THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 31 



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

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

 valuable part of the carcass, it could not, consequently, be too 

 abundant. In pursuance of this leading theory, by inducing 

 a preternatural smallness 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 inferior 

 flavour and quality. They are, in general, found defective in 

 weight, proportionally to their bulk ; and if not thoroughly 

 fattened their flesh is crude and without flavour ; 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 (Mr Bakewell) very 

 justly disgusted at the sight of those huge, gaunt, leggy, and 

 misshapen animals with which his vicinity abounded, and 

 which scarcely any length of time, or quantity of food, would 

 thoroughly fatten, patriotically determined upon raising a 

 more sightly and profitable breed ; yet, rather unfortunately, 

 his zeal impelled him to the opposite extreme. Having pain- 

 fully, and at much cost, raised a variety of cattle, the chief 

 merit of which is to make fat, he has apparently laid his dis- 

 ciples and successors under the necessity of substituting 

 another that will make lean." Illustrations of Natural History, 

 p. 5. 



Granting the truth of these strictures, which we scarcely 

 can, to the full extent, what is the inference as it respects the 

 system of breeding ? Namely this : that by pursuing the 

 proper mode, by proper selections, and by joining like excel- 

 lences and properties in the sire and dam, and not by rashly 

 crossing distinct breeds, but by making one breed the great 

 foundation, and working upon it, remembering that " like 

 produces like," not only will the point aimed at be attained, 

 but it may even be overshot, thus demonstrating the power 

 which the judicious breeder possesses. 



Since Mr. Bakewell's time, the New Leicester breed has 

 become degenerated ; by some the stock has been bred in 

 and in too closely, and by others very injudiciously crossed. 

 In the meantime, the short-horned breeds of cattle have been 



