FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



IN rising to read this paper on the sheep of our 

 country, prepared at the request of your President, I 

 cannot fail to have it forcibly recalled to my memory 

 that twenty-five years ago this very month, at the an- 

 nual meeting of the Old New York State Agricultural 

 Society, in this city, I was appointed chairman of a 

 committee of breeders to draw up a report on the 

 same subject ; and that, twenty-four years ago, I read 

 that report before the Society. 



On that occasion I was aided by the far riper ex- 

 perience of some of the most eminent breeders of our 

 State, and might therefore without presumption, em- 

 body their knowledge in respect to breeds with which 

 my own acquaintance was limited. 



Having no such assistance now, I shall confine my 

 descriptions chiefly to those varieties of which I 

 can speak from an ample personal experience. These 

 include the Merinos which, at various periods, have 

 been imported from Spain, France, and Germany into 

 the United States. 



The inquiries of your President embraced the fol- 

 lowing topics : The origin of the Merino ; its varie- 

 ties ; its introduction into the United States ; the cir- 

 cumstances which have affected its success ; the com- 

 parative profitableness of its varieties ; the expediency 



