26 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



It will be seen from this, that the best Australian wools already excelled 

 the best Spanish, and were more than midway between them and the best 

 ^axon. When we consider the almost infinite difference in the care, both 

 in breeding and management, bestowed on the Saxon and Australian sheep, 

 it shows most conclusively the adaptation of the ciimate of Australia to 

 tho production of the finest wool or, at least, that the adverse effects of 

 iis warm temperature, and the incidents to that temperature, are easily 

 overcome. IriuSaxony, sheep are numbered, oftentimes their separate ped- 

 igrees registered, and each breeding ewe is stinted to a ram carefully se- 

 lected with reference to her individual qualities. In Australia, where less 

 capital and labor are employed, flocks of about three hundred breeding 

 ewes* where the country is destitute of timber, sometimes a thousand! 

 loam from one fertile and watered spot to another over the vast plains, in 

 charge of the convict shepherd ; and this system is followed throughout 

 the year, including the tupping season. Three flocks are always penned 

 together at night,f so that as many as nine hundred breeding ewes, of va- 

 rying quality, must be promiscuously bred to, say, from thirty to thirty-five 

 lams, running promiscuously among them. 



The Cape of Good Hope is in south latitude 34 23' 40". 



Mr. Youatt, in describing the sheep husbandry of this region, overesti- 

 mated, I think, the heat of the climate. Separated by lofty mountain 

 ranges from the interior of Africa, the fertile regions adjoining the coast 

 are not swept by its scorching winds, and the temperature is comparatively 

 mild. " In a meteorological register kept at Cape Town, from Sept. 1818 

 to Sept. 1821, embracing a period of three years, the highest heat marked 

 is 96, the lowest 45, Fahrenheit. The mean and annual temperature 

 scarcely 68 of winter 61, of summer 89."j| But sheep and their wool 

 suffer from the fine sands which are lifted and driven by the prevailing 

 winds. Says Malte Brun, " the wind blows often from the south-east with 

 great violence. Nothing can be secured from the sands which it drives 

 before it; they penetrate the closest apartments and the best-closed trunk*;. 

 At this time it is not prudent to go out without glasses, lest the eyes should 

 be injured." 



Though the climate can scarcely be designated a "torrid" one, as Mr. 

 Youatt speaks of it, the mean temperature of its winter (61) conclusively 

 shows that cold can have nothing to do here with rendering the wool finei 

 by a contraction of the pores. If, therefore, it can be shown that the wool 

 of the fine breeds does not deteriorate in quality, it sufficiently proves that 

 Australia is not an incidental exception in the testimony which it presents 

 on the point under examination, but that it illustrates the uniform opera- 

 tion of the physical laws which pertain to the growth of wool. 



After one or two unsuccessful attempts, the Merinos were acclimated 

 at the Cape by the English colonists. In 1S04, the colony numbered 536,- 

 634 sheep. In 1811, there were 1,293,740. In 1810, the import of wool 

 into Great Britain was '29,717 Ibs. ; in 1833, it was 93,325 lbs.fi 



In Willmer & Smith's " Liverpool Annual Wool Report," for 1846, it 

 is stated, " The shipments from this quarter (Cape of Good Hope) show 

 great improvement, amply testified by the high rates the best flocks have 

 commanded during the season. . . The best parcels now take rank 

 with those from Australia."** The system of breeding and general man- 

 agement at the Cape closely correspond with those of Australia. 



Let us now, sir, turn to the experience of our own country. I do nol 



* Cunninsham's "Two Years in South Walrs.'' t lb. J Ib. 



l| Malte Brun, vol. ii. p. 112. $ lb. vol. ii p. 112. 



V Youatt on Sheep, p. 184. ** Willincr &. Smith's European Times of Jan. 4, 1846. 



