186 STOCKBREEDER'S ART AND ROBERT BAKEWELL 



It was with sheep that Bakewell achieved his greatest success. 

 When he began his stock-breeding experiments, he selected his 

 sheep from the best animals in the neighbourhood, and a guinea, 

 or even half a guinea, secured him his choice from the fold. The 

 breed from which they were chosen were the Leicestershire or 

 Warwickshire long wools. The " true old Warwickshire ram " is 

 thus described by Marshall in 1789 : " His frame large, and remark- 

 ably loose. His bone, throughout, heavy. His legs long and 

 thick, terminating in large splaw feet. His chine, as well as his 

 rump, as sharp as a hatchet. His skin might be said to rattle upon 

 his ribs . . . like a skeleton wrapped in parchment." Even this 

 animal was handsomer than a ram of the " true old Leicestershire 

 sort," which Marshall saw in 1784. " A naturalist," he says, 

 " would have found some difficulty in classing him ; and, seeing 

 him on a mountain, might have deemed him a nondescript ; a 

 something between a sheep and a goat." Out of these unpromising 

 materials Bakewell succeeded in creating a new variety. His " new 

 Leicesters " became the most profitable sheep for arable farmers. 

 As by degrees the compactness of form, smallness of bone, fattening 

 propensities, and early maturity were perpetuated, the breed was 

 established, and for a time swept all competitors before them. 

 While other breeds required three or four years to fit them for 

 market, the New Leicesters were prepared in two. Those who 

 tried the Dishley sheep found that they throve where others pined, 

 that while alive they were the hardiest, and when dead the heaviest. 

 In 1750 Bakewell let rams for the season at 16s. or 17s. 6d. apiece. 

 In 1789 he let none under 20 guineas, and received 3000 guineas 

 for the total of that season's letting. The New Leicesters were 

 the first breed of sheep which were scientifically treated in England, 

 and though they were less adapted for the southern, eastern, and 

 northern counties, their supremacy on enclosed land in their own 

 Midland districts was undisputed. 



Bakewell raised the New Leicesters to the highest perfection. 

 But this was not all. His breed in weight of fleece could not com- 

 pete with Lincolns, and was less suited to hills or mountains than 

 for enclosed arable land. He had, however, shown the way in 

 which other breeds might be improved ; imitation was easy. In a 

 less immediate sense he was the creator, not only of the New 



|\ Leicesters, but of the improved Lincolns, South Downs and Cheviots. 



1 Before these breeds, fitted for the most fertile grasslands and plains 



