DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPROVED TYPE. 29 



ments, and brought more or less scientific 

 knowledge to bear upon his work. His system 

 contemplated first the selection of foundation 

 stock approximating in form and character as 

 closely as possible the type he sought to estab- 

 lish. With these as a basis their immediate 

 descendants were interbred in such a way as to 

 give a strong concentration of the blood of the 

 original selections. The idea was of course the 

 creation of a family likeness or type a group 

 of animals homogeneous in blood and uniform 

 in characteristics. Resort to fresh blood was 

 only had when an animal was found elsewhere 

 that possessed in marked degree as an individ- 

 ual the particular points desired. The plan 

 soon began to reveal marvelous results, and 

 orders for breeding stock began to come from, 

 all parts of the island. King George III him- 

 self made personal inquiries as to " the new dis- 

 covery " in stock-breeding, and about the time 

 the early Short-horn breeders became specially 

 interested in their work the Bakewell system 

 was arousing much curiosity, even among those 

 conservatives who had stoutly opposed the 

 theory. 



Bakewell did not use Short-horns in his ex- 

 periments. He kept a few of the old sort, it is 

 said, merely to show by contrast the superior- 

 ity of his new breed of Long-horns. While he 

 achieved a permanent success with his sheep 



