1 88 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



the animal that is bred for a single purpose, say mutton or wool. 

 We cannot unite the fleece of the American Merino with the mut- 

 ton c-f the Southdown or other famous mutton breeds, and evolve a 

 general purpose sheep that will equal either in both respects. 

 Neither can we unite in horseflesh the speed of the race horse 

 and the strength of the shire horse in one animal, neither can all 

 the excellences of the different breeds of sheep be united in one 

 animal. Nature defies such a condition. 



There are many flocks of unregistered sheep which have no 

 known pedigree which are in reality pure-bred. In making an 

 extended tour of the Province of Quebec, Canada, the writer noticed 

 flocks, which were to all appearance, Leicesters. A well-informed 

 farmer of Scotch extraction imparted the information that without 

 doubt all these sheep were of pure Leicester blood, as a small flock 

 of the breed was imported into the province in its early history 

 and its descendants in time disseminated more or less all over that 

 province. To a remark upon the large proportion of black sheep in 

 these flocks, the canny farmer replied: "Yes, that is Mr. Bake- 

 well cropping out," alluding, of course, to the black ram which 

 history states that that famous improver used in the evolution of 

 his flock. Speaking of these Quebec sheep leads to the subject of 

 in-breeding, since, without doubt, they have been in-bred ever since 

 the forefathers of the family first landed in the province. 



IN-BREEDING. 



Is in-breeding injurious? This is the question that came to 

 the writer's mind when looking over the remarkably large, fat, 

 heavy and healthy looking lambs in the Quebec flocks alluded to 

 above. The wonderful milking properties of the ewes and the 

 great growth of their lambs upon such rations as are furnished 

 them, will suggest the answer: "No." It would seem that some 

 breeds of animals are more susceptible to the damaging influence 

 of in-breeding than others. Perhaps no animal suffers more in 

 this respect than the different breeds of hogs, and perhaps no breed 

 of animal suffers less in this respect than sheep. As applied to 

 sheep, it appears to the writer that the damage caused from in- 

 breeding in the flock is largely magnified. One of the greatest in- 

 breeders that ever lived, according to history, was the immortal 

 Bakewell, and certainly no breeder before or since has ever made 

 the improvement in a breed of sheep in the same time that he did. 

 There is little doubt but that the lion, tiger, elephant and most of 

 the rodent family are as large and of as powerful and strong a con- 

 stitution as they were centuries ago, and that they are very much 

 in-and-in-bred there is no question, but, notwithstanding these 

 facts, no one would consider in-breeding indiscriminately to be a 

 wise policy. An English" writer says that the evil effects resulting 



