ROBERT BAKEWELL 7 



more and more to be made up at home so as to more nearly suit 

 home demands. Later, in the reign of Elizabeth (1557-1603), still 

 more of these artisans, as well as others of their countrymen, came 

 to England as refugees. Thus was laid the foundation of England's 

 great expansion in manufacturing. 



Settlers from Flanders also brought the root and clover crops, the 

 cultivation of which soon became of far-reaching benefit to the sheep 

 industry, for they made possible an adequate supply of good winter 

 feed. As a result the death rate of sheep was greatly reduced, and 

 the production of wool jDer sheep was increased. 



Robert Bakewell. — Aside from improvement resulting from 



^„, „ „^ tiio Mici^t^iM.-v'-iv ^viie on a pasture in Great'3ritain. They are 



ey mature early and fatten easily. 



- ; ■ ■-■■ --: -~:::z progress until the time of Eobert 



Bakewell, 1725-1794. Wool had declined in price until, with the 

 rapidly advancing values of English lands, it alone would no longer 

 justify the keeping of sheep. With the enormous expansion of 

 manufacturing and of other industries in England, there were 

 developing great urban populations demanding meat. Bakewell was 

 able to see that these changed conditions demanded a new type of 

 sheep, and accordingly he set to work to make of the long, ungainly, 

 coarse-wooled, late-maturing sheep of his community a compact, 

 early-maturing, easily fattened animal. He succeeded so well and 

 his work impressed breeders so profoundly that he is generally 

 acknowledged as the first great improver of livestock. He demon- 

 strated that certain fundamental laws of breeding aided in attain- 



