68 
THE SHEEP. 
THE NEW LEICESTER BREED. 
a studied mystery on the subject. Some have imagined that the basis of his breed was the Old Lincolnshire, some the Teeswater 
some the Warwickshire, while others contend that he crossed with the Ryeland, the Southdown, the Charnwood Forest, or some other 
of the Short-woolled breeds, in order to communicate that fineness of bone and peculiar character of wool distinctive of his breed. 
But whatever were the first experiments of Bakewell, the knowledge of them perished with the individual, and there is nothing, 
in the breed as it was at length perfected which can enable us to explain the progressive steps by which its characters were acquired. 
In one of his letters to Mr Chaplin he admits that he had at one time made use of Old Lincoln rams; but he states, at the same 
time, that he had not done so for many years, and he ever afterwards expressed the utmost dislike of this coarse and unthrifty breed, 
which was, indeed, the most removed of any other from the model which his own principles of breeding led him to adopt. Neither 
was the Old Teeswater one which presented the characters required. This, it has been seen, was a very large and coarse breed, and 
not one, therefore, which Bakewell was likely to select as the basis of a stock, of which he sought rather to diminish than increase 
the size. Besides, the wool of the Old Teeswater was extremely long in the filaments, and differed greatly in this respect from 
the shorter and finer fleece acquired by the New Leicesters. All the presumption is, that the basis of Bakewell’s breed was 
the Long-woolled Sheep of the midland counties, from which he may be supposed to have made such selection as suited his pur¬ 
poses. On his obtaining his paternal farm he would necessarily succeed to a stock of sheep similar to that which existed on the 
neighbouring farms, and it would only be in accordance with the practice of ordinary caution, that he should endeavour to improve 
this stock rather than at once adopt another of a different race. It is commonly believed, that a little before the improvements of 
Bakewell, one breeder, at least, in the county of Leicester, had acquired the distinction of possessing superior sheep, and disposed of 
rams foi the purpose of breeding. Whether Bakewell owed anything to the anterior improvements of others, is unknown. From 
what we know of his character and habits, he himself would have been the last to acknowledge his obligations to another breeder; 
but he used such precautions for concealing the sources from which he derived the means of improving his animals, as may well 
favoui the suspicion that he was not wholly without obligations to the labours of his cotemporaries or predecessors. With respect 
to the opinion that he crossed his stock with the Short-woolled Sheep, it rests upon no actual knowledge of the fact. It appears 
that he made numerous experiments in the early period of his breeding; and it is not impossible that he may have made a partial 
cross by such animals as seemed to suit his purposes without reference to their origin. A certain darkness of colour in the skin 
of the face of his sheep may seem to favour the opinion that he had made a cross with some of the dark-faced Down or Forest breeds; 
but we do not know whether the Old Leicesters did not, like the Southham Notts, and some others of the larger varieties, possess 
something of this peculiarity. With regard to the delicacy of form and shortness of wool of the New Leicester breed, it is not 
necessary to account for their existence by resorting to the supposition of a mixture of blood with any of the short-woolled races. 
Both characters were necessarily communicated by the system of breeding which Bakewell pursued. Not only did he regard the 
growth of wool as a secondary effect, but he appears to have entertained the opinion, that the production of a large quantity of 
wool was inconsistent with the property of yielding much fat; and this opinion would necessarily conduct him to the choice of 
animals for breeding which produced a lighter fleece. Besides, the sheep of the midland counties did not always produce wool 
which was long in the staple. A part of the counties of Leicester and Warwick lies in a calcareous country favourable to the pro¬ 
duction of the shorter and finer kinds of wool; and the wool of the Old Warwickshire Sheep, in particular, appears to have closely 
approximated to that of the modern Leicesters. There is no reason, therefore, to assume, from any of the characters presented by 
the wool of the New Leicester Breed, that the parent stock was any other than the Long-woolled Sheep of the midland counties. 
The New Leicester Sheep, though smaller in bulk of body than the long-woolled races which they supplanted, are yet of the 
larger class of Sheep with respect to weight. Their limbs being shorter, and their bodies more round, compact, and deep, than in 
the former breeds, they are of greater weight in proportion to their apparent bulk. Their actual size is various, depending on the 
wishes of breeders to possess larger or smaller animals, and on the fertility, natural or acquired, of the districts in which they are 
reared. In general, it may be said that the wethers weigh from 25 lb. to 35 lb. the quarter when fattened in their second year. 
The wool is of medium length, having a staple of from six to eight inches, and weighing about 7* lb. the fleece in Sheep of fifteen 
or sixteen months old. It is too short and weak to be admitted into the first class of combing wools, and, in the properties which 
fit it for the manufacture of worsted, it falls short of the wool of the older breeds. Nevertheless it is more evenly grown, is soft, and 
of good colour, and possesses several properties of long wool in perfection. 
But it is neither m the size or weight of body, nor in the productiveness or quality of the wool, that the real value of the New 
Leicester Breed consists. Its value and superiority are to be found in its more perfect form, and aptitude to fatten at an early 
age, in which respects it surpasses all the other varieties of Long-woolled Sheep which have been cultivated in this country, or 
naturalized in any part of Europe. The New Leicester Sheep can, under the ordinary management of the farm, be readily fat¬ 
tened for human food at the age of fifteen months, that is, when, in the language of farmers, they are shearlings; and in no case 
