298 THE AMERICAN FARMER 



breeder s foresight, or his judicious application of happy accidents, may be of priceless 

 value. Thence the immense money value of the best stock sheep a value enhanced by the 

 rapidity with which the regenerating influence of the male propagates itself. The influence 

 of one buck in three or four years may raise the wool product of a flock of a thousand 

 sheep from five to ten pounds for each individual. 



There are cases which justify this statement. Thus, even in the time of the Emperor 

 Tiberius, Spanish rams were sold for a talent about a thousand dollars of our money. The 

 ram-letting of two animals by Bakewell, the producer of the new Leicester sheep, produced 

 in one season twelve hundred guineas. Our Mr. Hammond sold his bucks for five thousand 

 dollars each; and even in Australia, where perfection in sheep-breeding might be supposed to 

 be everywhere prevalent, a ram at a sheep auction in Melbourne, during the present year, 

 after the keenest competition, was knocked down at three hundred and fifty-five guineas. 



In the history of agriculture no names stand so prominent as great benefactors as those 

 of Robert Bakewell, the creator of the new Leicester; John Ellman and Jonas Mills, the 

 improvers of the Southdowns; Yon Thaer and the Duke of Lecknowsky, in Germany, the 

 improvers of the Merinos; Daubenton, the associate of Buff on, the founder of the French 

 Merino; Mr. Me Arthur, the creator of the Australian sheep husbandry; Edwin Hammond, 

 of Vermont, mainly the originator of the American Merino. The nobility of sheep-breeding 

 is recognized in all the advanced nations. The Empress Eugenie took the flock of Rambouil- 

 let under her special protection. The Queen of England takes special pride in the choice 

 flocks which adorn her parks. The English nobleman values the prizes for his perfected 

 Southdowns or Lincolns above all the honors of the turf. And, at a dinner of the landed 

 gentry, the topic of sheep and turnips takes precedence of all other table talk. Such recog 

 nitions lift the creative work of the sheep-breeder to the rank of the highest of the arts of 

 agriculture, and make its acquisition not only a source of national emolument, but an object 

 of national pride.&quot; 



We believe that the thoroughbred stock is best, and that no cross-breeds will equal them, 

 although for special purposes, such as the combining of the qualities of both breeds to a cer 

 tain extent, whether it be mutton or wool qualities, very good results can often be obtained. 



In changing the standard of a flock of sheep, by crossing or grading, marked results 

 will often follow in a very short time, and a Merino, or even what are called scrub sheep, 

 can, by proper management and care, be changed into an almost pure-blooded Southdown, 

 Cotswold, or any other breed. 



The grades produced by improving in this way the common or native sheep are valuable, 

 and this will be the best course for a farmer to pursue who has a native flock and does not 

 possess the means of procuring the more valuable thoroughbred breeds. In such cases great 

 care should be observed in procuring bucks of the very best quality, remembering that the 

 general law of nature that &quot;like begets like&quot; is quite a reliable one, and although there may 

 be exceptions, it is the safest to follow, and that the use of the BEST in this department, as 

 well as almost every other, is the most profitable eventually. 



A grade buck should never be used in a flock of thoroughbred ewes, as it will cause the 

 flock to degenerate. Such is the inevitable result, and the progress of degeneracy will even 

 be more rapid in such cases than that of improvement in a flock of common &quot;scrub&quot; sheep 

 when thoroughbred bucks are used. Although in general appearance a grade buck may 

 closely resemble the thoroughbred, and but little difference, if any, can be detected and 

 in fact lambs that are the product of grade ewes and thoroughbred bucks often show nearly 

 if not quite as much quality as the thoroughbred rams, still they will not transmit this 

 quality with any degree of certainty to their progeny; hence it is necessary that the pure 

 Hood be used for this purpose, whether the farmer s aim be wool, or mutton, or the com 

 bination of both. 



