592 SHEEP SHORT-WOOLS 



streak of skin. A real Merino fleece, as it grows on the sheep, 

 should be firm as a board, and packed like a cauliflower the 

 tips of the wool being even, neither fuzzy nor straight, nor 

 standing up in places. With greater length of staple, which is 

 not a natural characteristic of the breed, the density which is 

 of so much importance is lost. 



There are (or were in 1893) several breeders of pure 

 Merino sheep in this country, all of whom have a favourable 

 report to give of the success of this cosmopolitan breed, even 

 in our humid climate, which is very different from that of the 

 parched-up country from which the Merino was originally 

 dispersed. Among these may be mentioned the names of 

 Sturgeon & Son, Grays Hall, Essex ; Finlay Campbell, 

 Brantridge Park, Balcombe, Sussex ; L. A. Macpherson, 

 Wirley Grove, Pelsall, Staffordshire ; Purvis Russell, Warroch, 

 Milnathort, Fifeshire. The Grays Hall flock was descended 

 from a choice lot of Negretti Merinos, consisting of four 

 rams and forty-six ewes, imported from Spain in 1791 by 

 George III. The Brantridge Park flock was begun in 1885 

 by the importation of ten ewes and two rams from New 

 South Wales, the direct and pure-blooded descendants of the 

 famous Camden Stud flock, which was formed by blending 

 the blood of a number of Merinos imported into that colony 

 from the Cape in 1797 with a selection made in 1804 from 

 the Royal flock above referred to. The ancestors of the 

 Wirley Grove flock were imported from Canterbury, New 

 Zealand, in 1887, and an offshoot of the flock has been 

 established with success, at an elevation of five hundred and 

 fifty feet above sea-level, at Corrimony, twenty-four miles 

 from Inverness. Much valuable information regarding the 

 character of the Merino when bred in this country has been 

 provided by the history of a flock of about four hundred pure- 

 bred Merinos, which was kept for a period of thirty years, 

 ending about 1870, by Thomas Drewitt & Sons, auctioneers, 

 Guildford. 



It is generally supposed that Merino wool is liable to 

 degenerate when grown in this country, but the consensus of 

 opinion of those who have personal experience is against 

 this view, if care be taken in breeding, and if the animals be 

 not forced with rich food. Samples submitted to experts in 

 the wool trade in London have been pronounced equal to 



