The improved Leicester is of large size, but somewhat smaller than the original stock, and in this respect falls considerably below the coarser varieties of Cotswold, Lincoln, etc. Where there is a sufficiency of feed, the New Leicester is unrivalled for its fattening propensities; but it will not bear hard stocking, nor must it be compelled to travel far in search of its food. It is, in fact, properly and exclusively a lowland sheep. In its appropriate situation--on the luxuriant herbage of the highly cultivated lands of England--it possesses unequalled earliness of maturity; and its mutton, when not too fat, is of a good quality, but is usually coarse, and comparatively deficient in flavor, owing to that unnatural state of fatness which it so readily assumes, and which the breeder, to gain weight, so generally feeds for. The wethers, having reached their second year, are turned off in the succeeding February or March, and weigh at that age from thirty to thirty-five pounds to the quarter. The wool of the New Leicester is long, averaging, after the first shearing, about six inches; and the fleece of the American animal weighs about six pounds. It is of coarse quality, and little used in the manufacture of cloth, on account of its length, and that deficiency of felting properties common, in a greater or less extent, to all English breeds. As a combing wool, however, it stands first, and is used in the manufacture of the finest worsteds, and the like textures. The high-bred Leicesters of Mr. Bakewell's stock became shy breeders and poor nurses; but crosses subsequently adopted have, to some extent, obviated these defects. The lambs are not, however, generally regarded as very hardy, and they require considerable attention at the time of yeaning, particularly if the weather is even moderately cold or stormy. The grown sheep, too, are much affected by sudden changes in the weather; an abrupt change to cold being pretty certain to be registered on their noses by unmistakable indications of catarrh or "snuffles." In England, where mutton is generally eaten by the laboring classes, the meat of this variety is in very great demand; and the consequent return which a sheep possessing such fine feeding qualities is enabled to make renders it a general favorite with the breeder. Instances are recorded of the most extraordinary prices having been paid for these animals. They have spread into all parts of the British dominions, and been imported into the other countries of Europe and into the United States.