18

perience has proved that crossing has only succeeded, in an eminent degree, in those instances in which the females were larger than in the usual proportion of females to males; and that it has generally failed whenthemales were disproportionally large. If a well-formed large ram be put to ewes proportionally smaller, the lambs will not be so well shaped as their parents: but, if a small ram be put to larger ewes, the lambs will be of an improved form,

‘The proper method of improving the form of animals, consists in selecting a well formed female, proportionally larger than the male. The improvement depends on this principle, that the power of the female to supply her offspring with nourishment, is in proportion to her size, and to the power of nourishing herself from the ex- cellence of her constitution.|

‘The size of the foetus is generally in proportion to that of the male parent; and, therefore, when the female parent is dispro- portionately small, the quantity of nourish- ment is deficient, and her offspring has all the disproportions of a starveling. But,

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