FARMEES' I^^STITUTES. 257 



give satisfactory returns. With such an object in view, success would almost 

 wholly depend on care and skill in feeding. 



I am thoroughly convinced that in the present state of sheep husbandry, the 

 poor conveniences and the slip-shod manner in which most of us breed and 

 care for our sheep, the best, because the most profitable, under the treatment 

 which they are likely to get, is the Grade Merino: hardy, capable of withstand- 

 ing almost any amount of exposure or starvation, and opening not her mouth 

 under the combined cruelties of washing and shearing, in the manner it is 

 usually done. When fully matured and well fatted, they supply the great 

 bulk of the mutton of this country, and the demand is fully equal t6 the 

 supply. They are already acclimated, have become used to grubbing for a liv- 

 ing, so that witli ordinary care and attention I believe them to be more profita- 

 fble than the more higiily-bred and better kept breeds. These have only attained 

 itheir present degree of perfection from a system of skillful breeding, generous 

 Jteep, and great care for a long period of time, and now to change all the con- 

 .ditione under which this great improvement has been made, would result sooner 

 -or later in the loss of the superior qualities which distinguish them from the 

 .common herd ; but it has often been done and will be again. 



Another consideration of importance not to be overlooked in our subject is 

 ithe production of wool. It is true that the price for two or three years has 

 -been lov/^ so it has been with most other farm products. How has it been 

 -with wheat, one of our principal crops? It has hardly paid the cost of jn'oduc- 

 ition, not taking into the account the drain upon the soil and the risk of the 

 tcrop. Compared with wool, it comes out second best in whatever light you 

 view it; for while one drains the soil the other nnproves it. While wheat costs 

 -all that it comes to, wool really costs but little and no risk of a crop. 



The better you keep your sheep the larger your clip of wool will be, so that 

 dnstead of loss there is really gain in feeding well. Uusually the increase of 

 tthe. flock will pay all expenses, and wliatever the wool comes to is clear profit; 

 jSo that the~sheep never dies in your debt. Therefore we claim that no stock 

 pays better, and certainly no stock is as valuable in restoring tlie lost fertility 

 ■ of our fiarm. 



Having now given some of the reasons why we think our grade sheejj the 

 most profitable for the general farmer, we will next consider some of the prin- 

 ciples of breeding by which they are to be improved and made more profitable. 



In the first place we want to know what we wish to accomplish. If we aim 

 at nothing, we-shall be very likely to hit it. One of the first principles in breed- 

 ing by common consent is that " like produces like.'' Now, I understar.d this 

 to mean something more than tha"}. ''All things produce after their kind" 

 in a geueral way. Then what more is meant, I ask? Let me illustrate it. 

 We will take a. flock of g^ade ewes, — say fifty, — just such ewes as you will find 

 any where in the country that will average live pounds of wool per nead. They 

 are not all as near alike as two peas, nor were their dams or grand-dams, so 

 you see there is a rigit snuirt chance for variation. Well, now, you select for 

 a sire to mate with your flock of ewes a sheep possessing as many of the quali- 

 ties as possible which, you wish to obtain in the progeny. Your male, of course, 

 should be superior in all respects, so f r as possible, to the flock of ewes. You 

 make the cross. Now apply your axiom, that "like produces like." But you 

 have a male quite unlike, being much s.ipcrior to any female in the flock, and 

 no two of yoar females alike. Wliat is th.j result in fact? It is that while 

 , some partake more of, the qualities of the sire, and are superior to the rest, 

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