574 BREEDS OF LOWLAND LONG-WOOL SHEEP 



nary stringency, dated 1790, for the preservation of the purity 

 the new Leicester breed, but it attempted to create a sort of 

 monopoly to promote the interest of a small ring, consisting 

 of Bakewell and his friends. No member could hire or use 

 a ram that did not belong to one of the twelve members ; or 

 let rams at less than 10 guineas, or to ram breeders at less 

 than 40 guineas ; or in greater number than thirty in one 

 year ; or sell ewes or rams of his own breed to breed from to 

 outsiders, unless he sold the whole flock ; or show his rams to 

 others except at specified times. The only unselfish con- 

 dition worthy of special notice and special study was that 

 " no member shall give his rams, at any season of the year, 

 any other food than green vegetables, hay, and straw." There 

 are not a few ram breeders of the present time who would 

 be the better for Bakewell's autocratic interference with their 

 methods of sharing the trust which nature has confided in 

 them. 



Such fame did the Dishley Leicesters acquire, says 

 Youatt, that, "within little more than half a century they 

 spread over every part of the United Kingdom," and "at 

 the present day (1837) there are very few flocks of Long- 

 wool sheep existing in England, Scotland, or Ireland which 

 are not in some degree descended from the flock of Bake- 

 well, although some flocks of the pure Cotswold breed remain. 

 No other sort of sheep possesses so great a propensity to 

 fatten or is fit for the butcher at so early an age. On good 

 keep it will yield a greater quantity of meat for the same 

 quantity of food than any other breed of sheep, but they 

 cannot travel far for their food, nor can they bear, so 

 well as many others, occasional scantiness or deprivation of 

 nourishment." 



The mutton was never in high favour either with the 

 butchers or the consumers, being coarse in the grain and 

 " somewhat insipid," though " tender and juicy when not over- 

 fattened." Other drawbacks were the scarcity of doubles, 

 owing to the preference shown to large single lambs at the 

 period when high prices ruled, and the discarding of ewes 

 that bore twins ; deficiency in milk secretion ; delicacy of 

 constitution ; shortness and lightness of fleece. The redeem- 

 ing feature of the breed " consisted in the improvement which 

 it effected in almost every variety of sheep that it has crossed." 



