18

ON THE LIVE-STOCK

may be accompanied by such others as are by no means ad-vantageous to a race destined to occupy a situation whichhad excluded that property from one of its parents. Tocross any mountain breed with Leicester rams, for example,with a view to obtain a propensity to fatten at an early age,would be attended with an enlargement of size which themountain pasture could not support, and the progeny wouldbe a mongrel race, not suited to the pastures of either of theparent breeds. If the object is to obtain an enlargement ofsize, as well as a propensity to fatten, as is the case whenCheviot ewes are crossed with Leicester rams, the progenywill not prosper on the hilly pastures of their dams, and willbe equally unprofitable on the better pastures of their sires.But the offspring of this cross succeeds well on those inter-mediate situations on the skirts of the Cheviot hills, where,though the summer pasture is not rich, there is a portion oflow land for producing clover and turnips.

In every case where the enlargement of the carcase is theobject, the cross breed must be better fed than its smallerparent. The size of the parents should also be but little dis-proportioned at first; and when some increase has been pro-duced, one or more crosses afterwards may raise the breedto the required size. With these precautions, there is littlereason to fear disappointment, provided both parents arewell formed.

An opinion has been pronounced on this point, which de-serves some notice. Mr Cline, in a communication to theBoard of Agriculture, asserts, “ That if a well-formed largeram be put to ewes proportionally smaller, the lambs willnot be so well shaped as their parents; but if a small ram beput to large ewes, the lambs will be of an improved form.”And again, “ Experience has proved, that crossing has onlysucceeded in an eminent degree, in those instances in whichthe females were larger than in the usual proportion of fe-males to males.”—There is an ambiguity in these compara-tive terms, which would have been effectually removed by a