158 
THE LEICESTER BREED, 
Bakewell, by attention to tbe points already men- 
tioned, attempted to combine quantity and quality 
of wool, with excellency of tbe meat and early 
feeding, and effected an improvement in the breed, 
which was not only productive to himself, but of 
lasting importance to the agriculturist and wool- 
grower. The advantages of this breed were so ap- 
parent, that, at the introduction of these sheep, 
Mr Bakewell was said to have made (in the year 
1789) 1200 guineas by three rams, 2000 of seven, 
and 3000 of tbe remainder of his stock; a return 
unprecedented in the annals of sheep-breeding. They 
were capable of being made what may be called 
enormously fat at an early age. Mr Culley killed a 
three years old wether in October 1787, with more 
than seven inches of solid fat on his ribs ; and it was 
common for two years old wethers to have four 
inches of thickness of fat on the ribs, and from two 
to three all down the back. This breed has now ex- 
tended to the south of Scotland, and a few are kept 
by almost all the smaller farmers, for the sake of 
wool for his family ; and with every cottar who has 
the means of keeping a pet, this is the kind which is 
selected, both from its abundant fleece, and its quiet, 
unstraying manners. In some districts, a valuable 
race has sprung fiom a mixture witirfboth the Che- 
viot and black-faced breeds. The latter we now il- 
lustrate by a representation of 
