104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



means whicli he employed were breeding from the individuals 

 possessed of the properties sought for, and rendering those 

 properties permanent in their offspring. It is known that 

 by a continued selection of the male and female parents in a 

 given number of animals, the points regarded as defects, can, 

 under certain limits, be removed, and the acquired properties 

 rendered permanent in the progeny by continued reproduction 

 with one another. Holding bulk of body, and the produce of 

 the fleece to be secondary properties, Bakewell directed especial 

 attention to the external form which indicated the property of 

 yielding the largest quantity of muscle and fat with the least 

 bone, and what is usually termed offal. 



The actual sources whence Mr. Bakewell derived his breed, 

 cannot be accurately ascertained ; it is probable that he was 

 not particular as to the source, so that he could obtain the 

 desired qualifications. He himself was very uncommunicative 

 on this point, and the knowledge of the origin of his breed 

 perished with him ; it is even unknown whether, and to what 

 extent he was benefited by the previous improvements of others, 

 though it is \ery reasonable to presume that he did so as much 

 as possible. It is probable, however, that the foundation of his 

 breed was the best existing specimens of the " Old Leicester " 

 breed, though in one of his letters to a Mr. Chaplin, a rival 

 breeder in 1778, he admits at one time having made use of 

 rams of the " Old Lincoln " breed. Progressively perfecting 

 his animals by skilful selections, he necessarily continued to 

 breed from his own stock, and did not scruple to connect ani- 

 mals the nearest allied to each other. This system continually 

 pursued, not only gave a permanency to the characters im- 

 printed on his sheep, constituting a breed in the proper sense of 

 the term, but tended to produce that delicacy of form, which 

 experience shows to be connected with the power of secreting 

 fat, and arriving at early maturity. This system acted upon for 

 successive generations, tended likewise to render the animals 

 more the creatures of an artificial condition, more delicate in 

 temperament as well as in form, less prolific of lambs, less 

 capable of supplying milk to their offspring, and greatly 

 reducing the weight and quality of the fleece. It was not that 

 Mr. Bakewell was unobservant of these facts, but he appears to 

 have regarded them as being of a consideration secondary to 



