1266 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



system of breeding, so far as the Saxon is concerned. The breeder is not 

 only called upon to increase the weight of its fleece and carcass, but to en- 

 graft on it hardiness of constitution, nursing properties, etc., which by no 

 means follow, as a matter of course, its improvement in the former partic- 

 ulars. These, and particularly the latter, could only be attained, so as to 

 be transmissible with a proper degree of certainty from parents to offspring, 

 by years of breeding, accompanied by a rigorous course of selection. If, 

 therefore, you were called upon to form a variety just suited to your wants, 

 the Merino would present the most ductile and the safest materials. But 

 the Southern agriculturist, just entering upon sheep-rearing, would not be 

 prepared to conduct nice experiments in breeding. He wants a breed or 

 variety already prepared to his hand. And for the same reasons, notwith- 

 standing the fineness of his climate, he wants a hardy breed — one that de- 

 mands no extra skill, no great experience, for its management. Merinos 

 reaching or closely approaching the standard above specified are now to 

 be found, while there is no corresponding variety of Saxons ; and to incur 

 the risks arising from inexperience, want of preparation, &c., the superior 

 hardiness of the former would, of course, render them entirely prefer- 

 able. 



Some have recommended a cross between the Saxons and Merinos, as a 

 cheap and ready method of obtaining a four-pound fine-fleeced sheep. A 

 properly selected Saxon ram, crossed with good medium and medium- 

 wooled Merino ewes, cutting from 5 lbs. to b\ lbs. of wool, will almost uni- 

 formly produce this result. And it is easier now to get the Saxon than the 

 Merino, fine enough for this purpose. Or a flock may be bred up from 

 Saxon ewes and a Merino ram. The objection to both courses is the same, 

 though not equal to that which exists against breeding the full-blood Sax- 

 ons — viz., the production of a feeble and a poor nursing sheej). The latter 

 evil, especially, clings for generations to these ci-oss-bred animals, so far as 

 my experience and observation have extended. And unless Saxons are 

 selected which do not possess the characteristic faults of the variety, the 

 cross-breds are inferior to pure-blood Merinos in many other and essential 

 particulars, notwithsJJanding the fleece may be all that we desire. 



There is another important point where the pure-blood Merino possesses 

 a marked advantage. Few Southern wool-growers will commence their 

 flocks exclusively with high-bred animals of any kind. With a few of them 

 to breed rams from, and to grodnaUy grow up a full-blood flock, they will 

 mainly depend upon grading up the common sheep of the country. With 

 the Idng-legged, bare-bellied, open-wooled sheep common in the South (as 

 it once was in the North\ the Saxon makes an indifierent cross. Their 

 faults run too much in the same direction, in all save the fineness of wool, 

 for, however good its shape, the wool of the Saxon is comparatively short 

 and open. It therefore shortens the wool of the common sheep, without 

 addino- much or any to its thickness, and thus the fleece remains a light 

 one. Precisely all this is the reverse of what results from a cross between 

 the Merino and the common sheep. The wool is but little shortened, un- 

 less the staple of the common sheep was very long; it is essentially thick- 

 ened ; it is made to extend over the belly ; the fleece is, therefore, greatly 

 increased in weight ; the sheep is rendered more compact and " stocky," 

 and it is brought nearer to the ground. Even the first cross, though its 

 fleece is somewhat uneven, is a prime sheep for the wants of ordinary farm- 

 ers, and among these it is, accordingly, a decided favorite, over the whole 

 Northern States. A majority of them would, I think, give it preference 

 over any other kind or variety of sheep. Two or three more proper Me- 

 rino crosses raise it to the rank of a first-rate ^cool-grovAr>g sliecp — scarcely 



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