FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 69 



Decline in the Production of Fine Wools, The 

 Spanish supersedes the Saxon Merino. 



The small difference made in the prices of different 

 qualities of wool, in our country, necessarily proved 

 fatal to the success of the Saxon Merino. The im- 

 provement of the imported sheep in the hands of such 

 breeders as Mr. Grove, Mr Scoville, of Connecticut, 

 Mr. Reed, of Pennsylvania, Messrs. Wells and Dick- 

 inson, of Ohio, Mr. Cockrill, of Tennessee, and many 

 others, was manifest ; and in some cases it more than 

 kept pace with what may be termed the reform move- 

 ment of Baron Yon Sternburg, Prince Lichnowski, 

 and their compatriots in Germany. 



Two years after the introduction of the Saxons (i. e., 

 in 1826), the average price of their wool sunk within 

 ten cents of that of full-blood Merino wool. It never 

 subsequently rose to any higher proportionable price, 

 while the difference was frequently only five or eight 

 cents a pound. The best breeders of pure Saxons, 

 who owned large flocks, could not bring up the mean 

 product of their whole number to three pounds of 

 wool per head. In 1840, Mr. Grove's admirable flock 



-not exceeding about 200 sheep yielded an average 

 rf 2 Ibs. 11 oz. per head; and he published this pro- 

 duct as a proof of the value of his favorite breed, in 

 that controversy between the advocates of the Saxon 

 and Spanish Merinos which was then filling our agri- 

 cultural publications. 



This controversy opened about 1835. The Saxons 

 had by far the greatest number of distinguished 

 names, but the Spanish sheep had nearly all the facts 

 on their side. As early as 1831-'32, Mr. Jarvis' full- 



