he 
OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 165 
We have not only the pleasure to hope, but the vanity to anticipate, that Col. Randall, 
after further reflection upon this important question, will agree with us in opinion; if he 
does not, we would like to hear, from himself, why the crossing of the Southdown and 
the Merino merits his recommendation, while the mixture of the Merino and the Leicester 
is so inconsistent with reason and common sense. 
Having satisfied ourselves that the hairy Sheep and the woolly Sheep are members of 
two species, the next step in the inquiry is, ‘“‘ what is the consequence of their amalgama- 
tion?” Will it promote, or mar, the great object of the American Sheep breeder? Con- 
sidering the very great extent to which Sheep are now raised in the United States, and 
the general prevalence of crossings, these are important questions. 
The grand desideratum of the American Sheep breeder is, to form and preserve, either 
one permanent and self-supporting race of animals, which shall inherit equally the good 
qualities of both parents, which shall produce, with the least trouble and expense, either 
the greatest-quantity of the finest quality of fine, soft, strong wool, which will felt and full 
in the greatest perfection, or the greatest quantity of the finest quality of fine, strong, soft 
fleece that will not shrink ; or two races, one answering to either of these requirements 
Now to perform either, or both of these, he must (in each flock) confine himself to one 
species, for as often as the parents are of different species, the offspring will be hybrids, none 
of which possess the power of permanently fixing and self-supporting a race, such as has 
been mentioned. 
Among all animals, intelligent and instinctive, there exists a natural abhorrence to the 
amalgamation of species ; but it is exhibited in different ways. Sometimes the antipathy 
is So potent as to amount to an entire prohibition, as we have seen in the cases of the 
Cow and the European Buffalo,* the Barbyroussa and the Wild Boar, and the Pecary and 
‘ 
* The experiments of Robert Wickliffe, Esq., of Lexington, Kentucky, in relation to the crossing of the American Buffalo 
(Bison Americanus,) with the domestic Cow, are full of interest. (See Aud. and Back. Quad.) 
“The herd Buffalo I possess, (says this gentleman,) have descended from one or two Cows, that I purchased from a man 
who brought them from upper Missouri. I have had them about thirty years; but from giving them away, and the 
occasional killing of them by mischievous persons, as well as other causes, my whole stock at this time does not exceed ten 
or twelve. I have sometimes confined them in separate packs from other cattle, hut generally they herd and feed with my 
stock or farm cattle. They graze in company with them as gently as the others. The Buffalo Cows, I think, go with 
young about the same time the common Cow does, and produce once a year. None of mine have ever had more than one at 
abirth. The approach of the sexes is similar to that of the common Bull and Cow, under all circumstances, at all times, 
when the Cow is in heat—a period which seems, as with the common Cow, confined to neither day nor night, nor any 
particular season ; and the Cow brings forth her young, of course, at different times and seasons of the year, the same as our 
domestic cattle. I do not find my Buffaloes more furious or wild than the common cattle of the same age, that graze 
with them. 
“ Although the Buffalo, like the domestic Cow, brings forth its young at different seasons of the year, this I attribute to 
the effect of domestication, as it is different with all animals in a state of nature. I have always heard their time for calving 
in our latitude, was from March until July ; and it is very obviously the season which nature assigns for the increase of 
both races, as most of my calyes were from the Buffaloes and common Cows of this season. On getting possession of the 
tame Buffalo, I endeavored to cross them as much as I could with my common Cows, to which experiment I found the tame 
or common Bull unwilling to accede; and he was always shy of a Buffalo Cow, but the Buffalo Bull was willing to breed with 
the common Cow. 
‘From the common Cow I have several half breeds, one of which was a heifer; this I put with a domestie Bull and it 
produced a Bull Calf. This [ castrated, and it made a very fine steer, and when killed produced very fine beef. I bred 
