SHEEP. 21 



but in proportion as he continued to make progress, and 

 the reputation of his flock increased, his prices rose 

 rapidly ; and in 1789, a society having been formed for 

 the propagation of his breed, he let his rams to it for one 

 season, at the enormous price of 6000 guineas (more than 

 150,000 francs). It has been estimated that in the fol- 

 lowing years the farmers of the midland counties spent 

 as much as 100,-000 a-year (2,500,000 francs), in the 

 hire of rams. In spite of all his endeavours to keep the 

 monopoly, Bakewell was not the only one who let rams : 

 this business spread around him, and many flocks were 

 formed after the model of his own. 



The wealth which Bakewell has conferred upon his 

 country is incalculable. If it were possible to compute 

 what the Dishley breed has yielded to English agricultu- 

 rists during the last eighty years, the results shown would 

 be truly enormous. 



But this is not all. Bakewell has not only produced a 

 particular kind of sheep, which realises the maximum of 

 precocity and return, but he has pointed out the means 

 by which the indigenous races placed in other circum- 

 stances may be improved. The pure Dishley does not 

 thrive equally well everywhere. Bred upon wet and fertile 

 plains, it succeeds only in like situations. It is quite an 

 artificial race therefore delicate ; rather of a sickly con- 

 stitution, precocity being only a disposition to premature 

 old age ; and its conformation incapacitating it for exer- 

 tion, it must have, together with a cool climate and abun- 

 dance of food, almost entire repose and constant attention, 

 which it repays with usury, it is true, but which it is not 

 always possible to give. 



Like every other country, the soil of England may 

 be divided into three parts plains, uplands, and moun- 

 tains. The Dishley breed is the type of the sheep of 



