103 



CROSSES OF THE MERINO. 



Mr. Editor: — I have been taking your 

 journal for some time, and expect to con- 

 tinue it as long as its contents are of the 

 most useful kind to all classes of farmers 

 — in particular to wool -growers. Please 

 let me know your advice upon pure-bred 

 Spanish Merino bucks upon Saxony ewes. 

 Is it a good cross, or would you advise it 

 in preference to Silesian bucks ? 



A YoiJng Wool-grower, 



Columbiana Co., 0. 



February, 1856. 



Remarks. — I have always contended 

 that the Merino sheep is a distinct spe- 

 cies, and that it has existed for more than 

 two thousand years, as a fine-wooled 

 sheep, possessing certain distinct charac- 

 teristics which do not exist in any other- 

 breed, and cannot be transmitted to 

 any other by any length of breeding 

 which is like to be followed in this or any 

 other country. Attempts have been made 

 at different periods, and in various coun- 

 tries, to improve native flocks by an infu- 

 sion of the Merino blood, but there is no 

 record to show that there has ever been 

 a permanent and valuable improvement 

 made. On the contrary, the result of all 

 such attempts has been disappointment. 

 And any man who has well and carefully 

 studied the habits and characters of Ihe 

 Merino and its history, cannot well be de- 

 ceived in the sheep when shown to him. 



Incalculable mischief has been done in 

 this country by an attempt to improve 

 Merinos by crossing with other breeds. 

 The mischief will be more apparent years 

 hence than now. And the time will come 

 when the few who are now breasting the 

 popular delusion and keeping their flocks 

 pure and uncontaminated, will reap a rich 

 reward, not only in the sale of their 

 sheep, but in the thanks of the country. 

 I am very glad that there are a few men 

 who are above all mercenary considera- 

 tions, and who have the heart to practice 

 what their good sense teaches ^them is 

 natural, even at a present loss. 



There can be no real and permanent 

 improvement made in crossing the Meri- 

 no with the French Merino, or with any 

 other breeds. If you wish to prosper 

 with your sheep, keep the breeds as pure 

 as possible, and keep breeding from and 

 •to the best. If the French Merino be a 1 



valuable breed, keep it pure ; do not cross 

 it with any other. That it is a pure Me- 

 rino is not claimed by any person who 

 knows the sheep and its history. That 

 it may be a most useful sheep for this 

 country, time must determine. It is not 

 for me to say aught on the subject. What 

 I most wish to urge upon sheep-breeders, 

 is the very great importance of keeping 

 their breeds separate. If you have good 

 Merino, keep them so by careful breed- 

 ing. If you have good French Merinos, 

 keep them pure, do not mix them. If 

 you put the breeds together you will get 

 a breed partaking of the bad qualities of 

 each, — a hybrid, which will depart wider 

 and wider from the good points of each 

 breed by each remove. 



The importance of pure blood is felt 

 now all over the Union ; and any man 

 who can show a clean pedigree from the 

 Humphrey or Jarvis importations, w r ould 

 find a ready sale for all his sheep at very 

 high prices.. I very much doubt whether 

 there be any such in the Union. There 

 may be purer blood in some localities than 

 others, but there is none that has not been 

 mingled with some other than pure Me- 

 rino. The Saxon cross, when the blood 

 was pure, was not- so detrimental as where 

 the cross has been made out of the race; 

 for the Saxon is a Merino, and crossing 

 does not contaminate the blood by intro- 

 ducing coarse or native blood along with 

 it. — P., in Wool Grower for Jan., 1853. 



rearingTlambs. 



The rearing of lambs, both for the re- 

 newal and increase of the flock, and for 

 the use of the butcher, is a matter which 

 deserves more care and attention than is 

 usually bestowed upon it by our farmers. 

 If the bucks or the ews are not in good 

 condition at the time the}' are brought to- 

 gether, or if the latter, during the period 

 of gestation become reduced and weak.- 

 the chances are that the progeny will 

 fail altogether, or at least lack the vigor 

 necessary to carry them successfully, 

 through the first winter. We do not 

 mean by - : good condition," that the 

 sheep should be fat, for that extreme 

 should be equally as much avoided as the 

 other ; but they should be vigorous and 

 healthy, and in first rate store order. A 

 healthy buck should not be required to 

 serve over fifty to sixty ewes, as such a 



