MODERN SHEEP I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 89 



point of the ear not considered objectionable; the top of the head 

 should not be coarse nor bald, but covered with wool, not hair, and 

 the Cotswold is to be distinguished by a fine tuft of wool on the 

 forehead; the head should be sufficiently long to save it from 

 being called short and thick, but it should not have a long lean 

 appearance ; gray faces still crop up occasionally in all the best hill 

 flocks ; the neck should be big and muscular, and should be gently 

 curved to enable the sheep to carry the head well up, thereby giving 

 the animal a grand appearance ; the neck should be slightly smaller 

 at the ears than where it comes from the shoulders; the shoulders 

 should lay well back, and the point of the shoulder should be well 

 covered with flesh, as also the chines ; the ribs should be deep, well 

 sprung from the back; the hips and loin wide, and well covered 

 with flesh ; the rump should be carried out on a level with the back, 

 giving the animal a square-looking frame; the leg of mutton well 

 let down to the hock, and thick on the outside ; the legs, both front 

 and hind, should be straight, moderate in length, well set outside 

 the body ; the pastern joints, both front and hind, should be short ; 

 the whole body should have a firm solid touch (not loose and 

 flabby), and be well covered with a thick-set, long and lustrous 

 wool." 



Mr. F. W. Harding is the capable secretary of the American 

 Cotswold Record. 



THE LEICESTER. 



The Leicester is a very interesting breed, historically and other- 

 wise. It is the father of all the Longwool breeds. It is considered 

 to have inhabited Leicestershire long before it was recognized as a 

 breed. It is thought by historians that beauty of form, utility, 

 early maturity and rapid fattening qualities were the main points 

 considered by Bakewell in the improvement of the Leicester and 

 that he did not give any particular attention to wool. However 

 that may be, he is one of the great men to whom memorials to their 

 memory should be erected the world over, but who have been 

 practically unnoticed in this regard. 



The Leicester or Dishley breed of sheep is a breed of sheep 

 which has been more written about than any other, first, on account 

 of the great work which Bakewell did in regard to improved live- 

 stock breeding, and because it figured so largely in the improve- 

 ment of other breeds. Mr. Bakewell commenced the improvement 

 of the sheep in his county about the year 1755. From a very modest 

 sum per head (his first rams offered for rent made only 17s 6d 

 each), he rented three rams for 1,200 guineas and seven for 2,000 

 guineas in 1789. In the same year he made 3,000 guineas in addi- 

 tion by letting the remainder of the rams to the Dishley Society. 



The Dishley or Leicester breed of sheep, according to Culley, 



