NEW LEICESTER SHEEP. 117 



pering towards the head, and being particularly fine at the 

 junction of the head and neck ; the neck seeming to project 

 straight from the chest, so that there is, with the sUghtest 

 possible deviation, one continued horizontal line from the 

 rump to the poll. The breast broad and full ; the shoulders 

 also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation 

 where the shoulders join either the neck or the back, par- 

 ticularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situ- 

 ation of these bones. The arm fleshy through its whole 

 extent, and even down to the knee. The bones of the leg 

 small, standing wide apart, no looseness of skin about them, 

 and comparatively bare of wool. The chest and barrel at 

 once deep and round ; the ribs forming a considerable arch 

 from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the 

 animal is in good condition, to make the apparent width of 

 the chest even greater than the depth. The barrel ribbed 

 well home, no irregularity of line on the back or the belly, 

 but, on the sides, the carcase very gradually diminishing in 

 width towards the rump. The quarters long and full, and, 

 as with the fore legs, the muscles extending down to the 

 hock ; the thighs also v/ide and full. The legs of moderate 

 length, the pelt also moderately full, but soft and elastic, and 

 covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as 

 in some breeds, but considerably finer. 



" It was about the middle of the last century that Mr. 

 Bakewell first applied himself to the endeavor to improve 

 the then existing breed in Leicestershire. Up to this period 

 very little care had been bestowed upon the breeding of 

 sheep. 



" Two objects alone appear to have engrossed the attention 

 of the breeders : first, to breed animals of the largest possible 

 size ; and, secondly, such as should produce the heaviest 

 fleeces. Aptitude to fatten, and symmetry of shape, that is, 

 such shape as should increase as much as possible the most 

 valuable parts of the animal, and diminish in the same pro- 

 portion the ofl"al, were entirely disregarded. 



" Mr. Bakewell perceived that smaller animals increased 

 in weight more rapidly than very large ones ; and that they 

 consumed so much less food, that the same quantity of herb- 

 age applied to feeding a larger number of small sheep would 

 produce more meat than when applied to feeding the smaller 

 number of large sheep which alone it would support. He 

 also perceived that sheep carrying a heavy fleece of wool 



