516 FIXITY OF TYPE IN THE BREED OF SHEEP. 
that English sheep of whatever breed, being formed under 
the peculiar circumstances of Great Britain, require abso- 
lutely the continuance of those circumstances to remain 
what they are. These circumstances, again, we have found, 
cannot be realised in France without infinite precautions, 
and an expenditure that destroys the most indispensable of all 
requisites in such operations, namely, profit. 
It is, moreover, remarkable, that the results described arise 
equally with each kind of English ram that has been used, 
namely, Leicester, New 7 Kent, and Southdowm. Only the 
foreign influence is more marked in the product of Goord’s 
New Kent or of the pure Southdow n than in that of the 
Leicester or the less pure New Kents or Dowms ; in fact the 
principle of antiquity or purity of race is what has most 
influence upon crosses.* The Leicester and other rams of 
mixed origin being of very modern origin in comparison 
with our French breeds, and especially with the Merinos, 
whose source is lost in the night of ages, their influence 
must be, and is in fact, weaker than that of the mother. This 
difference of action, which should be clearly understood, esta- 
blishes shades of distinction distinctly marked according to 
the kinds of ram that are used. 
Thus, if you put a Leicester ram, a mixed New Kent, or a 
Southdown, that is not pure, to a pure ew 7 e of any French 
race, very little English character is impressed on the off- 
spring, never less than wffien the ew e is a pure merino. In 
this last case it often happens that you can see no difference 
between lambs that are Leicester merinos, Kent merinos, or 
Southdowm merinos, and another lamb of the same age which 
is pure merino. In compensation, however, for this feeble 
influence of the English sire, the lambs of such first crosses 
have no more difficulty than French lambs in getting over the 
first summer. 
If on the contrary the same ewes are put to very pure rams 
of the Southdown or New 7 Kent breed, the English character 
is more marked than in the former cases. These facts agree 
w 7 ith the principles w r e have just referred to. 
In both cases the offspring is reared ; for lambs in which 
the English blood does not exceed one-half seem to be reared 
as easily as pure French lambs. But then, since little im- 
provement is obtained, one is tempted to give a new 7 dose of 
English blood — to put the Anglo-French ewes to English 
rams — whereupon the disasters described are sure to follow. 
These are truths w hich should be generally known, for they 
* Consult on ibis subject the excellent work of Mons. Hurard, ‘ Des Haras 
Domestiques.’ 
