THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



163 



A comparison of the mution of the Souilulown 

 with the Merino, in the only case that lias come 

 to my knowledge, has resulted in favor of the Me- 

 rino, and the Merino wool in England brings 

 double the price of the Southdown. In the 

 United States the difference in the price of the wool 

 13 not so great, the Merino bring worth about for- 

 ty or fifiy per cent. most. The quantity of woo! 

 yielded by ilie Merino is also greater than the 

 Southdown, whilst the quamily of mutton pro 

 dnced by the Southdown is greatest. 



I have no practical experience of either Soiilh- 

 (lovvng, New Leicester or Cosiwdid, but believe 

 the Merino, with iheir crosses upon our naiive 

 eheep, will be Ibund a iiardier race ihan eiher ol 

 the foregoinir, and whilst the relative prices con- 

 tinue any thing like ihey are at present, it will 

 be much more profiiableto invest nuncy in them, 

 than in either of the others, 



I shall now resume my quotation from Judge 

 Beatty. 



An English wiiier, comparing the Souihd'iwns 

 and Norlblks (a very noied breed of the fine 

 vvoolled son) sajs " in short, the leading charac- 

 teristics of the high and full bred Norlblk and 

 Southdown sheep seem, upon romparison, to be 

 chiefly these, the wool of both is Ibund to be of 

 (he fitst clothing quality, but ihe larger quantity is 

 produced by the Southdowns ; the mulion of both 

 is equally delicious. But ihe quiet, genile South- 

 downs, in the pasture, tnu-?! be o[)po.?ed to the vvi'd, 

 impatient ramblings of the Norlolk, whose con- 

 stant exercise not onl^ excites continual appetite, 

 but at the same lime oceasions a considerable 

 waste in the pasture, by Heading down and un- 

 necessarily spoiling a great deal of Ibod they do 

 not eat." 



fi is further remarked, that " ihe hardinejs of 

 the Southdowns, enduring wet and cold lodging 

 and a greater degree of abstinence and Uitigue 

 than the Norlblk, in the fold, is a superiority of 

 much moment, and only to be equalled by anoiher 

 which they possess, in a very superior degree, 

 which ia thai of doing well upon coarse and sour 

 pastures." It is added '< ihat the S luihdowns, 

 compared with the Norlblk, are equally good 

 turnip sheep ; and lor every possible purpose, 

 whether lor their flesh, lor i heir wool, for breed- 

 ing, (or folding or lor the butcher, they demand 

 a less supply o( food and of an inferior quality 

 to that which, in every siiualion, would ap- 

 pear indispensable to the well doing of the Nor- 

 Iblks." 



The foregoing statements and fids present a 

 very favorable view of the Southdown varieiy of 

 sheep. But their meniis are siill more strongly 

 sustained by a course of experiments, made by 

 the Earl of Egremont lo test the relative v.ilue ol 

 the New Leicester, Southdown, Romney M irsh, 

 and some half bloods, being a cross of the New 

 Leicester and Southdowns. It would occupy too 

 much space lo give the whole course of his ex- 

 periments in detail, but the following is the sub- 

 stance of them. In the month of August he 

 put in the same enclosure, weiher lambs of the 

 preceding spring, as follows : 17 Southdowns, 19 

 New Leicester?, 12 half bloods, a cross of the New 

 Leicester and Southdown, and 7 Romney Marsh. 

 They were all kept alike till June of the Ibliow- 

 ing-year, when 12 of the Southdowns and all the 

 half bloods were Ibund in marketable condition ; 



and the former were sold at 340, and the latter 

 at 330, sterling. None of the New Leicesters or 

 Romney Marshes were in marketable condition. 

 This experiment shows the superiority of the 

 Southdowns and half bloods, where it is desirable 

 to sell at an early age.* 



A part of each kind was kept over for further 

 experiments, and ii was Ibund that between June 

 and the 7ih of September, (ten weeks,) the 

 Southdowns had gained 13 per cent., the New 

 Leicester 21 per cent., the half bloods 13 per 

 cent., and the Romney Marshes 14 per cent. 

 Here was a gain of 8 per cent, by the New Lei- 

 cester, and 1 per cent, by tlie Romney Marshes, 

 over the half bloods and Southdowns, This is 

 naturally to be accounted for so far as rela'es to 

 the Southdowns, from the circumstance of the 

 two sorts, which had gained, being of a larger 

 breed than the Southdowns, It will be recol- 

 lected that the New Leicester wethers at two 

 years old weigh 22 pounds to the quarter, the Rom- 

 ney Marshes 25, and the Southdowns only 18. 

 They were now, (7ih September,) about one and 

 a half years old, and consequently it was to have 

 been expected that the larger breeds, which had 

 fallen back during the winter, should increase more 

 rapidly during the summer, than the smaller ones, 

 in order to attain their appropriate weight at two 

 years old. They were weighed again the 1st of 

 December following, when the Souihdowns had 

 lost 3 per cent., the new Leicesters 2 per cent,, 

 the half bloods 4 per cent,, the Romney Marshes 

 had gained one third of 1 per cent. All the sorts, 

 ii will be observed, must have continued to gain 

 Ibr some lime after the 7th of September, and the 

 larger breeds, for the reasons here stated, must 

 have gained more rapidly than the smaller ones, 

 lill winter set in. At this period all would begin 

 to lose, and the loss exhibited above was not the 

 whole loss. What had been gained between the 



* This experiment shows that the Southdown sheep 

 bear starvation better than the New Leicester, but is not 

 at all decisive of their earlier maturity under different 

 treatment. Had the sheep been kept so as to prevent 

 them from losing flesh in the winter and sold as soon as 

 they were in condition in the spring, the result would 

 probably have been very different. 



We find during the time that they had plenty to eat, 

 from June to September, that the New Leicester gained 

 21 per cent., while the Southdowns gained 13 per cent. 

 Here it is likely the gain is much greater in the New 

 Leicester than meets the eye. We are told that the New 

 Leicesters are of a larger breed than the Southdowns, 

 of course any per cent, upon a large animal, is much 

 more than the same per cent, upon a small one. Blaclc- 

 lock gives the average weight of the New Leicester at 

 18 to 26 lbs. per quarter, and their wool at 6 to 8 per 

 fleece. The Southdown is averaged by him from 15 

 to 18 lbs. per quarter, and their fleece from 2J to 3 Jbs. 

 From the above it appears the New Leicester has 22 

 lbs. most mutton, and his wool at 20 cents, and the 

 Southdowns 25 cents, which is about the market price 

 of the two, the New Leicester fleece will be found to 

 be worth about double the Southdown in Kentucky, 

 where coarse wools bear relatively a higher price than 

 fine. 



For mutton 1 have no doubt that the Costwold and 

 New Leicester, will both make a better cross with the 

 Merino, than the Southdown; For wool I think nei- 

 ther of them should be used as a cross unless it be de- 

 sirable to make coarser wool, when the cross with the 

 New Leicester will be found to give double the quan- 

 tity. S. D. M. 



