476 



THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. 



BOOK IV. 



coarse-woolled breed, common to the Midland Counties. They were 

 large, heavy, flat-sided, strong in the bone, coarse in the offal and pelt, 

 and thickly covered with wool of a coarse quality. The} r were well 

 adapted for the rich deep soils, upon which weight of mutton and of 

 wool were more material objects for profit than fineness of quality ; and, 

 on such lands, the rams were commonly brought to weigh from 20 to 

 30 Ib. a quarter, with a fleece of from 8 to 14 Ib. 



3. The Improved Leicesters, or, as they were long called, the Dishley 

 Leicesters, are an improved kind of the old type. Their form is 

 perfect, and their colour white. Their heads are clean and small, the 

 neck is of a moderate length, and the breast full ; the carcass round, 



Fig. 108. Leicester Ram. 

 The property of Mr. T. H. Hutchinson, Catterick. 



with broad, straight back, and the belly also straight. The bone is all 

 very fine, and particularly small in proportion to the size of the animal ; 

 the pelts are thin, and the wool is long and fine, and averages 7 Ib. 

 and upwards to the fleece. They are of a quiet disposition, fatten early 

 and kindly, and are capable of being brought to a great weight, the fat 

 wethers commonly weighing (when shear-hogs) 25 Ib. per quarter, and 

 the ewes 22 Ib. 



The introduction and establishment of this breed was due to Mr. 

 Bakewell of Dishley, who by selection succeeded in producing an 

 animal even more valuable than that which we now speak of as the 

 Leicester Sheep. 



During the first half of the last century there were few districts 



