80 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



trace out the modes and the results reached by the 

 most noted breeders of these separate or mixed fami- 

 lies. To attempt it without long and minute investi- 

 gation, would be not only unfair, but excessively 

 presumptuous ; and even after the most careful exam- 

 ination, it would be a very delicate affair, to say the 

 least of it, to assume to sit in judgment on the com- 

 parative merits of flocks which are now keen competi- 

 tors for public favor, and concerning which the 

 opinions of the most intelligent and experienced 

 flockmasters differ. Accordingly I shall waive it, 

 after reserving to myself the right of selecting some 

 examples when I come to discuss the subject of 

 crossing. 



Suffice it to say, that each of the separate families 

 and the crosses between them, or between them and 

 other pure American Merino stocks, have improved 

 enormously within twenty years. 



The American Merinos, the measurements, etc., of 

 which I subjoin to Petri's table, exhibit some of the 

 marked changes which have taken place in the form 

 of the breed, not only since their original importation, 

 but within the last twenty years. And if that table 

 had been more complete in useful data, these facts 

 would be still more apparent. The American sheep, 

 weighed and measured for that table, were not, as 

 already remarked, extraordinary ones in any particular 

 pertaining to the carcass were such as can be found 

 in abundance in any prime flock. When their length 

 of leg, neck and body, and breadth of hip are com- 

 pared with each other, and with their weight, their 

 compactness and massiveness of form become a neces- 

 sary corollary ; and here the disparity between them 



