196 THE SHEEP. 



ment of the farm, be readily fattened for human food at the 

 age of fifteen months, that is, when, in the language of far- 

 mers, they are shearlings ; and in no case of practice do they 

 need to exceed the age of two years and a few months, 

 whereas the older breeds were not usually fattened for the 

 market until late in their third, or until their fourth year. 

 The females are not regarded as so prolific as those of the 

 older breeds, nor are the lambs so hardy or quickly covered 

 with a coat of wool, nor are the mothers such good nurses ; 

 and yet the breed is not deficient in these properties, except 

 where such refinement of breeding has been practised as to 

 produce a too delicate temperament. In this breed the hind 

 and fore quarters more nearly approximate in weight than 

 in the less cultivated varieties. The fatty tissue, too, is 

 more equally spread over the external muscles, and tends to 

 accumulate less about the kidneys and internal parts, and 

 hence the breed has never been so much a favourite with the 

 butchers as the less improved races. The flesh, as of all the 

 long-woolled breeds, is more lax in the fibre, and less deli- 

 cate, than that of the smaller breeds of the mountains, 

 forests, and downs; but the mutton does not seem in any 

 respect to have been inferior to that of the older breeds of 

 the same class. 



Mr Bakewell, it has been said, early conceived the idea of 

 letting his ranis on hire in place of selling them to the 

 breeders. The animals were exhibited at Dishley at a stated 

 time, in the latter end of July, or beginning of August; and 

 the hirers put their own valuation on the rams they selected, 

 and the offers were accepted or refused, without any auction. 

 Certain conditions were understood or stipulated for, but no 

 written legal agreement was made, every thing being trusted 

 to the honour of the parties. About the middle of Septem- 

 ber, the animals were sent to their destination in carriages 

 hung on springs, and about the beginning of December, the 

 hirer was expected to return them in safety ; but if a ram 

 died from any cause while in the hands of the hirer, the loss 



