312 
On Cross Breedinff. 
Leicester was notoriously a cross of various breeds in the first 
instance, although the sources wliich supplied the cross is a 
secret buried in the "tomb of the Capulets." The Cotswold has 
been crossed and improved by the Leicester ; the Lincoln, and 
indeed all the long-woolled l)reed, have been similarly treated. 
Most of the mountain breeds have received a dash of better blood, 
and the short-woolled sheep have been also generally so served. 
The Hampshire and the present Wiltshire Downs have been 
extensively crossed ; the friends of the Shropshire cannot denv 
the " soft impeachment ;" and the old black-faced Norfolks have 
been pretty well crossed out altogether. The Dorsets and 
Somersets remain pure as a breed, although they are continually 
crossed to improve their lambs. The Southdown is perhaps one of 
the purest breeds we have. No one asserts that the immense im- 
provement of this breed by Ellman was due to any crossing ; 
whether the increased size and further improvement which it 
has received in other counties have been effected in all cases 
without a cross of any kind, may be in the minds of some a 
matter of doubt ; yet it is only right to give the arraigned, in the 
absence of any proof to the contrary, the benefit of such doubt, 
and consider them still as pure as ever. 
We confess that we cannot entirely admit either of the anta- 
gonistic doctrines held by the rival advocates of crossing and 
pure breeding. The public have reason to be grateful to the 
exertions of either party ; and still mor(^ have they respectively 
reason to be grateful to each other." We have seen that Mr. 
Humphrey cheerfully acknowledges the benefit he derived from 
Mr. Jonas Webb's rams. Had he grudged the expense of 
seeking his improvements from such a renowned flock, and been 
satisfied with inferior rams, lie would not have achieved the 
success which has crowned his exertions. So likewise witli the 
new Oxfordshire breed. What matters it whether the localities 
occupied by these sheep were divided between their ancestral 
breeds or occupied as now by their cross-bred descendants : the 
public is benefited by having better mutton than the Cotswold 
alone would furnish, and more vahiable wool than the Downs 
could supply ; whilst the breeders, finding their account in tlieir 
Ijalance-slieet, have very properly perpetuated the breed which 
lias paid so well. Our purpose has been to hold the scales fairly 
l)etween both systems, having no prejudices to serve. Thus, in 
defending the system of crossing from some of the objections 
that have been urged against it, we have no wish to b(! tliought 
forgetful of the merits of a jiure breed ; on the contrary, we 
would instance with jdeasure tlie remarkable success that has 
attended the careful selection which, in the hands of Mr. 3lcrson, 
of Brinsworthy, near North INIolton, Devon, has brought out the 
