[Illustration: 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.