^^,v 01?JervaUo:s on the Le'icefieVy Nov. 



theirs, in queft of a fcanty and precarious fuftenance. From an 

 impeded experiment I made tliis ieafon, I am the more inclined 

 to call in queftion the fupcrior excellence of the New-Leiceftcr, or 

 large Englilh fneep, over the black-faced, or oilier fmaller ones. 

 On th • 14th of May lall, I weighed fix white-faced or Engliflri hogs, 

 of a civ.fs betwixt the new-Leiceiier and Cheviot breed, purchated 

 laft year at St Bofwcll's fair, and fix black-faced hogs, from x\i^ 

 mountains in Per hfhirc, purchafcd fome weeks after ; the 'fix 

 Engiiih hogs weighed 42 it. Edinburgh flcfli weight, or 6 cwt. 

 c qrs. 2 lib. avoirdupois; the llx black-faced 34 It. 15 lib. fiefli 

 weight, or 4 cwt. 1 qr. 9 lib. avoirdupoir,. On their being weigh- 

 ed again, on the 3 ill of June, the Engiifh hogs weighed 50 ft. 

 7 lib. ; increafe 8 ft. 7 lib. or i cwt. i qr. 7 lib. over live weight : 

 The black-faced 44 ft. 6 lib.; ijicreafe 9 ft. 7 lib. or i cwt. i qr. 24 

 lib.-, difference in favour of the black-faced hogs, i (t. or 1 7-' lib, avoir- 

 dupois. From the above ftatement, it appears, that the balance was 

 in favour of the black- faced mountain fheep, even under unfavour- 

 able circumllanees, as they had not forgot their wandering habit 

 of life. I do not mean, however, to hold out this experiment as 

 by any means conclufive, having neither been begun in time, nor 

 carried to the proper length, for formjng a corrc<^t opinion ; but it 

 muft raife doubts in an inquiring mind, if the pretended great 

 fuperiority of the Kevv'-Leicefter, or other large breeds, over the 

 fmaller ones, in producing mutton, has any foundation in truth, 

 to fauiition the extravagant prices demanded for them ; but that 

 trufh is only to be come at, by many and repeated comparative 

 trials, which I warmly recommend to be made by dlfinterefted 

 pcrfons, in various fituations ; the refult' of which, I wifli to fee 

 from time to time inferted in your Magazine. It is faid, that the 

 Nevv-Leicefters come to perfection at an earlier age than the o- 

 ther breeds ; but fome of the black-face.i fheep above mentioned, 

 that were rejerted by the butcher in tlic month of July, on ac- 

 count of the fmalhiefs of their fize, have been killed tliis month 

 (September) for family ufe, and contained of tailow (kidney fat 

 included) 1 1 lib. Dutch, being exactly the weight of the quarter. 

 The delicacy of butcb.er meat and other anur.al food, principally 

 depends on the finen^fs of the mufcular fibre, and this again, oi 

 the fmallnefs of the anirjial ; whether black or white-faced, Scotch 

 or Engiifh ; and will always be in proportion to the bone, and 

 natural fizc of the animal ; other wife, It would be an incongruous 

 t?tfspring of nature, and not in the fitteft itate for fupporting its 

 exiftence. Particular individuals may differ from this rule ; but 

 every breed, or clafs of animals, will be found to agree with it in 

 general. The delicacy of thtf flefli, combined with the fmallnefs 

 of the bone and finenefs of. the mufcular fibre, is eminently con- 

 ipicuout in the tlefti of a fmall Hieldimd itot, when compared 



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