350 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



young, I cannot say. The animals look " hard," and are called 

 hardy. They are kept in immense droves upon the plains, and 

 are seldom fed till three years old, when they are worked. 

 They are more spirited than they look to be at first sight, how- 

 ever ; and, though rather small, many of them are, on the 

 whole, pretty well formed, with fine legs, good chests, bright, 

 intelligent eyes, and they travel off well before the uncouth 

 wagons of the country. 



The sheep are, for the most part, grade Merinos. This breed 

 was first successfully introduced into Hungary by the empress, 

 Maria Theresa, in 1773. She imported a flock of three hundred 

 and twenty-five ewes and rams from Spain. Attempts had 

 previously been made by the archbishop of Gran to acclimatize 

 this breed there, but without success. The immense flocks of 

 fine-wooUed sheep now spread over Hungary and Bohemia are 

 largely due to the first importation of the empress, thougli 

 subsequent additions were made to the original stock which 

 was kept pure, crosses being made by the use of Merino rams 

 and the ewes of the common stock. Having been breeding fine- 

 wool so long it is not remarkable that a good deal of it is of the 

 very first quality, but the mutton does not amount to much. 

 That it is not a favorite dish among the Austrians is possibly 

 owing, to some extent, to the fact that as wool has always been 

 regarded as of primary importance among the large landed 

 proprietors, no attention has been paid to improve the mutton 

 breeds, and they often keep their rich wool-bearing Merinos till 

 they are too old, and tough, for the sake of the wool. It is not 

 surprising therefore, that Austria exports large quantities of 

 fine wool. The exportation amounted in 1850 to thirty-two 

 million pounds, to say nothing of the quantity used for home 

 consumption. 



I believe they are beginning to put a little more size upon 

 their sheep for the purpose of making them more valuable for 

 the butcher, and becoming content to produce a little coarser 

 quality of wool. It must not be supposed that the old-fashioned 

 native Hungarian sheep have been entirely rooted out, or that 

 they have all been "• extended" by the Merinos. Many of the 

 peasants still keep them, especially in Transylvania, on account 

 of their being hardier and producing more and better mutton, 

 and more, though a coarser wool. They give much more 



