15S* A]\rERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



was therefore certain they were compatible with 

 each other. He was more unfortunate in selecting 

 the Long Horns as his stoclc to breed from, though iu 

 his hands they reached a perfection only equalled by 

 the Short Horns of CuUey and Berry of the present 

 time. In breeding, Mr. Bakewell discarded the com- 

 mon practice of selecting females of the common 

 stock and crossing them with males of another 

 breed : his method of improvement was to select 

 uiiiiiials possessing the desired qualities from the 

 same breed, and increase his stock from them. 

 Two heifers from the celebrated Long Horn stock 

 of Mr. Webster, and a Long Horn bull, selected with 

 great care in Westmoreland, constituted his breed- 

 ing stock in the commencement. Though confining 

 himself to these animals and their progeny most 

 strictly, he was enabled, as his stock increased, to 

 avoid the injurious consequences of breeding "in 

 and in," by selecting animals the most distantly re- 

 lated, and in this way he established the good points 

 or removed the faulty ones with a rapidity and skill 

 hitherto unrivalled. It has been objected that Mr. 

 Bakewell carried his attention to the propensity to 

 fatten so far, that the Dishley or Leicester breed of 

 pure blood "produce too small a quantity of eatable 

 meat, and that, too, necessarily of an inferior flavour 

 and quality. They are in general found defective in 

 weight in proportion to their bulk ; their carcasses 

 produce little else but fat, a very considerable part 

 of which must be sold for candles instead of food."* 

 Mr. Bakewell was followed by Mr. Fowler and 

 Mr. Princeps ; and so high was the reputation and 

 value of the New Leicesters raised by their atten- 

 tion and skill, that the public sales of their cattle 

 rivalled in prices those of the best Short Horns of the 

 present time, and they were sought after with the 

 name avidity. Those who wish to understand the 



«■ Illustrations of Natural History. 



