SHEEP BREEDING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1798, 15 January 1884, Page 2

SHEEP BREEDING.

Td THE hDITOR. Srit. — The letter of Mr J. A. Douglas in your paper of the sth inst. is to my mind highly disappointing. To think that a man offering sheep for sale through your advertising columns should go so far out of the way of oidmaiy busmen rules <is to advise purchasers how to work up their purchases to what is bo glibly styled a very good Shropshire flock, should come forth at the first challenge and admit that he knows nothing of the breed in question, beyond the few lines taken from a book written by a horse doctor (W. C. Spooner.) Readers of The Waikato Times will, I expect, understand the value of the advice given in its advertising columns re Shropshires, and shoulfl not foiget the fact th.it it is more than 80 years since English breeders began to work up the present breed known as Shropshires. Yet it is only within the last few years that the Aoyal Society of England admits them as a distinct breed to compete for its prizes.. What the practical sheep breeders of ErgLind took three-quartors of a century to accomplish Mr Douglas would perform with a few crosses, and by a sheep scrupulously avoided by all Shropshire breeders. We will now assume that Mr Spooner is an authority on sheep, and if it suits your correspondent we will evezi call him (Spooner) a very high authority indeed, but I cannot find where Spooner or any other authority mentions a Lincoln cross in connection with the breed known as Shropshire downs. As to the statement, " We had them m Cheshire when we lived there." Ido not doubt the assertion. But I suspect Mr Douglas' experience amongst them was of an exclusively gastronomic character, and did not extend beyond the impoitant items of " juice and flavour." All the rub* bish about culling, working the crosses, selection, and bleeding up, &c, I dismiss. With many thanks for the space so kindly supplied. — I am, &c, Shaftesburt.