294 
BREEDING OF FARM STOCK. 
this maintenance of purity of breed, this stock should bear 
such a value, and bring such remunerative prices to the 
breeder, as to indemnify him against risk and losses, and open 
a fair prospect of profit. The decrease of size may, like 
every other point of character, be influenced by discretion in 
the management. An instance occurs to my mind of a 
celebrated breeder of sheep who was noted for maintaining 
size with great purity of descent. He made an invariable 
rule of purchasing his rams from a most carefully bred flock, 
and for twenty-two or twenty-three years—in fact, up to the 
time when he gave up business—he never introduced any 
other blood, but he was exceedingly particular in selecting 
the largest rams, being satisfied that, whether large or small, 
all possessed an equally pure pedigree. His extended expe¬ 
rience thoroughly convinced him that his system was 
correct. 
It has been judiciously remarked that it is much easier to 
bring any breed to the highest state of perfection than after¬ 
wards to maintain it in that position. The difficulties are 
undoubtedly great, but observation shows that they are not 
insurmountable. The relative advantages of breeding in and 
in and breeding in the line have scarcely been determined, 
but it is a subject worthy of consideration. Mr. Pawlett, a 
ram breeder of high repute, and the author of an c Essay on 
Sheep/* says— 
“ From a long experience and close attention to the subject for more 
than twenty years, my mind seems more disposed to favour breeding in and 
in, rather than changing from one flock to another. I do not recommend 
that animals closely allied should be put together generally, yet I have 
known a very good sheep, for instance, produced by putting the son of a 
ram called A to a daughter of A in cases where their points would suit 
each other, and I should never hesitate to do so.” 
Mr. Robert Smith, whose reputation as a ram breeder is 
equal to that of Mr. Pawlett, and who is the author of the 
4 Prize Essay on Sheep/t takes a very different view of this 
question, and says— 
“With crossing and breeding in and in I have been lamentably dis¬ 
appointed, there being no dependence on the first, and no size to be pro¬ 
cured in the latter. Even in ‘breeding in the line 5 much depends upon the 
union or knowledge of matching the male and female, particularly if 
selected from different families even of the same race, which have been for 
some time raised in other localities, and consequently influenced by climate, 
soil, situation, and treatment. When using rams of the same flock they 
should by no means be used nearer than a third remove in the same line of 
* ‘Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,’ vol. vi, p. 362. 
f Ibid., vol. viii, p. 25. 
