QUALITIES OP PURE BRITISH BREEDS, 265 



muscles of the back and loins. A general squareness of 

 frame bespeaks large muscles, particularly of the quarters. 



" What, indeed, is wanted in a good-formed animal, is as 

 much flesh and as little bone and gristle as possible, and this 

 flesh is required where it is most valuable ; for instance, it 

 is much more valuable on the loins and quarters than about 

 the head and upper or scrag-end of the neck. A large de- 

 velopment of flesh is pretty sure to be accompanied by a 

 disposition to fatten ; but for profitable feeding it is essential 

 that these qualities should be developed early — constituting 

 early maturity." 



QUALITIES OF PURE BRITISH BREEDS. 



The three pure breeds which claim so large a share of 

 attention in Great Britain, are the New Leicester, South 

 Down, and Cheviot. It is universally conceded that, so far 

 as propensity to fatten and early maturity are considered, the 

 Leicester outstrips all competition. These qualities may 

 be regarded as a model, and other breeds are proportionally 

 valuable as they approximate these prominent points of the 

 Leicester. Placed on a fertile pasture, and free from expo- 

 sure, its quick and large returns of profit will ever make it 

 the favorite of a large majority of English sheep-farmers. 

 Its drawbacks, originating from the extreme refinement of 

 its breeding by Mr. Bakewell and his successors, are, com^ 

 paratively, a weak constitution, incapacity to endure travel 

 and exposure to bleak situations, and great liability to inflam- 

 matory disorders. Again, the assimilation of its food tends so 

 greatly to the production of flesh and fat, the milk secretions 

 are proportionally injured, and its qualities therefore for nurs- 

 ing are decidedly inferior to the South Down, Cotswold, 

 Lincoln, Cheviot, as well as some other varieties. Its prom- 

 inent good qualities, as mentioned, have been turned to the 

 improvement of other breeds deficient in these qualities, and 

 to such an extent that an original Lincoln or Cotswold is 

 quite rare in all England ; indeed it is thus with all other of 

 the ancient long-wooled varieties. Mr. Spooner observes, 

 " That the Leicester have been extensively employed in im- 

 proving the breed of other sheep, and so successfully has 

 this practice been in many instances that the result of the 

 cross has produced a breed more profitable than the Leicester 

 itself, retaining the fattening qualities of the sire with the 

 greater hardihood and adaptation to the soil possessed by the 



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