmetry to the frame. The movements are elastic and active; and a ram with all these properties is majestic and carries himself with great style. The Blackfaced ewe is in all respects similar to the ram, only more feminine in appearance, and having much weaker horns. As a rule, the color of the face shows more dark than white, some being entirely black. The horns in ewes should also spring low and wide at the root, and be entirely free from a reddish tinge (blood-horned); otherwise the animal may be regarded as soft or unhealthy. A very remarkable characteristic of the breed is the activity of the new-born lambs. With lowland sheep the lambs, after being dropped, take a considerable time before getting on their pins, but it is not so with Blackfaces. After a shake of the head and a look around, the youngsters are on their feet and sucking in less than five minutes. But for this quality, arriving as they often do in the midst of snow, many of them would freeze to the ground before regaining consciousness. When the lamb is newly born, if well bred, every inch of it except the hoofs is thickly covered with wool. It is this characteristic which renders the breed so valuable for high, exposed grazings, and it is also a quality which distinguishes the Blackfaces among other breeds when they are reared in lower situations.* The improvements that have been made in the Blackfaced sheep have mostly been effected by careful and judicious selection. Crosses have generally failed with that other famous mountain sheep of Scotland, the Cheviot. It has frequently been attempted, but the result has shown a progeny inferior both in the shape and quality. To effect a change in the old forest breed, Cheviot rams were admitted to the hardy natives of the more elevated parts of the country. The independent habits of the mountain flocks were lost, and a mongrel progeny of a clumsy figure occupied the lowest and warmest of the pastures. Although both of the parents were hardy, the issue of the two were easily subdued by the cold of winter. But as it is not always safe to change a stock of sheep grown up and fixed in their locality, the custom prevailed of a contínued crossing with the Cheviot until the flock acquired the character of the latter, so that the original Blackfaced became in time almost Cheviot; and again, when the Cheviots declined in favor the continued use of Blackfaced rams on the same flock restored it to its original characteristics. The crossing of the Blackfaced ewes with the rams of the Leicester, the Southdown, the Cotswold, and other lowland breeds has been more successful, the first cross between the Blackfaced and the Leicester being held in the highest repute. The lambs resulting from this mixture are very hardy, fatten very readily, and reach a greater weight than those of the pure Blackfaced sheep. These first crosses are known as "gray-faces," or simply as "crosses." The desirable ewes are much sought after and make valuable ewes for breeding. A still further crossing of the "gray-face" ewes with a whitefaced ram produces a progeny usually larger than the first cross, and partaking more of the whitefaced type. Ewes of the second cross are again in many cases bred to whitefaced rams, and this produce will have still further advanced towards the whitefaced breed, possessing mutton not so prime as that from the first cross but more weight of it, and wool somewhat improved in quantity and in value by the pound. These Blackfaced and whitefaced crosses generally are constitutionally strong; under fairly good circumstances they thrive and do well, and they appear to be good rent-paying sheep on a large portion of the second quality land throughout Scotland and the north of England. They are considered more hardy than the half-bred and adapted to higher grazings. It has been found that the Border-Leicester ram is superior to all others in crossing with the Blackfaces, being possessed of the greatest aptitude to fatten rapidly, combined with a good, hardy constitution. These characteristics ingrafted upon Blackfaced ewes, which carry mutton of a fine quality but light in quantity, produce a good carcass of a superior quality of mutton. A cross with the Southdown ewes produces handsome sheep, having perfectly black faces and legs and a good fleece, but they do not attain the size of the Border-Leicester crosses. *History of Blackfaced Sheep, by John and Charles Scott. As related at the beginning of our treatment of this sheep, the Scotch Blackfaced is more widely disseminated and occupies a much greater area than any other breed of sheep in the British Islands. They have found their way all over Scotland, from the Hebrides on the north to its southern border, and thence far into the interior of the north and midland counties of England; also into Wales, where they are now found in great numbers. In the north of Scotland they are not so well bred, nor are the pastures as good as those in the south of Scotland, but the infusion of the new blood was so effectual that they soon almost obliterated the Dunfaces. The finer breeding flocks have long occupied the higher grounds in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, Dumfriesshire, and Stirlingshire; but along the west coast the Cheviots encroached extensively upon them up to within recent years, the opinion being held by many that the Cheviots were as hardy as the Blackfaces; that they would arrive earlier at maturity; would carry a greater quantity of mutton possessed of quite as fine a flavor As long as the Blackfaces remained in a comparatively unimproved state it was seldom that people living in lowland districts saw anything of them. They were strictly confined to the highest and wildest of the mountain ranges, and lowland farmers regarded them as unfit