40 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



The original stock from which, with few exceptions, 

 our flocks have proceeded, was the Creole sheep ; a leggy, 

 small-carcassed animal, with an open fleece, small and of 

 light weight, coarse and without elasticity ; possessing, in 

 fact, no qualification to recommend it as a basis to breed 

 from ; the exception is that of the Pampa sheep, which is 

 an animal much superior to the Creole in all points for the 

 breeder's purpose. So small, however, is the proportion 

 of the Pampa blood in our flocks, that it is not of import- 

 ance to consider it ; at the same time, it may be observed, 

 that wherever that blood has been adopted as the basis, and 

 its influence not obliterated by subsequent intermixture 

 with sheep of the Creole origin, a marked superiority in 

 weight of fleece and length of staple is observable. 



The choice of the breed with which to refine our Creole 

 flocks very naturally fell on the Merino, through which 

 so general an improvement has been obtained in almost 

 every country, in point of fineness, and with various results 

 in other points, according to the basis employed and the 

 influence of soil and climate. 



The prevailing idea, but a comparatively few years back, 

 was fineness of staple, and that was sought to be grafted 

 on an infinite variety of sheep ; with some it has been a 

 success ; in other cases it has been abandoned, and breeds 

 adopted more suited to the necessities of climate and 

 general requirements. The Merino itself has been modi- 

 fied and improved in different countries under different 

 treatment and special selection. The Saxon, Merino, 

 Negrette, and Silesian, are far superior to the original 

 Spanish breed. The French Merino, or EambouiUet, is 

 another example, and is a perfectly distinct type in almost 

 every point, bidding fair to eclipse all other branches of 

 the same family in general usefulness. The English 

 Merino, of Saxon origin, introduced by George "III., 



