1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



153 



rain-lambs, for which they gave the then extraor- 

 dinary price of two and three guineas each: it has, 

 therefore, been not improperly conjectured, by 

 Mr. Marshall, that through the means of Mr. Al- 

 lom's stock, the breed had passed the first stage 

 of improvement before Mr. Bakewell's day.* 



Another authorf acquaints us — upon the author- 

 ity of a gentleman long resident in the county — 

 that about the year 1747 there was a succession 

 of bad seasons, "which occasioned a great rot in 

 the sheep upon the clay-lands, that in a short 

 space swept away whole flocks. Some of the 

 small farmers were rained; but the more opulent 

 and enterprising resorted to the high grounds near 

 Fridaythorp'e, in Yorkshire, where they purchased 

 some small neat sheep, which, crossed with the 

 few that remained in their own fields, produced 

 some very useful animals. As the numbers bred 

 for a long time afterwards were not equal to the 

 demand, they sent year after year to the same 

 market: jobbers were established, who employed 

 themselves in purchasing sheep on the Yorkshire 

 wolds, for the use of the Leicestershire graziers; 

 and, it is said, that Mr. Bakewell engaged these 

 men not to oiler their sheep to public sale till he 

 had seen them, and had taken such as suited him. 

 From these droves, or from the flocks so bred in 

 his own neighborhood, and probably from a cross 

 with the Lincolnshire,he bred his first short-legged, 

 square-framed sheep, which -were so well received 

 that he went on breeding from his own stock, or 

 crossing with any others that he judged most like- 

 ly to attain the perfection at which he aimed; by 

 which means, and partly, as it has been thought, 

 by a cross with the Durham sheep, he by slow de- 

 grees produced the celebrated breed since distin- 

 guished by the name of the farm on which he re- 

 sided. To him, therefore, may be justly conceded 

 the merit of having effected this valuable im- 

 provement; but he has left many able disciples, 

 who have followed closely in his steps, and have 

 even so improved upon his system, that not only 

 Leicestershire, but many of the neighboring 

 counties, may now boast of possessing the breed 

 in the highest perfection. 



Many good judges are, however, of opinion, 

 that the endeavors to improve the old breed have 

 been carried too far, and that the introduction of 

 the Dishley stock has reduced the quantity of mut- 

 ton and wool in a much greater proportion of va- 

 lue, than it has improved the quality. It is ad- 

 mitted, that much good was effected by the early 

 crosses, and that the New Leiceslers feed quicker, 

 and come sooner to market than the old; but they 

 are deficient in inside fat, and are said to carry 

 their flesh more upon the loin than in the leg; 

 which are both serious faults in the eye of the 

 butcher. It is also alleged, that too much value 

 has been placed on fineness of bone, and that, in 

 attaining that object, the constitution of the ani- 

 mal has been sacrificed; even, in many instances, 

 to the destruction of the generative power in the 

 ram. 



VII. The Lincolnshire Breed so nearly resem- 

 ble the old Leicester, that they require but little 



* Rural Economy of the Midland Counties, 2d edit. 

 Vol. I. p. 338. 



t Mr. Pitt, of Wolverhampton. Agricultural Survey 

 of Leicestershire, p. 249. 

 Vol. Ill— 20 



further description. They have white faces and 

 legs, the bones large, and the carcass coarse; the 

 back long and hollow, with flat ribs, but good 

 loins, and a deep belly; forward loose shoulders, a 

 heavy head, with a large neck, and sinking dew- 

 lap; the hind-quarter broad, the legs standing 

 wide apart, and a large dock. The pelt is particu- 

 larly thick, and the fleece consists of very long 

 combing wool, of a rather coarse quality, but 

 weighing generally from twelve to fourteen pounds 

 on the wethers, and from eight to ten pounds on 

 the ewes. The flesh is open-grained, and inferior 

 to the mutton of the New Leicester, and particu- 

 larly to that of the small, short-woolled breeds; it 

 is besides subject to be yellow, which is a great 

 defect at market, but it frequently reaches the 

 weight of thirty-five pounds per quarter; and fat 

 wethers generally average twenty-five.* This 

 description, however, applies rather to the old 

 breed of Lincolns, as well as of Leicesters, than 

 to the sheep now commonly ranked under those 

 denominations; for, owing to a judicious intermix- 

 ture, not carried too far, of the Dishley blood, ma- 

 ny of their imperfections have been rectified, 

 while they still retain the valuable properties, so 

 essential on rich soils, of great weight of fleece 

 and carcass, and have further acquired some of the 

 distinguishing marks of the improved breed, in 

 the increased cleanness of the head, straightness 

 of the back, and general symmetry. 



VIII. The Teeswater Breed, another variety of 

 the old long-woolled species, was formerly the 

 stock of the northern part of the Vale of York, 

 and of Cleveland, but it has, of late years, under- 

 gone so great a change, by crosses with Dishley 

 rams, and their descendants, which were intro- 

 duced into the north, by Messrs. Culley, about 

 the year 1766, that the original race is now but 

 rarely to be met with. 



In their pure state, the Teeswater sheep are 

 very large, coarse-boned, slow-feeders, and their 

 wool is dry and harsh; but they arrive at greater 

 weight than any other breed in the kingdom; the 

 three year old wethers reaching to upwards of 

 thirty pounds per quarter,! and producing a fleece 

 of about eleven pounds. The ewes are singular- 

 ly productive of lambs, twins being not only com- 

 mon, but three, and even four, being sometimea 

 produced at a birth. 



A variety of this race, which formerly occupied 

 the lower district of Northumberland, were called 

 Mugs, probably, as the surveyors of that county 

 suggest, "from their faces being covered with a 

 muff of wool, close to their eyes:" J but they have 



* Agricultural Survey of Lincolnshire, 2d edit. p. 

 403. 



t A four shear sheep of this kind, bred by Mr. 

 Thomas Hutchinson, of Sockburn, and killed at Dar- 

 lington, in December, 1777, weighed 62 pounds per 

 quarter; and another, belonging to Mr. Dinsdale, of 

 Newsham, weighed 54 pounds. A wether, rising 

 three years old, bred by Mr. Powley, of Thorndon- 

 Stavard, and killed in January, 1799, weighed 59 

 pounds per quarter; and a lamb, five months old, bred 

 by Mr. Henry Hutchinson, weighed 22 pounds per 

 quarter. See "Agricultural Survey of Durham, p. 248; 

 and Agricultural Survey of Yorkshire, North Riding, 

 p. 260. 



X Agricultural Survey of Northumberland, by Messrs. 

 J. Bailey, and G. Cullep, 3d edit. p. 150. 



