THE NEW LEICESTER BREED. 
PLATE XIX. 
R AM, a Two-Shear Sheep; Bred by John Buckley, Esq., Normantonhill; Wool 14 days grown. 
PLATE XX. 
WETHER, a One-Shear Sheep; Bred by Mr Stockes, from the Rams of Mr Buckley ; Wool 44 days 
grown. 
The Breed of Sheep termed the New Leicester, is so named from the county of Leicester, where it had its origin. It was 
formed by Robert Bakewell of Dishley, whence it is likewise termed the Dishley Breed. It was about the year 1755 that 
Mr Bakewell began those experiments on the breeding of animals which led to such important results. His purpose was to 
produce sheep exempt from the defects of the races then cultivated, and possessed of a greater aptitude to fatten and arrive at early 
maturity; and the means which he employed were, breeding from the individuals possessed of the properties sought for, and 
rendering these properties permanent in the offspring. It is known that, by continued selection of the male and female parents in 
a given number of animals, the characters deemed defects can, under certain limits, be removed, and the acquired properties ren¬ 
dered permanent in the progeny by continued reproduction with one another. The principle that the virtues of parents aie com¬ 
municated to their young was not newly discovered; but it was reserved for Bakewell to apply it in the -case of the animals 
used for human food in a new manner, and to produce more remarkable results than had before been arrived at. He perfectly 
understood the relation which exists between the external form of an animal and its aptitude to become fat in a short time. He 
saw that this relation did not depend upon size, nor, in the case of the sheep, on the power of the individual to yield a large quan¬ 
tity of wool. He therefore departed from the practice of all former breeders of the Long-woolled Sheep, who had legarded size 
and abundant growth of wool as primary properties in the parents. Holding bulk of body and the produce of the fleece to be 
secondary properties, Bakewell directed especial attention to the external form which indicates the property of yielding the hugest 
quantity of muscle and fat with the least bone, and what is usually termed offal. He aimed, too, it is said, at producing the fat on 
the most valuable parts; but this is merely a subsidiary property dependent upon general harmony of conformation. Progressively 
perfecting his animals by skilful selection, he necessarily continued to breed from his own stock, and did not scruple to connect 
together animals the nearest allied in blood to one another. This system, continually pursued, not only gave a permanency to the 
characters imprinted on his sheep, constituting a breed in the proper sense of the term, but tended to produce that delicacy of 
form which experience shows to be connected with the power of secreting fat, and arriving at early maturity, or what may be termed 
premature age. The system acted upon for successive generations tended likewise to render the animals more the creatures of 
an artificial condition, more delicate in temperament as well as in form, less prolific of lambs, and less capable of supplying milk 
to their offspring. It cannot be supposed that Bakewell was unobservant of these effects; but he appears to have regarded 
them as a consideration secondary to the property of producing in the shortest time the largest quantity of fat with the least 
consumption of herbage and other food. That this was the main result at which he aimed, all his practice shows ; and his suc¬ 
cess corresponded with the skill and perseverance with which he applied his principles to practice. His stock became gradually 
known and appreciated in the country around him; but it was not until after the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century that 
it arrived at that general estimation in which it was afterwards held. He early conceived the idea of letting his rams for the 
season in place of selling them. The plan was ridiculed and opposed in every way, and it was not until after the labour of many 
years that he succeeded in establishing it as a regular system. It is said that his rams were first let in 1760 at 17s. 6d. each ; 
but this was certainly before his breed had arrived at its ultimate perfection. His usual price afterwards became a guinea, and m 
rarer cases two or three ; but the price rapidly advanced with the increasing reputation of his stock. In 1784-85, the price had 
risen to about 100 guineas for his best rams. In 1786, he made about 1000 guineas by the letting of his stock ; m 1789, he made 
1200 guineas by three rams, and 2000 guineas by seven, and in the same year he made 3000 guineas more by letting the remain¬ 
der of his rams to the Dishley Society then instituted. These facts deserve to be recorded as manifesting the high estimation m 
which the breed of Bakewell was held as soon as its properties became known. 
Controversies have arisen regarding the parent stock from which Bakewell produced his breed. He himself chose to adopt 
