EAST OP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 73 



be quoted entire. His statemeut was given to tlie public in October, 



In the year 1800 I purchased a pair of sheep called the Otter breed. This breed of 

 sheep are well known by some, but I presume are unheard of by many others They 

 generally have long, round bodies, thick necks and breasts, broad hips, very short 

 legs that stand wide apart and some of them bend outwards. They can not run or 

 leap fences as well as others, and mine have about the same quantity of wool as the 

 other kind, and some finer. My lambs by those rams with other sheep have gener- 

 ally been either of the Otter or common kind, but in some instances they partake 

 partly of the shape of both, and I think these ameliorate the breed. In October, 

 1802, 1 obtained one of the Spanish Merino rams imported by Col. Humphreys, and 

 put him with part of my sheep, and by this means in the spring of 1803 had some of the 

 half- blooded lambs. Soon after these lambs had come, I put them and their dams 

 with my other sheep and lambs and kept them together through the summer, and in 

 the fall separated these lambs with my others from the old sheep, and to keep them 

 through the winter. In the summer they were manifestly different, and they win- 

 tered much better than my other lambs that lay with them, and at shearing yielded 

 one-fifth more in weight of wool on an average than my other sheep, and the quality 

 far superior. The wool was spun in my own family. It was carded and made into 

 cloth at Col. Humphreys' mill, and was pronounced equal to the best English broad- 

 cloth at from $6 to $6.50 per yard. 



The Ancons were widely disseminated in lifew England at the begin- 

 ning of the pre.sent century and their numbers large, but on the intro- 

 duction of the Merino they rapidly declined and were represented in 

 1876 by a small flock of 8 in Ehode Island. It had been perpetuated 

 through many generations during a period of eighty-five years. 



The perpetuation of this Ancon variety by the hand of man is one 

 of the facts adduced by Darwin to show that man can by selection 

 cause great variation in animals under domestication; can mold an 

 accidental variety into a permanent one, in fact. From this and other 

 similar facts he lays down a proposition which should never be lost sight 

 of by the intelligent breeder and upon the due observance and applica- 

 tion of which much of his success depends : 



Although man does not cause variability and can not even prevent it, he can 

 select, preserve, and accumulate the variations given to him by the hand of nature 

 almost in any way which he chooses ; and thus he can certainly produce a great re- 

 sult. Selection may be followed either methodically and intentionally, or uncon- 

 sciously and unintentionally. Man may select and preserve each successive varia- 

 tion, with the distinct intention of improving and altering a, breed, in accordance 

 with a preconceived idea; and by thus adding up variations, often so slight as to 

 be imperceptible by an uneducated eye, he has elfected wonderful changes and im- 

 provements. It can, also, be clearly shown that man, without any intention or 

 thought of imjjroving the breed, by preserving in each successive generation the 

 individuals which he prizes most, and by destroying the worthless individuals, 

 slowly, though surely, induces great changes. As the will of man thus comes into 

 play, we can understand how it is that domestic races of animals and cultivated 

 races of plants often exhibit an abnormal character, as compared with natural 

 species; for they have been modified not for their own benefit, but for that of men.* 



The decade from 1800 to 1810 constituted an era in American prog- 

 * " The variations of Animals and Plants under Domestication." Charles Darwin. 



