92 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL,, 



breeding were used. In 1867 Mr. Scott furnished an account of 

 his sheep for the annual report of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1866, in which he gave some very flattering testimonials which 

 he had received from various parties, to whom he had sold his 

 sheep, with pictures of rams and ewes of his flock. At that time 

 his flock consisted of about 200 ewes and 50 yearling rams. Since 

 then nothing further has been made public regarding this so-called 

 improved sheep. Unfortunately the system of breeding followed 

 by Mr. Scott could not have any definite or favorable result, as it 

 is opposed to all the principles from which favorable results could 

 have been anticipated. An animal thus produced could not be 

 anything else than a mongrel, and although it might at first pre- 

 sent a promising appearance, yet no certain characteristics could 

 be expected to appear in its progeny. No such hasty process as 

 this could be made permanent, for there had been no fixed type 

 produced by any of the crosses upon which to build a further cross, 

 to be in turn fixed permanently upon the race. No " breed " has 

 ever been thus produced, nor can a " breed " by any possibility be 

 established by this course of breeding while physiological laws re- 

 main in force. This example is here cited as a warning and a 

 caution, rather than as one to be followed by those persons who 

 have an ambition to found a new or improved breed of sheep. 



THE AMERICAN MERINO. One of the most successful instances 

 of the fortuitous results of sheep breeding, exists in the establish- 

 ment of the American Merino. In a Treatise upon the Australian 

 Merino, by J. R. Graham, superintendent of an extensive sheep 

 station on the Murray River, (published in Melbourne, in 1870), 

 the following testimony is given : " Of all imported sheep, those 

 of our first cousins, the Americans, are the best. The best rams 

 imported into Melbourne of late years were some American rams." 

 This coming from so capable a judge, and in competition with the 

 best selections of Merino sheep to be procured elsewhere in the 

 world, may be taken without question as proof that the American 

 Merino is the best sheep of its class in the world. It is therefore 

 interesting to trace the course through which this breed has been 

 brought to its present excellence, which enables it to stand alone 

 on its own merits, beyond any capability of further improvement 

 by any variety of Merino sheep now existing in any part of the 

 world. 



The history of the American Merino commences with the 

 present century, and with importations of choice sheep from 

 Spain. The honor of the first importation seems to belong to Mr. 

 William Foster, of Boston, who managed, " with much difficulty 



