LIVE STOCK. 335 



the market, from the resemblance in its taste to venison, and is 

 much sought after for epicurean tables. The Cheviots are 

 white-faced sheep, and much valued. They are never housed, 

 and are left to dig for their food in the bleak pastures, in the 

 depth of winter. Their wool is coarser than that of the South 

 Devon, and is not used in the manufacture of finer cloth. The 

 West Highland sheep and the Cheviots are valuable races for 

 their hardiness. The Highland sheep have black faces, and are 

 horned. They are long and ill-shaped ; and the average weight 

 of wool is about three pounds per fleece. They are deemed 

 even hardier than the Cheviots ; but they come to maturity 

 later, and the best of them are not killed until they are three 

 years old. 



(3.) Leicester Sheep. Of the long-wooled sheep, the Lei 

 cester take precedence of all others. This race of sheep owes 

 much of its excellence to the sagacity and skill of the celebrated 

 breeder, both of cattle and sheep, Mr. Bake well. It was his aim, 

 by careful selection, to combine, if possible, fineness of bone, 

 beauty and symmetry of form, tendency or disposition to fatten, 

 with weight of carcass, and a good yield of wool. In all these 

 respects, it is surprising what he seems to have been able to ac 

 complish ; and for roundness and finish of form, flatness and 

 width of back, shortness of neck, fulness of breast, width behind, 

 and depth of fat upon the ribs, the best samples among them are 

 most remarkable. 



The success of Bake well in breeding his sheep, and raising 

 them to a high degree of perfection, is perhaps in no way more 

 strongly evinced than in the fact that &quot; he let his first ram for 

 the season, in 1760, for seventeen shillings and sixpence, and in 

 1789, he let one ram for one thousand guineas, and he cleared 

 more than six thousand guineas, or more than thirty thousand 

 dollars, the same year, by the letting of others.&quot; These fine 

 sheep, either pure or intermixed, are found spread extensively 

 over the kingdom, though they are not well adapted to a cold 

 climate, to short feeding, or to travelling long distances. They 

 cannot, I think, be pronounced a hardy sheep ; but many of the 

 long-wooled sheep, of various kinds, have been improved by 

 being crossed with the Leicester. Their yield of wool is from 

 six to seven pounds per fleece, and is valued especially for 



