146 



QL\)C laxmcv's iHontl)lB llisitor. 



heavy oijiiays, nre in BOirie form and at some time 

 drawn I'roni the earnings uT lalior, and that tlie 

 larjjer part is drawn from llie earnings of tlie 

 farmer — he heing the ^reat |iro(hicer of wealth, 

 is, hetirc, the ercal final |iavinaster. 



And keep in ninid, also, ihut iliKse imsatiiifan- 

 tory and ex()en>ive res(ilis come, as it is hclieved, 

 from the workings of u wrong system — from an 

 over production of nori-prodiicers. 



The New Leicester Sheep. 



From Morrell's American Shep;trd. 



The following description of the New Leices- 

 ter will show the reader in what respects Mr. 

 Bakewell effected his improvement over the old 

 brt^ed. 



The head slionid he hornless, lon^, small, ta- 

 pering towards (he jnnzzle, and projecting hori- 

 ziint.illy Ibrwards. 'J'lie eyes proinineni, hut 

 with a (|Hiet expression. Tlie ears lliin, rather 

 long, and direi-ted backwards. The neck full 

 and broad at its Iims" where it pro{!eeds from tin- 

 chest, bnt jiraihially tapering towards the head, 

 and heing particniinly line at the jnnrlion of the 

 head and neck ; the neck seeming to project 

 sllMight from the chest, so that there is, with the 

 slightest possible deviation, one ronlinned hor- 

 izdiual line from the rmnp to the poll. The 

 breast fnll and broad ; the shoulders also broad 

 and round, and no nncven or angular formation 

 where tne shoulders join either the neck or the 

 back, parlii-nlaily no rising of the withers, or hol- 

 low behind the situation of these bones. The 

 arm fleshy ihrnnsih its whole extent, and even 

 down to the knee. The hones of the leg small, 

 standing; wide apart, no looseness of the skin 

 about them, and comparatively hare of wool. 

 The chest and barrel at once deep and round ; 

 the ribs forming a considerable arch from the 

 spine, so as in some cases, and especially when 

 the animal is in !,'Ood condition, to make the ap- 

 parent width of the chest even greater than the 

 depth. The barret ribed well home, no irregu- 

 larity of line on the back or the belly, bnt, on the 

 sides, the carcass very gradually diujinishing in 

 width towards the rmnp. The quarters long 

 aJid fidl, and, as with the tore-legs, the muscles 

 extending down to the hock ; the thighs also 

 wide and full. The legs of moderate length, the 

 pelt also Uioderalely full, bnt soft and elastic, 

 and covered with a good quantity of soft wool, 

 not so long as in some breeds, but considerably 

 finer. 



" It was about the nriddle of the last cen- 

 tury that Mr. Bakewell first applied himself 

 to the endeavor to improve the then exislin;; 

 breed in Leicestershire. Up to this period very 

 little care had been bestowed on the breeding cif 

 sheep. 



"Two objects alone seemed to have engross- 

 ed the attention of the breeders; first, to breed 

 animals of the greatest possible size; and second- 

 ly, such as should produce the h>'avii:st fleeces. 

 Aptitude to liitten, and symmeti'y of shape, that is, 

 such shape as should increase as much as possi- 

 tlje most valuable parts of the ammal. aiul di- 

 iniiiish in the same projiorlion tlie ofiiil, were 

 entirely disicgardcd. 



" iVlr. Bakeuell perceived that smaller animals 

 increased in wciulit more laj'iilly than very 

 large ones : and that they I'linsun'ied so mnci] 

 less fooil, lh.it the same qiianlily of herba:.'e ap- 

 ))lied to feeding a lai-ger number of small sheep 

 would produce morc^ mc;it iliarr wIkmi ap|ili(>d to 

 feeding a smaller riundicr of large sheep which 

 nione it would support. He also perceived that 

 sheep carrviii;; a hi'avy fl-ece of wool possesseil 

 less propensity In fatten th.-m those that carried 

 one of more moderate W(i;j|it. 



" Actio;; npcm these observalion.s, he sclecird 

 from the ditf.reni ll.icks in his iicighborliood, 

 without re^' nil Ir) size, tjie sheep which apfiear- 

 ed to have the greatest prnpcnsitv to fatten, and 

 whose sliape posesseil the pccnliarjlies w liicli he 

 considere<l would produce the i;realesl quanlitv 

 of valuable meal, and the Bmallest quantity of 

 bone and ofiid. 



" In rloiu!,' this, it is probable that lie was led 

 to printer ihe smaller sliee|p, still more than he 

 had been by the consirleralions aliove staled, be- 

 cause it is fimnd ihat perfeclion ofshape more fre- 

 quently accompanies a nioderale-sized animal 

 than a very lar^e one. 



