XEICESTEES.] 



SHEEP, 



[leicestees. 



seeming to project straight from the chest, so 

 that there is, with the slightest possible devia- 

 tion, one continued horizontal line from the 

 rump to the poll; the breast broad and full; 

 the shoulders, also, broad and round, and no 

 uneven or angular formation where the shoul- 

 ders join either the neck or the back ; par- 

 ticularly no rising of the withers, or hollow 

 behind the situation of these bones ; the arm 

 fleshy through its whole extent, and even 

 down to the knee ; the bones of the legs 

 small, standing wide apart, no looseness of 

 skin about them, and comparatively bare 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 good con- 

 dition, to make the apparent width of the 

 chest even greater than the depth ; the barrel 

 ribbed home ; no irregularity of line on the 

 back or the belly, but, on the sides, the carcass 

 very gradually diminishing in width towards 

 the rump ; the quarters long and full, and, as 

 with the fore legs, the muscles extending 

 down to the hock ; the thighs, also, wide and 

 full ; the legs of a moderate length ; the pelt, 

 also, moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and 

 covered with a good quantity of white wool, 

 not so long as in some breeds, but considerably 

 finer." Such is the Dishley, or Leicester 

 sheep ; and the breeders of the Teeswaters, of 

 the Downs, and of the Lincolns, all claim the 

 breeds as the source of Mr. Bakewell's im- 

 provement on the old Leicester stock. They 

 allege that he might reduce the bone and 

 frame by a simple dash of the favourite blood, 

 and thus obtaining a firm superstructure, 

 breed in-and-in, until it was indelible. But 

 this, according to some authors, is very im- 

 probable. He, no doubt, however, selected those 

 animals which corresponded with his ideas of 

 what were the best, with light offals, and a 

 tendency to feed, and which exhibited early 

 maturity, and very natural forms, 



"It seldom happens," says Mr. Milburn, 

 "that one great man discovers any new fact 

 or principle in science alone. Discoveries, 

 according to Providential arrangements, seem 

 to bo made in different places at once. Mr. 

 Joseph Allom, of Clifton, in Leicestershire, 

 who rose from the plough-tail, by his mind 

 and energy, to be an extensive farmer and 

 70S 



breeder, was known to select and purchase 

 choice ewes from all parts of the country, 

 chiefly from Melton. ^He had a breed which 

 were great favourites before Bakewell was 

 lieard of. Specific characteristics we cannot 

 very easily define. Mr. Touatt slurs even 

 Mr. Allom, in a note ; and, in the text, says, 

 'Up to this period (the middle of last cen- 

 tury) very little care had been bestowed in 

 the breeding of sheep.' Mr. Marshall goes 

 to tiie other extreme, and says that the origin 

 of Bakewell's improvements are due to Allom. 

 The truth is probably between the two. 

 Allom's stock might be made available to 

 Bakewell's purposes ; and his practice might 

 set the latter to work in more zealously im- 

 proving the breed." 



Another cause was also in operation towards 

 the same end ; and, doubtless, gave another op- 

 portunity for Bakewell's selecting his speci- 

 mens to improve his breed. In I74i7, there 

 were some successions of bad seasons, which 

 so operated on the succulent grass of Leices- 

 tershire, as to sweep off nearly the whole of 

 the sheep on the lower clay soils of that 

 county. ' This banished the more wealthy 

 farmers from the district, and they had to take 

 refuge on the wolds of Yorkshire, and then 

 purchase some small-horned, fine-bred sheep, 

 for a supply to their decimated flocks. The 

 trade of jobbing thus commenced ; and it is 

 said that Bakewell employed the jobbers, who 

 brought down, from time to time, these York- 

 shire wold sheep, to allow him to cull the 

 best, before they offered them to the farmers. 

 He thus obtained compact, square, rapidly- 

 feeding animals; and persevered, year after 

 year, in selecting the best, in his judgment, 

 from his own flock, until he had obtained the 

 celebrity which has handed down his name as 

 the greatest improver that ever lived ; and the 

 once new Leicester sheep has become the Lei- 

 cester sheep ; so completely has it eaten out 

 its progenitors. 



Although this breed has been intermixed 

 with many other breeds, in almost every kind 

 of degree, it still, in most respects, holds its 

 ground. Breeders, however, now incline to- 

 wards the production of a large animal, as be- 

 ing more profitable. Thus, the improved Cots- 

 ^^old — frequently designated the New Oxford- 

 shire — and some of the heavier species, have 



