BREEDING, AND THE PRINCIPLES OF THE SAME. 311 



Merino sheep, Black Hawk horse, and Devon bull. These are 

 permanent varieties, the type of each having been established by 

 a long course of in-and-in breeding. We are told, however, that 

 many of the imported French Merinos (so called) have produced 

 offspring scarcely worth the trouble of raising — far inferior to our 

 common native stock. The principal reason is, many sub-races 

 (f Merinos, existing in Fiance and elsewhere, are the result of 

 C3 OSS-breeding. They are nothing less than mongrels, destitute 

 of that permanency of type indicative of pure blood. But there 

 are other causes for the deterioration complained of, which will be 

 noticed hereafter. 



By preserving the race pure through a certain period, we thus 

 obtain the requisite permanency of type, which can then be trans- 

 mitted indefinitely. Let us see, now, if we understand what ia 

 meant by a permanent variety, and inquire if such do really trans- 

 mit their permanent peculiarities. A permanent variety (Black 

 Hawk breed, or Devon cow, for example), are animals whose pe- 

 culiarities were not coeval with the tribe, but have arisen, or been 

 engrafted on the same, subsequent to the advent of their existence 

 and, therefore, what some may term distinct species are, in reality, 

 nothing more than permanent varieties. The Shetland pony, 

 therefore, is a permanent variety. Circumstances have made him 

 just what he is. He, being an inhabitant of a stormy, tempestu- 

 ous region, comparatively destitute of shelter and artificial food, ia 

 left, in many instances, like the cattle of Norway, (whose diminu- 

 tive size is notorious,) to seek such food as the county affords ; and, 

 owing to their being secluded from other horses, frequent inter- 

 course among themselves have rendered their snail and peculiar 

 forms permanent in the race j and, with unerring precision, " like 

 begets like." 



The permanent varieties that now exist among the cattle of the 

 British Isles is due to local circumstances and the art of man. 

 Most of the fine breeds now owned by English husbandmen are 

 named after the location in which they are said to originate. 

 These are permanent varieties, yet the most of them (in fact all, 

 except importations) are descendants of the "Wild or White 

 Forest breed." Hence the Highland breed, dispersed over the 

 mountains of Xorth Britain; the Alderncy, of the Norman Isles; 

 and the Devon, from the Bristol Channel, etc., are all permanent 

 farieties, orijrinallv of the White Forest breed. Yorkshire ia 



