l86 SHEEP I BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



Neither do sheep increase rapidly in America, except in the 

 extreme south of the great southern continent. 



(2) It is, indeed, with Australia, New Zealand, and the 

 Argentine Republic, that we have chiefly to reckon ; and it 

 is also with the Merino breed, which is not a flesh but a wool ; 

 producing race. The question is important as to how far the 

 Merino can compete with English flesh sheep in our own 

 markets. The fibre is short and the meat is described as 

 delicious, but this is not everything. Weight and rapidity of 

 maturation are more important considerations, and it does not 

 appear in the least probable that the light-fleshed, slow- 

 growing Merinoes are going to oust our own Southdowns 

 from their proud position. English mutton may not be so 

 short in grain or tender as Australian Merino mutton, but it 

 is juicier, richer, better coloured, and the fat is more delicate, 

 and better mixed with the lean meat. It seems scarcely pro- 

 bable that the dry morsel which thinly covers the bones of a 

 Merino can ever rival the succulent and luscious flesh of an 

 English-bred sheep. 



(3) Encouragement for the English breeder also is to be 

 found in the same increase of foreign competition in the matter 

 of mutton. If Australian and New Zealand farmers are going 

 to supply England, they must become buyers of English sires 

 and dams, and send their agents to our shores to attend fairs 

 and sales. When we reflect upon the immense areas and the 

 vast flocks of Australasia it is evident that this demand for 

 English blood is practically boundless. As yet, our Colonial 

 friends have chiefly been engaged in buying Southdowns, Lin- 

 coins, and Shropshires ; but the time will come when they will 

 import the Oxford, the Hampshire, and the Suffolk as 

 freely, and English sheep-breeders will be encouraged to make 

 still greater efforts towards perfection. 



(4) The rapid increase of the human family is an important 

 factor in the question of the future price of food. To those 

 who have passed the period of extreme youth, the flight of ten 

 or twenty years must appear as a comparatively short period. 



