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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



lish brcedtra the course which he pursued, as they could 

 have wished him to do, by leaving as a legacy to future gene- 

 rations the descriptive art of producing such a newly estab- 

 lished breed as his Leiceaters. He thought he obtained them 

 originally from the Kyelands sheep. In fact [pointing to pic- 

 torial sketches of Kyeland and Leicester sheep] there we have 

 the portrait of a Kyeland ewe, and another of a Leicester, as 

 first improved by Mr. Bakewell. I must say, I think them so 

 alike, that I was about to say I see no difference. A repre- 

 sentation of one of Mr. Bakewell's sort of sheep was given 

 in the Farmers' Magazine, published by Messrs. Rogerson 

 and Tuxford, of the Strand. Many breeders thought that 

 animal — a ram bred by Mr. Inskip — an exceedingly good 

 one, and many ventured to assert that there never was so 

 good an animal before, and never would be so good a one again. 

 Mr. Bakewell produced a particular kind of animal — an ani- 

 mal suited to his own particular taste. At the outset he bred 

 his sheep for form and symmetry, quality of flesh, fineness of 

 wool, but regardless of weight. After a few years, when he 

 had arrived at a certain state of cultivation, however much he 

 might be admired by his friends the Leicester breeders, there 

 were others who did not view the matter in the same light. 

 These persons did not feel that the head required to be made 

 smart, or the wool fine, or the bone less ; they therefore re- 

 sisted the new theories, and, as is stated by Mr. Youatt in bis 

 book, Mr. Bakewell was at first unsuccessful in the letting his 

 sheep ; but in after years it happened that men's minds began 

 to change : lest the whole cultivation should be monopolised by 

 that gentleman, a society consisting of eight breeders was 

 formed to obtain the first pick of his flock. In the fall of 

 the year each of these gentlemen selected a male animal, so 

 that Mr. Bakewell's sheep were distributed as it were over the 

 country. There was another breed of sheep which he had not 

 mentioned, namely, the Romney Marsh sheep. This was 

 a wild, bony, coarse animal, and he believed it had 

 disappeared. There was another sheep, of an intermediate 

 character, called the Devonshire Nots, a variety between the 

 Exmoor horned sheep and the Leicester, and a very hardy ani- 

 mal. This was found among the high hills of North Devon 

 and West Somerset : it was an animal which was about half 

 way between the higlily-cultivated sheep and the mountain 

 races, and, occupying an intermediate position, was exceedingly 

 useful in certain districts of the country. He now came to 

 the short-woolied sheep. A black-faced short-woolled sheep 

 was found scattered over a great many of the southern coun- 

 ties. Here, for example [pointing to a specimen], was a black 

 Norfolk sheep. This afl'orded an illustration of what he had 

 said before with regard to the influence of climate. Here they 

 had changed the Old Norfolk for the Southdown sheep in the 

 dry eastern counties of England. Then they had the South- 

 down on the dry southern soils, and distributed over many 

 intermediate spaces of dry and healthy sheep lands— which the 

 lecturer explained, grounding every argument upon climate 

 and improved cultivation. The Leicesters inhabit the midland 

 counties and intermediate lands between the extreme dry and 

 extreme moist climates of our island, the long-woolled sheep 

 being exposed to the colder aspects, where the short- wool or 

 pure Leicester could not exist. The localities and habits of 

 the several breeds were then enumerated by reference to a map 

 of England and Wales, which had been prepared by the autho- 

 rities of the Institution for the purpose of illustrating the lec- 

 ture. In turning to Scotland, he would remark that such was 

 the effect of altitude that he would illustrate it in this way, by 

 reference to a hilly district : for instance, at the foot of the 

 hill was to be found the cultivated Leicesters, then the mixed 

 Leicester and Cheviot, a stage further up they found the Che- 



viot sheep, then the mixed black-faced and Cheviot cross, and 

 next we find the black-faced ewe, and lastly the black-faced 

 wethers, which it was said no weather could destroy, unless 

 blown over by a tempestuous gale (laughter). Tracing the 

 course of the different breeds on the map, he observed that 

 they had here long-wools, middle-wools, and short-wools. The 

 long-wools were to be found in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Kent, 

 the Cotswold-hills, and some parts of the midland counties; 

 the middle-wools were to be found in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, 

 Leicester, Rutlaud, Nottingham, &c. ; while among the 

 short-wools were the very popular Southdowns, West 

 Country-downs, Norfolk-downs, Hampshire-downs, and 

 Shropshires. The latter breed, he might observe, had 

 come very rapidly into public favour, and be must confess 

 that as an old breeder he was astonished to find them cultiva- 

 ted to so high a pitch, and carrying off, as they had done, 

 prizes at our national shows.. In like manner (and this is 

 extremely interesting) there was now a new breed of sheep, 

 called the Oxford Downs. Thus, it would be observedj were 

 agriculturists in various districts endeavouring to propagate 

 sheep which were peculiarly adapted to the climate and situa- 

 tions of their several districts. This was very important as 

 bearing on the state of the sheep culture at the present day_ 

 The truth was that there had been eminent breeders of sheep as 

 well as eminent men in other departments of industry ; we 

 have had our EUman, Grantham, Bakewell, CoUings, Culley, 

 the late Duke of Bedford, Lord Spencer, Lord Leicester, &c., 

 of the past age, who did their duty in thus handing down to 

 us our present established breeds — breeds that have been cul- 

 tivated from these iudigenuous and mountain races here [point- 

 ing to the pictorial sketches]. This stage of improvement 

 was received by men of the present generation, who have 

 succeeded to admiration iu carrying on this great work of art 

 by propagation. Our country stands indebted to such men as 

 Jonas Webb, the Duke of Richmond, Overman, Sainsbury, 

 Rigden, Grantham, &c., for cultivating the South Down ; to 

 Sandy, Pawlett, Creswell, Turner, Spencer, and others for the 

 Leicesters ; while the long-wools have been remodelled by the 

 Clarkes, Kirkhams, Casswells, Richardsons, Brices, &c., in 

 Lincolnshire ; and by Large, Hewer, Game, Wells, Handy, 

 Brown, and Ruck, on the Cotswold and neighbouring 

 hills. There are many other breeders who had long directed 

 special attention to the improvement of their breeds of sheep ; 

 and, looking at the transformations which had been effected, 

 [here the lecturer pointed to the original and the improved 

 breeds represented in the pictures], he must say, that if credit 

 was due to improvers in other departments of art and of in- 

 dustry, equal credit was due to the breeders of sheep for the 

 ingenuity and talent which Ihey had displayed in their voca- 

 tion (cheers). Much of the improvement was due to the 

 Royal Agricultural Society, which h&i offered prizes for the 

 best specimens of sheep. But let it be remembered, that 

 Mr. EUman took in hand the improvement of the South 

 Downs about a hundred years ago ; and Lord Leicester, Mr. 

 Bakewell, and some few others, achieved immense success before 

 numbers were at all aware what they were doing. This, of 

 course, had a close bearing on the production of the estab- 

 lished breeds of the present day, early corrections being thug 

 early stamped by their males. It must not be supposed that 

 the race of attempted improvement was all sunshine. He 

 could give the names of a dozen or perhaps twenty breeders 

 who had not succeeded, especially in the breeding of rams. It 

 was no easy matter to blend science with practice. He had 

 already mentioned the failure of the attempt made by George 

 the Third to introduce merino sheep into this country; and 

 he had recently learned, from the puMished report of an 



