SECRETARY'S REPORT. 119 



put together, the offspring may resemble either one parent, or 

 the other, and the faults of either, or of both may appear in the 

 second or third generation ; the more closely the natures of 

 different animals approach each other, the more likely is the 

 offspring they produce to be according to our wishes, for nature 

 does not delight, in contrasts. The Merino cannot be made to 

 amalgamate with the coarse-woolled sheep. It has been repeat- 

 edly tried in England under royal patronage and the most 

 favorable auspices. Undoubtedly if the carcass of the South 

 Down, and the wool of the Merino, could be united in the same 

 animal, the acme of sheep-breeding would be attained. It was 

 found, however, that the quality of the wool was not a sufficient 

 recompense for the want of early maturity and feeding proper- 

 ties, and at length, after many trials, the Merinos disappeared, 

 and although there are a few left in England, all attempts at 

 crossing with them have long since been given up. 



In France a distinguished farmer and agricultural writer, M. 

 Malingie-Nouel, after having tried in vain for years to cross the 

 coarse-woolled sheep of England, on to the pure Merino, suc- 

 ceeded by taking mongrel Merinos from different provinces and 

 crossing them together, till he had broken up the controlling 

 influence of the ancient Merino blood. lie says : " Breeders 

 attach the greatest importance to purity of race on each side, 

 because of the natural law by which the offspring resemble not 

 merely the father and mother, but sometimes the grandparents, 

 the great-grandparents, and further still. The purer the race 

 of such ancestors, the more strongly do its characteristics over- 

 come the subsequent mixture of breeds, and imprint themselves 

 on the new offspring; in fact the principle of antiquity or purity 

 of race, is what has most influence upon crosses, and we see it 

 in the Merino and South Down sheep, and in the Hereford and 

 Devon cattle ; old races, as contrasted with the Short-horns and 

 the Ayrshires, mixed breeds. The most successful cross-breeding 

 in England, according to Mr. Spooner, has been of the Oxford 

 Downs, made by crossing the Hampshire Downs, the Cotswold 

 and the South Downs together. He publishes a statement by 

 Mr. Druce, one of the first to introduce this cross, who says: 

 " I find no difficulty in keeping the form and size of the animal 

 as it should be, the wool of a valuable quality, and not deficient 

 in quantity, and I maintain that the good qualities can be better 



