56 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



MERINO SHEEP. 



About three years ago it was stated in a 

 public address that all our national flags "are 

 grown, spun, woven and dyed in England ; 

 and that on the 4th of July, the proud Amer- 

 ican ensign which floats over every American 

 ship, post and fort, and every patriotic home, 

 flaunts forth upon the breese the industrial 

 dependence of America upon England." It 

 was also said that "we imported in 1860 $15,- 

 000,000 of worsteds, principally from Eng- 

 land, while we made only $3,000,000." These 

 and a great many similar facts have satisfied 

 us that more attention ought to be given to the 

 production of coarse or combing wool. The 

 demand for mutton is another argument in fa- 

 vor of a larger breed of sheep than the Merino. 



While favoring therefore the introduction of 

 the Leicester, Cotswold and Downs, we should 

 be sorry to see it done at the expense of a 

 breed so valuble as the Merino, or under the 

 excitement of a "fever." 



We dread fevers. Whether the patient be 

 an individual or a community, both pulse and 

 brain are aflfected. The poor patient is often 

 subject to hallucinations and phantasies which, 

 though strangely real at the time, prove on 

 his recovery as a dream when one awaketh. 

 We do not know that the American people are 

 constitutionally predisposed to fevers, but the 

 frequency of their occurrence in the commu- 

 nity would seem to justify the most stringent 

 precautionary measures. We are just recov- 

 ering from a hop fever that has proved of un- 

 usual severity. A violent type of potato fe- 

 ver is known to exist in some sections, while 

 in others many cases of a relapse of the hen 

 fever are reported. One of the worst features 

 of these diseases is seen in the fact that they 

 are succeeded by a chill, which usually corre- 

 sponds to the intensity of the fever. A few 

 years ago Merino bucks were sold from one to 

 ten thousand dollars per head ; Merino sheep 



