OR, A TREATISE OX PILE. 165 



We have not only the pleasure to hope, but the vanity to anticipate. 1 , 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 eqxmlly 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 Americanos,) with the domestic Cow, are full of interest. (See And. and Back. Quad.) 



"The herd Buffalo I possess, (says this gentleman,) have descended from one or two Cowa, 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 person?, 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, but 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 

 a birth. 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 calves 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 domestic Bull and it 

 produced a Bull Calf. This 1 castrated, and it made a very fine steer, and when killed produced very tine beef. I bred 



