FARMING IN OLDEN TIMES. i 



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had been neglected. If any care was shown in the 

 selection of rams and ewes the choice was guided by 

 fanciful points, which possessed no practical value. For 

 cattle no standard of shape existed, size being the only 

 criterion of merit. A writer in the early part of the 

 eighteenth century divided the cattle of England into 

 three sorts — black, white and red, but almost every county 

 had its local variety. Some attention was paid to milking 

 qualities, and still more to capacity for draught, but 

 propensity to fatten was disregarded. Then came Robert 

 Bakewell — born in 1725, and succeeding to his father's 

 farm at Dishley in 1760 — and by his extraordinary talent 

 established the principles on which British stock-breeders 

 have developed the breeds which have made this country 

 the " stud-farm of the world." His system of breeding — 

 secretive as he was about his methods — speedily spread, 

 and in the hands of the Culleys and the Collings, of John 

 Ellman, and other pioneers, the example of Bakewell was 

 bettered. The Dishley Leicesters spread throughout the 

 country, and most of our present breeds of sheep bear 

 their impress, but Bakewell's Longhorns were soon 

 supplanted by the Shorthorns. In other districts disciples 

 of Bakewell applied his principles to the improvement of 

 local breeds. Throughout the land a new spirit spread 

 among farmers. Already, not only among progressive 

 landowners, but among their tenants, men arose who were 

 able to apply intelligence, judgment and ability to the 

 cultivation of the soil and the breeding and feeding of 

 stock. The daily life of a farmer in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century was epitomised by Gervase Markham 

 thus : — 



He is to rise at four in the morning, feed his cattle, and clean 

 his stable. While they are feeding he is to get his harness 

 ready, which will take him two hours. Then he is to have his 

 breakfast, for which half an hour is allowed. Getting the 

 harness on his horses or cattle, he is to start by seven to his 

 work and keep at it till between two and three in the afternoon. 

 Then he shall bring his team home, clean them and give them 



