122 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



with skill, so the shepherd desirous of increasing the value 

 of his Hock for mutton, or fleece, may do so with success 

 if the crossing is dime judiciously. This is, as has been pre- 

 viously stated, a common practice among the German shep- 

 herds who employ experts to choose the rams that are best 

 fitted for the special use for which they are desired. 



The crossing of sheep is a distinctly temporary purpose. 

 It may be to get early lambs, or black-faced lambs which in 

 most of the lamb markets a*re most highly valued by the 

 butchers, and justly so on account of their size, solid, com- 

 pact form, and early maturing. When extra early lambs, 

 known as house lambs are the end in view, the cross breed- 

 ing is indispensable, and it has long been' and still is the pre- 

 vailing custom in England, from which country the fashion 

 has been introduced here, to keep Dorset ewes for this pur- 

 pose, crossing a Southdown or Shropshire ram on these 

 ewes, so as to bring the lamb about September; when it is 

 ready for market after having been reared in the house by 

 the Christmas holidays. As the ewes of this breed will 

 take the ram at any time of the year, they are bred to one 

 of their own breed to reinforce the flock. For this use this 

 breed is the most valuable of all kinds of sheep. It should 

 be noted that the Somerset ewes bred in the adjoining 

 county to Dorset, and which has precisely the same mild 

 Winter climate and agricultural character, are practically, 

 and all but nominally, of the same habits and breeding as 

 the Dorsets. The greatest scope, however, for cross breed- 

 ing is on the native sheep which, although profitable on the 

 rough, sparse pasture fields of the ordinary farms, but es- 

 pecially in the Southern States, do not return sufficient 

 profit for the higher farming elsewhere. Here it is fre- 

 quently desirable to rear cross bred sheep for both the fleece 

 and for the carcass. Doubtless it is most desirable in such 

 cases to procure good rams, of whatever breeds may be 

 most desired, to cross on the flocks for the purpose of get- 

 ting lambs which are excellent feeders, and by providing 

 such food crops as rape or turnips, or even sugar beets, or for 

 feeding in the vicinity of some sugar factory, on the waste 

 pulp of the beets, along with the home-grown grain and 

 coarse fodder. 



On the extensive ranges of the West, from South to 



