THE FARMER AT HOME. 27, 



dian of a country is that from which its geographers, navigators, and 

 astronomers, commence their reckoning of longitude ; and, the meri- 

 dians having nothing in themselves to distinguish them from each 

 other, the fixing upon any one for this purpose is quite arbitrary ; 

 hence different persons, nations, and ages, have commenced their 

 longitudes at different points, which has introduced no small confusion 

 into geography. But national and even scientific jealousies are too 

 strongly prevalent for us to hope that the world will, at an early 

 period, fix on a common first meridian. 



MERINO SHEEP. The variety of sheep known by this name 

 is long in the limbs, but the bone is small ; the breast and back are 

 narrow, and the sides are rather flat ; the fore shoulders and bosoms 

 are heavy, and the skin under the throat is loose and flabby, or indeed 

 pendulous : the forehead and cheeks are covered with coarse long 



MERINO RAM. 



hair, but the lower part of the face is smooth and velvety ; the head 

 is large, and the forehead rather low. The male carries compara- 

 tively large horns, spirally contorted, the curvature often being very 

 graceful. The females are mostly destitute of horns, and where these 

 appendages are present, they are small. The wool of the Merino 

 sheep is exquisitely fine, and admirable for its felting properties. Mr. 

 Youatt gives confirmatif n to the general testimony in favor of the 



