350 Rise and Pronress of the Leicester Breed of Shcej). 
customers to the Leicester Ijreeders, and have had good ones on 
their own account. The former have in fact kept nearly as keen 
an eye on the Leicester pens at their shows, as on the " red and 
all red " in the cattle ranks ; and Mr. George Turner has for a 
series of years been a successful breeder and exhibitor of both at 
the Royal and the Bath and West of England shows. Early in 
the century Mr. Peters, of Penhallow, brought several waggon 
loads of Leicesters, as well as shorthorns, from Bristol, where they 
arrived by ship, and said that they were the " twin regenerators. 
Still some of the Cornwall ewe stocks are of a very dubious kind, 
especially on the high grounds, where they work on the heather 
with the snipe. Many of them never taste a turnip, and have 
scarcely any curl in their wool. The granite on these hills does 
not suit them, as there is a formation above it through which the 
water cannot percolate. The formation at a lower altitude is the 
serpentine or greenstone, and when the greenstone is broken up, 
and the yellow marl under crust is brought to the surface, it is 
excellent corn and turnip land, and well adapted for grass or 
turnips when drained. Two-thirds of the sheep go into the 
Bristol and London markets, and while the Leicester ram keeps 
up his price to improve the ev/es, the Shropshire ram is also in 
vogue to put the coveted "black-foot" on to the half-breds. 
What the native sheep of Ireland were like before the intro- 
duction of the pure Leicester, is told with hideous fidelity by 
George Culley, when he explored that country — Arthur Young 
fashion — towards the close of the last century. None of the 
original breed that we can hear of are left, and those who wish 
to see what the Leicester cross has done, have only to glance 
over the 80,000 to 100,000 sheep which are annually pitched at 
Ballinasloe. Perhaps no other fair of the size in the United 
Kingdom can produce such a level array. The top lots, two- 
year old ewes and wethers, are real)}' wonderful sheep, and yet 
they have not tasted a pound of cake or any artificial food. In 
fact, the system of putting sheep on turnips is quite in its infancy 
in Ireland. If well kept, the hoggs will cut from 6 or 7 lbs. of 
Vi'ool ; it is shorter and closer than any of the breeds used for 
crossing, and yet more open than that of "the original natives. ' 
With the last named, the Dishley "nicked" exactly, and 
reduced the size while it increased the weight of wool, and gave 
an aptitude to fatten carl v. As high as 111 guineas has been 
given for a ram, but the sale of pure Leicesters has not been so 
good of late years, as breeders have gone for greater size. The 
Cotswold cross Avas a failure, the Lincoln has done no good, 
while the Border Leicester has made great headway. A pure 
Leicester flock is not suited to Ireland, as the climate is too wet 
for them, and they become delicate. The ewes are not found to 
milk well, and the Invnljs cnnnot b'^ar up against the damp 
