430 



SHEEP 



from various parts of England and Europe, and paid him large 

 sums for the hire of his rams, he being the first person to estab- 

 lish this custom. An item in the Annals of Agriculture in 1787 

 reports him letting three rams for 1200 guineas ($6000), and 

 that he had been offered 1000 guineas for twenty ewes and 

 refused it. Bakewell died in 1795. The Leicester as improved 

 by him retains to-day many of the original characteristics, 

 though it may be somewhat smaller and more refined. His 



FIG. 200. A Leicester yearling ram, first prize in class at the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England Show, 1904. Exhibited by E. F. Jordan. 

 Photograph from William Cooper & Nephews, Berkhamsted, England 



method of close breeding eventually reduced the fecundity, vigor, 

 milking capacity of the ewes, and weight of wool. Breeders since 

 his day have continued the practice of selection, and early in 

 the last century practiced much in-and-in breeding. 



The introduction of Leicester sheep to America occurred early 

 in the history of the United States. Previous to the war of the 

 Revolution some of the so-called Dishley or Bakewell sheep 

 were brought, most of them smuggled, into the colonies, espe- 

 cially New Jersey and Virginia. As early as 1800 the New 

 Leicester was known about Philadelphia, though not of pure 



