160 FINE WOOL SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



it, for the early maturity of animals so necessary in 

 England, provided ours will pay well for the addition- 

 al expense of longer keeping. 



I have, as already stated, kept Merino sheep more 

 than thirty years. During all the vicissitudes of that 

 period the fleeces of the flock (without counting those 

 of wethers which I have never kept in any consider- 

 able number) have averaged over two dollars a head 

 per annum. On the best lands of the State it now 

 costs about two dollars a head annually to keep Merino 

 sheep. Any one, then, is sure of his lambs and manure 

 as clear gain. "Wethers of the same flock would pro- 

 duce fleeces worth about three dollars, and the clear 

 gain on them annually would be a dollar a piece and 

 the manure. 



The object of keeping sheep is to convert the vege- 

 table productions of the farm into the most money and 

 the most manure. Under the circumstances I have 

 stated, and in regions where wool-growing is the pri- 

 mary object, this is as well done by animals of longer 

 as of shorter lives. The truth is, nobody could afford 

 in this country to kill his Merinos at two years old, if 

 they were perfectly matured and fit for the butcher at 

 that age. 



Nor do I believe the Merino could readily be made 

 to assume that form which, like the most perfect New 

 Leicester or South Down, puts every ounce of meat on 

 the part where it is nominally most valuable. At all 

 events, I should decidedly object to tampering serious- 

 ly with its present best form. How many American 

 purchasers, in looking for a sweet, juicy piece of mut- 

 ton, are very careful to examine the angle of the rump ? 

 or study the exact taper of the thigh, provided there 



