THE FARMER S MAGAZINE. 



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Leicester sheep ; for, when Bakewell died, his secret 

 was buried with him ; but there is very little doubt they 

 are the result of a cross of the various long-woolled 

 breeds Bakewell had at his command in his own imme- 

 diate locality, and which he succeeded in turning to a 

 good account by the production of this valuable breed of 

 sheep ; for it cannot be denied that to tliis animal all 

 other long-woolIe<l sheep, and perhaps soiue others, are 

 indebted tor their improved shape and greater disposi- 

 t'on to fatten. These sheep have been so long before 

 the public, and their qualities are so well known, that I 

 shall not occupy your time with any lengthened remarks 

 upon them ; their chief characteristics are aptitude to 

 fatten, with a comparatively small consumption of food, 

 and early maturity ; they cut a good fleece of wool, 

 upon an average of 7 lbs. each, and weigh at 11 or 15 

 months old from 9 to 10 stones each. Some friends of 

 mine in our own county, who have been very successful 

 exhibitors at the Smithfield Club Show in this class, re- 

 gret that they cannot he considered good breeders or 

 Bucklers — it is a rare thing to have more lambs than 

 there are ewes put to the ram ; they also inform me 

 thit they find some difficulty in satisfactorily dis- 

 posing of them when fat, as the public taste shows 

 a decided preference for a black leg and a dark 

 face. The Ootswold or Gloucester sheep is one of the 

 oldest of our breeds. Mention is made of them in the 

 early history of this country, and Miss Strickland 

 says, in her "Lives of the Queens of England,'' 

 vol. i., page 449, " that there is little more than 

 tradition to support the assertion that to Eleanora of 

 Castile, Queen of Henry II., England owes the in- 

 troduction of the breed of sheep for which Cots wold 

 has been so famous. A few of these animals were in- 

 troduced by the care of the Queen from Spain, and they 

 had increased to that degree in about half a century, 

 that their wool became the staple riches of England." 

 If this be true, they doubtless became very much im- 

 proved upon their introduction to this country, for it is 

 recorded that some 300 years after, Edward IV. gave 

 permission for some to be sent back to Spain. They 

 were originally very coarse animals, with a thick heavy 

 fleece, and well adapted for the bleak, unenclosed Cots- 

 wold hills ; but since the enclosure of the land and its 

 better cultivation, a great improvement in this class of 

 sheep has taken place: there is little doubt this was 

 effected by the use of the Leicester, which without di- 

 minishing their size improved their quality, and gave 

 them a greater aptitude to fatten. Among the men to 

 whom this country is indebted for improving this breed 

 were Messrs. Charles Large, William Game, W. Hewer, 

 and C. Barton. To Mr. Robert Game, the well-known 

 breeder, I am indebted for much of my information. 

 Among other observations, he states, "they are capable 

 of enduring great hardships, succeed well in exposed 

 situations, and on nearly eveiy kind of soil adapted for 

 sheep farming, producing a great amount of mutton and 

 wool at an early age, and it is no unusual thing to see 

 in the best flocks sheep of 16 stone when only 12 months 

 old." In confirmation of this, I saw, when at the Ox- 

 ford Cattle Market, the second week in March last, a 

 pen of shorn tegs, of Mr. Gillett's, of Astrop, weighing 

 quite 16 stones. Mr. Giirne also states that " the 

 weight they may be made, as old sheep, is enormous." 

