[45] 



most desirable cross to make first is the Merino. This will 

 give hardiness and longevity. Add two or more crosses of 

 Cotswold or Leicester, and we get size and fleece. Many 

 farmers are apt to use the Cotswold or Leicester blood too 

 freely after noting the good results of the first cross, there- 

 by increasing the weight of the fleece at the expense of the 

 other desirable qualities of his flock. As we approach the 

 lowlands in the valley of East Tennessee, where the grasses 

 grow more luxuriantly, the fleece should be increased by 

 using more extensively long-wooled bucks. A cross with 

 some of the heavier breeds of the Down can also be made 

 with good results such as the Shropshire, Hampshire, and 

 Oxfordshire downs. In breeding these, however, it is im- 

 portant to look out for a close market for lambs, as it is for 

 their weight as mutton that these heavy breeds are consid- 

 ered most valuable. When mutton becomes the principal 

 object of the flock- master, we would give the Southdown 

 preference over all others. An excellent and very profit- 

 able mutton- and- wool sheep can be grown in the level sec- 

 tion above referred to, by crossing the Southdown upon 

 Cotswold grades, bred as those first spoken of, viz. : with a 

 Merino foundation, and crossed up with some of the long- 

 wooled families. In fact, there are but few of the different 

 varieties but would be improved to some extent by an infu- 

 sion of Merino blood, especially when it is the intention of 

 the breeder to make sheep husbandry a specialty, and raise 

 large flocks. In the middle portion of the State all varie- 

 ties can be grown with great success, and here the breeder 

 has only to consider the principal object for which he 

 wishes to build up his flock. If for wool, the nearer he 

 approaches the thoroughbred Cotswold the heavier will be 

 the fleece, but if mutton is his object the Southdown blood 

 should predominate. On leaving the Central Basin of the 

 State, going west, the long-wool sheep should be gradually 

 discarded, to give place for a variety better suited to the 

 climate and the grazing facilities of the country. Here we 



