Essay on Sheep. 121 



It Is always for this reason very injudicious to 

 breed from the females of any stock of a race 

 inferior in size to that of the sire, since they 

 will in such case necessarily degenerate. The 

 reverse will take place where the ewes are larger 

 than the stock from which the rams spring. 

 The lambs being abundantly nourished, will, 

 by degrees, attain the size of the dam, while 

 they preserve the other peculiarities of the sire. 

 It is by attention to this circumstance that I 

 have already greatly improved my Merino stock 

 in size and beauty, when I have bred them in 

 the fourth generation from the iinest ewes of 

 the country; and where I bred from imported 

 ewes I have attained the same object, by afford- 

 ing them a plentiful supply of food while they 

 nourished their young. As these ewes were 

 themselves of the largest stock of Merinoes, I 

 have gradually added to the size of their pro- 

 geny; and I have now full-bred Merinoes at 

 Clermont that are larger than the common 

 sheep of the country; and my half and three- 

 quarter-breed wethers are, when stripped of their 

 coats, larger and much handsomer than most 

 of our native flocks. AVhen the fleeces are on, 

 there is some deception in judging of long- 

 woolled wethers, as they seem larger, and their 

 defects are concealed by their covering; where- 

 in 



