LIVE STOCK. 92 



portion of tlie Colony — sucli as Wan^anella — of very lii^li merit from 

 whicli a good many of the breeders there drew their stud rams, wliiU; 

 a few introduced Victorian blood. In the extreme sdutli-western 

 portions of lliverina ag-ain, and in the middle and lower JJiirliu"- 

 country, South Australian i-ams were generally used. 



The Tasmanian, Mudgeo, Merriica, Riverina, Victorian, and Sauth 

 Australian Flocls. — Early in the seventies, our breeders l>!'gan to intro- 

 duce Tasmanian merino rams, which, wdiile most of them liad Camden 

 blood as a foundation, wero very largely descended from imi)orted 

 German sheep. So well did these rams mate with our own ewes, that 

 they were afterwards brought over in largo numbers, and in 1875 sales 

 of stud sheep, principally Tasmanian, were established by ]\Iessrs. 

 Mort & Co., and have continued ever since, at which as many as 3,000 

 Tasmanian sheep, with perhaps, oOO or 400 bred in this Colony, and, say, 

 100 from Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia, were sold annually 

 in Sydney. Latterly the number of sheep brought to these sales has 

 greatly increased — in 1894 some 9,000 were offered — through the intro- 

 duction of large numbers of th.o different long-woolled or English breeds 

 from New Zealand, and some from Victoria and Tasmania. This increase 

 is partly due, also, to an increase in the number of merino, stud, and 

 flock rams now offered at these sales by breeders in this Colony. 



The American Merino. — Some twenty-five or thirty years ago several 

 American merinos were imported into this colony, but with the excep- 

 tion of one ram which was used in Riverina they failed to find favour 

 with our breeders. About 1881, however, a few first-class rams of this 

 breed were brought from America by the Messrs. McFarland, of 

 Barooga, which they put to properly selected Australian ewes Avitli 

 excellent results. This led to American sheep being imported in con- 

 siderable numbers ; and so far as regards increased density and yolk, 

 and heavier and better covering, there is no doubt they improved our 

 sheep. They are also straigliter on the back and shorter on the leg, 

 but they are often sharp on the shoulder and narrower in the chest, 

 w^hich shows they are less robust than the Australian merino. It is 

 questionable, therefore, considering the comparative harshness and 

 roughness of the wool in many of the American sheep^ whether, notwith- 

 standing the increased weight of fleece which the get of the American 

 sheep give, their introduction in a large and general way would be 

 advantageous, and whether their use should not be confined to men avIio 

 are acknowledged breeders and can engraft the desirable qualities of 

 tliese sheep on their flocks without introducing the undesirable. 



The Victorian Merino. — The Victorian merinos have also on several 

 occasions been introduced into this Colouy; but although it wuuld bo 

 to the advantage of our sheep-breeders if they could engraft the 

 brightness, softness, and high combing qualities of the best flocks m 

 the western portions of that Colony on their own, it has been found 

 from experience that these Victorian sheep do not maintain their 

 character with us, and, except, perhaps, in a few instances in Kiverina 

 they are not now used in this Colony. 



The South Australian Merino.— It is different with respect to the 

 South Australian studs. Considerable numbers of them are annually 

 purchased by our sheep-owners for their stations on the Darling, and 



