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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



there on a stormy night ; and certain breeds brought 

 up for folding in hilly districts were more valuable in 

 those districts than either long-woolled or cross-breds. 

 He had been a breeder of cross-bred sheep himself 

 to some extent ; at the same time he kept one or 

 tv?o pure-bred flocks on his farm. The more cross- 

 breeding there was, the more would pure breeds be 

 encouraged, and the more valuable would they be- 

 come ; but he contended that they must select their 

 animals to suit the particular soil and climate. When 

 he first began sheep farming he did not take this suffi- 

 ciently into account. He resided in the county of 

 Essex, and admiring the beautiful form and charac- 

 teristics of the Bakeweli Leicester, he procured a large 

 flock of them, and was so fond of them that he continued 

 to breed them for several yearn. He found, after keeping 

 them a few years in that climate and folding them, that 

 he could produce the Southdown wool upon the Leicester 

 carcase according to climate, soil, and manage- 

 ment. There was one class of wool according to the 

 climate westward ; and where there was a great deal of 

 lime and chalk, as in the case of the Cotswolds, they 

 would observe that the character of the sheep was affected 

 by it. In cross-breeding, it (vas requisite to keep close 

 to the pure blood on the side of the male an'mal ; and 

 he knew of an instance in which a merin'- ram was put 

 with ten Leicester ewes, and the following year to a ram 

 of Leicester breed, and the result was that six out of the 

 ten produced lambs with a decided characteristic of the 

 pure-bred Merino. From his experience, even with 

 pigs, horses, and other animals, he always looked upon 

 crosses with great fear, animals differed so much in 

 the capability of crossing ; and the great object of the 

 farmer, after all, was to breed that class of sheep which 

 would pay the most per acre. 



Mr. R. Bond (Ipswich) considered that the question 

 turned upon the relative merits of pure breeds and cross 

 breeds. Speaking from his own experience, he might 

 state that he started some years since upon a heavy 

 land farm, and endeavoured to search out the most 

 profitable system of sheep-breeding. In fact, he 

 looked upon it, not as a matter of breeding or blood, 

 symmetry, or size, but simply as one of profit (Hear, 

 hear.) What he wanted was an animal that would re- 

 turn the largest quantity of meat and wool from a given 

 quantity of food. Living amongst Southdown breeders 

 he had adopted their opinions, and was rather prejudiced 

 in favour of the Southdown breed. After giving the 

 pure breed a trial, by picking out the best Southdown 

 ewes in the flock, and hiring the very best Southdown tups 

 he could meet with ; the result was that he obtained a lamb 

 which did not sell freely and readily in the market. He 

 then made a change, still using the Southdown ewe and 

 hiring a Leicester tup, and the change was decidedly 

 advantageous. Afterwards he substituted a Cotswold 

 tup, and the conclusion at which he had arrived from 

 the experiment was that upon heavy lands the Cots- 

 wold was superior to the Leicester. But he did not 

 stop there. He next used a Hampshire ewe and a 

 Cotswold tup ; and although he was not prepared to 

 assert that it was the best cross that could be adopted, yet 

 it had answered his purpose remarkably well, and every 

 change had proved an improvement, in securing better 

 and more paying lambs. Subsequently others had taken 

 the experiments up where he had left off", and gone still 

 further, especially one gentleman, his friend Mr. Fyson, 

 of Barningham, who had resorted to the system of 

 breeding from cross-bred animals on both sides, and 

 had told him that he was better satisfied with the 

 result by breeding from the two crosses than from the first 

 cross. Mr. Fyson's flock consisted of half-breds from 

 Leicester tups and Down ewes, and in a letter which he 

 had casually written to him (Mr. Bond), he stated that 



his ewes had done particularly well this year ; that from 

 twenty score of ewes he had thirty score of lambs, and 

 that he expected a score more. This evidently showed 

 that the system was attended with considerable success. 

 He further stated that the deaths among his ewes had 

 amounted to only three. Mr. Fyson had had the same 

 good success for many years past, though he farmed 

 but two hundred acres of land, and his lambs were 

 always excellent. The experiments which had been 

 made by Mr. Lawes scarcely bore out the remarks 

 which had fallen from Mr. Thomas as to the quantity of 

 food consumed by different breeds, inasmuch as he 

 showed that the Hampshire and Cotswolds produced a 

 larger quantity of meat and wool from a given quantity 

 of food than the Southdown. 



Mr. Thomas asked if Mr. Bond was quite sure of 

 that .' 



Mr. Bond spoke merely from recollection, but inti- 

 mated that he (Mr. Bond) was correct. In this age of 

 growing wealth, it might possibly be said that what was 

 wanted was something fit for the epicurean palate of the 

 rich — something that combined fineness of grain, age, 

 and flavour ; but his answer io that was, that the duty of 

 the farmer was to look to the increasing population, and 

 endeavour to feed them ; for he had no doubt whatever 

 that in the long run the multitude would prove the 

 better customers. It would not by any means answer 

 the purpose of the sheep farmer to keep his animals 

 until they were four or five years old ("Hear, hear) ; 

 early maturity was one great desideratum for profit. It 

 had always appeared to him to be a question worthy of 

 consideration, whether more could not be done in the 

 Eastern Counties in regard to the breeding of sheep : 

 for he was quite sure that sheep was the most paying 

 description of farm produce, and that prices would still 

 hold out for mutton and wool. Ha had found cross- 

 breeding more paying than pure blood, but he was quite 

 convinced any good breed was far better than no sheep 

 at all upon a farm. 



The Chairman said, occupying as he did a clay farm, 

 he had little to say on the subject under discussion. He 

 merely brought a few sheep to fatten for the butcher. The 

 conclusion which he should come to, if he were a breeder, 

 was to stick to the pure breed ; but buying as he him- 

 self did, be did not object to a cross animal. As re- 

 garded different breeds of sheep, he would ask what was 

 the pure breed ? It appeared to him that the pure breed 

 was but a judicious cros.'- from other breeds ; and no 

 doubt every gentleman adopted that breed or cross which 

 was best adapted to his own district. 



After a few words from Mr. Coleman, in explana- 

 tion, to the efi"ect that he approved of cross-breeding, 

 from what was in fact the same family, though the 

 breeds were district, 



Mr. Howard, in reply, expressed his regret that 

 Mr. Dobito, who, he believed, named the subject to the 

 committee for discussion, had not favoured the Club 

 with his views more fully upon it, for he was aware that 

 he (Mr. Dobito) had met with considerable success in 

 the crossing of sheep the last few years. In reply to 

 Mr. Thom;is (late of Lidlington), he observed that 

 when speaking of Southdowns he stated that it was 

 maintained by the breeders of those sheep that more 

 could be kept upon the same acreage than of the larger 

 breeds. He regretted that Mr. Thomas had not also 

 gone more fully into the subject, for he knew that gen- 

 tleman had had considerable experience in the breeding 

 of sheep ; for while at Lidlington he had kept success- 

 fully two flocks of the established breeds, viz., Leicester 

 and Southdown. He agreed with Mr. Hobbs (he had 

 said as much in his opening remarks) that very much 

 depended upon soil and climate as to the breed that was 

 the most suitable. Mr. Hobbs appeared to have some 