" He was also of ihi: opinion thai ihe first ob- 

 ject to be attended lo in breeding sheep was the 



value of ihe carcass, and that the fleece ouulit to 

 he a secondary consideration. The reason of 

 this is obvious: the addition of two or three 

 pounds of wool lo a sheep's fleece is a diflference 

 of gi'eat amount ; lini ifio procure this increase a 

 sacrifice is made of llie propensily lo fiitlen, Ihe 

 farmer may lose \)y it ten or twelve pounds of 

 iimllon. 



"The sort of sheep, therefore, which Mr. 

 Bakewell selected were those posses.sed of the 

 most perfect syimMetry,with the greatest aptitude 

 to liitten, and rather sn)aller in sixe than the 

 sheep then generally bred. Having formed his 

 stock from sheep so selected, he careliilly at- 

 tended to the peculiarities of the individuals from 

 which he bred, and, it appears, did not object lo 

 breeding from near relations, when by so doin;; 

 lie put logelher animals likely to produce a prog- 

 eny possessing the characteristics he wished to 

 obtain. 



"Mr. Bakewell has been supposed by some 

 pers(Mis to have Ibrmed ihe New Leicesles Vari- 

 ety by crossing diffei-ent sorts of sheep ; hut ihere 

 does not appear to be any reason for believing 

 this; and the cu-cumstance of their varying in 

 their appearance and qualities so much as they 

 do from the other varieties of the hmg-wooled 

 sheep, can by no means be considered as prov- 

 ing that such was the .system which he adopted 

 Everv one who has atlended to the breeding of 

 domesiic animals must have exjierienced that, 

 by oirefid selection of those from trhich he breeds, 

 nndwilh a clear niid defmd conception of the oliject 

 he intends to effect, he mny procure a progeny in 

 which thai object unit be accomplished. * * 



"Such is the oiiyin of ihe \ew Leicester 

 breed of sheep, which have within linle more 

 than half a century spread thcm-elves from their 

 native couniry over every part of the United 

 Kingdom, iiiid are now exported lo the conti- 

 nent of Europe and America. Such, in<leed, 

 have proved to he their merits, ihat at the pres- 

 ent day there are veiy few l]ocks of long-wouled 

 sheep exisiiiig in En^'land, Scotland and Ireland, 

 which ai-e in some degree descendeil from the 

 flock of Mr. Bakewell. A pure Lincoln oi- Tees- 

 water flock is very rarely to he found ; and al- 

 though some flocks of the pure Colswold breed 

 remain, in ilio greateft nmnber of instances, it is 

 probable tliey have been crossed with the New 

 Leicester. 



"No other sort of sheep possess so great a pro- 

 pei;sity to tjitten— no oilier sort is fit for the but- 

 cher at so early an age— and alhough they are 

 not calculated for the poorest soils, where the 

 herbage is so scanty that the sheep must walk 

 over a great deal of ground for the purpose of 

 procurinu its food, no other sort of sheep, in soils 

 of a moderate or superior quality, is so profita- 

 ble lo the breeder. 



" They vary much in size, weighing at a year 

 and a half old, with ordinary keep, from tvvcnty- 

 foiir to thirty-six poimds per quarter.* Jn tiiis 

 respect, therefore, they are inferior to ihe Lin- 

 coln, Cotswold, and the Teeswater sheep. By 

 crossing them wiih either of these breeds, the 

 size of the sheep may be considerably inciease<l : 

 and it is said this may be done wiiliout diminish- 

 ing peic^epiilily eiilier their inclinaiioo lo be- 

 come fat, or the early malurity for which they 

 have always been remarkable. 



"The kind of meal which they yield is of a 

 peculiar character. When llie sheep are noi 

 over fatl(>ncd, it is teniler and jui<'y, hut, in Ihe 

 opinion of many person.>-', somewhat insipid. 

 » « # • « » 



" The Leicester sheep were never f^ivorites 

 wilh the butcher, because they had lillle loose 

 in>iil(^ fat. It oiighi, iieverlladess, to have been 

 rccollecied, that iho smailness of the head, anil 



the lliii ss of ihe pelt, would in some measure 



counlerbalance ihe loss of lallovv : and that ihe 

 diminiilimi oldflid is advanta^;eons to llie grazier, 

 for il shows a disposition to fat oulwardly, and is 

 nnillnnily accompanied by n tendency to quick- 

 ness of im|irovenicnt. 



"The New Leiceslers, however, are not with- 

 out their liinlis. This was too miiidi overlooked 

 in the lime of Bakewell and his immediale fol- 

 loweis. Their object was to produce a lamb 

 that should he forced on so as to be ready, at the 

 earliest possible piuiod, for the purpose of 

 breeding or of slaughter, slid therefore^ the [iro- 

 ilnclion oflwins was not only unsought alier, 

 but was regarded as an evil. • ' " 



" It was likewise, Slid not wiilmul reason, ob- 

 jected to them ihat their lambs were tender and 

 weakly, and unable to bear the occasional iii- 

 eleinency of the weather at the lambing season. 

