12 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



our own Merinos had been bred closely to the original 

 model, show that the Merino of Spain was decidedly 

 a narrow-chested animal.* But what he thus lost in 

 symmetry, was made up, so far as room for the lung? 

 and other viscera was concerned, by his great depth 

 of carcass. In these respects he was to the English 

 mutton breeds what the Spanish barb was to the 

 thick-winded English dray horse ;' and he exhibited a 

 corresponding superiority in locomotion and energy, f 

 Ifr. Livingston unquestionably wrote from a vague 

 recollection, or at least without making actual admea- 

 surements, when he stated the length of the un- 

 stretched Spanish wool at three inches. The Spanish 

 breeders intentionally kept the staple short enough to 

 meet the demands of the broadcloth manufacturers of 

 that day, and two inches, unstretched, would have 

 been regarded as a long staple then, and is so still. 

 All old Merino breeders concur in the statement that 

 the Spanish wool has increased in length in this coun- 

 try, yet it may be doubted whether a thorough bred 

 sheep of this variety can be found in the United 

 States, the wool of which, at one year's growth, aver- 



* And it appears to me that the same fact is deducible from Petri's 

 table. With the length, and belly circumference which he gives to 

 them, they would far exceed the weights he gives, if they were as 

 broad-chested as their descendants. 



f The Merino would travel almost twice as fast, and more than four 

 times as long as a mutton sheep, particularly in hot weather. Think 

 of a great drove of ewes and lambs, of any of the mutton varieties, 

 sweeping along eight or ten miles a day, for 400 miles twice each year, 

 and kept on the most meagre pasturage during every trip I The 

 Spanish ram would readily vanquish in battle, an English ram of 

 twice his size. In " bottom," "pluck," and hardiness, there is no com- 

 parison between the breeds. 



