Cross-breeding for Wool and Mutton Production 167 
and more irregular. The fleece of a straight cross-bred 
sheep is quite uniform throughout and each fiber is a blend 
as to length and fineness between the long-wool and the 
Merino. Such fleeces are very popular on the market and 
are suitable to many forms of manufacture. If, however, 
the ewe is of this zigzag breeding, the fleece of the offspring 
will not be a good blend but will be mixed, some fibers fine 
and some coarse, thus making the wool unsuitable to the 
manufacture of many of the standard grades of cloth. 
Many a range-man has experienced these difficulties, and 
after years of careful breeding and the constant use of 
pure-bred rams has realized that his stock had deterio- 
rated and is no longer producing profitable fleeces. This 
difficulty must be met in one of two ways. One is to 
breed cross-bred ewes to cross-bred rams and continue 
the process with careful selection until there is evolved 
a new breed carrying the type of the original cross-bred 
but breeding true. This is being attempted in the case of 
the Corriedale and Panama. ‘The second is to adopt some 
system of cross-breeding which will hold off deterioration 
as long as possible and thus give the breeder the maximum 
returns from the cross-bred flock before he has to turn the 
ewes for mutton and start anew. 
THE CORRIEDALE 
The Corriedale is an established breed, the type having 
become fixed by years of careful breeding and selection 
in New Zealand. The original stock was obtained by 
crossing Lincoln rams on Merino ewes. Later a little 
Leicester blood was introduced to make the lambs mature 
earlier. All this was years ago and since that time no 
outside blood has been introduced and selection has been 
