CHAP. I. 



LEICESTERS AND BORDER LEICESTERS. 



479 



and his mantle fell on the brothers Matthew and George Culey, 

 two natives of Durham, who were great personal friends of his, 

 and probably knew pretty well the secret of his methods. These 

 brothers held the farm of Wark in Northumberland, and a great amount 

 of land in the North of England; indeed it was said that the sum 

 they annually paid as rent bulked up to the total of i'6,000. After 

 Bakewell's death the Leicester breed forked into two separate branches 

 the English Leicester and the Border Leicester and these are now 

 recognised as two distinct breeds by the National Agricultural Societies. 



Fig. 111. Border Leicester Ewes. 

 The property of the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P., Whittingehame, Prestonkirk, N.B. 



The points ol f the typical Border Leicester may be set forth as follows : 

 Sharp profile with dark full nostrils, black muzzle, and nose slightly 

 aquiline, well-set ears, hair on the face and crown pure white, a blue 

 crown being considered a serious fault ; neck strong, with well-deve- 

 loped neck- vein, shoulders broad and full, ribs arched and round rather 

 than deep, back broad and well laden with mutton of a muscular 

 touch, rump and gigot full, belly well covered with wool, legs flat and 

 clean, and wool fairly long with a nice pirl. The clip of a good flock 

 will average 7 Ib. per fleece. As mutton sheep the Leicesters are not 

 in high repute, and as the ewes do not give very much milk they are 

 not the best of nurses. But the Leicesters serve a most important use 

 in producing a very superior class of butcher's sheep when mated with 

 other breeds. Leicester rams are mated with black-faced ewes to pro- 

 duce grey-faced or " cross " lambs, with Cheviot ewes to produce half- 



