THE LONG-HORNED BREED. 373 



of bone. A saying of his, often quoted, is, that " all was 

 useless that was not beef;'' and hence his endeavour to lessen 

 the quantity of what is usually termed offal. He adopted, 

 too, the homely profit-and-loss maxim of breeding the ani- 

 mals large in the parts which are of most value to be sold ; 

 and hence, in his breed of cattle, he made the shoulders com- 

 paratively small, and the hind-quarters proportionally large. 

 He had a thorough confidence in his own judgment, and 

 relied entirely upon his own resources. In the whole series 

 of his numerous experiments, he appears to have consulted, 

 and even trusted, no one. It is said that his only confi- 

 dant was an old shepherd, who alone knew what animals 

 were covered, and with what blood. Although young gentle- 

 men resided with him, for the purpose of receiving instruc- 

 tion, they knew nothing of the course of his experiments ; 

 and when it is mentioned, that amongst these individuals 

 were the late distinguished Earl of Leicester, Mr Cully, Mr 

 Buckley, and others likely to take a deep interest in the pro- 

 ceedings, it will be seen what a methodised system of caution 

 and secrecy was pursued. He seems to have obtained the 

 respect of those connected with him, for his character and 

 judgment ; but within the circle of reserve which he cast 

 around him, where his own proceedings were concerned, no 

 one was permitted to pass ; and, strange to say, he left not 

 behind him a single written record of his curious experi- 

 ments. It is not probable that this can be ascribed to any 

 higher motive than the selfishness of a trader, careful to pre^ 

 vent others from profiting by his acquired knowledge. But 

 yet it manifested a certain strength of character, and may 

 shew that Bakewell, though actuated by ordinary motives, 

 was not an ordinary man. He struck out for himself a new 

 course of action ; and, carrying on a long course of peculiar 

 experiments, ultimately succeeded, and laid down, by his ex- 

 ample, principles which experience has since proved to be 

 sound. There had not before been another Bakewell ; and 

 all who have sought the same end have but followed in his 



