FIXITY OF TYPE IN THE BREED OF SHEEP. 515 
For it is a mistake to improve the flock without changing 
the management. It is an equal mistake to improve the 
management without refining the breed. Both should advance 
together if profit be looked for. 
Still it has been found that our old breeds may be crossed 
with English blood not only without profit, but with heavy 
loss. To clear up this matter, it will be worth while to enter 
into particulars, as the question is interesting, and in general 
not well understood. 
When an English ram of whatever breed is put to a 
French ew T e, in which term I include the mongrel Merinos, 
the lambs present the following results. Most of them 
resemble the mother more than the father ; some show no 
trace of the father ; a very few represent equally the features 
of both. Encouraged by the beauty of these last, one pre- 
serves carefully the ewe lambs among them, and, when they 
are old enough, puts them to an English ram. The products 
of the second cross, having 75 per cent, of English blood, are 
generally more like the father than the mother, resembling 
him in shape and features. The fleece also has an English 
character. The lambs thrive, wear a beautiful appearance, 
and complete the joy of the breeder. He thinks that he has 
achieved a new cross-breed insuring great improvement, and 
requiring thenceforth only careful selection to perpetuate by 
propagation among themselves the qualities which he has in 
view T . But he has reckoned without his host. For no sooner 
are the lambs weaned, than their strength, their vigour, and 
their beauty begin to decay as the heat of our summer 
increases. Instead of growing, they seem to dwindle ; their 
square shapes shrink ; they become stunted, and, on the 
threshold of life, put on the livery of old age. A violent cold 
in the head completes their exhaustion. This is accom- 
panied with a copious flow of slimy mucus from the nostrils, 
constant sneezings, and sometimes cough. At last the con- 
stitution gives way, or, if the animal last till autumn, the 
malady indeed ceases but he remains stunted for life. The 
time lost was the time of growth, and cannot be recovered, 
for nature never goes backward. Henceforth he looks like 
a foreigner escaped from the mortal influence of an inhos- 
pitable climate, and remains inferior even to our native 
sheep, which at least have health and hardiness in their 
favour. 
The experiment has sometimes been tried with English 
rams in a third generation, and the symptoms above described 
have arisen even more strongly in proportion to the stronger 
admixture of English blood. Thus experience has shown us 
