28 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



of the United States Patent Office, attended the great 

 meeting of German agriculturists at Breslau, in 1845, 

 where particular attention was given to the subject 

 of wool ; and that gentleman communicated the re- 

 sult of his very minute observations in an instruc- 

 tive paper prepared at the request of the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents.* In this paper, the sheep of the 

 manor of Alcsuth, in Hungary, are mentioned as a 

 flock of high reputation throughout Germany. I do 

 not observe that their average weight of carcass is 

 given, but Mr. Fleichmann speaks of their "sur- 

 prising size" and says, " there are some rams that 

 measure five feet from the muzzle to the root of the tail, 

 and twenty-nine inches from the bottom to the chine. "f 



The average weight of their fleeces was as fol- 

 lows : rams 3 Ibs., wethers 3 Ibs. 8 oz., ewes 2 Ibs. 

 8 oz., lambs 14 oz. The wool was extremely well 

 washed. The flock numbered ten thousand. A di- 

 minution of numbers, a selection of the heaviest 

 fleeced, and pampering, would produce the same in- 

 crease in the weight of wool that has been assumed 

 the like circumstances would produce in the Baron 

 Yon Sternburg's flock. 



The Baron sells his wool from 2s. 8d. to 3s. 2d. 

 per pound (English currency, I take it). The Alc- 

 suth wool was sold in 1838 for 72|- cents a pound, in 



* See Patent Office Report, 1841, p. 239, et seq. 



f This is a considerably longer and taller sheep than the Spanish 

 Merino, or than the American Merino of approved size and form. See 

 Petri's table, already given, with subjoined American measurements, 

 and remarks. I cannot think that such length and height would find 

 any favor in Germany, in animals producing only three pounds of 

 wool 



