Kssay on Slieep, 123 



lieve, but T also believe tl.at it operates very 

 slowly, and that until experience has determin- 

 ed the fact, it is impossible to say whether that 

 operation will be for the better or for the worse. 

 For my own part, I believe that the change in 

 the Merino sheep brought into any northern 

 country, provided they are plentifully fed, will 

 be for the better, and particularly when brought 

 hito this State, where the pastures are good, the 

 air and waters pure, the winters cold, and the 

 summer range furnished with shade. I should 

 have presumed this in reasoning a priori , and 1 

 have found my theory confirmed by actual ex- 

 periment. 



I am now to mention a circumstance on 

 which I ground my reasoning, which may ap- 

 pear fanciful to those who have not attended to 

 the proofs of the improvement of Merino sheep 

 in high latitudes. The Merino differs more 

 essentially from every other kind of sheep than 

 the Spanial does from the Mastiff, and yet no 

 one has seen any change in either of those spe- 

 cies of dogs in a course of generations, or in 

 any climate, except by intermixture of the 

 breeds. I say the Merino differs essentially from 

 all other sheep, and even from all other quad- 

 rupeds of which we have any knowledge, as 

 an annual docs from a perennial plant. All 



