158 THE LEICESTER BREED. 



Bakewell, by attention to the points already men- 

 tioned, attempted to combine quantity and quality 

 of wool, with excellency of the meat and early 

 feeding, and effected an improvement in the breed, 

 which was not only productive to himself, but of 

 lasting importance to the agriculturist and wool- 

 grower. The advantages of this breed were so ap- 

 parent, that, at the introduction of these sheep, 

 Mr Bakewell was said to have made (in the year 

 1789) 1200 guineas by three rams, 2000 of seven, 

 and 3000 of the remainder of his stock ; a return 

 unprecedented in the annals of sheep-breeding. They 

 were capable of being made what may be called 

 enormously fat at an early age. Mr Culley killed a 

 three years old wether in October 1787, with more 

 than seven inches of solid fat on his ribs ; and it was 

 common for two years old wethers to have four 

 inches of thickness of fat on the ribs, and from two 

 to three all down the back. This breed has now ex- 

 tended to the south of Scotland, and a few are kept 

 by almost all the smaller farmers, for the sake of 

 wool for his family ; and with every cottar who has 

 the means of keeping a pet, this is the kind which is 

 selected, both from its abundant fleece, and its quiet, 

 unstraying manners. In some districts, a valuable 

 race has sprung fiom a mixture with both the Che- 

 viot and black-faced breeds. The latter we now il- 

 lustrate by a representation of 



