THE LEICESTER LONG-HORNS 



centered in these four points ; and he never forgot that they -were 

 compatible with each other, and might be occasionally found united 

 in the same individual. 



Improvement had hitherto been attempted by selecting females 

 from the native stock of the country, and crossing them with males 

 of an alien breed. Mr. Bakewell's good sense led him to imagine 

 that the object might better be accomplished by uniting the superior 

 branches of the same breed, than by any mixture of foreign ones. 



On this new and judicious principle he started. He purchased 

 two long-horn heifers from Mr. Webster, and he procured a promis- 

 ing long-horn bull from Westmoreland. To these, and their progeny, 

 he confined himself ; couphng them as he thought he could best in- 

 crease or establish some excellent point, or speedily remove a faulty 

 one. 



As his stock increased, he was enabled to avoid the injurious 

 and enervating consequence of breeding too closely "in and in." 

 The breed was the same, but he could interpose a remove or two 

 between the members of the same family. He could preserve all 

 the excellences of the breed, without the danger of deterioration; 

 and the rapidity of the improvement which he effected was only 

 equaled by its extent. 



Many years did not pass before his stock was unrivaled for the 

 roundness of its form, and the smallness of its bone, and its aptitude 

 to acquire external fat ; while they were small consumers of food in 

 proportion to their size ; but, at the same time, their qualities as 

 milkers were very considerably lessened. The grazier could not too 

 highly value the Dishley, or new Leicester long-horn, but the dairy- 

 man, and the little farmer, clung to the old breed, as most useful 

 for their purpose. 



It was his grand maxim, that the bones of an animal intended for 

 food could not be too small, and that the fat, being the most valua- 

 ble part of the carcass, could, consequently, not be too abundant. In 

 pursuance of this leading theory, by inducing a preternatural small- 

 ness of bone, and rotundity of carcass, he sought to cover the bones 

 of all his animals, externally, with masses of fat. Thus, the entirely 

 new Leicester breed, from their excessive tendency to fatten, produce 

 too small a quantity of eatable meat, and that, too, necessarily of in- 

 ferior flavor and quality. They are in general found defective in 

 weight, proportionably to their bulk, and, if not thoroughly fattened, 

 their flesh is crude and without flavor ; while, if they be so, their 

 carcasses produce little else but fat, a very considerable part of 

 which must be sold at an inferior price, to make candles instead of 

 food, not to forget the very great waste that must ever attend the 

 consumption of over-fattened meat. 



This great and sagacious improver, very justly disgusted at the 

 iight of those huge, gaunt, leggy, and misshapen animals with which 



