THE CHEVIOT.
A CHEVIOT EWE.
On the steep, storm-lashed Cheviot hills, in the extreme north of England, this breed first attracted notice for their great hardiness in resisting cold, and for feeding on coarse, heathery herbage. A cross with the Leicester, pretty generally resorted to, constitutes the improved variety.
The Cheviot readily amalgamates with the Leicester—the rams employed in the system of breeding, which has been extensively introduced for producing the first cross of this descent, being of the pure Leicester breed—and the progeny is superior in size, weight of wool, and tendency to fatten, to the native Cheviot. The benefit, however, may be said to end with the first cross; and the progeny of this mixed descent is greatly inferior to the pure Leicester in form and fattening properties, and to the pure Cheviot in hardiness of constitution.
The improved Cheviot has greatly extended itself throughout the mountains of Scotland, and in many instances supplanted the black-faced breed; but the change, though often advantageous, has in some cases been otherwise—the latter being somewhat hardier, and more capable of subsisting on heathy pasturage. They are a hardy race, however, well suited for their native pastures, bearing, with comparative impunity, the storms of winter, and thriving well on poor keep. The purest specimens are to be found on the Scotch side of the Cheviot hills, and on the high and stony mountain farms which lie between that range and the sources of the Teviot. These sheep are a capital mountain stock, provided the pasture resembles those hills, in containing a good proportion of rich herbage. Though less hardy than the black-faced sheep of Scotland, they are more profitable as respects their feeding, making more flesh on an equal quantity of food, and making it more quickly.
They have white faces and legs, open countenances, lively eyes, and are without horns; the ears are large, and somewhat singular, and there is much space between the ears and eyes; the carcass is long; the back straight; the shoulders rather light; the ribs circular; and the quarters good. The legs are small in the bone, and covered with wool, as well as the body, with the exception of the face. The wether is fit for the butcher at three years old, and averages from twelve to eighteen pounds a quarter; the mutton being of a good quality, though inferior to the South-Down, and of less flavor than the black-faced. The Cheviot, though a mountain breed, is quiet and docile, and easily managed.
The wool is about the quality of Leicester, coarse and long, suitable only for the manufacture of low coatings and flushings. It closely covers the body, assisting much in preserving it from the effects of wet and cold. The fleece averages about three and a half pounds. Formerly, the wool was extensively employed in making cloths; but having given place to the finer Saxony wools, it has sunk in price, and been confined to combing purposes. It has thus become altogether a secondary consideration.
The Cheviots have become an American sheep by their repeated importations into this country. The wool on several choice sheep, imported by Mr. Carmichael, of New York, was from five to seven inches long, coarse, but well suited to combing.