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THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE. 



The conditions of life, or, as some writers call it, the environ- 

 ment, require to be carefully studied before selecting the breed of 

 sheep with which to form the flock. The influence the natural 

 surroundings exert upon the domestic animals has been known to 

 husbandmen from the dawn of civilisation. In his writings, 

 Columella shows that he fully understood the matter, and the 

 subject is referred to by many old English writers. 



The experience of an old Lammermuir shepherd, as quoted 

 by Youatt, furnishes a good illustration of the loss that may possibly 

 follow by neglecting this important matter. He says, "I occupied 

 a farm that had been rented by our family for nearly half a century. 

 On entering it the Cheviot stock was the object of our choice, and 

 so long as we continued in possession of this breed everything pro- 

 ceeded with considerable success ; but the Dishley sheep came 

 into fashion, and we, influenced by the general mania, cleared our 

 farm of the Cheviots and procured the favorite stock Our coarse, 

 lean pastures, however, were unequal to the task of supporting such 

 heavy-bodied sheep, and they gradually dwindled away into less 

 and less bulk ; each generation was inferior to the preceding one, 

 and when the spring was severe seldom more than two-thirds of 

 the lambs could survive the ravages of the storm." 



Another still more striking illustration of the effects of the con- 

 ditions of life upon sheep is given in the Journal of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England (1865). Mr. T. Ellman sent sixty 

 ewes and three rams of the English Leicester breed to a French 

 farmer. These sheep were hea ily woolled, the ewes cutting ten 

 pounds each. On the French farm the sheep were treated in the 

 same manner as the native race (the Norman), and each year the 

 wool on the original sheep and their progeny became lighter and 

 lighter, till in six years time they clipped only three pounds each 

 of very indifferent wool. In the fourth generation they became 

 very long legged, and in their bodies bore a considerable resem- 

 blance to the ordinary Norman sheep, with which they had not the 

 least relationship. 



An instance of the folly of attempting to work against nature 

 was shown when several years ago the Romney Marsh sheep were 

 " improved " by ntroducing the Leicester blood. The result was 

 an improvement in the shape of the young stock, but they had lost 

 the extraordinary hardiness of the Marsh race, and were unable to 

 live in the bleak, exposed country inhabited for centur es by the 

 Romneys. 



In Victoria attempts have been made to breed high-class 

 merinos in wet, cold lowlands, but in every instance the attempt 

 has met with pronounced failure. In one instance it was attempted 

 to form a stud in such a locality, and the original sheep were of the 

 highest merit. Though the greatest care was exhibited in the 



