98 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Merino — Comhiug and Glotliing. 



There are two principal divisions of merino sliecp^ " Combing and 

 Clotliino-/' and the retmms show that in this Colony on 1st January 

 last, out of 56,977,270 merino sheep, 38,429,679 of the whole were 

 classed as "Combing," and 15,611,102 as "Clothing." 



Prior to 1870 a large majority of the merino sheep belonged more 

 to the " Clothing " than the " Combing" division; but about that time 

 a change in the manufacture of woollen fabrics took place in the United 

 Kingdom from clothing to combing. 



This of course led to increased demand for combing wool; and as 

 the change was to the advantage of our sheep-breeders, inasmuch as 

 it led to a considerable increase in the weight of the fleece, while the 

 price of the wool was at least maintained, they lost as little time as 

 possible in making the required change in the sheep. To do so they 

 introduced merino rams of larger frame, with wool stronger and longer 

 in the staple, and more of a combing type ; and to such an extent has 

 this change been carried that there is scarcely a flock of any size in 

 the Colony with the fine and superfine short dense clothing wool which 

 about 1870 was grown in several parts of the Colony. It is true that 

 considerably more than one-fourth of the sheep of the Colony are 

 returned as clothing ; but although this is the case, they might, 

 according to the true distinction between combing and clothing, be 

 classed as combing, if they possessed the necessary soundness and 

 elasticity ; so that there are much fewer sheep of the true clothing 

 type in the Colony than the returns show. 



The Different Grades of Merino Sheep, and the Country for ichich 

 they are each adapted. 



In the returns referred to, the merino sheep in each of the two main 

 divisions of clothing and combing are given as being of the different 

 types or grades, i.e., (1) " Fine and Superfine," (2) " Medium," and 

 (3) "Strong;" and as the size of the sheep, speaking in a general 

 way, regulates the diameter of the fibre of the wool, it follows that the 

 " fine and superfine " will be the smallest framed sheep, the medium the 

 next, and "stroug-woolled" the largest. 



This, again, speaking of the eastern portion of the Intermediate 

 division and the Western Slopes and Mountainous, will, if the manage- 

 ment is correct, be found generally to correspond with the description 

 of country in which the several types are kept. For instance, on 

 country where the soil though kindly is liglit, and the pasture com- 

 paratively thin, the small framed fine and superfine type of sheep 

 should be found ; where, again, the soil is stronger and more fertile, 

 and the pasture closer and more nutritious, the next larger sheep of 

 the medium type should be kept ; and when the soil is very good, and 

 the pasture very nutritious, the largest type of merino, and also the 

 cross-bred, should be kept. In this way it will be seen that the class 

 of country, the class of sheep, and type of wool in the portions of the 

 Colony indicated, to a large extent run on similar lines, where the owner 

 — as he should do, if he is to make the most of his holding — selects the 

 class of sheep for which his country is best adapted. No sheep- breeder 

 can expect success if he; doe.s not keep this rule constantly in view. 



