THE LEICESTER 619 



Stock, that he was often termed the father of improved live-stock 

 husbandry. People visited him from various parts of England 

 and Europe and paid him large sums for the hire of his rams, 

 he being the first person to establish this custom. An item in 

 the "Annals of Agriculture" in 1787 reports him letting three 

 rams for 1200 guineas (^6000) and that he had been offered 

 1000 guineas for twenty ewes and refused it. Bakewell died in 

 1795. The Leicester as improved by him retains to-day many 



Fig. 291. A Leicester yearling ram, first-prize in class at the Royal Agricultural 



Society of England Show, 1904. Exhibited by E. F. Jordan. From photograph, 



by courtesy of William Cooper & Nephews, Berkhamsted, England 



of the original characteristics, though it may be somewhat smaller 

 and more refined. His method of close breeding eventually re- 

 duced the fecundity, vigor, milking capacity of the ewes, and 

 weight of wool. Breeders since his day have continued the 

 practice of selection and early in the last century practiced much 

 in-and-in breeding. Two types of Leicester sheep are now recog- 

 nized — one the ordinary English sort, the history of which is 

 notably associated with Bakewell and England ; and the Border 

 Leicester, an offshoot from Bakewell stock, especially developed 

 among the hills where England and Scotland have their boundaries. 



Digitized by Microsofi® 



