104 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



ploys an abundance of labor. These establishments 

 of the wealthy are constantly increasing in our coun- 

 try, especially m the vicinity of cities and villages. 

 In such situations the stately French sheep ought to 

 be and will be, if fairly tried, a favorite and a profita- 

 ble animal. 



It is a misfortune to us as a farming people, that, 

 growing up without" the local traditions and preju- 

 dices so common in older nations, we have no dams 

 and bulkheads to arrest the currents of fashion ; and 

 if a fashion becomes established by the acceptance of 

 a majority, it must sweep from the centre to the cir- 

 cumference, embracing all places and persons. Are 

 the agricultural interests of a majority necessarily 

 those of the whole ? Are the same cattle and crops 

 equally adapted to all soils and climates and markets ? 

 Must every change in our agriculture assume the 

 form of a mcwiia, and sacrifice every thing that does 

 not jump with its humor ? It is time for us to aban- 

 don such follies. 



American and Silesian Merino. 



Between the Silesian sheep and the preceding 

 varieties, it does not appear to me to be necessary to 

 institute any extended comparison. Like the Ameri- 

 can Merino, it is the Spanish sheep materially im- 

 proved, but not, like the French and Saxon sheep, 

 bred away widely from the characteristic features of 

 the original race. It is simply an exquisitely high 

 bred Spanish sheep, of pure and undoubted descent, 

 bred for fifty years to a particular model by two 

 breeders, a father and son. Its fleece is decidedly 



