EAST OF THE ^MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 345 



time many of the formers made fresh importations from the best 

 Hocks of England. These coming from breeders at different points, 

 whose stock, though pure, were not closely related, as was the case 

 with the Southdowns, showed less the evils of too close breeding and 

 exhibited a greater degree of hardihood which commended itself to 

 the farmers of a vigorous climate. The Leicester blood thus became 

 generally disseminated through the flocks of the better class of farmers, 

 those who adhered to the pure blood keeping up their flocks either by 

 fresh importations or by exchanging rams with those who had a differ- 

 ent strain of the same breed from their own. There was, however, one 

 objection to the pure-bred Leicester, and that was that the fleece was too 

 open and thus let in the rain, and that it was inclined to be coarse and 

 too brittle for combing wool. But this fault was not so apparent in the 

 sheep bred from a cross of Leicester ram upon the then existing flocks 

 of native or grade Merino blood. So powerfully did the Leicester blood 

 work upon these that the sheep of the third cross were nearly equal to 

 the Leicesters as mutton sheep, with the advantage of carrying better 

 fleeces. As English breeders improved on the Bakewell type by 

 increasing the size of the sheep and bettering its fleece, the Canadian 

 breeders followed by importing larger and heavier rams, until in a few 

 years the short-legged, compact, fine-boned, but coarse-wooled Bake- 

 well Leicesters were not to be found. What the breed gained in size, 

 fleece, and hardiness it lost somewhat in earliness of maturity, quick- 

 ness of feeding, and, to some extent, in quality of meat. From 1846 to 

 1862 the Leicesters and the Southdowns held sway and carried off all 

 the prizes at the fairs, then in their infancy in Canada. 



Many American flocks on the northern boundary were recruited from 

 the Ontario flocks. Shortly after the introduction of the Leicesters 

 into Ontario they were imported into New Brunswick, and from thence 

 into Maine, where they were crossed on Merino grades and on the com- 

 mon sheep of the country. 



The Cotswolds were introduced into Canada about 1856, and began 

 to attract the attention of the farmer by their great size and heavy 

 fleeces of long wool. They became immensely popular, and " the for- 

 merly handsome flocks of Leicesters were turned into nondescripts by 

 the injudicious introduction of Cotswold rams to cross upon them." 

 The popularity of the Cotswolds continued for many years, and monopo- 

 lized the attention of sheep -breeders at the fairs. The Border Leices- 

 ters also were popular, and many of them had been introduced. These 

 and the Cotswolds gave large carcasses of mutton of a coarse quality 

 with a tallowy flavor, often going as high as 200 to 250 pounds the 

 dressed carcass. 



From their first introduction into Canada there was a demand for the 

 Cotswolds from the United States, and many were sold at good prices. 

 The demand was largely increased by the American tariff law of 1867, 

 when there was remarkable change in the value of combing wools. 



