9 6 .ON CROSSING AS A CAUSE Chap. XV 



Hampshire sheep and Southdowns ; and the long-woolled 

 Cotswold were improved by crosses with the Leicester, which 

 latter again is believed to have been a cross between several 

 long-woolled sheep. Mr. Spooner, after considering the various 

 cases which have been carefully recorded, concludes, " that from 

 a judicious pairing of cross-bred animals it is practicable to 

 establish a new breed." On the Continent the history of several 

 crossed races of cattle and of other animals has been well ascer- 

 tained. To give one instance : the King of Wurtemberg, after 

 twenty-five years' careful breeding, that is after six or seven 

 generations, made a new breed of cattle from a cross between 

 a Dutch and Swiss breed, combined with other breeds. 24 The 

 Sebright bantam, which breeds as true as any other kind of 





25 



fowl, was formed about sixty years ago by a complicated 

 Dark Brahmas, which are believed by some fanciers to consti- 

 tute a distinct species, were undoubtedly formed 23 in the United 

 States, within a recent period, by a cross between Chittagongs 

 and Cochins. With plants I believe there is little doubt that 

 some kinds of turnips, now extensively cultivated, are crossed 

 races : and the historv of a variety of wheat which w r as raised 

 from two very distinct varieties, and which after six years' 

 culture presented an even sample, has been recorded on good 



authority 



Until quite lately, cautious and experienced breeders, though 

 not averse to a single infusion of foreign blood, were almost 

 universally convinced that the attempt to establish a new race, 

 itermediate between two widely distinct races, was hopeless : 

 they clung with superstitious tenacity to the doctrine of purity 



* 



" of blood, believing it to be the ark in which alone true safety 

 " could be found." 23 Nor was this conviction unreasonable : 

 when two distinct races are crossed, the offspring of the first 





27 



"J 



a 



eneration are generally nearly uniform in character ; but 



this sometimes fails to be the case, especially with crossed dogs 

 and fowls, the young of which from the first are sometimes much 



24 ' Bulletin de la Soo. d'Acclimat.,' 2G ' The Poultry Book,' by W. B. 

 1862, torn. ix. p. 463. See also, for Tegetmeier, 186G, p. 58. 



other cases, MM. Moll and Gayot, ' Du 2 ' • Gardener's Chronicle,' 1852, p. 



Boeuf,' 1860, p. xxxii. 765. 



25 « Poultry Chronicle,' vol. ii., 1854, 2S Spooner, in 'Journal Royal Agn- 

 p, 30. cult. Soc.,' vol. xx., part ii. 





