SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 265 



wools. ThouQ;li the reaction has been but recent, the market demand for 

 medium and ordinary wools is now better supplied — nearer being glutted, 

 so far as I arn enabled to judge — than that for fine and superfine. And 

 should the market become glutted with either or both, it is important to 

 remember that the latter will be far more profitable for export than the 

 former. 



Every consideration, then, in my judgment, points to wools ranging from 

 good medium upward, instead of the lower classes, as the most profitable 

 staples for cultivation in the South. The only question which now arises 

 on this point is, from which variety, the Saxon or INIerino, shall the South 

 attempt to cultivate these wools ? 



It is generally supposed, and as a general thing it is true, that the Me- 

 rino bears no better wool than that which I have classified as good medi- 

 um. But the measurements of Dr. Emmons (given in Letter X.) show, 

 by the infallible testimony of the microscope, that heavy-fleeced ^^lerinos 

 sometimes equal — nay, surpass Saxons, in fineness. The fact is more de- 

 cisive, as the Saxon fibres there measured came not only from the most 

 celebrated flocks — from the prize sheep at State Fairs — but it also came 

 from samples, in most instances, given by the oicners for public exhibition. 

 I do not claim that Merinos like these are common. They are rather to 

 be regarded in the light of those prodigies of excellence which occasion- 

 ally ap2:>ear, but which it is difficult to I'eproduce with anything like uni- 

 formity. Nor are lesser fleeced Merinos, bearing wool equal to ordinary 

 Saxon, very common. During the Jinc wool mania, all, who sought fine 

 wool, bred the Saxon sheep, or crossed with it ; and the few who stood 

 out, and clung to the INIerino, generally aimed to "distinguish it as widely 

 as possible from the former, by increasing the weight of its fleece, to the 

 disregard of its fineness. This, too, was the general disposition during the 

 licavy -fleeced mania. Of consequence, but very few of our breedex'S have 

 ever, or until recently, sought a high degree of fineness in fleece in breed- 

 ing the INIerino. Recent experience has satisfied me that this is rapidly 

 attainable. Mr. Lawrence, in a quotation already made by me (in Letter 

 I.), says : " I believe a breed may be reared which will give four pounds 

 of exquisitely fine wool to the fleece." I know by multiplied experiments 

 that once interbreeding between an ewe bearing good medium wool (the 

 fleece weighing, say, from 4^ lbs. to 5 lbs.), with a Merino ram of suffi- 

 ciently high quality, will produce wool in the oft'spring equaling ordinary 

 Saxon, and a fleece averaging 4 lbs., with none of its weight made up of 

 gum. The result of two such interbrcedings will bring the progeny of a 

 heavy-fleeced medium ewe (]irovided her fleece is properly even) to the 

 same point. The four-pound fine-fleeced Merino would be a far more 

 profitable animal than the Saxon, other things being equal. But other 

 things are not equal. The former is every way a hardier animal, and a 

 better nui'se. It is about 20 lbs. heavier, and therefore consumes more 

 feed ; but I consider this additional expense more than counterbalanced 

 by the additional care and risk attending the husbandry of the Saxon. If 

 required to keep the number good, and give the proper attention to the 

 i-earing of lambs, I would sooner engage to keep, at the same pi-ice, 

 one thousand such Merinos for a year, than to keep the same number of 

 Saxons. 



It would be practicable, doubtless, to increase the Saxon's fleece to 4- 

 lbs. ; but any one, familiar with such experiments, knows that it is far easier 

 to increase fineness of wool, by diminishing weight of fleece and carcass a 

 little, than it is to increase weight of fleece and carcass without lowering 

 the quality of the wool. And there is this additional objection to the latter 



(553) 



