BAKEWELL AND THE GRAZIEE'S AET 51 



legs long and thick; his chine as well as his rump as 

 sharp as a hatchet ; his skin rattling on his ribs like a 

 skeleton bound in parchment.' 



With these unpromising materials Bakewell in 1750 

 began his uphill task. He discovered the principle of 

 selection. He only used those rams and ewes that 

 possessed the qualities which he wished to reproduce. As 

 these qualities were perpetuated the breed was formed. 

 His object was to breed animals which weighed most in 

 the best joints, and quickest repaid the food they con- 

 sumed. ' Small in size and great in value,' or the Holk- 

 ham toast of ' symmetry well covered,' was his motto. He 

 saw that the value of the sheep lay not in the length of 

 the legs, but the size of the barrel ; that the bones must be 

 fine and the form compact, and that the true shape for 

 profit was that of ' a firkin on as short legs as possible.' 

 The great merits of his new Leicester sheep were their 

 fattening propensities and early maturity. While other 

 breeds required three or four years to fit them for market, 

 the new Leicesters were prepared in two. Those who 

 tried the Dishley sheep found that they throve where 

 others starved, that while alive they were the hardiest, 

 when dead the heaviest. Bakewell rapidly made a 

 fortune. In 1755 he let his rams for the season at 16s. 

 each ; in 1789 a society was formed to extend his breed 

 of sheep, which hired his rams at 6,000 guineas for the 

 season. 



Bakewell raised the new Leicesters to the hig-hest 

 pitch of perfection. But this was not all. His breed was 

 best suited to the plains, but was ill adapted to hills or 

 mountains. He had, however, shown the way in which 

 breeds might be improved ; imitation was easy. In a less 

 immediate sense he was the creator, not only of the new 



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