132 CROSSING ENGLISH BREEDS. 



of form, of size, of length of -wool, of quality of wool, etc., etc; 

 and on this he should keep his eyes as steadily as the mariner 

 keeps his eyes on the light house, in the darkness, when on a 

 dangerous coast. Even in using a fresh ram from an unrelated 

 flock of the same family, (which is not crossing,) he should 

 use one which conforms as nearly as possible to his standard. 

 If he disregards this; if he uses rams now tall and long 

 bodied, and now loAV and short ; now short and yolky wooled, 

 and now long and dry wooled ; now fine, and now coarse — 

 in a word, each varying from its predecessor in some essential 

 quality — he will not, perhaps, break up his flock quite as 

 much as he would by crossing equally at random, but he will 

 do the next thing to it; he Avill give it an unsettled and 

 unhomogenous character and materially retard, if not alto- 

 gether prevent essential improvement. 



Crossing between English Breeds and Families. — 

 If we assume, with Mr. Youatt, that the long and short-wooled 

 sheep of England are each respectively descended from 

 common ancestors, they form but two breeds of sheep, 

 according to the mode of classification adopted in this volume. 

 There have been but a very few successful crosses between 

 these two breeds. The Hampshire and Shropshire Downs, 

 however, both ranked as first class sheep, and both ofiicially 

 classed as short-wools, have usually a dip of long-wool blood. 

 The Oxfordshire Downs are the result of a direct cross 

 between the Down and the Cotswold, and they are already 

 claimed to be an " established variety."* But the instances 

 of failure in blending the breeds have been so much more 

 numerous than the successes, that the balance of intelligent 

 opinion seems to be decidedly against such attempts. With 

 them, as with the Merino, the successes in crossing between 

 the different families of the same breed, have been numerous and 

 signal. Mr. Bakewell, there is little doubt, was the first great 

 improver in this direction, though we are scarcely authorized 

 to cite his example, because, with a spirit much better befitting 



* In this and all similar instances, we ehonid not forget tliat a breed regarded as 

 '* established " in England, might not prove so, literally, elsewhere. The English 

 breeders, as a class, are men of education, and of ample wealth and leisure to choose 

 materials for their experiments, devote time to those experiments, and sacrifice by 

 weeding out, without regard to time or money. And by devoting themselves to the 

 pursuit, and constantly comparing their opinions with other opinions, and their stock 

 with other stock, among a whole nation of breeders striving to excel each other, they 

 acquire a degree of knowledge, taste and skill on the subject which is professional, 

 and which far exceeds that (within their own particular circle of breeding,) of any 

 other people. And in no place has Engligh breeding skill manifested itself more than 

 in creating, moulding and *' establishing ^^ mutton breeds of sheep. 



