MUTTON BREEDS. 45 



evidently had the master eye i'or seeing vir- 

 tues in animals and. knowing- which would be 

 transmitted. He made such fame as a breeder 

 of sheep that before his death liis rams were 

 let for the season for as high as $2,000 each. 



The Leicester is found in Canada and on 

 some of our Western ranches. It is a large 

 sheep, with white points and a long, rather 

 coarse wool. It is iinely formed, with an es- 

 pecially wide spread of rib, and has an ex- 

 traordinary facility for talking on fat. In 

 truth, it is a defect in the Leicester, according 

 to modern idea, that it loads up. too much 

 with internal fat. Its best place in our econ- 

 omy is in cross breeding. Leicester rams on 

 Merino ewes produce superb feeders with a 

 very good class of wool. 



COTSWOLDS. 



One of the most common breeds in parts 

 of America thirty years ago was the Cots- 

 wold. Common they still are in parts of 

 the countr}'. They abound in Canada and in 

 some parts of- the West, notably in Utah and 

 Oregon. The Cotswold resembles the Leices- 

 ter somewhat, being a large sheep with white 

 face and legs and long wool. The face ma,y 

 be grayish or even light brown, and there is 

 a tuft of wool on the forehead. The wool is 

 coarse but adapted to certain uses. Cotswolds 

 make gain profitably but are not adapted to 

 the production of very young fat lambs. The 

 best use of the breed is in cross breeding on 

 ewes of Merino foundation, and for this pur- 



