OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 201 



breeding brought about $1,000 each, while two years later the 

 sum of $2,000 was paid for one animal. His achievements so 

 excited the surrounding breeders that they came to the ear of 

 the King, and George Third honored this pioneer with a royal 

 inquiry concerning his "new discovery in stock breeding." 



Robert Bakewell was clearly of a scientific mood and a 

 research temperament. At Dishley Hall he maintained a museum 

 wherein he preserved both skeletons and pickled joints illustrat- 

 ing the results he had attained. Most of the exhibits were from 

 the Leicesters, but one joint at least was a relic of the notable 

 Old Comely that died at twenty-six years of age with a full 

 four inch fat covering above his sirloin. As far as is known, 

 Bakewell never enunciated his principles of breeding, but as 

 crystallized from his experience one finds the following five 

 axioms which have guided breeders of livestock for over a 

 century: 



Like begets like. 



Variation exists in all stocks. 



Select an ideal type. 



Breed the best to the best. 



Inbreeding produces fixity of type, refinement and early 

 maturity. 



