No. 1. 



Tlie Paular Merino Buck. 



25 



THE PAULAR MERINO BUCK. 



Remarks on Sheep breeding. 



By Solomon W. Jewett, Weybridge, Vermont. 



To select choice fine wooled bucks and 

 breed from the South-down ewes, would 

 doubtless be the best cross that could be ob- ' 

 tained from coarse wooled sheep, for our lati- 

 tude, for the latter variety of sheep appears 

 to be a connecting link between the fine and 

 coarser breeds. In this cross, the lambs j 

 would gain the best possible chance for 

 milk, whereby all points of carcass would ■ 

 have full cliance for a natural development. 

 But to let the large coarse breeds of sheep 

 into a flock of small boned fine wooled ewes, 

 would be ruinous to the flock, as I have seen 

 fully tested. It is against the laws of na-i 

 ture to perfect a larger race of animals from 

 females of much smaller stature. The car- 

 cass is not only too small to deliver the off- 

 spring, but incapable of afibrding sufficient 

 nutriment, either in embryo or afterbirth.! 

 If mutton be the object, what can you pro-i 

 duce better than the many valuable coarse 

 varieties that have been introduced among 

 us] If fineness of fleece, without any other 

 consideration, the Saxon Merino never will 

 be rivalled. If you desire a flock of good 

 fair sized animals, sheep that will endure 

 our climate, that are able to withstand the 

 sudden changes of weather, with fleeces of 

 fine grade, mutton not of the best quality,! 

 and yet palatable, then I contend that the 

 Merinoes are the most profitable breed. I 



The Paular Merino, or what some term 



I" old fashioned Merino," are the most hardy 

 and most profitable of this breed. There 

 • appears to be a general visionary desire in 

 many of the States, for crossing the many 

 diiferent breeds of sheep to obtain a new, 

 distinct and valuable variety. As it requires 

 several generations to obtain a new and per- 

 fect cross, no breeder can fairly try the ex- 

 periment by a few crossings. Time and 

 money could be better laid out in improving 

 such breeds at hand as each may admire; by 

 carefully selecting the most perfect bucks 

 for the large and best breeding ewes ; and 

 in the mean time, if wool be the object, re- 

 gard should be had as to quality and quantity 

 of fleece ; for constitution, size of limb and 

 breadth of carcass; and a good breeder must 

 have milking qualities. 

 j In my view, the Merinoes are the most 

 perfect sheep ever bred among us ; and I 

 would as soon think of an amalgamation of 

 the Asiatic, African, or native American, 

 with the Anglo Saxon race, to obtain an im- 

 proved race of people, as to think of cross- 

 ing any one of the coarser breeds of sheep 

 upon the perfect Merinoes, to obtain a more 

 valuable variety. 



I Many have crossed the Saxon on the 

 Spanish Merino, but there is scarcely one 

 experimenter that will now claim that he 

 has effected any improvement, but very many 

 will acknowledge that they have suffered a 

 loss. It must be an established fact, that 

 I the fleece cannot be improved in fineness, 

 except at the expense of carcass, nor the 



