Book VII. MERINO SHEEP. WU 



doubt ; and many are of opinion, that by it the fleeces of our sbort-wooled sheep may be 

 so improved as to render them fit substitutes for imported Spanish wool. 



6490. Dr. Parn/'s experiments with the Merino breed were begun nearly at the same 

 time with the King's. His farm was elevated, exposed, and unfit for any other purpose 

 than breeding; and he fixed on the Ryeland breed, as one of the finest wooled varieties 

 of British sheep, for crossing with Merino rams. His only object was the improvement 

 of the fleece. 



6491. The ej^ect of the fourth cross of the Merino ram ^ according to the opinion of 

 sheep cultivators on the continent, on any breed of ewes, however coarse and long in the 

 fleece, will be to give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. Of the truth of 

 this proposition, however, Dr. Parry justly expresses some doubts, derived from his own 

 experience and that of others. But it is certain, he adds, that one cross more will, in 

 most cases, effect the desired purpose. If we suppose, he says, the result of the admix- 

 ture of the blood of the Merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, 

 and state the native blood in the ewe as 64 ; then the first cross would give || of the 

 Merino ; the second i^ ; the third |f ; the fourth |^ ; the fifth |f ; the sixth Sf^ and so 

 on. In other words, the first cross would leave thirty-two parts in sixty -four, or half of 

 the English quality; the second sixteen parts, "or one-fourth; the third eight parts, or 

 one-eighth ; the fourth four parts, or one-sixteenth ; the fifth two parts, or one-thirty- 

 second ; the sixth one part, or one-sixty-fourth, and so on. Now, if the filaments of the 

 Wiltshire, or any other coarse wool, be in diameter double that of the Ryeland, it is 

 obvious, that, according to the above statement, it would require exactly one cross more 

 to bring the hybrid wool of the former to the same fineness as that of the latter. Tliis, 

 he believes, very exactly corresponds with the fact. The diflPerence between one-eighth 

 and one-sixteenth is very considerable, and must certainly be easily perceived, both by 

 a good miscroscope, and in the cloth which is manufactured from such wool. In the- 

 latter method, he adds, " it certainly has been perceived ; but 1 have hitherto had no 

 opportunity of trying the difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have before ob- 

 served, brings the Merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as the fourth of the Merino 

 Ryeland." (Com. to the Board ofAgr. vol. v. p. 438.) 



6492. In the lambing season, the Ryeland breed are usually cotted, because the new- 

 born lambs are very thinly covered with wool. As January was considered the best 

 lambing season for the produce of the cross. Dr. Parry found cotting was doubly neces- 

 sary. Every night the flock were well sheltered; and they were allowed, in addition to 

 the pasture which they could pick up in the day-time, linseed jelly, ground oil-cake, or 

 grains, cabbages, rouen, winter and spring vetches, and tares. Salt, he says, I never 

 gave to my flock but once, and that in the following way : A small field of lattermath^ 

 cut in September, had been so often wetted, that I despaired of its ever being eaten. 

 While it was putting into the rick, I strewed some salt between the layers ; the conse- 

 quence was, that cows and sheep greedily devoured it, scarcely leaving a single blade. 

 {Cojn. to the Board of Agr. vol. v. p. 505.) 



6493. The shearing, of the sheep was performed in the second week of June, and of 

 the lambs at the end of July. The finer fleeced lambs need not be shorn till the second 

 season. Washing previously to shearing Dr. Parry disapproves of; because the fleece 

 is so thick, that when thoroughly soaked with water, it is very long in drying ; and if the 

 weather prove wet and cold, the sheep are evidently much incommoded ; he, therefore, 

 recommends cleansing the wool, after being shorn, as in Spain. 



6494. Tcie. produce qfwool^ considered as the result of Dr. Parry's well conducted ex- 

 periments, was found to be 14lb. 14oz. per acre, which at 3s. per lb. in the yolk through- 

 out the fleece gives 21. 4s. 7^d. per acre on land certainly not worth on an average 26 

 shillings. (See Comm. to the B, of Agriculture, vol. v. ) 



6495. Lord Somerville's experiments may be considered as of equal, if not more im- 

 portance than these of Dr. Parry. His Lordship tried crosses with several short wooled 

 breeds, but was most successful with the South Downs and Ryelands. Morris Birkbeck. 

 a professional farmer of the first order, found that the fleeces of the first cross between 

 Merinos and South Downs, washed, are to the parent South Downs as six to five in weight, 

 and as three to two in value per pound, and believes that the improvement of the wool may 

 go on, without detriment to the carcase, until we shall obtain a breed of sheep with Span- 

 ish fleeces, and English constitutions ; but this must be the result of careful and judicious 

 selection. 



6496. Merino flocks are now established in most districts of the empire, and but few 

 years can elapse before their value to the farmer and the country be practically ascer- 

 tained and evinced. ( See Sir J. Banks in Annals of Agriculture, Com. to B. of Agr. 

 Bath Society s Papers, Dublin Society^ Transactions, The Farmer s Magazine, Farmer 

 Journal. Lord Somerville' s, and Dr. Parry s Tracts on Wool and Merinos, and varitnis 

 other works.) 



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