The Evening Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1872.

Wanganui Herald, Volume V, Issue 1427, 23 March 1872, Page 2

The Evening Herald. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1872.

sheep farming. No. lE. THE LEICESTER,

The original Leicester sheep was large, though it had the type of the Leeswatcr, the Lincoln, the Romncy Marsh character or genuine character representing the whole combined. ]t •was a large heavy sheep with disposition to feed favorably, but with much heavy grossness about its composition. They were doubtless identical with the type of sheep so common, to the district of the long-woolled and lai-o-e carcased animals; and which probably the Scottish invaders once, took from the valleys of the Lees. They were flat-sided, heavy boned, long leaned coarse in the pelt, and offal, with'ton <j excellent combing wool. The rams would weigh when fat 40 lbs per quarter ; and the fleece would weigh 13 or 14 lbs. On the rich Leicestershire meadows they would be fatted at three years old, yet not to the weight we

have just mentioned, though a fouryeai s old sheep might attain that weight. Tt was on these animals that Bakewell began to experiment with, a view to improvement. Bukeweil and his flock were first heard of in 1760, when he commenced-the system of letting rams as distinguished from selling. The usual course was for the farmers to s-cvvo the best of their several flocks and reserve them uncastrated as male lambs. Jaakewell began a letting system, bur. so little was thought of his rams, that he let one in that year for the season for only sixteen shillings. B-ikewell stands alone in merit as an improver; he took the native sheep, reduced his size, gave him small offals, induced him to lay on flesh and fat all along the breech, the sides,, the shoulders tho flank and the neck. He opened his wool, and also reduced it in weight, and a little in length. He increased the tendency to lay on fat in proportion to the food consumed, and made the animal take on fat a year or two earlier at least by which he enabled two or three animals to be fed where only one was fed before. And this was not a fitful temporary change in the animal; it was permanent and indelible, and the same sheep has, for nearly a century, not only maintained its position, but has been used with more or less success to improve nearly every breed of sheep in the United Kingdom, and at the same time has more or less displaced every other breed. How did Bakenwell accomplish thtwe objects ? This is a secret. He died -without revealing it, and wo have to guess at the probabilities. The breeders of the Leeswaters, of the Downs and of Lincoln all claim the breeds as the source of his improvement of the old Leicester stock. They allege that he might reduce the bone and frame by a simple dash of the favorite blood, others obtaining a firm superstructure bred in and in until it was indelible. But this is very improbable as it is not likely that any cross could have so firmly taken possession of a race and made them all alike. It is rather an indication of purity of breed than of any cross whatever. He doubtless selected those animals which corresponded with his ideas of what were best—with light offals and a tendency to feed, and that exhibited early maturity and very natural forms ; for these are the invariable concomitants of the state of things above referred to, and he had plenty of opportunity of selecting those which suited his purpose. It seldom happens that one great man discovers any new fact or principle in science alone. Discoveries according to providential arrangements seem to be made in different places at once. "Mr Joseph Allom, of Clifton, in Leicestershire, who rose from the ploughtail by his mind and energy to be an extensive farmer and breeder was known to select and purchase ewes from all parts of the country chiefly from Melton. Tie had abreed which were great favorites before Bakewell was heard of. Specific characteristics we cannot very easily define M. Youatt slurs even Mr Allom in a note ; and in the text says, " Up to this period (the middle of last century) very little care had been bestowed in the breeding of sheep " Mr Marshall goes to the other extreme, and says that the origin of BakewelFs improvements are due to Allom. The truth is probably between the two. Allotn's stock might be made available to Bakewell's purposes ; and his practice mi-lit set the latter to work in more zealously improving the breed. Another cause was also in operation towards the same end and doubtless gave another opportunity for Bakewell's selecting his specimens to improve his breed. In 1747 there were some successions of bad seasons which so operated upon the succulent grass of Leicestershire as to sweep off nearly the whole of the sheep on the lower clay soils of that county. This banished the more wealthy farmer from the district and they had to take refuse on the wolds of Yorkshire, and there purchased some small-horned fine-bred sheep for a supply to their decimated flocks. The trade of jobbing thus commenced, and it is said that Bakewell employed the jobbers who brought down from time to time the Yorsliire wold sheep, to allow him to cull out the best nefore they were offered to the farmers. He thus obtained compact square rapidly feeding animals, and persevered year after year in selecting the best, in his judgment, from his'own flock, until he obtained the celebrity which has handed down his name as the greatest improver that ever lived; tho once new Leicester sheep has become the Leicester sheep, so completely has it eaten out its progenitors Bakewell began to let as we have seen at the moderate sum of 16s. Allom had before obtained the large sum of three guineas for the use of his superior Ham Lambs. In 1780 tho former realized ■en guineas for the loan of a ram for a season, and in six years more he lets one ram for SCO guineas. After this his celebrity rose to its height and the de-

rnand for his stock became quite a mania ; ] one hundred guineas was considered a small price for the loan of one of his rams. Three oj 1 four hundred guineas was by no means an uncommon s.im • and on. one occasion he had ten guineas per eweforeveryone served byacelebrated ram, which ho made to serve one hundred and twenty times. He let one ram subsequently for one thousand guineas and as his sale ewes were always put on lowlands, when they were sure to become victims of rot, he managed to keep his female animals from spreading and indeed would allow no access to his breed, but through the rams which he let at the enormous sums we have named, so much for the origin of the Leicester :he is indeed the type of a sheep suited to the graizer in every respect. The head and legs are covered by very short fine hair, so thin and fine that the skin is partially visible through it. The color is whitish, but not the snow white of the Cheviot; but it has a bluish tinge, and is as soft almost as down. The head is fine and small; the eyes very full, but quiet in expression. The ears, thin, fine, of moderate size, and tending backwards ; the neck rather short, firm, and free from all flabby skin or flesh and thickening as it proceeds to its junction with the shoulders, but so forward that the prominent breast is in a line with it and regularly filled up by the base of the neck. The breast is broad and full, as well as forward; the back is perfectly straight from the setting in of the tail to the top of the head, the latter not rising upwards but horizontally set on. The ribs are arched, the shoulders are round and thick. The legs are broad, so as to give a table-like appearance to the hack of the animal; they stand wide apart, and are somewhat short. The ribs extend well towards the legs. The quarters are long of all. The wool is somewhat long and spirally curled, set on very open upon the skin, and hair extremely white and soft, though strong. The inside has not so much developement of fat as in some breeds, but it is laid on externally in greater quantity. The weight may be taken at 25 to 30 lbs per quarter, the wool 7-|- to Slbs each. Perhaps a better proof of thfc value of the Leicester could not be afforded than in the fact that they have superseded a vast proportion of the sheep in Great Britain from every circumstance of the pasturage and climate, and established themselves in their stead; but they have also been used to improve the desirable points cf almost every breed, which still at all keeps its ground. The early maturity of the Leicester and his disposition to accumulate fat, equalled only by the short horned amongst cattle is certainly unequalled by any other sheep in existence, and it is the oi.ly sheep that can, with any degree of success be fattened at one year old.