Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. 465 



coloured flesh, but which becomes white by domestication and confinement. So 

 in sheep; the muscle of the Welsh, Portland, or Ryeland, which run about in 

 quest of food, is brown when dressed, and emits much gravy of the same colour ; 

 while the lean of the indolent Leicester is pale, and imbued with comparatively 

 colourless juices. To the same end contributes the age at which the animal is 

 killed. He dies prematurely; for he becomes fat before he is adult. His flesh and 

 juices have, therefore, the same pallid hue, relatively to those of the full grown 

 Ryeland, that the flesh of a calf has to that of an ox. It is acknowledged that the 

 flavour keeps pace with the defect of colour. There can be little doubt that, under 

 the same circumstances of close confinement and early fattening, the Ryeland or 

 South Down mutton would be as pale and tasteless as that of the Leicester. * 



If then the form of that sheep is necessarily connected with his disposition to 

 inactivity, and early proneness to obesity, it is evident that it unfits him for obtain- 

 ing a large proportion of well-flavoured muscular substance. 



It is common with all animals to become fat about the internal parts, only at an 

 advanced period of life. When sheep are sold to the butcher by weight, these^ 

 parts are not usually weighed with the joints and the rest of the carcase, but are 

 considered as belonging to the fifih quarter ; and, therefore, as the profit of the 

 butcher. Now if, in this case, no deduction be made for its deficiency, the Leices- 

 ter breed of sheep, which is always killed in its infancy, and therefore is more 

 defective in this respect than any other breed, is, comparatively speaking, unfit for 

 the butcher. If, on the other hand, the butcher, on that account, gives less per lb. 

 for the quarters, the loss only changes its object, and the breed becomes, so far, 

 unfit for the grazier. Again, the Leicester sheep loves to feed and fill himself 

 within a small space of ground ; and, therefore, requires rich and luxuriant her- 

 bage. On the contrary, on moderate or poor keep, obtained at the expence of 

 exercise, this breed acquires less flesh in a given time than the Ryeland or South 

 Down. It is therefore, comparatively, unfit for nearly half the pasture-land in this 

 island. 



A Leicester ram is sluggish, and naturally inefficient ; the ewe is often barren, 

 and generally a bad nurse ; and the breadth of shoulder in the lamb endangers its 

 own life, and that of its dam, in yeaning. They are therefore, comparatively, unfit 

 for propagation. 



• This appears to be actually the case. Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxvi. p. 433, 

 VOL. V. 3 O 