to tread upon the same quality of land along with the Cheviots or Leicesters. But all this has changed. The Blackfaces, which were formerly looked upon with contempt, proved their worth on the highest-lying grazings in the country, and gradually they began to encroach upon the ground held by the Cheviots. They had been steadily improving in size and quality, which also fitted them for lower ranges, and every year a few more flocks were added to their strength, till at length they have become the most numerous and widely distributed breed in Great Britain. In their march towards the lower pastures of the country they have, in many instances, fairly ousted the Cheviots from old-established quarters, and at the present moment they are contending with lowland breeds for supremacy on the very choicest quality of land. And in this they have succeeded to a surprising extent. It is now quite common to see large flocks of Blackfaces pasturing on the richest and best farms in Scotland, and when given a similar chance they are found not only equal to but superior to most of the lowland breeds.* The Blackfaces are lively animals, very instinctive, become deeply attached to their pastures, and return to them after being removed to a great distance. No variety is known that can take better care of itself, either in shifting for the means of subsistence or enduring the effects of heavy snowstorms. If they have some shelter they will scrape among deep snow for heath, moss, or furze, and tide over the storm with a very scanty supply. In the first half of the present century, when more of the mountain sheep were wintered on the summer grazings in the uplands than was afterwards deemed advis able, it was not uncommon-and heavy snowstorms were more prevalent then than now-to have large numbers buried under immense accumulations of snow. The length of time that those sheep endured and survived these storms is surprising. Excellent authority says: We have seen several animals of the Blackfaced breed, not very far removed from the ancient Dunfaces, taken out from below a huge wreath of snow alive, after being buried there five weeks. Some of the animals died immediately after ex * History of Blackfaced Sheep, by John and Charles Scott. All they had posure, while others, though weak for some time, lived several years. to subsist upon during those five weeks was what they could get where lying; they were, of course, unable to rise under such a pressure. Heather roots, grass, and even the soil were eaten to a mournful extent so far as the creature's head could reach; in fact, nothing grew for many years on those bitten specks.* The Blackfaces produce a fine quality of mutton, of a peculiarly delicate flavor. Formerly the wethers were considered fit for killing at from three to five years, but of late years the breed has been so improved in size and quality, that lambs sold from the grazings in the month of August at 14s. to 16s. per head to feeders are again resold by them in June (then fourteen months old) to butchers at from 45s. to 52s. each. Their mutton always brings the highest price in market. While it has been considered that it was unprofitable to fatten mountain sheep before they had reached a certain age, recent experience of the Scottish breeders has shown that Blackfaces can be fattened with as much success and profit under fifteen months as any other variety of sheep in existence." The treatment of this race of sheep varies according to the circumstances of the country in which it is produced and the market for which it is intended. Within the last half century it has undergone many changes, but now presents three characteristics, viz, the purely breeding stocks in the southern counties of Scotland, the wether stocks in the northern counties, and the mixed ewe and wether flocks in the central and northern counties. The breeder of the sheep is not usually the person who fattens them for the butcher's knife. He rears them to the age which suits the nature of his farm and sells them to farmers who have farms on which they can be kept till they have arrived at the proper age for fattening. Then they are again disposed of to the graziers and farmers who have grazings or artificial food with which to prepare them for the butchers. This transfer goes on constantly, the sheep ultimately finding their way to the markets of London and other great towns in a condition of flavor, juiciness, and general perfection difficult to equal. The means of meeting the great demand of the market are afforded by the stocks of ewes maintained on the farms of the breeders, the number of each flock of ewes depending on the quality and extent of the natural pastures and the age to which the progeny is reared on the breeding farms. On the breeding farms in the southern counties of Scotland it is usually the practice to winter the ewe hogs separately from the old sheep on the lower grounds, sometimes giving them turnips. Meadow hay is given all over the country, during heavy, The principal breeders in the southern protracted snowstorms. counties sell the wether lambs in the Lanark market during the autumn months, retaining through the winter only the purely breeding animals. Those who raise wether stocks in the northern and central counties of Aberdeen, Inverness, and Perth, buy the wether lambs in the Lanark market at high prices, ranging from 12s. to 24s. a head, and after about three years keep on the now-breeding farms these animals turn to the southern market as three-year-old wethers, and are By this time some of the wethers are 'sold at from 35s. to 40s. each. ready for the butchers, and the majority about half fat-in which case they are bought by fleshers and dealers, and put on turnips in England and elsewhere a few months. *John Coleman. |