Note 21 — SHEEP.

In the domesticated state, the sow is often permitted to have two and even three litters in a year. This custom is very pernicious; it debilitates the mother, overworks all parts of the living machinery, and being in direct opposition to the laws of their being, their progeny must degenerate. Then, again, let the reader take into consideration the fact that members of the same litter impregnate each other, in the same ratio, and he cannot but come to a conclusion that we have long since arrived at—that these practices are among the chief causes of deterioration.