159
2. Sheep. The Cheviot breed now occupy the greater partof the pastures of this county ; though the black-faced still pre-vail in the upper parts of Nithsdale. The Cheviot sheep are,however, seldom unmixed ; and the wool never sells so high asthat grown on the Cneviot hills. It has been a practice for se-veral years with the owners of this breed in Durr.fries-shire, topurchase rams at Hawick from the farmers near Cheviot, witha view to maintain or improve the character of their stocks.Most of the mountain flocks are kept merely for breeding, andconsist of ewes and ewe-hogs; there being very few stocks ofwedders in die county. This limited scale of management isprobably one of the principal causes of the inferiority of theirCheviot stocks. Besides tfyese two breeds, there are a few flockscfLeicesters and foreign breeds. In respect of numbers, it hasbeen supposed, that in the whole county there may be about200,000 sheep, of which -|ths, or 175,000, may belong to themountain flock;, and the other 25,000 to the low farms.
3. Horses. ‘ The work horses in general are the result of* many crossings of different breeds, larger than the real Gallo-‘ way, but less than the pad-formed dray horse of Glasgow and1 the neighbourhood. ’ {Dumfriesshire Report, p. 374.) Pota-toes, which are extensively cultivated in this county, are givento work horses, sometimes at the rate of 42 lib. daily, after be-ing boiled or prepared by steam; and, in some instances, oatsare wholly withheld, unless when the horses are employed ondistant journies.
4. Swine. These form an important branch of husbandry inthis county; the annual returns of money for swine into thewhole county fail but little short of 50,0001 The pork is curedin the county, and sent off in bacon for the London or Newcastlemarkets. They are fed chiefly on potatoes. The long-earedwhite sow is generally preferred, as the progeny come to a largesize, weighing, when fat, about 16 stones at an average ; andsome of them reaching as high as 30 stones.. The prices forgreen pork vary from 5s. to 9s.; and'for bacon from 9s. to 12s.per stone. The consumpt of pork and bacon, within the county,is conceived to be fully equal to one-third of what is exportedout of it. The gross value therefore must be supposed betwixt60,0001 and 70,0001 worth ; and if every swine fed for slaughter"'ere valued at 51, there would appear to be about 13,000 fedand slaughtered annually in this county.— Report, p. 384. -
There are very few rabbits ; and no regular warren. Turkeys,geese, common fowls, and ducks, are all reared in considerable'lumbers. In one small parish, it was ascertained that eggs tothe value of 1001 were sold in 26 weeks. Pigeons are not nu-merous.
The intelligent Reporter of this county (the Rev. Dr. Singer,)having described the management of bees at some length, it mayhe proper in this place to transcribe his remarks.