No. 112.] 807 



and properties sought after. The precise proportions of the 

 blood of two or more breeds, proper to be retained in the new 

 stock, must be left to the judgment of the breeder. The cross- 

 bred stock w'ill doubtless present at first considerable tendency 

 to eport, that is, all the specimens will not present an uniform 

 character ; bat this is no evidence that uniformity may not be 

 finally attained. The same tendency is developed in the hybridi- 

 zation of plants. Yet to this principle of cross-breeding we owe 

 some of the most important improvements in fruits and vegeta- 

 bles. Knight, and others, have thus produced valuable and per- 

 manent kinds of apples, pears, cherries, currants, peas, beans, 

 turnips, and various kinds of grain. No greater obstacle is seen 

 in the way of producing new breeds of animals by the same sys- 

 tem, and we have abundant facts to show that this has been iu 

 various instances effected with the highest advantages. 



Many persons w^ho are violently opposed to all crossing, and are 

 loud in their advocacy of the opposite mode of breeding, do not 

 seem aware of the fact that many of the so-called " pure breeds," 

 were derived from various crosses. Take, for instance, the Berk- 

 shire swine; no one w^ho knows anything of the origin of that 

 variety as it at present exists, will deny that it is a mixture of 

 several breeds. Youatt informs us that it is a cross of the old 

 Berkshire with the Chinese, Siamese, and Neapolitan. In fact it 

 is not pretended by authors, that among tlie present valuable 

 breeds of Britain, there is one that can be considered original and 

 unmixed. It is not intended to assert here, that all crosses of swine 

 have been beneficial, there have been many improper crosses, 

 but who will dare deny that great improvements have been pro- 

 duced from this course? 



We come now to sheep. Ifere we liave a most striking case 

 in point in the origin of tlie present Leicester or Bakewell 

 breed. Few breeds are more distinct in their characters than 

 this, or transmit tlieir peculiarities with more marked effect, 

 when crossed with otlirr breeds. Indeed, it is well known 

 that tlie Leicester lias bien much resorted to for the improve- 

 ment of others, and lias in part formed the source from which 

 several other breeds have been f)rmed,c)f wliich we may mention 

 the improved Cots wold, or New Oxfordshire, and the improved 



