92 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



sufficient to satisfy myself in regard to their respective 

 qualities, I have preferred to go for testimony to 

 others to the principal importers and the most 

 deeply interested owners and advocates of each 

 variety to those who, by common consent, have the 

 choicest animals of each ever introduced into or bred 

 in our country. 



It is true this affords a view only of the best ani- 

 mals, but these are the ones which offer the most 

 instructive examples, and there is no difficulty in 

 judging from them downwards. 



The American (Spanish) and Saxon varieties were 

 first introduced in large numbers, and will, therefore, 

 be first compared. 



There was no time after 1835 when the prime 

 American Merino did not exceed the prime Saxon 

 Merino .by at least one and a half pounds in the 

 weight of fleece'. The table of prices shows that 

 before and subsequently to that period, the average 

 price of Saxon wool was not more than ten cents 

 higher per pound. Between 1831 -and 1837, when 

 Saxon wool was most remunerative, its average prices 

 were from about 65 to 70 cents per pound. If we 

 estimate the Saxon fleece at three pounds, and the 

 American fleece at four and a half pounds, when the 

 first was worth in the market $2.10 the latter was 

 worth $2.70. 



The Saxon was a smaller consumer than its rival, 

 because a smaller sheep. The production of flesh 

 and other animal tissues from food, is a process regu- 

 lated by physiological laws, which work substantially 

 alike where breed, habits, and other circumstances are 

 alike. The Merino consumes about one-thirtieth of 



