LIVE STOCK. 



99 



While making tliis statement, the fact is not overlooked tlmt the 

 circumstances which are hero mentioned as settling that questi(m can 

 be altered by the owner supplementing the natural pasture to a greater 

 or less extent with cultivated food; and this must eventually Ij;- done 

 in the portions of the Colony here alluded to, and es])ecially in tliose 

 nearest the seaboard, if we are ever to establish an extensive ])ayiu<' 

 export trade in meat. 



There is an exception, also, to the rule here laid down as r.-^ards the 

 Salt Bush division, because the great heat and dust at times in that 

 description of country have a much more deteriorating effect on wool 

 of the tine type than on the strong ; and the owner tluTc finds it more 

 to his advantage to keep the large-framed, strong-woolled slicep, 

 whereby he not only obtains a heavier and sounder lleece, but a much 

 weightier carcase of mutton. 



Lotuj- WoolJcd Sheep. 



It is scarcely necessary to say that the long-woolled sheep are bred 

 and kept almost exclusively for crossing purposes. The term " Long- 

 woolled" which is generally applied in the colonies to the British 

 breeds of sheep, is without doubt correct when we compare the length 

 of staple of even the South Downs, the shortest wooUed of these breeds, 

 with that of the merino. It was at one time the custom with breeders 

 as well as manvifacturers in the old country to divide the sheep and 

 wool of the British breeds into two classes " Long-wools " and " Short- 

 wools " ; but as the merinos are really the " Short-wools/' they have 

 lately been known as such; and the term "Medium-wools" is now 

 generally applied to those breeds of British sheep at one time known 

 as " Short-wools.'" The " Long-wools " include the English Leicester, 

 the Lincoln, the Border Leicester, the Devon, the Cotswold, the 

 Wensley Dale, the Romney Marsh, and the Eoscommon ; and the 

 " Medium-wools " include the South, the Shropshire, the Hampshire, 

 the Suffolk, and the Oxford Downs, together with the Clune Forrest, 

 the Dorset Horn, the Ry eland, and the Cheviot, and the British and 

 Merin,o Cross-breds. As, therefore, it Avould be likely to lead to con- 

 fusion if we in these Colonies continued to apply as we now do the 

 term "Long-woolled" to all British sheep, it should be dropped and 

 the term " British " used instead. 



Lincolns. — The detailed statement given of the different breeds which 

 make up the above number of pure lored and " long-woolled " sheep 

 shows that more than half of what are termed Long-woolled Shee]) arc 

 Lincoln. — This has arisen principally through the Jjincoln cross giving 

 considerably better returns as regards wool than any of the other British 

 breeds, while the mutton of the fi.rst cross of the Lincoln and merino 

 is very good, if marketed in prime condition and at an early age ; and 

 this it can be on really good pasture, or with the aid of cultivated 

 food. 



The English Leicester.— The breed with the next largest number of 

 representatives in the Colony is the English Leicester; and while the 

 first cross of this breed and the merino has a good paying fleece, stud 

 the sheep themselves come early to market, the mutton does not bring 

 the highest jDrice as it carries too much fat and is wanting in red meat. 



