54f Essay on Sheep, 



other part of the world. The wool of some 

 of this family is very coarse, and only fit for 

 blankets and carpets, and sells in England at 

 about nine cents the pound ; but then the sheep 

 are extremely large, and their fleeces propor- 

 tionably so, averaging about twelve pounds the 

 flock round, and some have been known to 

 carry above twenty pounds. Young mentions 

 a fleece of twenty-seven pounds. Others, and 

 more valuable races of long-woolled sheep, 

 bear a fine white silky fleece, from which the 

 finest worsted and camblets are made. This race 

 is very numerous, and their wool may be con- 

 sidered as the true staple of British wool. Upon 

 this breed Bakewell has engrafted his celebrat- 

 ed stock, or the new Leicestershire breed. The 

 principle upon which he formed his system was, 

 that those animals were most valuable which 

 carried their flesh upon the most valuable 

 parts, and were at the same time maintained 

 with the least food. Wool was not his object, 

 and accordingly his sheep are of the long- 

 wooUed breed, with wool of moderate length 

 and medium fineness, and sells for nine-pence 

 sterling. Fat upon the rump and ribs he con- 

 siders as more important than tallow, and ac- 

 cordingly he has produced sheep on which it 

 is there formed five or six inches thick. His 



