194 Statk Board of Aouiculture, &c. 



largest family of American Merinos. Some of them weigh 

 one hundred pounds and some as high as one hundred and 

 thirty pounds. Tliej are much ronnderin the ribs, broader 

 and fuller in the quarters, shorter limbs, and stronger boned 

 than the original Spanish sheep. They are models of fine 

 wooled sheep in compactness and beauty of form. Their abil- 

 ity to travel is not as great as the original imported sheep. 

 In the place of tliis useless ability to travel has been bred 

 aptitude to take on flesh and grow wool, so giving by bet- 

 ter breeding, better constitutions, and while easier kept, are 

 longer lived, more prolilic and more hardy. " They will 

 thrive where mutton sheep would fail to find subsistence," 

 says an eminent writer on sheep. The improved Paulers 

 are naturally a little smaller sheep, consume less food, and, 

 perhaps, can better endure deprivation of it. Tliey aretho 

 poor man's sheep. Tliey have the same improved points as 

 the Infantadoes but are shorter bodied. As breeders and 

 nurses they are equal, and their fleeces arc equal in fine- 

 ness. Some breeders have crossed these two classes witli 

 remarkable success. 



The first thing to look at by a breeder should bo consti- 

 tution, as v»'ell in the sheep as in any otlior animnl. JSTotli- 

 ing can look worse and more worthless tlian an old sheep's 

 pelt carried around on the skeleton of a sheep. A lireerler 

 of sheep should not endeavor to breed to any extreme, sucln 

 as great length of staple or a great amount of yolk, nor try 

 to breed too large an animal ; a medium is better. Extreme 

 wooliness of all parts causes the sheep to be smaller, and 

 weaker constitutioned. But let the breeder aim to get a 

 fair sized sheep, breeding for a staple of avooI not to exceed 



