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sink under the fatigue of travelling from the winter to the summer 

 pastures, and vice versa; that owing to this mode of management, the 

 shepherds of Spain feel the particular necessity of paying attention to 

 the strength of the male as well as the fineness of his wool ; and as 

 every attentive breeder must have observed that the most healthy and 

 vigorous sheep carry the heaviest fleeces, the Spaniard in selecting for 

 streno;th has also secured heavier fleeces. From the mildness of the 

 climate of Spain, too, the Spaniard is enabled to keep his sheep in the 

 open air the year round, which may also have contributed to give 

 them a better constitution. 



The climate of Saxony and the neighboring states of Germany where 

 those sheep are bred, is not dissimilar to the northerly part of the State 

 of New York, and the southerly part of New England, in which shelter 

 is necessary to defend sheep against the pelting storms in winter. The 

 Saxons, too, carry this system of housing far beyond us ; they are not 

 only very careful to have warm shelters in the winter, but most of their 

 breeders build sheds in their pastures, into which their sheep are driven 

 during the stormy weather of spring, summer, and autumn, being only 

 let out a short time to feed in the fore and afternoon while the storm 

 lasts. This treatment alone would enfeeble the constitution of those 

 animals. Owing to the very low price of labor in Germany too, their 

 flocks are constantly attended by shepherds, whose watchful care makes 

 it of less consequence to have vigorous lambs and healthy offspring? 

 than it is in Spain, particularly as in Saxony the sheep are not pastured 

 at a great distance from the winter establishments. For these reasons 

 the Saxon breeders have not found it so necessary to pay as much at- 

 tention to the strength of the sheep as in Spain, and it is probable, there- 

 fore, that the principal object with them in the selection of both the 

 male and female, has been the fineness of the fleece without any great 

 regard to the animal's constitution. But whatever may be the cause, it 

 is certain that the Saxony wool is somewhat finer than the Spanish. 

 This fact partly answers your question, whether the wool of the im- 

 ported sheep has deteriorated in this country. Twenty-five years' 

 experience satisfies me that the wool of the Spanish Merino has rather 

 improved. About six years ago, I compared my Merino wool with fif- 

 teen or twenty samples of the Paular flock that had been sent me from 

 Spain, where I purchased ; and eight or ten judges who examined the 

 two, gave a decided preference to that taken from the backs of my 

 sheep. Mr. James Shepard, when he carried on the factory at North- 



