" That most skilful breeder,
Sir John Sebright, used to say, with respect to pigeons, that "he
would produce any given feather in three years, but it would take him
six years to obtain head and beak." In Saxony the importance of the
principle of selection in regard to merino sheep is so fully
recognised, that men follow it as a trade: the sheep are placed on a
table and are studied, like a picture by a connoisseur; this is done
three times at intervals of months, and the sheep are each time marked
and classed, so that the very best may ultimately be selected for
breeding.
What English breeders have actually effected is proved by the enormous
prices given for animals with a good pedigree; and these have now been
exported to almost every quarter of the world. The improvement is by
no means generally due to crossing different breeds; all the best
breeders are strongly opposed to this practice, except sometimes
amongst closely allied sub-breeds. And when a cross has been made, the
closest selection is far more indispensable even than in ordinary
cases. If selection consisted merely in separating some very distinct
variety, and breeding from it, the principle would be so obvious as
hardly to be worth notice; but its importance consists in the great
effect produced by the accumulation in one direction, during
successive generations, of differences absolutely inappreciable by an
uneducated eye--differences which I for one have vainly attempted to
appreciate.
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