188 STOCKBREEDER'S ART AND ROBERT BAKEWELL 



New Leicester's were to sheep-masters. It was as necessary for a 

 superior Shorthorn to claim descent from Colling's bull " Hubback " 

 as for a race-horse to boast the blood of the Godolphin Arabian. 

 From " Hubback " was descended the famous Durham ox, which 

 travelled through England in a specially constructed carriage from 

 1801 to 1810, exhibiting to the eyes of thousands of farmers a truer 

 standard of shape than any their ancestors had conceived, and con- 

 vincing them by personal interviews of the excellence of the improved 

 breed. The example was followed in many parts of the country. 

 Other breeds, notably the Herefords and North Devons, were 

 similarly improved. The formation of herds became a favourite 

 pursuit of wealthy landlords. Flora Maclvor herself might have 

 lived to see the day, when country gentlemen could become breeders 

 of cattle, without being " boorish two-legged steers like Killan- 

 cureit." 



Bakewell's success and the rapidly increasing demand for butcher's 

 meat raised up a host of imitators. Breeders everywhere followed 

 his example ; his standard of excellence was gradually recognised. 

 The foundation of the Smithfield Club in 1798 did much to promote 

 the improvement of live-stock. Some idea of the effect produced 

 may be gathered from the average weights of sheep and cattle sold 

 at Smithfield Market in 1710 and in 1795. In 1710 the average 

 weights for beeves was 370 Ibs., for calves 50 Ibs., for sheep 28 Ibs., 

 for lambs 18 Ibs. In 1795 beeves had risen in average weight to 

 800 Ibs., calves to 148 Ibs., sheep to 80 Ibs., lambs to 50 Ibs. 1 This 

 enormous addition to the meat supply of the country, was due 

 partly to the efforts of agriculturists like Tull, Townshend, Bake- 

 well, and others, partly to the enclosure of open-fields and com- 

 mons which then* improvements encouraged. On open-fields and 

 commons, owing mainly to the scarcity of winter keep, the live- 

 stock was dwarfed in size and weight. Even if the number of 

 animals which might be grazed on the commons was regulated by 

 custom, the stint was often so large that the pasture could only 

 carry the smallest animals. Where the grazing rights were 

 unlimited, as seems to have been not unusually the case in the 

 eighteenth century, the herbage was necessarily still more im- 

 poverished, and the size of the live-stock more stunted. On 



1 Sir John Sinclair's note for the use of the Select Parliamentary Committee 

 appointed in 1795 to consider " the Waste, Uninclosed and unproductive 

 Lands of the Kingdom." Appendix B, section 1, pp. 17, note. Sir John ia 

 not, however, always a reliable witness. 



