SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 199 



The improved Leicester is of large size, but some- 

 what s-inaller than the original stock, and in this re- 

 spect falls considerably below the coarser varieties 

 of Cotswold, Lincoln, &c. Where there is a suffi- 

 ciency of feed, the New Leicester is unrivalled for 

 its fattening properties, but it will not bear hard 

 stocking, nor must it be compelled to travel far in 

 search of its food. It is, in fact, properly and ex- 

 clusively a lowland sheep. In its appropriate situa- 

 tion on the luxuriant herbage of our highly-cultiva- 

 ted lands, it possesses unrivalled earliness of matu- 

 rity ; and its mutton, when not too fat, is of a good 

 quality, though usually coarse, and comparatively 

 deficient in flavour, owing to that unnatural state of 

 fatness which it so readily assumes, and which the 

 breeder, to gain weight, so generally feeds for. The 

 wethers, having reached their second year, are turn- 

 ed off in the succeeding February or March, and 

 weigh at that age from thirty to thirty-five pounds 

 to the quarter. The wool of the New Leicester is 

 long, averaging, after the first shearing, about six 

 inches, and the fleece weighs six pounds. It is of 

 coarse quality, and little used in the manufacture of 

 cloths on account of its length, and that deficiency 

 of felting properties common, in a greater or less 

 extent, to all the English breeds. As a combing 

 wool, however, it stands first, and is used in the 

 manufacture of the finest bombasins, &c. 



The high-bred Leicesters of Mr. Bakewell's stock 

 became shy breeders and poor nurses ; but crosses 

 subsequently adopted have obviated these defects. 

 In England, where mutton is generally eaten by the 

 labouring classes, the meat of this variety is in very 

 great demand, and the consequent return which a 

 sheep possessing such fine feeding qualities is en- 

 abled to make, renders it a general favourite with 

 the breeder. Instances are recorded of the most 

 extraordinaiy prices having been paid for these ani- 

 mals ; and Mr. Bukewell's celebrated buck " Two 



