THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



635 



as that Crora some other breed?, particularly the [that there are some practical farm'ers who, (losing 



Leicestors, wliich have in qirintity about one-ihiicl sijrhi or earlier niaiurity, frrcater aptiiude to fat, 

 more. Tlic South Downs are early ai maturiiy, j and superiority in liie qualiiy of the meal) deny 



iroved breeds of stock of Euffland are 



apt to (at, and leed alike well on hilly as on (lai 

 Jan Is. They are considered in Eiiirland as a na- 

 tive or oriijiiial broeil, only improved by breeding 

 in, and I am persuaded the root liom which ijiey 

 tiave e(>rung is the breed ol'epeckled leirged sheep 

 imported into this country some fil'iyyears ago — 

 some ol' which I have now on my lands unmixed 

 and pure, and not much irilerior to the present 

 isuu'h Downs, having much the s;mie qualuies. 



The New Lpiccstershire sheep were first called 

 Ihe Bakewell's, lro.Ti the name of the breedrr, 

 then the D.shleys, Irom the name of Bakewell's 

 residence, and lasily, Uie Leicesteishires, from the 

 county which has now almost >mivers, illy ado()ied 

 them. - They are also beautii'ully formed sheep, 

 having very large carcasses, well covered with 

 wool. They arrive early at maturity, ami are 

 wonderfully prone to fat — but ihey do not alibrd 

 mutton fit lor the table of the epicure — The quan- 

 tity of lean or muscle of these sheep is dispropor- 

 tionately small, and is so covered with fat that it 

 cannot be roasted. L'ke the Chinese hog and Mr. 

 Bakewell's cattle, the fat is chiefly laid on the 

 outside of the frame, and hence the meat is not 

 marbled. Like Mr. Bakewell's cattle they are 

 also an artificial race, and are not hardy. His 

 cattle have gone out and are extinct, but his sheep, 

 standing the test ol time and trial better, remain, 

 and they have been so long bred in, that accord- 

 ing to my experience they are not now so inclined 

 to breed back, as it is technically terme<i, as they 

 were twenty years df^o, and have assumed Irom 

 long breeding in, like the shorf-horns, much of 

 the fixedness of an original race. They are pani- 

 cularly suitable to flat rich lands, like the county o( 

 Leicestershire, and are wholly unsuiied to hilly 

 lands where they have to climb and work fur their 

 sustenance. 



There is unfortunately a sort of mania which 

 pervades our country once in a while in favor of a 

 particular thing or A particular kind of stock, 

 which is scarcely limited within the bounds of 

 reason. The Merino sheep have had their day — 

 the blood horse his day — improved cattle have 

 had their day — the mulberry (ever has raged and 

 it has left the patient in a complete state of col- 

 lapse. 'I'hese over- zealous efforts might even pro- 

 duce benefits by disseminating a good thing 

 through the country ; but sometimes they are so 

 overdone, as to produce destructive and revolting 

 reaction. The pig, the hog, is now lord of the 

 ascendant, and more particularly attracts the atten- 

 tion of Ihe whole country than any thinir else in 

 the farming way. Mr. Lofsing, Mr. Bement, 

 Mr. Mal-iin and Mr. Hurlbui, not lorgeiiing our 

 worthy friend in Hollins street, are the great men 

 of the day, and if they do not quarrel too much 

 among themselves, we may yet chance to elect 

 one of them to the presidency. You will see here 

 all thelavorite varieties of that useful animal the 

 hog, now become so universally popular. The 

 amateur in good hams, and the speculator in pork 

 and lard, may least their eyes here to-day, to their 

 hearts' content. The truth is, it would seem, we 

 have been so long required by rescript " to go the 

 whole hog," that we now go him voluntarily and 

 from pure choice. 

 It ia very strange, but it is nevertheless a fact, 



that the imj) 



any belter lor our purposes, than the old stock 

 found upon our estates some thirty or forty years 

 ago. I (eel able to speak from some experience 

 on this suliject, and to say that the ox or the 

 wether averages now, upon my (arm, at least 

 twice the weight they did forty years ago, and the 

 meal being of much better quality, they will sell 

 Ibr nearly three times the prices they sold for at 

 ihal time. But in proof of the gross error of such 

 opinion, I will offer you far belter testimony than 

 that of my own experience. 



By the estimate of " Dr. Davenanf, made in 

 tlieyear 1710, ti.e average dead weight of black 

 cattle, (so called because most of them were then 

 black,) was only 370 lbs., that of the c dfSO lbs., and 

 those of sheep and lambs, taken promiscuously, 

 28 lbs." 



Mr. M'Culloch, in his Dictionary of Commerce, 

 a book having the accuracy of a law book, makes 

 an estimate 120 years al'ierwarda in the same 

 (Smithfield) market, and puis the weight ofcattle 

 "at 550 lbs., sheep at 50 lbs., and calves at 

 105 lbs." 



Mr. Youatt, who has recently prepared a most 

 valuable t)ook on cattle, published by the Society 

 for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, estimates 

 the present average to be 656 lbs. for cattle, 90 lbs. 

 for sheep and lambs, and 144 lbs. for calves : being 

 about double the weight of those animals as esti- 

 mated by Davenant, one hundred and thirty years 

 before. 



More conclusive proof could not be adduced, 

 and it should be borne in mind that all this won- 

 deiful improvement commenced with the celebrat- 

 ed Mr. Bakewell about 60 years ago. 



Mr. Youatt ve^y properly remarks, " that if 

 was a disgrace to the agriculture of the limes, that 

 Bakewell should have been suffered to pass away 

 without some authentic record of what he effected, 

 and the principles that guided him, and the meana 

 by which his objects were accomplished." It is 

 greatly to be regretted that he who had thus work- 

 ed out such wonderliil results as almost to be able 

 to breed his cattle and his sheep to any pattern 

 which his imagination might sugirest as desirable, 

 should have passed away without leaving behind 

 him the disclosure of the secrets of his great art. 

 That he was governed himselfj however, by an 

 extraordinary judgment in the application of the 

 soundest philosophical principles has never been 

 denied. Afier his death, this omission excited the 

 scientific men o( the time to an inquiry into the 

 principles which had governed him — the subject 

 of procreation became for the first time an object 

 of analytic inquiry and investigation, and among 

 many other speculations, the valuable and scienti- 

 fic essays of Mr. Surgeon Cline and Sir John 

 Sebright were elicited and given to the world. 

 Thesa essays are to be found republished in the 

 3d and 7ih vols, of the old American Farmer, 

 and are worthy of perusal, because they are 

 li^aught with a large store of practical knowledge, 

 as well as sound philosophical speculation. Since 

 then and very recently, a new theory upon the 

 subject of breeding has been started by Dr. Wal- 

 ker, who, availing himselfof the light already shed 

 upon the subject, makes new suggestions well 



