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Sheep giving large and heavy fleeces are every where in demand ; but 

 the mistake is sometimes made of attaching importance simply to the ab- 

 solute weight of the fleece, making no comparison between the weight of 

 the wool and that of the animal. It is thus that some persons who seek 

 Merinos even with reference to wool alone, prefer a buck of (120 kilos) 264 

 pounds, giving (8 kilos) 17.6 pounds of wool to another of (60 kilos) 132 

 pounds, which furnishds a fleece of (7.5 kilos) 16.5 pounds, saying that the 

 first gives more wool than the second, taking no account of the respective 

 weights of the subjects. 



I have always combatted and shall always combat such reasoning, be- 

 cause a Merino of 60 kilos 132 pounds, with its 16.5 pounds of wool, is far 

 superior to that of 264 pounds with a fleece of 17.6. In fact, in pasture, 

 two small Merinos of 132 pounds will live easily upon the space required 

 by a single buck of 264 pounds, and they will give 15 kilos (33 pounds) 

 of wool each year against 17.6 furnished by the large buck. 



Let us also consider the sheep at Rambouillet according to the quan- 

 tity of wool they give each year for 100 of their weight, and we would 

 say that, according to the preceding hypothesis, Merinos of 60 kilos (132 

 pounds) furnished 12.5 per cent, of wool, while the large sheep of 120 

 kilos (264 pounds) gave but 6.66 per cent. This latter is therefore infe- 

 rior to the other with the special regard in question. 



I profess the opinion that a Merino, strong and well constituted, with 

 large, short legs, head also large and short, and body low, with proper 

 ancestors, can scarcely ever be too small, because the smaller the subjects 

 the more hardy they will be, and the more wool they will give in propor- 

 tion to their weight. 



Another advantage of small Merinos is that they are more fertile and 

 are longer lived. They are better adapted to multiplication and the crea- 

 tion of flocks. Importance is given and will always be given to the length 

 of the wool. However, this coniideration is now of less importance since 

 it is now possible to comb relatively short wools. 



Fine wool is also always sought after; but extreme fineness does not 

 outweigh all other considerations, since it has become possible to spin fine 

 withr average wools. And since extreme fineness excludes abundance of 

 fleece, a heavy fleece of strong wool and average fineness is preferred. 



25. As a general rule we avoid giving a ewe a buck of near relation. 

 By near relation I mean the father and his daughter, the mother and her 

 son, the brother and sister. 



But if exceptional qualities to be perpetuated are found in a male and 

 female of these relations, we should not hesitate to couple them if we 

 failed to find in non-relatives the same suitability (convenance); for con- 

 sanguinity is not to be avoided except in case of individuals having a 

 constitutional vice common to the family. 



