ESTABLISHING A FLOCK AND IMPROVING IT 465 



when the object is to send lambs early to the block, or to 

 sell them for breeding while yet considered lambs. In 

 the second argument there is a measure of truth, as it is 

 doubtless true, as sheep are usually cared for, that better 

 specimens come, on the whole, from the ranks of single 

 lambs than from those that are twins. But where sheep 

 are cared for as they ought to be it has been found quite 

 possible to maintain a high standard of excellence in 

 breeds in which plural births are numerous. This has 

 been amply shown in the history of the Dorset breed, 

 and also in the Hampshires, a breed of large size. While 

 the third argument is true, it does not follow, as just 

 stated, that a high standard cannot be maintained when 

 plural births are numerous. 



The chief arguments in favor of plural births are: 

 (i) That more profit will ordinarily result when these are 

 numerous than when they, are infrequent; and (2) that 

 this is realized or may be realized without lowering the 

 standard of development. In both arguments there is 

 much force. The value of the dam and two lambs nursed 

 by her, when mature, is certainly greater than a ewe and 

 her one lamb, the development being equal in the two 

 instances. The development of the twins at maturity 

 may be fully equal to that of the single lamb, but the de- 

 velopment of the former will not be equal to that of the 

 latter at an early age. It would seem correct to say that 

 moderate and continuous growth will produce maximum 

 development fully equal to that resulting from rapid 

 growth, but it will not produce it so quickly. Where win- 

 ter lambs are grown it may be desirable to encourage the 

 production of single lambs, but where the aim is to grow 

 sheep for the lines of production for which they are usu- 

 ally grown, the production of twins should certainly be 

 encouraged. 



Breeding may be made to encourage the production 

 of single lambs or twins through selection in both sire 

 and dam. That such production may be increased in 



