198 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



shape and features. The fleece also has an English 

 character. 



" The lambs thrive, wear a beautiful appearance, 

 and complete the joy of the breeder. He thinks that 

 he has achieved a new cross-breed insuring great im- 

 provement, and requiring thenceforth only careful 

 selection to perpetuate by propagation among them- 

 selves the qualities which he has in view. But he has 

 reckoned without his host. For no sooner are the 

 lambs weaned, than their strength, their vigor, and 

 their beauty, begin to decay as the heat of our sum- 

 mer increases. Instead of growing, they seem to 

 dwindle; their square shapes shrink; they become 

 stunted; and, on the threshold of life, put on the 

 livery of old age. 



" A violent cold in the head completes their exhaus- 

 tion. This is accompanied with a copious flow of 

 slimy mucus from the nostrils, constant sneezing, and 

 sometimes cough. At last the constitution gives way, 

 or, if the animal lasts till autumn, the malady indeed 

 ceases, but he remains stunted for life. 



" The time lost was the time of growth, and can- 

 not be recovered, for Nature never goes backward. 

 Henceforth he looks like a foreigner escaped from 

 the mortal influence of an inhospitable climate, and 

 remains inferior even to our native sheep, which at 

 least have health and hardiness in their favor. The 

 experiment has sometimes been tried with English 

 rams in a third generation, and the symptoms above 

 described have arisen even more strongly in propor- 

 tion to the stronger admixture of English blood." 



After pointing out some differences observed in 





