EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 229 



remained in the open air three or four hours. The doors of the houses, 

 too, were frequently opened, that the air might be incessantly changed. 

 There were some Saxon flock-owners who had no pastures at all, and 

 kept their sheep in their houses and yards throughout the year, nor did 

 tliis treatment seem injurious either to their health or the fineness of 

 their wool, as long as care was taken to supply them with proper food 

 and to keep their houses dry and airy. The general custom, however, 

 was to put them, during favorable weather, into pastures, where they 

 found a sufficient quantity of food ; and when these were not to be had 

 they were driven to the hills and other dry places. They left the 

 houses in the morning as soon as the dew entirely disappeared, and 

 rested in the shade during the heat of the day. When rain fell heavily 

 or the fogs were thick they were kept in their houses, nor were they 

 suffered to go into the fields after a heavy shower of hail. In this re- 

 spect the Saxons imitated the shepherds of Spain. It was customary 

 on some Saxon farms to let the sheep drink in their stables during win- 

 ter instead of taking them to the watering places. The Saxon breeders 

 not only considered salt salutary to sheep, but were of opinion that it 

 imparted a greater degree of fineness to the fleece. Upon the whole 

 the different methods of management were varied and modified accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil and its products. Good farmers observed 

 the principle without which no flock can prosper, that is, to keep a num- 

 ber of animals only in proportion to the quantity of support grown on 

 the land. Experience has proved that the quality of wool produced by 

 a flock is always proportionate to the quality and extent of the nutri- 

 ment which it has received. 



The shearing of the sheep in Saxony takes place at the beginning of 

 May, after the fleece has been washed on the back of the animal. For- 

 merly the wool was washed in warm water after being cut from the 

 sheep, according to the Spanish plan; but this custom has been aban- 

 doned in consequence of the wool felting into balls, by which its value 

 was much reduced. The mode of washing generally pursued consists 

 in driving the sheep through a brook or rivulet. The next morning 

 they are again plunged into the stream, that every part of the fleece 

 may be equally penetrated. After this the wool is pressed by the 

 hand, beginning at the head and proceeding regularly to the extremi- 

 ties. In the afternoon they are driven once more through the water, 

 then two days are allowed for the fleeces to become dry, and on the 

 next day they are shorn. 



Thus for many years the Saxon flock-masters took the greatest care 

 of their flocks, breeding, feeding, and rearing them with but one object. 

 Every other point was made secondary to the fineness of the fleece. 

 This course pursued steadily through generations gave at length the 

 perfect Saxon Merino. Originally springing from the hardy Spanish 

 Merino, the same parent stock from which has sprung the hardy Ameri- 

 can and French Merino, it was bred down to a badly formed, weak, 



