24 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



tions of them, hereafter to be mentioned, were made 

 about the beginning of the present century. But I 

 cannot learn that all of the latter included more than 

 a dozen living sheep on their arrival in this country. 

 And it is probable either that these were soon mixed 

 with the Spanish Merinos of the country, or else that 

 they had not yet obtained established characteristics 

 differing sufficiently from those of the latter to found 

 a separate family. At least no family, bearing any 

 resemblance to the present French sheep, sprung from 

 them. 



The Saxon Merino, 



Though France took priority in the introduction of 

 the emigrant Merinos, Saxony effected an earlier suc- 

 cessful colonization of them. In 1765 Prince Xavier, 

 administrator of the Electorate during the minority 

 of the Elector, Frederick Christian, obtained the per- 

 mission of his brother-in-law, the King of Spain, to 

 introduce three hundred Merinos into Saxony, and 

 other flocks on subsequent occasions. It is understood 

 that the sheep were principally drawn from the Es- 

 curial cabana. 



The course of breeding adopted in the Electoral 

 and private establishments tended to develop an ex- 

 treme fineness of wool at a material sacrifice of other 

 properties. Size of carcass, weight of fleece, and 

 constitutional vigor, were rapidly diminished. The 

 loss of hardiness was met by an extreme care of the 

 animal, extending to those minute and methodical 

 arrangements which are so congenial to the spirit 

 of German agriculture, and which were rendered 

 economically practicable by the cheapness of labor. 



