CROSS-BRED SHEEP. 133 



a very high-bred Spanish sheep, resulting from the union of two 

 of the best families, and bred for more than half a century for a 

 particular purpose by one breeder, or what is really equivalent to 

 that, a father and son. The fleece is superior in fineness to that of 

 any other Merino we possess, and for a really fine wool, is un- 

 rivalled. It is fortunate that the Silesian Merino begins its career 

 in America under such favorable auspices, and that the shepherd 

 in charge of the flock, Mr. Carl Heyne, so thoroughly under- 

 stands its requirements and management. It is to be hoped that 

 the conservative and judicious management of this flock will help 

 to establish it successfully, and to launch it on a long course of use- 

 fulness. Rams and ewes of this flock are already being distributed 

 by sale throughout the country, and the original flock now numbers 

 over 800 head. One peculiarity in Mr. Heyne's management, 

 is especially noteworthy ; the lambs are yeaned very early in the 

 winter. This is of course a matter of choice on the part of the 

 shepherd, but it involves the greatest excellence of management, 

 and the provision of roots for the maintenance of the nursing 

 ewes, along with a perfect arrangement for shelter and warmth 

 during the winter season. It is obvious that few American breed- 

 ers, and still fewer farmers, would find it possible or profitable to 

 incur the necessary expense of this sort of management for the 

 amount of profit realized from the wool alone. 



CROSS-BRED SHEEP. It is a somewhat suggestive fact that just 

 now the most profitable sheep in Europe are cross-bred. The 

 cross-bred races in England are what the English farmers perti- 

 nently designate the "rent-paying sheep, " that is, that there is more 

 money in them than in any others. Tne cross is made between 

 the strictly mutton sheep and the strictly wool-bearing sheep. 

 The sheep raised chiefly for wool are of slow growth and late in 

 maturing. The high-bred mutton sheep are high feeders, and re* 

 quire the most careful treatment. They have been refined so 

 highly that they no longer possess the requisite constitution, no* 

 are they so prolific as to satisfy the wants of farmers who depend, 

 not upon the high prices obtained by breeders for their stock, but 

 upon those offered by the purchasers of meat and wool, who can 

 only give what the inexorable necessities of the markets enable 

 them to pay. The cross-bred sheep are of quick growth and early 

 maturity ; their mutton is acceptable in the markets ; their fleeces 

 are of wide adaptation to woolen manufactures, and they are 

 easily fed and make a greater weight of marketable meat with a 

 romparatively small consumption of food. In Mr. Lawes' experi- 

 ments, related in the Royal Agricultural Journal, it was found that 