 He had one at the last Christmas Cattle Market weigh- 

 ing 43 stones, or 861bs. per quarter, for which he ob- 

 tained £8 10s. The average weight of an ordinary 

 flock when fit for the butcher, at 14 or 15 months old, 

 is from 12 to 13 stones, and the weight of wool of the 

 whole flock would approach to 81bs. each. The Cots- 

 wolds cut a grand figure, and generally form a very at- 

 tractive portion of the Royal Agricultural Shows. There 

 are between 3,000 and 4,000 rams annually disposed of; 



and a good export trade is now carried on with Aus- 

 tralia as well as to the Continent. The great demand 

 for them is for crossing ; and perhaps it may be con- 

 sidered one of our best sheep for this purpose. I think 

 it most likely our friends on the Cotsvvolds will retain 

 their monopoly, for perhaps in no other part of Eng- 

 land can they be so successfully bred. As the western 

 part of this island is famous for the handsome upstand- 

 ing Cotswold, so is the eastern, or more properly north- 

 eastern, esteemed for the heavy-woolled and large- 

 framed Lincoln, to which district they especially belong, 

 and where they have for many years held their own. 

 They, too, like the Cotswold, have been improved by 

 an admixture of Leicester blood. Mr. J. Algernon 

 Clarke, who is well known to many of you, 

 and who reads a paper here next month, thus speaks 

 of them: "The present improved Lincoln sheep par- 

 takes largely of the peculiarities of both Cotswold and 

 Leicester, having the expansion of frame and nobility of 

 appearance of the one, with the quality of flesh, com- 

 pactness of form, beauty of countenance, and propensity 

 to fatten of the other ; but they far exceed either in the 

 weight of their fleece. Under good management their 

 wool is of a quality which rarely fails of obtaining a 

 price equal to that of the lighter long wools, and there 

 is therefore no breed perhaps that can equal this in 

 rapidity of growth and propensity to fatten under a skin 

 so weighty and so valuable." There are instances of a 

 most remarkable weight to which these sheep have at- 

 tained. In 1826, Mr. Dawson, of Withcall, killed a 

 three-shear sheep, weighing 96Jlbs. per quarter ; a two- 

 shear, weighing 911bs. per quarter; and a shearling, 

 7llbs. per qr. Mr. Robert Smith, in his report of Lin- 

 coln sheep at the Warwick show, states that "he has 

 known 14th months old lamb-hoggs slaughtered at 

 Lincoln April fair, thirty together averaging 35 lbs. per 

 quarter, and one hundred together clipping 141bs. of 

 washed wool each." It is not the common practice for 

 breeders of Lincolns to have them fit for the butcher at 

 14 or 15 months old, but they are generally kept until 

 they are 22 to 28 months old, when their weight will be 

 from 30 to 401bs. per quarter, and cut a second fleece, 

 weighing from 10 to 14lbs. "The weight of wool of an 

 entire flock, under fair average management, is about 

 8-Jlbs. each; in some cases, especially on good layer, 

 this weight no doubt is exceeded. Mr. John Clarke's 

 Lincoln prize mm clipped 51|lbs. of wool in three years, 

 an average of l7i lbs. each year ; while a neighbour of 

 his, in 1859, clipped 327 hogget fleeces, which weighed 

 altogether 130 tods, an average of over 11 lbs. per 

 fleece. The Lincoln breeders consider the mutton of 

 admirable quality, having less fat, and a greater portion 

 of fine-grained lean flesh, than the Leicester. The ewes 

 are good breeders, but like the Cotswolds and Leicesters 

 are not good sucklers. Mr. Clarke concludes his letter 

 by stating that "it is certain that neither Cotswold nor 

 Leicester sheep, in cases where they have been tried (I 

 suppose in that district), have equalled the Lin- 

 colns in the value of wool and mutton together 

 produced per acre, and no other breed can furnish such 

 big and heavy-skinned lamb-hoggs as those which are 

 the graziers' attraction at Lincoln, Caistor, and Boston 

 spring fairs." So much for the long-woolled breeds. 

 Having touched upon the history and merits of the leading 

 breeds of sheep, I nowapproach that partof my paper upon 

 which, doubtless the discussion will turn. The cross- 

 ing of the various breeds of sheep has of late years be- 

 come very common. A great demand has sprung up 

 for them, and as they produce a better quality ot mut- 

 ton than the long-wools, and a greater weight of both 

 mutton and wool than the short-wools, they have found 

 considerable favour amongst those who look more to 

 return than to breed or fashion. In fact, I think I 



