CHAPTER LVIII 



THE LEICESTER 1 



The native home of the Leicester breed of sheep is in the 



county of Leicester in central England. Here the land is gently 

 rolling, the soil clayey and fertile, and grass, small grains, and 

 roots grow abundantly. The climate is moist much of the year 

 and fairly temperate, even in winter. 



The origin of the Leicester as a breed is obscure, further than 

 that a long-wooled, large, coarse, narrow-backed, slow-feeding, 

 leggy type had been bred in the county of Leicester from time 

 immemorial. This was the old Leicester sort. 



The first improvement of the Leicester began with Robert 

 Bake well, who lived at Dishley Hall, near Loughborough, in 

 Leicestershire. Bakewell was born in 1726 and began to experi- 

 ment with and improve the sheep of his county just prior to 

 1760. He purchased the best specimens of the breed to be 

 obtained in the community, practiced rigorous selection, did 

 much in-and-in breeding, and finally produced a remarkable im- 

 provement, so that sheep of his breeding became known as 

 Dishley or Bakewell sheep. He converted the Leicester into a 

 broad-backed, thick-fleshed, easy-feeding, early-maturing breed, 

 with small bones and much less offal than in the old sort. Bake- 

 well had a collection of bones and meat in pickle, which repre- 

 sented selections from time to time from animals of his own 

 breeding, by which he studied the improvement made. Marshall, 

 who lived in Bakewell's time, stated that he kept four points in 

 view, — (1) breed, (2) utility of form, (3) quality of flesh, and (4) 

 propensity to fatten, the three latter depending on the first. 

 Bakewell attained such fame in improving these sheep, as well 

 as Longhorn cattle and other stock, that he was often termed 

 the father of improved live-stock husbandry. People visited him 



1 The word " Leicester" is pronounced as though spelled " Lester." 



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