FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 155 



in cold weather, as such animals make more meat 

 than can be disposed of unsalted in such, situations, 

 i Consequently, vast droves of grade sheep from the 

 Northwestern States traverse New York from mid- 

 Rummer to the approach of winter, directly for our 

 Eastern cities, or to be sold in their vicinity for feed- 

 ing. 



Why not meet a large part of this demand, now 

 supplied from abroad, with our full-blood Merino 

 sheep ? Even the epicurism of England has decided 

 that this breed produces prime mutton. Sir Joseph 

 Banks, in a report made in 1802, says : " Experience 

 has demonstrated already, both at Windsor and Wey- 

 bridge (the royal residences), that Spanish mutton is 

 of the best quality for a gentleman's table." Mr. 

 Wilson, the present Professor of Agriculture in the 

 University of Edinburgh, in a recent excellent paper 

 on " The various breeds of Sheep in Great Britain," 

 furnished by him to the Royal Agricultural Society's 

 Journal,* says : '" They (the Merinos) are hardy, and 

 not more subject to disease than our other breeds ; 

 they thrive very well on moderate keep, and may be 

 fed up to 110 to 120 pounds weight at two years old; 

 the mutton is considered to be of very good quality." 



The report of Tessier and Hazard, made to the 

 Institute in France, in the year eight of the Eepublic, 

 shows that the same opinion prevailed even thus early 

 in France. They say : " The experiments we had 

 formerly made in feeding of Spanish sheep have not 

 been fully detailed. It has been undeniably proved 

 that all those animals were fattened, and their flesh 



* Vol. 16. It is republished in the Transactions of this Society, 

 1857, p. 219. The extract I make will be found at p. 239. 



