288 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Exceptions to the general rule are sometimes met, and a &quot;black sheep&quot; found in 

 a Cotswold flock. Mr. Henry W. Rice of Bourbon County, Kentucky, raised quite a flock of 

 pure-bred sheep from a black buck lamb, the progeny of a fine imported Cotswold ram and 

 ewe of the same breed, both pure white, these black sheep possessing all the characteristics of 

 the Cotswold breed except that of color. Mr. M. T. Hearne of Kentucky stated that he visited 

 Mr. Rice and that he liked these black Cotswolds so well that he bought two ewes, and from 

 them he has raised quite a flock, that are equal in every respect to the best white Cotswolds 

 he has ever seen; one of them, a ram, having taken the first prize at Lexington, in 1860, over 

 all others. 



He continued to breed them during the war until 1864, when he sold out the entire 

 flock, black and white, at from $10 to $15 a head; the black ones, during all the time that 

 he owned them, selling for the most money. After the war, the negroes being liberated, the 

 black sheep disappeared, as it was for the black wool they were so much sought, to make 

 clothing for the negroes. This is only an additional instance of the fact so well known and 

 recognized by all naturalists, that there will be occasional variations or &quot;sports&quot; in every 

 department of nature, these being the exceptions rather than the general law. 



LEICESTERS. 



TO the noted English breeder, Mr. Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicestershire, belongs 

 the credit of improving this breed, which was accomplished more than a century 

 ago, he having commenced the experiment in 1755. So successfully were his 

 experiments conducted that ultimately the rams of this celebrated flock commanded $15,000 

 as hire for a single season. To this breed the other long-wooled varieties are largely indebted 

 for their improved form and aptitude to fatten. 



The original Leicester upon which Bakewell commenced his experiments is said to have 

 been an animal of large frame, heavy bone, and coarse-grained meat, with a flat-sided body, 

 and large, rough legs. It was also a slow feeder, and late in reaching maturity, weighing 

 from 100 to 120 Ibs. when two or three years old. With respect to Mr. Bakewell s 

 experiments a recent writer says: 



&amp;lt;l Seeing the necessity of obtaining, in addition to the fleece, the largest possible increase of 

 flesh in proportion to the food consumed, in the shortest period of time, he bred by selection 

 most persistently and skillfully for these objects. With these aims always in view, he chose 

 with rare judgment, yet with a broad latitude as to breed or family, such animals as would 

 approximate his ideal of compactness and symmetry, refinement of bone, a reduction of the 

 proportion of unprofitable parts, and higher capacity for rapid conversion of food to flesh. 

 After securing this result by animals of characteristics so widely differing from those of the 

 original stock, he found necessary a rigid adhesion to the practice of in-and-in breeding to 

 keep the advantage gained, until a fixedness of type had been secured which should impress 

 itself surely and indelibly upon any race which might be selected for improvement. 



In accomplishing results of such practical value, with all possible care to retain the 

 sound constitution and great hardiness of the old stock, there was perhaps inevitably induced 

 a comparative delicacy, a reduction in size, a decrease in prolificacy and excellence as 

 nurses. These defects have demanded the widest judgment in the infusion of fresh strains 

 of blood, by which the stamina of the race has been fortified, and its popularity maintained 

 until the present day, to such a degree that the Leicester blood is far more widely diffused 

 than that of any other breed, even modifying essentially all the long-wooled races, and to 

 some extent the mountain breeds, and some families of the short-wool Downs.&quot; 



