130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



where, and this everywhere leads to increased skill. It is well 

 known that the flocks in Saxony, Silesia, Moravia, and neigh- 

 boring fine-wool-growing countries, receive extraordinary care, 

 and attentions unheard of in many other countries. Men devote 

 their lives to the business of shepherds, and the number of sheep 

 under the care and control of each is not so large as to prevent 

 his personal attention to all of them. This number ranges from 

 60 to 80 ewes sometimes, but seldom more than that. 



The prominence given to sheep-husbandry in Prussia has led 

 to the necessity of increased attention to forage culture and roots, 

 which are produced in great abundance. This has necessitated 

 the most abundant supplies of manure, and the greatest care 

 and attention to its intelligent application. It is not too much 

 to say that the introduction of fine-wool husbandry into Prussia, 

 first undertaken by Frederic II. in 1748, but without success, 

 again attempted in 1785, from which time the Merinos appear to 

 have worked their way very gradually into favor, has increased 

 the wealth of the country incalculably. Two thousand Merinos 

 were bought in France in 1815 and '16, for the royal sheep- 

 folds of Frankenfeld, near Berlin, and Panthenan, in Prussian 

 Silesia. Annual sales of bucks at high prices distributed fine 

 wools over the country, while as early as 1822 a club of 36 

 great land proprietors bought largely in Saxony, and also 

 imported 1,200 ewes and 400 bucks from Spain. The royal 

 flocks did not meet with eminent success, on account of a 

 serious disease which broke out in the sheep got in France, and 

 which carried ofi" large numbers ; still the sales of animals and 

 the general spread of the enthusiasm for this branch of farming 

 had already accomplished important results. 



We are too apt to limit the effect of such enterprises as the 

 importation of improved stock, or to judge of it by the aggre- 

 gate number of animals attained, while we overlook the more 

 or less general awakening of the spirit of improvement attend- 

 ing it, and which radiates out in every direction through the 

 community, so that the aggregate result to the wealth of a 

 country can only be measured after a considerable lapse of 

 time, and when we can fairly estimate the general stimulus 

 given to the community by such public-spirited efforts. 



In Prussia, one successful attempt was followed by another. 

 The club, already alluded to, held exhibitions. High prizes 



