260 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



twisting in curious fashion, this tail so long that it 

 trails on the ground, or else swollen with tallow and 

 broad beyond measure, while showing us what singu- 

 lar modifications the body of the sheep is capable 

 of, are of no use to us whatever. It is much to be 

 preferred that the animal, profiting by the care we 

 bestow upon it, should gain in weight and furnish 

 more abundant food material. The English, who 

 are great meat-eaters, were the first to ask them- 

 selves this question: how to make the sheep an 

 abundant source of mutton chops and legs of mut- 

 ton, or, in other words, how to increase to the utmost 

 the proportion of it that can be eaten and at the 

 same time diminish or even reduce to nothing that 

 which cannot? 



"A celebrated breeder, a benefactor to humanity 

 Bakewell was his name solved the problem in 

 England about a century ago. He said to himself: 

 The sheep that I want as a producer of legs of mut- 

 ton must have no horns, for these useless ornaments 

 would mean so much pure loss in the total weight of 

 the animal; the food required for the growth and 

 maintenance of the horns would be better employed 

 in producing flesh. For the same reason it should 

 have only just enough wool to clothe it and protect 

 it from the cold. The bones I cannot eliminate, the 

 more 's the pity, as in their place I should prefer 

 something of greater nutritive value. But as a mat- 

 ter of fact they are necessary to the animal : they are 

 the indispensable framework for the flesh. If I can- 

 not eliminate them, the bones shall at least be light, 



