108 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



grels, simply " improved half-blood." They found 

 that their original coarse sheep had 5,500 fibres of 

 wool on a square inch ; grades of the third or fourth 

 Merino cross produced about 8,000 ; the twentieth 

 cross 27,000 ; the perfect pure blood 40 to 48,000.* 



"Whether it is proper and expedient to cross between 

 varieties of the same breed, in the expectation of form- 

 ing an intermediate variety, and improving on ~both 

 of the originals, is hardly yet a settled question. The 

 Spaniards thought not, and carefully guarded against 

 any mixtures between their cabanas ; and they bred 

 in-and-in for ages. 



The French plunged into the opposite extreme, by 

 selecting from and intermixing the blood of all the 

 different cabanas indiscriminately wherever a choice 

 animal could be found. And, Mr. Gilbert to the 

 contrary notwithstanding, they never have " melted 

 into each other" by forming one closely homogeneous 

 variety, or even a group of such varieties. They are 

 <tf all sizes, sorts and descriptions. Col. Rotch's let- 

 ter can be reread with profit in this connection. 



Mr. Jarvis did not carry this system so far, for he 

 blended much fewer cabanas, and it was an aggrega- 

 tion of masses instead of mere individuals ; but I 

 have reason to suspect that even in this he did not 

 follow his own better judgment, but was influenced 

 by the inducements held out by leading manufac- 

 turers, who wished to obtain a wool resembling the 

 Saxon.f 



* Fleichmann's Eeport. 



f Charles Jarvis, Esq., of "Weathersfield, Vermont, son. of Hon. 

 "William Jarvis, writes me (Jan. 14th, 1862): " He also mentioned 

 there was more gum in the fleeces [of the imported sheep], and they 



