GOOD POINTS OP A MERINO AND SAXON. 285 



trial he was abandoned, his stock in general exhibiting his 

 lightness of fleece, and many his peculiarity of visage ; and 

 therefore the worst specimens were disposed of as soon as 

 possible. But strange as it may appear, for more than 

 twelve years after, a " straggler " would now and then ap- 

 pear, whose eyes and fleece were the very counterpart of the 

 ram in question ! and the novelty of the circumstance is, the 

 dams of these were as perfect in all respects as the average of 

 the flock, and entirely free from the peculiarities described in 

 the ram ! I. Stanley Carr, in a paper published in the Jour- 

 nal of the English Agricultural Society, on the agriculture and 

 management of sheep in Northern Germany, says — " I know 

 an instance where a large and valuable flock has been for 

 years retrograding, in consequence of one unsuitable ram 

 having been introduced into it 12 or 14 years ago." 



The above strongly manifests the influence of the male, 

 and aflbrds a striking lesson to the flock-master, to beware 

 of imperfections of every character, no matter however 

 slight, in his stock rams, as irreparable injury may follow if 

 it is neglected. 



It is supposed by some that the sex of the progeny is de- 

 termined by the relative ages of the parents ; thus, issue 

 from a young male and an old female will in general he fem- 

 ifime, while that from an old male and a young female will 

 generally be masculine. The writer having little confidence 

 in this theory, and from never having met with but one re- 

 corded instance of its being tested, he has never thought it 

 worth the trouble of an experiment. He has, however, re- 

 peatedly put rams of 18 months old to ewes which were 

 from 4 to 7 in years, and as in other instances where older 

 bucks were used to ewes of similar ages, the number of 

 lambs as regards sex were nearly equal, rarely varying more 

 than five in 100, which, as far as he is able now to recall, a 

 majority would sometimes be masculine, and again, feminine. 

 The point is noticed that others may make the experiment 

 if they think proper. 



GOOD POINTS OF A MERINO AND SAXON. 



From the description of the Merino, as presented to the 

 reader in the history of the race, it has been seen that there 

 is an essential diff*erence in conformation between some of 

 the varieties, and that all are deficient in that symmetry of 

 outline so necessary in any animal to please the eye of the 



