LEICESTEES AND BOEDER LEICESTERS. ^ 25- 



fleece, but in the selection of smaller and more compact animals, 

 necessary for the improvement in carcass, unfortunately the 

 fleece diminished in weight proportionately 'to the decrease in 

 size of carcass. The Leicester sheep as improved by Bake well 

 may be described as a white-faced, hornless sheep, covered with a 

 fleece about seven inches in length, having a lashy wool, ter- 

 minated with a short twisted ciu-1. The points of the Leicester 

 are: Head, hornless, long, small, tapering towards the muzzle; 

 lips and nostrils black; nose slightly narrow and Roman, giving 

 the face a wedge-shaped appearance; face is covered with thin, 

 white hairs; forehead covered with wool; ears thin, rather long 

 and mobile and directed backward; a black speck on face, and 

 ears not being uncommon; eye large and prominent; neck short, 

 level with the back and broad at its base where it leaves the chest, 

 gradually tapering towards the head, being particularly fine at 

 the articulation of the head and neck, the neck appearing to pro- 

 ject straight from the chest, so that there is almost one continued 

 horizontal line from the rump to the poll. The breast is deep, 

 broad and full; shoulders upright and wide across the tops, giv- 

 ing a great thickness through the heart; well filled up behind the 

 shoulders, making the girth large; ribs are well sprung; loins 

 wide; hips level; quarters long and straight; barrel round; ribbed 

 well home; no irregularity on the line of the back or the belly. 

 The bone is fine, the legs being small, standing wide apart; no 

 looseness of the skin about them, and are comparatively free of 

 wool; the fleece is flne and curly and free from black hairs; firm 

 flesh; springy pelt and pink skin. In general form, the carcass 

 is rectangular, with legs set well on, hocks straight, pasterns good 

 and neat feet. All these various points were only obtained by 

 paying long, continued attention to the individual pecularities,, 

 selecting the best to breed from, always bearing in mind that it 

 is far easier to perpetuate a defect than to fix an improvement. 

 The LEICESTER fattens best when about a year or a year 



