162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



EFFECTS OF A FIRST CROSS. i 



DlscuBcions at the late meeting of the State Board of, 

 Agriculture, in Concord, MaBs. — Recollections of a i 

 ramble among the sheep growers in Vermont. — Kfftcts j 

 of a tirijt cross. — Sheep breeriers in Vermont. — A lamb 

 criticised — disappointed — find a taint — the mother no 

 lopger a proper breeder. — Views of Dr. Harvey, the 

 celebrated discoverer of the circulation of the blood. 



■ANY topics relating to agriculture 

 were discussed at the late meeting 

 of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Agriculture, in Concord, and among 

 them that of breeds and breeding. The prin- 

 ciples which should govern the breeder were 

 clearly defined by some of the speakers, and 

 several interesting and valuable facts and sug- 

 gestions were drawn out in the course of the 

 discussion. One among them, was upon the 

 effects of a first cross. The principles enun- 

 ciated were not new to us, but some of the 

 illustrations cited to sustain them, were of a 

 highly interesting character. 



The discussion on this point brought to mind 

 some of the incidents that occurred a winter 

 or two since, during a week's ramble among 

 the sheep breeders in Addison county, Ver- 

 mont. We saw and examined as many of the 

 finest flocks as we could reach in several days, 

 through the aid of as fine a pair of coal black 

 steeds as ever man drew "the ribbons" over. 



After examining one very fine flock, with as 

 critical a touch and eye as we could command, 

 the proprietor said, "If you had come with 

 the intention of purchasing, which lamb of the 

 flock would you select ?" After scanning the 

 flock for a few moments, the favorite was 

 pointed out. Should you select that lamb ? we 

 asked. No, was the reply. We then enu- 

 merated the excellent points and qualities 

 which we thought the lamb possessed, com- 

 mencing at the nose and ending at the tail ! 

 at the same time feeling a little under par at 

 the failure. Well, said our friend, good-na- 

 turedly, let us take that lamb to the door, 

 where you can examine him in a clearer light, 

 and away from the other sheep. We did so, 

 and no new discoveries were made on our part. 

 We were puzzled, and exclaimed, "Why would 

 you reject that lamb ?" 



"Because he has a taint," was the reply. 



"Where is it? I see none." 



"Look at his nose, just above the nostril." 



And, lo ! there was a brownish-black spot, 

 but rather indistinct, about as large as the 

 ball of one's little finger, and that was his con- 



demnation ! There was the unmistakable mark 

 of the South Down. On every other account 

 the owner confessed that it was the finest lamb 

 in the flock. But this was evidence of impurity, 

 and rendered the lamb nearly valueless. 



Li such a case as this, the probability is, that 

 the mother of the lamb will never again pro- 

 duce offspring that is free from taint, and 

 ought at once to be turned to mutton, or bred 

 from "as a scrub." The next offspring would 

 be quite as likely to have a nose, half of which 

 would be black, as of any other color. This 

 is the manner in which deterioration creeps 

 into flocks of sheep, and into all our domestic 

 animals. 



On this point there were some remarks re- 

 cently, by a correspondent of the Prairie 

 Farmer, of a highly interesting character. 

 He says : — 



A number of years since, a choice lot of South 

 Down ewes, belonging to a neighljor, accidentally 

 coupled with a very coarse native ram ; the owner 

 was so incensed that he destroyed the lambs and 

 supposed that would be the end of it ; but so long 

 as 1 knew his flock the stain was not removed. 

 Now here, now there, the blood of the coarse na- 

 tive buck cropped out. 



Last fall, while passing through the flock of a 

 noted breeder of American Merinos, in the Green 

 Mountain country, I noticed a peculiar trace about 

 the faces of a number of ewes ; a dark tinge on 

 the nose and a peculiar halo-like ring about the 

 eyes. In one or two instances, also, I noticed a 

 tinge of dark about the fetlocks. A neighbor, who 

 knew the flock as well as the owner, informed me 

 that a South Down buck got intj the floek several 

 years since, and although his lambs were all dis- 

 posed of, the trace of his connection with the 

 ewes was so apparent for three j-ears, that several 

 lambs were quietly disposed of, and the traces are 

 now so distinct that a close observer would see 

 them at once. 



And, by the way, I have now in my flock of 

 Merinos a ewe which last year got with lamlj Ijy a 

 half blood South Down ram which broke into the 

 inclosure. Her pedigree is undoubted, and yet her 

 lamb this year, from a first class Hammond buck, 

 has undoubted South Down marks. 



Nor is it difhcult to undeistand how this can 

 happen. If the foetus be of mixed blood — its 

 blood mingling and commingling with that of the 

 mother would, as Dr. Harvey exi)resscs it, "inocu- 

 late her system with constitutional peculiarities of 

 the foetus," "and as these qualities are in part de- 

 rived from the male progenitor, the peculiarities 

 of the latter arc so engrafted on the .system of the 

 female as to be by her conmiiinicable to all off- 

 spring she may suUse(iuently have by other males." 

 This principle holds good, in the improvement of 

 .«tuck, as well as in its deterioration. The use of a 

 first class, thorough brid buck, not only improves 

 the one issue, but engrafts the peculiarities fixed 

 by a long and distinct line of ancestors upon the 

 females indelibly. So at once the value of the 

 thorough bred males becomes evident. 



— A large convention of the dairymen of Wis- 

 consin and Illinois washeldatBelvidere, 111., Feb. 

 II. X. A. Willard, Esq., of New York, delivered 

 an address. 



