112 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



The question of acclimatatioii has beeii settled, and the 

 favorable iufi Deuces of it on the various breeds of sheep, ex- 

 isting anywhere, admit of no doubt whatever. It is, how- 

 ever, a matter for the study of the breeder, lest he may make 

 mistakes in trying to adopt the different breeds to circum- 

 stances of locality, climate, soil, and variety of culture that 

 may not be the most suitable for seme special needs of the 

 shepherd. Every kind of climate is to be found, from the tem- 

 perate regions to the semi-tropical; and the sheep has proved 

 itself at home from the most northerly part of Canada to 

 the warm Wiuterless regions of the South, for some special 

 kind which may be best suited for the new home. 



But it must be well understood that the fixing 

 of types suitable to varied conditions, is not the work 

 of a year or a few years; but is to be the patient 

 study and experiment of a lifetime. It is not in 

 a haphazard way, either, , that we can reach success. 

 The sheep is an impressible animal, but equally apt 

 to lose its temporary individuality. The whole ex- 

 perience of a century of breeding has showed that types 

 are still uncertain. In this regard acclimatation is a slow 

 process, for it is not always that this, and the animal, may 

 match immediately. The process of acclimatation goes by 

 steps; each making a short progress; for the individual life 

 is too short to wholly change, even a sheep, into a wholly 

 new animal. History goes to show that this process is only 

 developed slowly, for the constitution has to be changed to 

 meet the new environments. And it has shown that the ma- 

 jority of animals do not submit easily to changes of climate; 

 some may; those which are readily impressed by their situa- 

 tion will; but at the same time there are effects of climate 

 which are not desirable, and these are to be overcome by the 

 slow process of cultivating the variability of the sheep, 

 by due mixtures of new blood, which may require many 

 years to become fully acclimated. 



In the breeding of any of the domesticated animals, as 

 of the domestication of any wild race, climate is to be 

 seriously considered. Indeed, any violent change of con- 

 dition is to be avoided, unless by a process of crossing the 

 new blood on sheep already habituated to their special en- 

 vironments. Thus it may be wise to cross our native 



