164: SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



^ysteio c£ hioeding, so far as the Saxon is concernctl. The breeder is noi 

 i-.ily oaeJ upoii to increase the weight of its fleece and carcass, but to eii> 

 grdft o.i it htLidiness of constitution, nursing properties, etc., which by iic 

 riicant: loliow, m a matter of course, its improvement in the former partic* 

 uiurs. These, o-nd particularly the latter, could only be attained, so as to 

 be transn.issiole wiih a proper d«gree of certainty from parents to offspring, 

 by years of b;eeiai;s;, accompanied by a rigorous course of selection. If, 

 f.herefore, you were cabled u])on to Jor?n a variety just suited to your wants, 

 the Merino wuuld pxosent the most ductile and the safest materials. But 

 the K5ouihern agiiculiui^el, just entering upon sheep-rearing, would not be 

 prepared to conduct ni'„c experiments in breeding. He wants a breed or 

 vaiiely already preparea to his hand. And for the same reasons, notwith- 

 standiiig ihe fineness ofhio climate, he wants a hardy breed — one that de- 

 mands no extra skill, no giCat expei'ience, for its management. Merinos 

 reaching or closely approaclin^g the standard above specified are now to 

 lie founa, while chere is no (.ci^esponding variety of Saxons ; and to incur 

 the risks ariLi.ig from inexpe)ie.ice, want of preparation, &c., the superior 

 hardiness ot ihe former wouiu, of course, render them entirely prefer- 

 able. 



Some have reccuomended a cro^s between the Saxons and Merinos, as a 

 cheap and ready nclh.^d of obtaiuing a four-pound fine-fleeced sheep. A 

 prunerly selected ibhxon ram, crosbed with good medium and medium- 

 wooled Merino ewes, s^Mtting from ;» lbs. to 5^ lbs. of wool, will almost uni- 

 formly produce this lei jlt. And it is easier now to get the Saxon than the 

 Merino, fine enough hv ihis purpose. Or a flock may be bred up from 

 Saxon ewes and a Meri.io ram. The objection to both courses is the same, 

 though not equal to that v.-hich exisLd against breeding the full-blood Sax- 

 ons — viz., the productioii of a feeble and a poor nursing sheep. The latter 

 evil, especially, clings foi generations to these ci'oss-bred animals, so far as 

 my experience and obsei vatiun liave extended. And unless Saxons are 

 selected which do not poijsess the characteristic faults of the variety, the 

 cross-brcds are inferior to pure-bluod Merinos in many other and essential 

 particulars, notwithstanding the fleeco may be all that we desire. 



There is another important point where the pure-blood Merino posses.oes 

 a marked advanuige. Few Southern wool-growers will commence theii 

 flocks exclusively with high-bred animak of any kind. With a few of them 

 to breed rams from, and to gradually grov/ up a full-blood flock, they will 

 wainhj depend upon grading up the comaion sheep of the country. Witli 

 the long-legged, bare-bellied, open-wooleu ssheep common in the South (as 

 it once was in the North ^, the Saxon makes an indifferent cross. Their 

 faults run -too much m the same direction, in all save the fineness of wool, 

 for, however good its shape, the wool of the Saxon is comparatively short 

 and open. Tt therefore shortens the wool o\" the common sheep, without 

 adding much or any to its thickness, and tl\v»s the fleece remains a light 

 one. Precisely all this is the reverse of what results from a cross between 

 the Merino and the common sheep. The woul is but little shortened, un- 

 .less the staple of the common sheep was very long ; it is essentially thick- 

 ened ; it is made to extend oxer the belly ; the fleece is, therefore, greatly 

 increased in weight ; the sheep is rendered more compact and " stocky," 

 and it is brought nearer to the ground. Even the first cross, though ita 

 fleece is somewhat uneven, is a prime sheep for the warts of ordinary farm- 

 ers, and among these it is, accordingly, a decided favorite, over the whole 

 Northern States. A majority of them would, I think, give it preference 

 over any other kind or variety of sheep. Two or three more proper Me- 

 rino crosses raise it to the rank of a Jirst-rate wool-growing «^«"?^— scarcely 