 This also was a necessary consequence of that 

 ilelicacy of lorm, end delicacy of conslilution too, 

 which were so sedulously cultivated in the Lei- 

 cester sheep. 



" The last objection to the New Leicester 

 sheep was the neglect and deficiency of the 

 fleece. There is little cause, however, for com- 

 plaint at the present period. The wool has con- 

 siderably increased in length, atul has improved 

 both ill fineness and strength of fibre : it averages 

 from six 10 seven pounds the fleece, and the fi- 

 bre varies from five to more than twelve inches 

 in length. It is mosily used in the manufacture 

 of ^eryes and carpels. 



" Tlie priuci|ialvalue of this breed consists in 

 the improvement which il has effecieif in almost 

 every variety of sheep that it has crosseil ; hut it 

 has met with, especially in Wales, a powerlid an- 

 tagonist ill the Cotswold. 



The introduction of additional evidence show- 

 ing the necessity of providing luxuriant pastur- 

 age for the Leicester breed, will be proper. 



" I occupied a farm," says a Lanmermine 

 shepherd, " that had been reined by our family 

 fi>r nearly half a century. On eniering it, the 

 Chevist slock was the object of our choice, and 

 so long as we coniinned in possession of that 

 breed, every thing proceeiled with considerable 

 success; but the New Leiceslers cauie into fash- 

 ion, and we, influenced by the gener.d mania, 

 cleared our farm of the Chevist and [irocmed 

 the fiivoiite stock. Our coarse bear pasinre.s, 

 however, were unequal lo the task of snp|iorling 

 such heavy-bodied sheep: and they gradually 

 dwindled away inio less and less hulk ;each gen- 

 eration was inlerior to the preceiling one ; and 

 when the spring was severe, seldom more than 

 two-thirds of the lambs would survive the rava- 

 ges of llie siorm.'' 



Sir .lolin Sinclair has also recorded his opinion 

 on this |)uiiit. "The Leicester breed is perhaps 

 the best ever reared for a riidt arable district ; 

 but the least linctnre of this blood is deslruclive 

 of the mounlaiu sheep, as it makes them incapa- 

 ble of wiilistanding the le.asl scarcity of fooil." 



The New Leicester breed have been e.vleiisive- 

 ly introduced into the North American British 

 Provinces, and United States ; and when snila- 

 ble localities have been chosen, their cultivation 

 has been attended with success. 



* The lienviest pure Leicester, of which there is any 

 .Tut'ienlic accdunl, belonged to Mr. M origan, of l.ouyhtouj 

 its live weiuht was three luindred and sixiy-eight pounds, 

 ami the wei^^hl of the carcase, two hundred and torly- 

 eight pounds. 



Rotation ofcrops. 



From the Dublin Farmers Gazette. 



Had f/tfmis(ny confessed no other boon on ihe 

 farmer, than merely explaining the rnlioniile of 

 allernalion of crops, il would have, iioln ithsland- 

 iuiT, done much to advance the cause of agricul- 

 tural inprovemenl. Few fanners have hisiiio 

 lo follow cheniistry, in iis apphcailou to .igiicnl- 

 inre, through ihe iiiU'rminahle labsrinlb ol aflin- 

 ilics mauircsted by the various ingredienis of the 

 soil for each other, or ol the occult purposes dif- 

 ferent manures serve in the ecmieiny of vegi:la- 

 lion ; yet all can mnlerstainl its principlis. and 

 apprei-iale its lalau'.s, when ilirected towards the 

 explanaiioii ol practical poinli in agriculture. 

 The liirnier can ihen compare ihemetical dcduc- 

 lions wilh his own practical experience, and is 

 enabled, by a cindicl examination of bolh, lo dis-^ 

 cover where eiiher is at fimll , and, insie.-id of 

 binding himself to one or the other, he can fid- 

 low the course which theory and practice ccaicnr 

 in poiuling out aM the best. Chemisuy has 

 taught us one fact (which, indeed, evperience 

 hail long before discovered, bill had not reveal- 

 ed the cause,) that a constant recnrronce of the 

 same crop, or ol CiOps similar in their nalnre, 

 upon the same soil, was invariably Ibllowed by 

 diminished produce. Dccaudcdle, and several 

 other ve;;elable physiologisis, eiideavorei! to ac- 

 count for this, by suppo>ing that each plant ex- 

 creted from llie i-oois, during the progress of veg- 

 elalinn, cerlain substances that were poisonous 

 or delrimenlal to Iho ;:rowih of plants of the 

 sanie kind succeeding il ; that to tlo-e ofn differ- 



