NEW LEICESTER SHEEP. 119 



" Such is the origin of the New Leicester breed of sheep, 

 which have within little more than half a century spread 

 themselves from their native county over every part of the 

 United Kingdom, and are now exported to the continents of 

 Europe and America. Such, indeed, have proved to be their 

 merits, that at the present day there are very few flocks of 

 long-wooled sheep existing in England, Scotland, or Ireland, 

 which are not in some degree descended from the flock of 

 Mr. Bakewell. A pure Lincoln or Teeswater flock is very 

 rarely to be found ; and although some flocks of the pure 

 Cotswold breed remain, in the greatest number of instances 

 it is probable that they have been crossed with the New 

 Leicester. 



" No other sort of sheep possesses so great a propensity 

 to fatten — no other sort is fit for the butcher at so early an 

 age — and although they are not calculated for the poorest 

 soils, where the herbage is so scanty that the sheep must 

 walk over a great deal of ground for the purpose of procuring 

 its food, no other sort of sheep, in soils of a moderate or 

 superior quality, is so profitable to the breeder. 



" They vary much in size, weighing at a year and a half 

 old, with ordinary keep, from 24 to 36 lbs. per quarter.* In 

 this respect, therefore, they are inferior to the Lincoln, the 

 Cotswold, and the Teeswater sheep. By crossing them 

 with either of these breeds, the size of the sheep may be 

 considerably increased ; and it is said that this may be 

 done without diminishing perceptibly either their inclination 

 to become fat, or the early maturity for which they have 

 always been remarkable. 



'* The kind of meat which they yield is of a peculiar char- 

 acter. When the sheep are not over fattened, it is tender 

 and juicy, but, in the opinion of many persons, somewhat 

 insipid. **#*#* 



" The Leicester sheep were never favorites with the 

 butcher, because they had little loose inside fat. It ought, 

 nevertheless, to have been recollected that the smallness of 

 the head, and the thinness of the pelt, would in some meas- 

 ure counterbalance the loss of tallow ; and that the diminu- 

 tion of oflial is advantageous to the grazier, for it shows a 



* The heaviest pure Leicester, of which there is any authentic account, 

 belonged to Mr. Morgan, of Loughton ; its live weiglit was 368 lbs., and 

 the weight of the carcase, 248 lbs. 



