CHARACTERISTICS OF BREEDS. 151 



that they are below rather than above medium size, 

 possessing a good constitution, and are thrifty, and 

 cheaply kept. Their chief merit is as fine wooled sheep, 

 and as such they excel all others. As mutton sheep 

 they are constitutionally and anatomically deficient, 

 being of late maturity and great longevity, (a recom- 

 mendation as fine wooled sheep,) having too flat sides, 

 too narrow chests, too little meat in the best parts, and 

 too great a percentage of ofial when slaughtered. 

 Their mutton, however, is of fair quality when mature 

 and well fatted. As nurses they are inferior to many 

 other breeds. Many careful, extensive and protracted 

 attempts have been made to produce a breed combining 

 the fleece of the Merino with the carcass of the Leices- 

 ter or other long wooled sheep. They have all signal- 

 ly failed. The forms, characteristics and qualities of 

 breeds so unlike seem to be incompatible with one 

 another. A cross of the Merino buck and Leicester 

 ewe gives progeny which is of more rapid growth than 

 the Merino alone, and is hardier than the Leicester. 

 It is a good cross for the butchers' use, but not to be 

 perpetuated. Improvement in the Merino should be 

 sought by skillful selection and pairing the parents in 

 view of their relative fitness to one another. 



The Leicestee, or more properly the New Leicester, 

 is the breed which Bakewell established, and is repeat- 



14 



